The Golden Groups Volume 47 - The Best Of Apollo Records Part 1

Side One:
01. One More Time - The Mel-O-Dots
02. Just How Long - The Mel-O-Dots
03. Rock My Baby - The Mel-O-Dots
04. Baby Won't You Please Come Home - The Mel-O-Dots
05. Angel Baby - Billy Austin and His Hearts
06. Night Has Come - Billy Austin and His Hearts
07. Oh But She Did - The Opals
08. My Heart's Desire - The Opals

Side Two:
01. Do Let That Dream Come True - The Jumping Jacks
02. Long Haired Raggedy Rascal - The Jumping Jacks
03. Why Oh Why - The Jumping Jacks
04. Julocka Jolly - The Jumping Jacks
05. I Just Love You So - Lydia Larson & The River Rovers
06. Bald Headed Daddy - Lydia Larson & The River Rovers
07. Little Side Car - The Larks
08. Tippin' In - The Larks

The Golden Groups Volume 47 (Mega)

The Golden Groups Volume 47 (Zippy)

I came across this LP in a local second hand shop a couple of months ago and just couldn't resist. When Relic were issuing these Golden Groups LPs way back in nineteen canteen I didn't buy a single one. Now I'm the proud possessor of two, thanks to recent second hand purchases. See here for Volume 6 - The Best Of Ember Records.

I've been on an Apollo kick in my own recent listening so this collection fits in nicely with that. It's definitely a mixed bag, though. Here's a quick run through -

The Mel-O-Dots release on the Apollo popular series has a good rockin' A-Side in "One More Time" which features a rather strange fairground organ break. What were they thinking of? B-Side "Just How Long" is an effective ballad in the Ink Spots style. The unreleased "Rock My Baby" does indeed rock along in fine style until that ghastly organ blasts in. "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" is a slow harmony pleader which thankfully remains organ free. Again there are echos of the Ink Spots and early 1940s harmony groups.

The releases by Billy Austin and His Hearts and The Opals are both excellent R&B vocal group discs. The uptempo "Angel Baby" has a tenor sax break by Charlie "Little Jazz" Ferguson."Night Has Come" is a fine weepy. Both Opals' sides are very good indeed. "Oh But She Did" - uptempo effort featuring a hoarse voiced lead with good guitar licks. "My Heart's Desire" - soft and romantic. Classic vocal group sound.

The Jumping Jacks. Good golly almighty what fresh hell is this? How could anyone believe that this sort of thing would sell in 1953? Overwrought cloying bollocks with kitsch organ backing. The unreleased sides are better by virtue of the fact that they fairly rattle along. It's hard to believe that The Jumping Jacks originated from the same neighbourhood as The "5" Royales. It's even harder to believe that after recording this dross they transmogrified into The Romeos and recorded some excellent R&B in a much more contemporary style, especially their two knowingly suggestive sides "Somebody's Been Plowing My Mule" and "Oh Baby Oh." Another good'un by The Romeos is "I Beg You Please" which is a world away from what's on offer by The Jumping Jacks. These Romeos sides were featured on Relic's second part of the Apollo Records story.

Lydia Larson's unreleased "I Just Love You So" borders on chaos and doesn't quite cut it but she gets us bumpin' and grindin' with "Bald Headed Daddy" which drips with sleaze. Girl group The River Rovers chant away in the background in an el primitivo style.

This LP ends with two contrasting sides from one of the great vocal groups.The Larks weigh in with the bluesy double entendre "Little Side Car" and a jazzy vocal version of "Tippin' In" which was originally composed as an instrumental by Bobby Smith for the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra and was subsequently re-recorded by Bobby and his own small group on Apollo. Here he is again backing The Larks on their sophisticated version to take us out swingin'. Solid, man!

Original Release Details

The Mel-O-Dots: One More Time / Just How Long (Apollo 1192) released May 1952, in Apollo's 1000 "Popular" series. Jazz and R&B releases were in the 350-500 series. Rock My Baby; Baby Won't You Please Come Home - unreleased.

Billy Austin and His Hearts: Angel Baby / Night Has Come (Apollo 444) released December 1952. With Charlie Ferguson, His Tenor and Orchestra.

The Opals: Oh But She Did / My Heart's Desire (Apollo 462) released October 1954.

The Jumping Jacks: Do Let That Dream Come True / Why Oh Why (Lloyds 101) released June 1953. Long Haired Raggedy Rascal; Julocka Jolly (?) - unreleased.

Lydia Larson & The River Rovers: Delta Drag / Bald Headed Daddy (Apollo 432) released November 1951. "Delta Drag" was credited to The River Rovers. Both sides backed by the Bill Harvey Orchestra. "I Just Love You So" - unreleased.

The Larks: Little Side Car / Hey, Little Girl (Apollo 429) released August 1951. With Bobby Smith's Orchestra. If It's A Crime / Tippin' In (Lloyds 110) released June 1954. With Bobby Smith's Orchestra.

