Customer Reviews

The Best Of The Marcels

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Their combination of a bass-man on steroids, a good tenor and syncopated rhythms bouncing off the walls and ceiling make them my favorite doowop group of them all. Of all the various treatments of BLUE MOON, theirs is the wildest! Why not five stars? This isn't everbody's kind of rock and roll, and despite the album liner's claim, they were pretty much a one-hit wonder.

Lead singer Cornelius "Nini" Harp, tenors Ronald "Bingo" Mundy and Gene Bricker, baritone Richard Knauss, and bass Fred Johnson caught everyone's attention in the spring of 1961 with their upbeat version of the old [1935] Rodgers and Hart tune, Blue Moon. Especially the opening few bars. A # 1 on both the Billboard Pop Hot 100 [3 weeks] and R&B [2 weeks] charts, it was backed by Goodbye To Love on the Colpix label.

They dug back just as far for their next hit that June, George Gershwin's Summertime [from the 1935 folk opera Porgy And Bess], although this time they topped out at # 78 Hot 100 and were shut out on the R&B charts. The flip, Teeter Totter Love is omitted here.

In mid-1961 the two white members, Knauss and Bricker, were replaced by Fred's brother Allen and Walter Maddox in time to record another oldie, Heartaches. First a hit for Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians way, way back in 1931. it reached # 7 Hot 100/# 19 R&B in November. The B-side, My Love For You, is also missing.

Continuing that pattern [and with Mundy having left the group] they really dug down in the vaults [1915] for their fourth and final hit, taking My Melancholy Baby to # 58 Hot 100 in February 1962 b/w Really Need Your Love [missing here]. By this time the catchy, but similar approach to each release was clearly wearing thin.

Like another in this same series [see The Best Of The Flamingos], Rhino provides a complete discography along with some very informative liner notes, and the AAD sound quality is excellent. I just wish they had seen their way clear to provide all four B-sides which, it seems, would have been logical in an 18-track CD covering a group with just four hit singles in a brief 12-month chart success period.

I bought my husband this cd for Christmas and his birthday. Everytime we're in the car, he plays it. Love the music. I couldn't have picked a better present for him.

This is a nice compilation of a great Do-Wop era group. It seems to have been remastered to remove any inherent imperfections common of the era it was originally recorded. This is "feel good" music at its best; it just doesn't get much better!

I hate to be the one to rain on somebody's parade, but I have a question: who are the guys shown as "The Marcels" on this CD? My original Colpix copy of "Blue Moon" both shows and names five guys: two WHITE guys, (Richard Knauss, Gene Bricker) and three BLACK guys (Ronald Mundy, Fred Johnson and Cornelius Harp on guitar). So who are the guys they show here?
An excellent example of the very best late period doo-wop group, whoever they are. Truly fine, inspired singing; interesting choices of material; great sound.