Customer Reviews

Best of Mercury Years

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Actually, I have the best of the Crew Cuts. My Husband, Pat Barrett, is one of them and, of course, I think he is the best.
I was very happy to be able to find a CD as I have not been able to do that in this area
We both enjoyed listening to the tape. There are a few songs that Pat was not crazy about, but, all in all, it was great.
I am going to order more for my friends and relatives.
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The Crew Cuts were a Canadian group which had a number of hits back in the 1950s. The songs were, by and large, "covers": songsthat had been done by rhythm & blues groups,which they redid in a style better suited to the majority's tastes of the day. As such, they are badly vilified by r&b devotees, who seem to treat the cover versions as desecrations of holy objects. Well, I was, back then, one of that big majority that preferred the covers to the r&b original, and I still, 50 years later, do. This CD includes all the big Crew Cuts hits, including "Sh-Boom" and "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)" which were the biggest. It also includes aome covers that never charted (where other artists had the hit version) like "Young Love" and "Two Hearts, Two Kisses (Make One Love)." And it includes some songs I've never heard by any artist before. I've always liked the Crew Cuts' sound, and as I've already said here, thought their covers were better than the originals, so, no surprise, I like this album. If you're into r&B, you won't. But if your taste agrees with mine, you'll be happy if you buy this CD.

Although often dismissed for being "merely" a cover group, the Crew Cuts still achieved a lot of chart success with pop versions of many r'n'b tunes of the era. The complaint is often registered that such cover group "stole" the music from the original artist, depriving them of the deserved recognition. In reality, these cover artists provided exposure to these tunes, reworked for a wider audience as they were, to a vastly larger number of listeners that would otherwise never have heard these songs.

During the mid-50's the Crew Cuts presented the listening public with well-produced and listenable versions of many songs that became top tunes because of their treatment of them. Eventually, with rock and r'n'b artists being more widely accepted with the takeover of the pop charts by the rock-and-rolling teens, the string of hits for the Crew Cuts dried up as the age of the cover artists faded.

Here in this collection are their charted singles along with a number of b-sides and an album cut. Considering the vintage of these recordings, the sound quality is very good with all taken from the original mono masters. The twelve page liner notes booklet provides a history of the group along with production credits. An excellent reissue from Polygram on this underappreciated group.

This is the music of the'50s. These are all the original recordings that were the signs of the times then (501 levis, white bucks, tail fins on cars, suede belts, cool hair do's, side burns,high school dances, convertibles, dragging the main, drive in's, sanity). If you want to look back at some great times this is an album that can do it. ding a ling a ling---oop shoop--bawap bawap they are all there. Just a fun cd to turn on and reminise. These are real oldies but believe me they are goodies...... Hey Jim remember the good old days??????

GO NORTH YOUNG MAN (AND LADY), UP TO CANADA, AND YOU WILL BE TREATED TO SOME OF THE GREATEST VOCAL GROUPS OF ALL TIME. THE DIAMONDS, THE FOUR LADS, THE CREW-CUTS, JUST TO NAME A FEW. THIS COMPILATION OF THE CREW-CUTS IS ABSOLUTELY FIRST RATE. WHEN ROCK WAS YOUNG, THESE GUYS WERE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL. HIGHLY POLISHED, DANCABLE, AND JUST PLAIN GOOD ROCK HARMONIES TO LISTEN TO.

When the subject of "covers" from the mid to late fifties is broached, more often than not the Crew Cuts will be mentioned as the leading proponents of this "unspeakably evil" practice - as the critics would like you to believe. Hogwash.

That's like saying they [along with Pat Boone, The Diamonds, and other similarily villified artists and their record companies] should have been "better sports" and allowed the small labels to slowly spread their offerings without competition. In other words, while it was OK for Columbia to compete with RCA or Decca on any given song, it was wrong for them and their artists to do so if the song came from a small label like Cat, for example. Somehow, this just doesn't ring true in the land of free enterprise.

Yes, The Crew Cuts did cover a number of small label hits, among them the immortal Sh-Boom in 1954, but for the most part their covers were better, and that first one was no exception. I don't dislike the original version by The Chords, but then again I didn't live in L.A. and, given the ability of Cat to cut and distribute increased quantities internationally, it might have been 1956 before any reached Canada, never mind the East Coast of the U.S. Sure, some big company could have negotiated a deal to buy out The Chords' contract from Cat, but that takes time and since Mercury had just signed a group to a contract, why not let them cut the record?

The second male quartet to emerge from St. Michael's College in Toronto [The Four Lads preceded them], lead John Perkins, brother Ray (bass), tenor Pat Barrett and baritone Rudy Maugeri had started out as The Canadaires, and it was the success of Crazy 'Bout Ya Baby, penned by Pat and Rudi, that had caught the ears of Mercury executives. Peaking at # 8 Pop in the summer of 1954 b/w Angela Mia on Mercury 70341, it was quickly followed by Sh-Boom which stayed on the charts for 20 weeks, including 9 straight at # 1 b/w I Spoke Too Soon, which reached # 24, on Mercury 70404 late that summer. It couldn't have been all due to promotion.