The Prisonaires - Five Beats Behind Bars

Side One:
01. Baby Please
02. Just Walking In The Rain
03. My God Is Real
04. Softly And Tenderly
05. I Know
06. No More Tears
07. Don't Say Tomorrow
08. What Do You Do Next?

Side Two:
01. That Chick's Too Young To Fry
02. Lucille, I Want You
03. If I Were A King
04. Surleen
05. All Alone And Lonely
06. Rockin' Horse
07. Two Strangers
08. Frank Clement (What About)

Five Beats Behind Bars (Mega)

Five Beats Behind Bars (Zippy)

A rare foray by Sam Phillips into vocal group recordings. The Prisonaires were in fact prisoners in the State Penitentiary in Nashville Tennessee whose music came to Sam's attention via Red Wortham of Wortham Music, and Jim Bulleit who in early 1953 owned a small share in Sun Records.

The Prisonaires were first formed in the State Pen in the early 1940s and this is reflected in most of the music they recorded which is heavily influenced by the Ink Spots and the close harmony groups of the late 1930s.The main man was Johnny Bragg who was serving a 99 year stretch for rape. Two more group members were also serving 99 year sentences (for murder) - Ed Thurman and William Stewart. The lineup which first recorded for Sun in June 1953 had been put together by Bragg in 1951: Johnny Bragg (lead, 99 years); John Drue (lead tenor, doing a 3 year stretch for larceny); Ed Thurman (2nd tenor and 99 years); Marcel Sanders (bass, 1-5 years for involuntary manslaughter); William Stewart (baritone, guitar, 99 years).

Bragg was also a songwriter who cowrote the group's first release on Sun, "Just Walkin' In The Rain" which became a minor R&B hit and was covered very successfully 3 years later by Johnnie Ray. The influence of the Ink Spots is obvious on this wistful ballad, but its success was almost immediately dissipated by the decision to issue a religious record as a follow up - My God Is Real / Softly And Tenderly. Their third release, A Prisoner's Prayer / I Know, also failed to sell. "I Know" sounds even more like an Ink Spots performance than "Just Walkin' In The Rain" while "A Prisoner's Prayer" is what might be called "overwrought."

A final release in July 1954, There Is Love In You / What'll You Do Next, also went nowhere.There were a couple more recording sessions at the Sun studio before the end of 1954 but nothing was released. Some of these unreleased tracks were in a much more contemporary R&B style, especially "Lucille I Want You," ""Rocking Horse," "Surleen," and "All Alone And Lonely."

The group broke up in 1955 as Drue and Sanders finished their sentences and Stewart and Thurman were released on parole. Back in the hoosegow Johnny Bragg formed a new group called the Sunbeams which recorded some unreleased tracks for Excello and then after a change of name to the Marigolds, achieved a hit on the same label with "Rollin' Stone."

Bragg was released in 1959 and started recording and songwriting for Decca. His new career came to an abrupt end in 1960 when he was reincarcerated for parole violations. He remained in prison until 1967. After his release he recorded a couple more discs for ElBeJay, but the following decade was an unhappy one for the former Prisonaire as he spent several more spells in prison until his final release in 1977.

The final phase of Bragg's life was uneventful. He made no attempt to reignite a musical career and confined his singing to performing in church. He died in 2004.

Prisonaires Singles on Sun Records:

Sun 186 - Baby Please / Just Walkin' In The Rain - July 1953

Sun 189 - My God Is Real / Softly And Tenderly - September 1953

Sun 191 - A Prisoner's Prayer / I Know - November 1953

Sun 207 - There Is Love In You / What'll You Do Next - July 1954

Thanks to Joan for the labelshots

Two CD collections have been issued which have identical titles and which cover the same ground, i.e. just about everything ever recorded by The Prisonaires:

 Bear Family BCD 15523

Charly CPCD 8120

The Bear Family CD was released in 1990 and the Charly CD in 1996. Both have 26 tracks.

Jimmy Coe - After Hours Joint

Side A:
01. After Hour Joint
02. Baby I'm Gone
03. What Will I Tell My Heart
04. Organ Grinder
05. Empty Bed
06. How Deep Is The Ocean
07. Fast Blues

Side B:
01. Run Jodie Run
02. He's All Right
03. A Fool Was I
04. Lady Take Two
05. Raid On The After Hour Joint

After Hours Joint (Mega)

After Hours Joint (Zippy)

Apologies to regular  readers of the blog. My temporary break became much longer than I thought it would due to illness (the dreaded lurgie: coughing, wheezing, the sweats and the shivers and it was NOT a hangover) but the blog returns despite it all. There's a backlog of stuff to get through - my own LP rips, contributions from Marv, and a new volume of Joan Selects. I propose to write a lot less and just post the music and some basic info over the next few months, but that's easier said then done!

