Customer Reviews

Best of Little Anthony & The Imperials

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Recently, I was watching one of T.J. Lubinsky's sensational "American Soundtrack" shows on PBS. Much to my surprise the group that blew me away that evening was Little Anthony and the Imperials. Watching that program caused me to pull out this CD for the first time in quite a while. I had forgotten what a terrific vocalist Anthony Gourdine really was. And his appearance on the PBS special made it clear that after more than 40 years in the business this guy has not lost it one bit. This collection from Rhino offers up around a dozen tracks from the groups early days at George Goldner's End records. Among the pick of this litter are the groups first major hit "Tears On My Pillow" from 1958 as well as an impassioned version of Neil Sedaka's "The Diary". And though the song never made the charts, many consider "Two People In The World", the flip side of "Tears On My Pillow" to be the groups best effort. The group disbanded in 1962 and Little Anthony went off searching for the Holy Grail of a solo career.
But it was not to be. Little Anthony and the Imperials would reunite in 1964 and surface at Don Costa's DCP records. Here the group would team up with producer Teddy Randazzo to make some of finest pop records of that period. To this day, "Hurt So Bad" is still one of my all-time favorite records. Little Anthony also exhibits his considerable vocal prowess on several other hits from that period including "Goin' Out Of My Head", "I'm On The Outside (Looking In)" as well as the haunting "Take Me Back". After listening to this CD I am confident that you will agree with me that there is not a bad song to be found. Extensive liner notes make this CD an even better buy. Highly recommended.

I guess i'm kind of partial to groups from Brooklyn, maybe because I was born there too. This is the best compilation of hits by Little Anthony & The Imperials I've heard. Nine out of the eighteen tracks are in true stereo, have you ever heard "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop" in stereo, it's like you were there. It includes all their early material as well as those beautiful Teddy Randazzo productions from the mid sixties, although I would've perferred a stereo version of "I'm On The Outside Looking In", the mono version is just as beautiful. I've seen Little Anthony perform many times and not so long ago, the man still got it. Rhino records did a fantastic job with this release.

the group started out singing street corner, the sound was very good but lack that certain instruments quality, not just any instruments,strings, harps, you get the picture. WHEN THAT SOUND WAS EMPOYED, LITTLE ANTHONY AND THE IMPERIALS WERE GREAT, THAT WHY THEIR SONGS HAVE WITHSTOOD THE TIME TEST.

There's been a lot of talk lately that Little Anthony and the IMPERIALS are under serious consideration for induction into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME. I say YES YES YES !! The IMPERIALS most DEFINITELY SHOULD be inducted into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME.In fact, they should have been among the FIRST groups inducted. They, along with THE MIRACLES and DELLS ,(and to a lesser extent, the IMPRESSIONS),were the only groups of the DOO WOP era of the 1950's to maintain consistant success well into the '60's and '70's. That alone should have gotten them inducted.Their songs have become recognized classics ,having been recorded by artists as diverse as SERGIO MENDEZ,LINDA RONSTADT, FRANK SINATRA,REBA MCENTIRE .and others.They could very well have been the very first "ADULT CONTEMPORARY" GROUP,establishing a new level of class and sophistication never before seen in R&b groups,while at the same time never abandoning their DOO WOP roots. The LETTERMEN,for one, seem to have re-recorded every song they ever made.Songs such as TEARS ON MY PILLOW,HURT SO BAD,I'M ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN,TWO PEOPLE IN THE WORLD,GOING OUT OF MY HEAD,SHIMMY SHIMMY KO KO BOP,{which was featured in the TOM HANKS hit movie "BIG"},TAKE ME BACK,I'M ALRIGHT,BETTER USE YOUR HEAD,OUT OF SIGHT-OUT OF MIND,I MISS YOU SO,HURT,HELP ME FIND A WAY,and others have been recorded and re-recorded many times by others over the last 45 years. GOING OUT OF MY HEAD,for one, has had over 100 recorded versions, but none sounds as good as Little Anthony and The IMPERIALS'original version. They have also influnced an entire generation of artists , such as THE STYLISTICS, DELFONICS,BLUE MAGIC,MANHATTANS,CHI-LITES,and many more.In fact,the entire Philidelphia-based soft - soul movement of the 1970's,as exemplified by producers such as KENNY GAMBLE,LEON HUFF,THOM BELL,VAN MCCOY,and others,with it's emphasis on full symphonic orchestration and vocal harmony,can be traced directly back to the IMPERIALS'ground breaking early '60's recordings with TEDDY RANDAZZO and the late DON COSTA.Go back to the earliest days of rock and roll and they are there, with appearances on such shows as THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, AMERICAN BANDSTAND,PERRY COMO'S KRAFT MUSIC HALL,ABC'S SHINDIG,NBC'S HULLABLOO,THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL,and the MERV GRIFFIN SHOW - all the way up to their show stopping performances on the 2002 & 2003 PBS MUSIC SPECIALS-the IMPERIALS-ANTHONY, ERNEST,CLARENCE,& SAMMY-most definitely SHOULD {along with the MIRACLES,who STILL haven't been inducted }-be inducted into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME ! one listen to this cd,and YOU'LL SEE WHY !!

