25 All Time Doo Wop Hits

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 7, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B000065VBY
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,403 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. get A Job - The Silhouettes

2. Church Bells May Ring - The Willows

3. (I'll Remember) In The Still Of The Nite - The Five Satins

4. A Casual Look - The Six Teens

5. Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine) - The Penguins

6. Lover's Island - The Blue Jays

7. Tonight I Fell In Love - The Tokens

8. Deserie - The Charts

9. There's A Moon Out Tonight - The Capris

10. Over The Mountain; Across The Sea - Johnnie & Joe

11. Till Then - The Classics

12. What's Your Name - Don & Juan

13. To Be Loved (Forever) - The Pentagons

14. 16 Candles - The Crests

15. Babalu's Wedding Day - The Eternals

16. Diamonds And Pearls - The Paradons

17. Who's That Knocking - The Genies

18. What Time Is It? - The Five Jive

19. We Belong Together - Robert & Johnny

20. Nite Owl - Tony Allen & The Champs

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Doo Wop royalty and rarities, June 3, 2002

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: 25 All Time Doo Wop Hits (Audio CD)

With so many Doo Wop compilations available, it's no easy task to pick one as a starting place. Rhino's box sets (three four-disc sets, and counting) and Collectables' eight disc series, "Doo Wop 45's on CD," cover more ground than most buyers need as an introduction. Varese's single-disc anthology provides a good jump-start, balancing genre standards with lesser known (but no less worthy) sides. This twenty-five track collection provides both an enjoyable doo wop spin, as well as a stepping stone into the world of doo wop collecting.

Well-known highlights include "Get a Job" "In the Still of the Night" "Earth Angel" "There's a Moon Out Tonight" "Over the Mountain; Across the Sea" "What's Your Name" "16 Candles" "We Belong Together" and "Since I Don't Have You." Interestingly, the familiarity of these songs isn't always mirrored by their original popularity. Movie soundtracks such as "American Graffitti" and "Christine" (not to mention revival acts like Sha Na Na and the condensation of Oldies radio) have often rearranged our perspective on these songs. Also of note is how the R&B and Pop charts often disagreed on these memorable tunes.

Lesser known highlights (not among afficianados, of course) include The Six Teens' torchy "A Casual Look" (making its U.S. CD debut), The Tokens' "Tonight I Fell in Love," The Genies' "Who's That Knocking" (featuring Claude Johnson, who'd shortly become Juan of Don & Juan, whose own "What's Your Name" is also featured here), The Solitaires' foot-stomping "Walking Along," and The Jive Five's soulful "What Time Is It?"

Every one of these songs is delivered with a passion and immediacy that's mostly lost in this age of multitrack recording. Hours spent practicing on street corners turned these singers into performers, and the focus on singles provided a greater concertration of quality songs.

Billy Vera's liner notes provide valuable background on the artists, setting each among the music scene, and providing avenues to explore their histories and later associations. It would have been nice if his essay followed the same order as the track listing (or if they'd at least emboldened the song titles so they were easier to pick out). Mastering, release and chart information are all top-notch.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FANTABULOUS!, June 24, 2003

By 

J. Hoffman "soul lover" (dover, pa. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 25 All Time Doo Wop Hits (Audio CD)

this is the best collection of the doo wop era!these songs always bring back the joyous memories of old!along with my personal favorite,"there's a moon out tonight" i have to mention my beautiful sister's favorite as well,"walking along"she just is so surprised that i found that golden oldie on this great cd!! i hope they make alot more of these collections of the fantabulous doo wop era!!keeping the golden memories alive!!!!god bless,joey hoffman of dover pa,united states!!!!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars if you don't have use for romantic music, shame on you, January 29, 2006

By 

Arthur Shuey "daddyvoice" (Wilmington, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 25 All Time Doo Wop Hits (Audio CD)

Anthology
25 All-Time Doo-Wop Hits
Varese Sarabande Records 3020663392
www.VareseSarabande.com

Growing up in Louisiana, I gathered with friends near streetlights, where we fired our slingshots into the air to watch bats, alerted to the rocks' flight, zoom after what they thought were very large, very fast flying insects. It seemed like a good idea at the time. In more urban climes, boys that age gathered under streetlights to arrange and sing doo-wop songs, earnestly hoping not only to express their teen testosterone passions, but to create a ticket out of their particular urban climes.
The Silhouettes("Get a Job"), The Five Satins("In the Still of the Night"), The Penguins("Earth Angel"), The Capris ("There's a Moon Out Tonight") and dozens of other acts did create those tickets to fame and (to some extent) fortune, ending up on record labels and prestigious stages. I flew out of Louisiana on a giant bat, ending up writing record reviews and gracing the odd bandstand around southeastern North Carolina, but that's another story. Smooth, sophisticated '50s vocal groups were the middle group between post-swing crooners and hard-edged rock and roll. Elvis Presley used vocal group backing early on to make his raw sound more palatable to his fans and their parents.
As time passed and people noticed that listening and dancing to real rock didn't cause communism, atheism and pigmentation changes after all, doo-wop fell by the wayside. As CDs took over from vinyl, vocal acts, fiscally based in single 45s, became even more obscure, and then things started looking up. CD anthologies and Internet music superstores made all music more accessible, and Public Broadcasting's airing of doo-wop specials as the centerpiece of annual fundraisers reminded us that street corner harmony music had been interesting, pretty stuff.
Here's a great CD anthology of doo-wop. It's based on Billboard charts rather than label, and so brings us the best representations of the form. By the way, some of this material is still romantic, and if you don't have use for romantic music, shame on you.