I'm going to kick off with an LP which I bought some months ago on eBay after  a request came in for Jimmy Coe, an alto and tenor sax player and bandleader whose "After Hour Joint" was a minor R&B hit in 1953. I think this 1989 Delmark LP may well be the only collection of his tracks to ever be issued. It's not a comprehensive career survey but a compilation of the material he recorded for the Chicago based States label. Jimmy only had three singles on the label so the LP is "padded out" with unissued tracks.

There's a Boogiewoody bonus for you sax-starved Be Bop Winos. One of the unissued tracks is a longish version of "Lady Be Good" titled "Lady Take Two" which features an extended Stephane Grapelli type jazz violin solo. I've produced an edited version without the violin which I've called "Jimmy Be Good (tenor sax edit)" and it's backed by "Cole Tater" which I grabbed off YouTube (my thanks to the original uploader). This was a track Jimmy released on King under the name "Jimmy Cole", so I hope you folks enjoy the Be Bop Wino pirate single which is included in the download.

The go-to website for information on any States / United artist is of course the Red Saunders Research Foundation website.

Scroll down the front page here as far as "J" and you'll find an introduction to Jimmy Coe. Click on the "Jimmy Coe" link in that entry and you find yourself on The Jimmy Coe Discography page which is a marvellous biography plus comprehensive discography of his releases on a multiplicity of labels from 1942 to 2000.

Be Bop Wino fans will note that his first recordings were with the Jay McShann Orchestra in 1942, with Charlie Parker also in the lineup. His next recordings were for King in January 1952, backing vocalist Flo Garvin as well as recording two band instrumentals under the name Jimmy Cole. He was billed as Jimmy Cole when he recorded again for King in February 1952, playing alto sax on a Tiny Bradshaw session.

When King failed to listen to Coe's comic vignette "After Hour Joint" he went to the States label where he recorded it in February 1953. His second and last session for States was in October 1953 when he recorded a follow up to "After Hour Joint", "Raid On The After Hour Joint".

For full details of all these sessions and Jimmy Coe's subsequent lengthy career get yourself over to the Red Saunders Research Foundation website. As for me, having clued you in to these hep sounds, I am now retiring to my sick bed.

Jimmy Coe singles on States:

S-118 - After Hour Joint / Baby I'm Gone - Jimmy Coe and his Gay Cats of Rhythm - June 1953

S-129 - He's Alright With Me (vocal: Helen Fox) / Raid On The After Hour Joint - Jimmy Coe and his Gay Cats of Rhythm - December 1953

S-155 - Run Jody Run (vocal: Max "Blues" Bailey) / The Jet - Jimmy Coe and his Gay Cats of Rhythm - March 1956

Note - "The Jet" is retitled "Fast Blues" on this LP. All other tracks unreleased until this LP in 1989.

Rumble (Jubilee LP JGM-1114)

I was updating the link on this post and for some reason it shot forward to today's date! Apologies - Be Bop Wino will be back with a whole heap o' fresh posts very soon!

Side 1:

01. Castle In The Sky - The Bop-Chords

02. The Gleam In Your Eye - The Channels

03. Fine Fine Frame - The Continentals

04. If I Could Make You Mine - The Love-Notes

05. Picture Of Love - The Continentals

06. Tonight - The Love-Notes

Side 2:

01. When I Woke Up This Morning - The Bop-Chords

02. Dear Lord - The Continentals

03. Now You Know - The Channels

04. United - The Love-Notes

05. The Closer You Are - The Channels

06. I Really Love Her So - The Bop-Chords

Thanks once more to Joan for the second in the series of Jubilee doowop compilation LPs released in 1959. These sides, which were originally issued in 1956 and 1957, were gathered from the Bobby Robinson group of labels. The Channels and Continentals sides were originally released on Whirlin' Disc, a label co-owned by Bobby Robinson and Jubilee owner Jerry Blaine. They were subsequently re-released as singles on the Port label between 1959 and 1961. The Bop-Chords and Love-Notes sides were originally released in 1956-57 on Holiday, a label owned by Bobby Robinson's brother Danny.

There are occasional clicks and pops and even a skip on these vintage vinyl sides.

Download from:

Rumble (Mega)

Marv Goldberg's article on The Continentals is here:

http://www.uncamarvy.com/Continentals/continentals.html

It includes juicy details on who was backing The Continentals at their recording sessions. Mickey Baker, King Curtis, Sam "The Man" Taylor are names to whet the appetite of any R&B fan.

Marv Goldberg's article on The Love-Notes / The Ivories is here:

http://www.uncamarvy.com/Ivories/ivories.html

More juicy details, this time about the Love-Notes getting rushed on to an Apollo show as "United" / "Tonight" started to climb the charts. Also on the bill of that show were Chuck Willis, Mickey & Sylvia, Big Maybelle and Solomon Burke among others!