You really have to have been living in the 50's to appreciate this music. Little Anthony and The Imperials had it going on... over and above most.
Thier rich harmonies carried the music to levels barely reached by others.
'Tears on My Pillow', 'Two People in The World', 'The Diary', 'Going Out of My Head', 'Hurt So Bad' and 'I'm On the Outside Looking In' are fantastic! Still carry the oomph that they did years ago.
It was nice to have all these songs in one place and in a great package.
All you Doo-Wop fans... buy it. You won't be sorry.

Little Anthony and the Imperials were an R&B vocal group from Brooklyn. They started their recording career with End Records, for which they had the silly, lightweight hits "Tears on My Pillow" and "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop" (Little Anthony himself has said he hates these songs). Then, after several years without any more hits, they signed with DCP Records and adopted a more mature sound. They had five hits with DCP(the last five songs on this CD), the best of which is the sublime "Goin' Out of My Head". This is a decent CD, but it focuses too much on the silly songs they recorded for End Records, most of which weren't even hits.

The CD was of high quality and contained the original songs that I liked.

This solid music collection covers the essential songs by one of the best doo-wop groups of that era. Anthony Gourdine, the lead singer, was nicely complimented by the Imperials whose harmonies always had a unique street-corner sound, and their records were a staple at neighborhood parties in the late 1950s and early 60s. "Tears On My Pillow" and the wonderful B side, "Two People In the World", are regarded as classics of the early years of rock/roll music. The group had two separate careers, first with End records, then a second and more successful run with DCP in the mid 1960s. With DCP, the group's arrangements consisted of lush strings and sophisticated orchestral arrangements that departed from the old church-style piano format at End. The result was a string of hits for the Imperials, including two Top 10 songs.

Terrific CD with all the great Little Anthony & The Imperials songs plus many others that were not as familiar. Great product and great value.

The Best of Little Anthony & the Imperials has all of their hits and most of their charted songs, plus a few that did not chart. And there are NO remakes.

That's the good news. The bad news is that some of the cuts are still distorted at times. The engineering is as good as it can be, but the original master tapes are apparently to blame. I guess we'll never know why pieces of some songs are over-modulated...whether the mics were overpowered, if the equipment was cheap, or the original engineers simply recorded too "Hot".

All that said, the newer songs sound cleaner than the older pieces. "Take me Back" sounds pretty good, but "Tears on My Pillow" will always have some distortion. As soon as Anthony sings "You don't remember me" ... I have to turn down the volume a tad. To quote my brother's first word when he was a baby .. "Hot-ta"!