This LP was originally posted on Be Bop Wino on 21st June 2008. The original post is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/rumble-jubilee-jgm-1114_7413.html

The download includes label scans by Joan. Terrific stuff!

Hen Gates, Man Of Mystery or Exploitation A Go Go

In response to a request from BabyHugz we proudly re-present the 3 "Hen Gates" LPs which were donated to the blog 9 years ago. These LPs were released on budget labels to cash in on the rock and roll craze of the 1950s.  Beneath the pseudonym "Hen Gates" lurk recycled R&B / Jazz tracks from the late 1940s and early 1950s, chiefly tracks originally released by Freddie Mitchell on the Derby label. Also in there are some sides recorded by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davies for Lenox around 1947. I suspect there may be other stuff by other artists too (Frank Culley? Morris Lane?) but life is too short to dwell on such esoterica.

The whole saga unfolded across a series of posts back in the spring of 2010 when an anonymous donor sent in "Let's All Dance To Rock And Roll" and followed up with "Rock and Roll". A different anonymous contributor sent in "Rock And Roll No. 2" and much below the line comment contributed towards the attempted identification of the origin of these tracks. The original relevant posts are here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.com/2010/03/hen-gates-and-his-gaters-lets-all-dance.html

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.com/2010/03/hen-gates-and-his-gaters-rock-and-roll.html

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.com/2010/04/eddie-lockjaw-davis-hen-gates-shock.html

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.com/2010/04/hen-gates-and-his-gaters-rock-and-roll.html

Click on the links to follow the whole tawdry and at times hilarious tale. However it should be remembered that behind the exploitation there are a lot of very good tenor sax tracks, and, yes, a few tracks spoiled by the plinky-plonk piano which was an unfortunate feature of some of Freddie Mitchell's Derby discs.

Here's yer link to the world of "Hen Gates" -

Hen Gates 3LPs (Mega)

Warning - 201 MB download!

The "5" Royales - The Roots Of Soul

Side One:
01. I'm Gonna Run It Down
02. Devil With The Rest
03. You Didn't Learn It At Home
04. How I Wonder
05. Mohawk Squaw
06. When I Get Like This
07. I Ain't Getting Caught
08. Right Around The Corner

Side Two:
01. I Could Love You If You Let Me
02. Come On And Save Me
03. Get Something Out Of It
04. Think
05. Tell The Truth
06. Don't Let It Be In Vain
07. The Slummer The Slum
08. I'm With You

The Roots Of Soul (Mega)

The Roots Of Soul (Zippy)

This LP has been posted on other blogs but having posted recently on the Apollo sides of  The "5" Royales, I couldn't resist presenting my own copy of this compilation of King sides which were recorded by the group between 1954 and 1960. It's a good follow up to the previous "The Rockin' 5 Royales" post and, more importantly, it's an excellent LP in its own right.

The "5" Royales signed for King in the Spring of 1954 although their first recording session for their new label was delayed by a lawsuit brought by Apollo chief Bess Berman. Their first issue on King was in August 1954 - "I'm Gonna Run It Down" / "Behave Yourself." If the group thought that their transfer to King with its superior distribution facilities would revive the R&B chart success they had experienced in 1953, they were in for a rude awakening. The single failed to chart as did every other of their King singles until July 1957 when "Tears Of Joy" climbed to #9 in the R&B chart.

Their next King release, "Think", also reached #9 in the R&B chart in September 1957 and even made it to the lower reaches of the pop chart (#66). And that was it for The "5" Royales as far as chart action was concerned. Not another hit, nada, despite two of their subsequent releases becoming hits for other artists - "Dedicated To The One I Love" for The Shirelles (and later for The Mamas and The Papas) and "Tell The Truth" for Ray Charles.

It's a common theme whenever anyone writes about The "5" Royales. Why, after releasing 25 singles on King between August 1954 and June 1960, did this group only chart twice? I've been immersing myself in their King material over the last few weeks and can say that their records mostly ranged from the very good to the absolutely outstanding. So what went wrong?

Perhaps they were too old for the teen market which drove the success of most of the big vocal group hits of the 1950's. Their material was mostly adult in nature and their performances may have been too intense, too bluesy, and simply too Southern for Northern city teenagers. In his introduction to the notes for the Ace CD "It's Hard But It's Fair" Billy Vera noted that as an avid listener of R&B radio in 1950's New York he never once heard a "5" Royales record.

It's largely in retrospect that The "5" Royales are now seen as a major vocal group. They were an important influence on James Brown and the rise of Soul music in general. Group guitarist (and songwriter and bass singer) Lowman Pauling has been acknowledged as an influence by Steve Cropper, although his superb guitar work only really came to the fore on the group's records from 1957 onwards. His guitar playing had been kept in the background while lead guitar duties on the records had been carried out by Mickey Baker, Billy Butler and Tiny Grimes.

The "5" Royales left King in the Spring of 1960 and retreated south to the Memphis based Home Of The Blues label. Lowman Pauling, however, remained at King. Teaming up with "5" Royales pianist Royal Abbit, he had five singles released on King subsidiary Federal between September 1960 and June 1962.

For a more in depth account of The "5" Royales see the excellent article by Steve Walker on the Blackcat Rockabilly website. I've compiled a list of the "5" Royales' single releases on King largely from the article with a couple of alterations from info on Billboard and the 45cat.com website and included it as a pdf in the download from this post.

Original Issue Of The Holy Rollin' Trax on "The Roots Of Soul"

King 4740 - I'm Gonna Run It Down / Behave Yourself - August 1954

King 4744 - Monkey Hips And Rice / Devil With The Rest - October 1954

King 4770 - You Didn't Learn It at Home / Every Dog Has His Day - January 1955

King 4785 - How I Wonder / Mohawk Squaw - March 1955

King 4806 - I Need Your Lovin' Baby / When I Get Like This - June 1955

King 4830 - I Ain't Gettin' Caught / Someone Made You For Me - September 1955

King 4869 - Right Around The Corner / When You Walked Through The Door - January 1956

King 4901 - My Wants For Love / I Could Love You - March 1956

King 4952 - Come On And Save Me / Get Something Out Of It - August 1956

King 5053 - Think / I'd Better Make A Move - May 1957

King 5141 - Tell The Truth / Double Or Nothing - July 1958

King 5153 - Don't Let It Be In Vain / The Slummer The Slum - October 1958

King 5329 - I'm With You / Don't Give No More Than You Can Take - March 1960

Recommended CD

Ace CDCHD 1038 "It's Hard But It's Fair" (2005)

I've had the above CD for many a year and it most definitely is one of my favourite vocal group collections. 26 tracks and informative notes by Tony Rounce with an introduction by Billy Vera.

There are several more comprehensive collections of The "5" Royales available - just search in the usual places and peruse the results. "Soul & Swagger - The Complete 5 Royales 1951-1967" (5 CD set) seems to be the one for the completists.

The Ravens - The Greatest Group Of Them All

Side 1:
01. Mahzel
02. For You
03. Would You Believe Me
04. Write Me A Letter
05. Until The Real Thing Comes Along
06. September Song
07. Always
08. Searching For Love

Side 2:
01. I'm Afraid Of You
02. Fool That I Am
03. Together
04. There's No You
05. How Could I Know
06. It's Too Soon To Know
07. White Christmas
08. Silent Night

Side 3:
01. Deep Purple
02. There's Nothing Like A Woman In Love
03. Careless Love
04. If You Didn't Mean It
05. Someday
06. Lilacs In The Rain
07. I've Been A Fool
08. I'm Going To Paper My Walls

Side 4:
01. Sylvia
02. Tea For Two
03. Without A Song
04. It's The Talk Of The Town
05. No More Kisses For Baby
06. Moonglow
07. Who's Sorry Now
08. I've Got The World On A String

The Greatest Group Of Them All (Mega)

The Greatest Group Of Them All (Zippy)

Two LPs of Ravens sides recorded for National between 1947 and 1950. I found this double LP set a few years ago in a record fair at Glasgow University (in the QMU for those of you familiar with that noble seat of learning) and despite its rather beat up condition the fact that it was part of the Savoy "Roots Of Rock And Roll" series meant that it just had to be purchased. After the first play I was underwhelmed by the crackles, clicks and pops, the rather muddy sound quality, and what seemed to be track after track of schlock sung in a Delta Rhythm Boys or even Ink Spots style.

We're all a few years down the line now and this set has grown on me. A lot of the "schlock" now sounds like pretty hip interpretations of the standards of the day, mainly thanks to the dominant feature of the Ravens' sound, the deep bass voice of Jimmy Ricks. There are a few bluesier sides plus one out and out rocker, "Write Me A Letter" which was the group's biggest hit on National. A sign, surely, that if only they had rocked a little harder they may have sold more records. But then we have to remember that the most commercially successful vocal groups who preceeded The Ravens were The Mills Brothers, The Ink Spots and The Delta Rhythm Boys, and it is likely that The Ravens were hoping to emulate the pop success of those groups.

I should also point out that this collection followed the release of a single LP on Savoy of The Ravens' National sides, "Old Man River" (SJL 1156) which had 15 tracks and was the better introduction to The Ravens on National.

The go-to site for information on The Ravens is of course Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks with this being the first of four pages on the Ravens' career:

http://www.uncamarvy.com/Ravens/ravens01.html

The Ravens came together in New York City in 1946 with the intitial lineup being Jimmy Ricks (bass), Warren Suttles (baritone), Leonard "Zeke" Puzey (tenor) and Henry Oliver "Ollie" Jones (tenor).

Their first recordings were for the Hub label in June 1946 with three records being issued from August to October 1946. In early 1947 Ollie Jones was replaced by tenor Maithe Marshall and the new lineup re-recorded the sides they had already recorded on Hub.The group signed for National Records in April 1947 and recorded 4 sides on the 23rd and 24th of that month - "Mahzel," "Ol' Man River," "For You" and "Would You Believe Me."

Their second release on National, "Ol' Man River" / "Would You Believe Me" was a hit, reaching #10 in the R&B charts, but this was surpassed by their third release, "Write Me A Letter" / "Summertime" which not only climbed the R&B chart to #5 but also reached #24 in the pop chart. This success was followed by a series of pop standard and ballad releases which while always classy didn't really bring about much chart action.

"September Song," "Until The Real thing Comes Along," "There's No You," "Together" and others were stellar performances, but the next National chart success wasn't until the autumn of 1948 with a double sided hit - a cover of The Orioles' best selling "It's Too Soon To Know" reached #11 R&B while its flip side, the bluesy "Be On Your Merry Way" reached #13. Just prior to this, The Ravens had a chart hit on the King label which had bought up the Hub masters. "Bye Bye Baby Blues" / "Once And For All" reached #8 in the R&B chart. There was more success and another double sided hit for The Ravens with their Christmas 1948 smash "Silent Night" / "White Christmas." The latter was very much the inspiration for a hit version by Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters in 1954/55.

The autumn of 1948 had also seen some personnel changes within the group. Warren Suttles left in September, being replaced by Joe Medlin. The following month Maithe Marshall left and was replaced by Richie Cannon. Then Medlin left and Marshall returned! In early 1949 Suttles returned and Cannon left, so basically the group was back to what it was when they started with National.

In 1949 failures to chart dominated the Ravens' output although there was one hit with "Ricky's Blues" / "The House I Live In" which reached #8 R&B. As 1949 turned to 1950 there was one last hit on National - "I Don't Have To Ride No More" / "I've Been a Fool" hit #9 in the R&B chart. It's noticeable that the last two hits were both strong blues performances which went down well with R&B audiences. In early 1950 Warren Suttles left again and was replaced with Louis Heyward.

The Ravens recorded their last session for National in August 1950 and then signed to Columbia. Their last release on National was in February 1951- the tender "Lilacs In The Rain," featured a beautiful vocal by Maithe Marshall, while the other side "Time Is Marching On" was a rousing rockin' blues with a lead by Jimmy Ricks and some stinging electric guitar in the arrangement. It failed to chart.

For the rest of the Ravens story - get yourself over to Marv Goldberg's website.

Original Release Details

01. Mahzel - National 9034
02. For You - National 9034 / 9039
03. Would You Believe Me - National 9035
04. Write Me A Letter - National 9038 / Rendition R-5001
05. Until The Real Thing Comes Along - National 9045
06. September Song - National 9053
07. Always - National 9064
08. Searching For Love - National 9039
09. I'm Afraid Of You - National 9098
10. Fool That I Am - National 9040
11. Together - National 9042
12. There's No You - National 9042
13. How Could I Know - National 9059
14. It's Too Soon To Know - National 9056
15. White Christmas - National 9062
16. Silent Night -National 9062

01. Deep Purple - National 9065
02. There's Nothing Like A Woman In Love - National 9085
03. Careless Love - National 9085
04. If You Didn't Mean It - National 9089
05. Someday - National 9089
06. Lilacs In The Rain - National 9148
07. I've Been A Fool - National 9101
08. I'm Going To Paper My Walls - National 9111

The remaining eight tracks (Side 4) were not released on single -
09. Sylvia

10. Tea For Two

11. Without A Song

12. It's The Talk Of The Town

13. No More Kisses For Baby

14. Moonglow

15. Who's Sorry Now

16. I've Got The World On A String

Ravens Singles On National

Titles in italics are not on this compilation. They are mostly on the LP "Old Man River" (SJL 1156) with the exception of - Be On Your Merry Way; I'm Gonna Take To The Road; Phantom Stage Coach.

National 9034 - April 1947 - Mahzel / For You

National 9035 - June 1947 - Ol' Man River / Would You Believe Me - #10 R&B

National 9038 - October 1947 - Write Me A Letter / Summertime - #5 R&B, #24 Pop

National 9039 - December 1947 - Searching For Love / For You

National 9040 - December 1947 - Fool That I Am / Be I Bumblebee Or Not

National 9042 - February 1948 - Together / There's No You

National 9045 - May 1948 - Until The Real Thing Comes Along / Send For Me If You Need Me

National 9053 - August 1948 - September Song / Once In A While

National 9056 - October 1948 - It's Too Soon To Know / Be On Your Merry Way - #11 R&B / #13 R&B

National 9059 - November 1948 - How Could I Know / I Don't Know Why I Love Like I Do

National 9062 - December 1948 - The Raven's Rendition Of: Silent Night / The Raven's Rendition Of: White Christmas - #8 R&B / #9 R&B

National 9064 - January 1949 - Always / Rooster

National 9065 - February / March 1949 - Deep Purple / Leave My Gal Alone

National 9073 - May 1949 - The House I Live In (That's America To Me) / Ricky's Blues - #8 R&B

National 9085 - August 1949 - There's Nothing Like A Woman In Love / Careless Love

National 9089 - September 1949 - Someday / If You Didn't Mean It

National 9098 - December 1949 - I'm Afraid Of You / Get Wise Baby

National 9101 - February 1950 - I've Been A Fool / I Don't Have To Ride No More - #9 R&B

National 9111 - April 1950 - Count Every Star / I'm Gonna Paper All My Walls With Your Love Letters

National 9130 - December 1950 - I'm Gonna Take To The Road / Phantom Stage Couch (Sic)

National 9148 - February 1951 - Lilacs In The Rain / Time Is Marching On

Rendition R-5001 - autumn? 1951 - Write Me a Letter / Marie 

(Rendition was a subsidiary of National)

Recommended listening -

Double CD spanning releases from Hub, National, King, Columbia / Okeh, Mercury and Jubilee.

The Rockin' 5 Royales (Apollo LP 488)

Side A:

01. Baby Don't Do It

02. Too Much Lovin'

03. Baby Take All Of Me

04. Courage To Love

05. You Know I Know

06. Help Me Somebody

Side B:
01. What's That
02. Laundromat Blues
03. All Righty

04. I Wanna Thank You

05. Put Something In It

06. I Like It Like That

The Rockin' 5 Royales (Mega)

The Rockin' 5 Royales (Zippy)

Thanks to Marv for this "reconstruction" of an LP originally released by Apollo in 1959. Before Marv sent this collection in, I had no idea that Apollo actually issued LPs. On closer investigation on the Both Sides Now website I discovered that Apollo had released LPs intermittently during the 1950s and on into the early 1960s but there was little to interest fans of R&B except this compilation of sides by The "5" Royales. Joan drew my attention to a short series of 10-inch LPs released by Apollo in 1951-52 which compiled some tremendous jazz tracks from the 1940s, so stand by for Be Bop Wino reconstructions of some of these albums.

It is possible that Apollo released this LP to compete with the King LP "The "5" Royales Sing For You" which was also released in 1959. The "5" Royales had been the subject of an acrimonious lawsuit between Apollo and King in 1954 when the latter company lured the group to its roster and for a period of months both companies were issuing "5" Royales records.

Now normally on a vocal group post I refer readers to Marv Goldberg's site which is the go-to place for info on R&B vocal groups. Unfortunately there isn't a "5" Royales article on Marv's site, but I can refer you to this excellent article on the group by Steve Walker which is on the Blackcat Rockabilly website from the Netherlands.

As for this LP - it's one of the great R&B compilations, for you can hardly go wrong with the material recorded by The "5" Royales on Apollo during their stay on the label which lasted little more than two years. No vocal group of the time wore their gospel roots more on their sharp-suited sleeves than The "5" Royales, who had started out as far back as 1942 as The Royal Sons Quintet, a gospel group which included sandpaper voiced lead tenor Johnny Tanner and bass vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Lowman Pauling, both of whom were still in the group when it was picked up by Apollo Records in 1951.

It was Apollo which somehow persuaded the Royal Sons to record secular material, firstly as The Royals and then as The "5" Royales. Success came quickly with their second release, "Baby Don't Do It" racing up the R&B chart to the number one spot in February 1953. Their next record "Help Me Somebody" / "Crazy, Crazy, Crazy" was a double sided hit, both sides charting with "Help Me Somebody" reaching number one in June 1953. Their next record, "Too Much Lovin'" reached the number four spot in the R&B chart in August 1953, but the double entendre "Laundromat Blues" on the other side of the disc was banned by some radio stations.

The "5" Royales finished 1953 as the top selling R&B act of that year but 1954 brought far less success and considerable upheaval as the group left Apollo for King in April. Their last chart entry for Apollo was "I Do" (Apollo 452) which reached number 6 in the R&B chart in February 1954. Their last recording session for Apollo was on the 1st April 1954. On the 10th June 1954 the group had their first recording session for King. Apollo continued to release "5" Royales singles until February 1955 when the backlog of recordings ran out with "Six O'Clock In The Morning" /  "With All Your Heart" (Apollo 467).

Decades later many people would come to think of the "5" Royales as primarily a King act, thanks mainly to three classic songs they recorded for the label - "Think", "Tell The Truth" and "Dedicated To The One I Love" which achieved fame through cover versions by, respectively, James Brown, Ray Charles and The Shirelles, but it was with Apollo that the "5" Royales enjoyed their greatest commercial success, back in that annus mirabilis, 1953.

This reconstituted LP allows us to enjoy one of the greatest of the R&B vocal groups at their peak. Johnny Tanner's pleading, soulful vocals, Lowman Pauling's songwriting (he didn't become a guitar hero until 1957) and last but very much not least, Charlie "Little Jazz" Ferguson's dynamite backing make these recordings stone classics.

Original Release Information for the tracks on Apollo LP 488

You Know I Know / Courage To Love - Apollo 441 - August 1952

Baby Don't Do It / Take All Of Me - Apollo 443 - December 1952

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy / Help Me Somebody - Apollo 446 - April 1953

Too Much Lovin' (Much Too Much) / Laundromat Blues - Apollo 448 - July 1953

All Righty / I Want To Thank You - Apollo 449 - October 1953

Cry Some More / I Like It Like That - Apollo 454 - April 1954

Let Me Come Back Home / What's That - Apollo 458 - June 1954

Six O' Clock In The Morning / With All Your Heart* - Apollo 467 - February 1955

* retitled "Put Something In It" on Apollo LP 488

Apollo LP 488 released in late 1959.

Recommended listening:

All Righty! - The complete Apollo recordings including gospel releases as The Royal Sons Quintet. Westside CD WESM 591. 29 tracks. Released in 1999.

Lynn Hope - The Maharaja Of The Saxophone (King LP 717)

Side 1:
01. Tenderly
02. Rose Room
03. Body And Soul
04. Sands Of The Sahara
05. Blue And Sentimental
06. Shockin'

Side 2:
01. Oo Wee
02. A Ghost Of A Chance
03. Full Moon
04. Little Landslide
05. Stardust
06. Juicy

Lynn Hope - The Maharaja Of The Saxophone (Mega)

Lynn Hope - The Maharaja Of The Saxophone (Zippy)

This is a "reconstruction" of Lynn Hope's King LP which was released in January 1961. The sides were recorded over two sessions in March 1960. Four singles from the sessions were released during 1960 (details below) and then came this album ... and then Lynn Hope faded from the music scene.

These are Lynn's last recordings and they don't sound all that different from his earlier Premium and Aladdin recordings. There's a re-recording of his big hit "Tenderly" and a tremendous slice of heated exotica in "Sands Of The Sahara." The presence of Earl Bostic's vibes player Gene Redd helps keep that slightly strange and exotic vibe going on certain tracks.

Lynn Hope has long been one of my favourite R&B sax players, always earthy yet with a hint of something strange just behind the curtain. There's a link below to a previous post (2009) I wrote on him which has a brief summary of his career. There is also a post on Crownpropellor's blog which has some fantastic photos of Lynn from a 1953 copy of Ebony magazine. The below-the-line comments are also very interesting as his daughter informed blog readers that her father had passed in February 1993.

Another comment on Crownpropellor's post refers to the short story / reminiscence by Amiri Bakara (LeRoi Jones) based around a gig by Lynn Hope. Titled "The Screamers", the story can be found in the Penguin collection "The Portable Beat Reader" (ed. Ann Charters). I came across a suitably beat up copy a couple of years ago in a local charity shop. So let us bring this part of the post to an end with a suitable quote from the story (imagine Lynn's band bomp, bomp, bomping on an R&B standard such as "Night Train" or "Harlem Nocturne" while dancers grind slowly against each other in a packed and seedy club) -

"He stomped his foot and waved one hand. The other hung loosely on his horn. And their turbans wove in among those shadows. Lynn's tighter, neater and bright gorgeous yellow stuck with a green stone. Also those green sparkling cubes dancing off his pinkies. A-boomp bahba bahba, A-boomp bahba bahba, A-boomp bahba bahba, A-boomp bahba bahba, the turbans sway behind him. And he grins before he lifts the horn ... "

The Trax 'n' The Fax

Cincinnati, 4th March 1960:

Lynn Hope (tenor sax) with - Gene Redd (trumpet, vibes); Jamie Palmer (piano); Fred Jordan (guitar); Clarence Mack (bass); Philip Paul (drums) -

Juicy

Tenderly

Full Moon

Shockin'

A Ghost Of A Chance

Body And Soul

Cincinnati, 28th March 1960:

Personnel as above except Edwyn Conley replaces Clarence Mack on bass -

Blue And Sentimental

Rose Room

Sands Of The Sahara

Little Landslide

Oo Wee

Stardust

Lynn Hope singles on King -

Tenderly / Full Moon - King 5336 - issued April 1960.

Sands Of The Sahara / Body And Soul - King 5352 - issued June 1960.

A Ghost Of A Chance / Little Landslide- King 5378 - issued August 1960.

Shockin' / Blue And Sentimental - King 5431 - issued December 1960.

King LP 717 "Maharaja Of The Saxophone" issued in January 1961.

Also on the blog:

"Lynn Hope And His Tenor Sax" - Aladdin sides. Posted 12th October 2009. I've added a new Mega link to the post as Zippyshare seems to be disappearing from EU countries.

More of the 1953 Ebony article can be read here - Muslims and Jazz in 1953.

My thanks to the original uploaders of the cover and label scans.