Their next cover was of a Shirley Gunter tune, Oop-Shoop, which enjoyed modest success, going to # 13 in October 1954 b/w Do Me Good Baby on Mercury 70443. Again, Shirley's label, Flair, simply lacked the ability to compete with Mercury. But by the time 1955 rolled around, and following the rise of black superstars like Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Little Richard, the buying public was suddenly more aware and on the lookout for small or intermediate label artists.

The Penguins proved that to some extent with their original version of Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine) on DooTone. Released late in 1954, it soared to # 1 R&B and # 8 Billboard Top 100 in the early part of 1955. Even so, The Crew Cuts' version went higher in the Top 100, peaking at # 3 and, just for good measure, the flip-side, Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So) topped out at # 6 on Mercury 70529, losing out only to the Perry Como cut on RCA Victor. Once more the loser in pop sales was the original Gene & Eunice offering on the small Combo label, which hit # 6 R&B and, to me at least, was the better of the three.

Three more covers emerged in 1955, Nappy Brown's Savoy release of Don't Be Angry (# 14 Top 100) b/w The Danderliers' States release of Chop Chop Boom (# 14 Pop "Follow-Along") in May on Mercxury 70597, The Nutmegs' Herald release of A Story Untold (# 16 Top 100 b/w Carmen's Boogie on Mercury 70634 in July), and Otis Williams & His Charms' DeLuxe label release (which didn't chart) Gum Drop (# 10 Top 100) b/w Song Of The Fool on Mercury 70668 in September.

If anyone did either of Angels In The Sky b/w Mostly Martha before The Crew Cuts' Mercury 70741 release in December 1955, they certainly weren't national hits, but in their case the A- and B-sides rose to # 11 and 31 Top 100 respectively early in 1956. Several artists then covered Clyde McPhatter's Seven Days in 1956, but while Dorothy Collins had the highest ranked version at # 17, followed closely by The Crew Cuts at # 18 (b/w That's Your Mistake on Mercury 70782), Clyde's, released on Atlantic, was the better one for my money, hitting # 2 R&B and # 44 Top 100.

In July 1956, their version of Tell Me Why (also recorded by Gale Storm that year for Dot - # 52 Top 100) made it to # 45 b/w Rebel In Town on Mercury 70890, and in January 1957 their final Top 40 hit was Young Love (# 17 b/w Little By Little on Mercury 71022). Not a bad rendition, and while nowhere near Country singer Sonny James' offering which went to # 1 Top 100, # 1 Country AND # 3 R&B, it was certainly better than the Tab Hunter record which also hit # 1 Top 100, thanks primarily to heaby promotion by Dot.

Please don't be swayed by the anti-cover hype. This was a very good singing group that deserves more credit for their fine efforts than most historians are willing to grant. You will also enjoy quality sound reproduction, not to mention the 4 pages of liner notes written by Joseph F. Laredo, which also contains a complete discography of the contents and a great shot of the quartet at work in the studio.

When the Crew Cuts played Liverpool, a fan who stood outside their stage door for autographs was a pre-Beatles Paul McCartney. He got their autographs, they talked to him, and he's loved them ever since.

Order was received before promised delivery date. It was as described. Album cotained all of the great Crew Cuts songs along with other cover songs that were very entertaining. Very enjoyable.

I once read a critic who stated that the Crew Cuts should be considered one of the earliest practitioners of rock 'n' roll. The statement surprised me. Yet, in thinking about it, the Crew Cuts were one of the first vocal groups doing cover versions of black rhythm and blues artists. Sh-Boom, Oop Shoop and Earth Angel come to mind. Well, from my own experience, I can remember that during the summer of 1954 Sh-Boom suddenly rose on the top hits charts and was widely played over the radio. I loved it! It was simply unlike anything I had ever heard. I became an instant fan of this remarkable Canadian vocal quartet and I bought all of the records they released over the next two to three years. There was no rock ' n' roll when Sh-Boom was released, but when the r 'n' r genre was firmly established a few years later, my interests turned in that direction. Were the Crew Cuts one of the first rock 'n' roll acts? Hmmm. You know, I'd be inclined to say that they were, but their sound was quite a bit unlike that of the later-established artists in that genre and most of their music was definitely not rock 'n' roll.

It's fun to think back on this era. In 1956, a friend and I drove to Denver to see the Crew Cuts who were playing at one of the amusement parks. When we tried to get in, we were required to rent ties (at $1 each plus deposit) in order to be admitted. The concert was in a dance hall and the audience was totally white. The people were both listening and dancing to the music. The Crew Cuts were accompanied by a small backing band. Most of the music was more like the conventional pop music of that time, except for the covers of the R&B songs. A rock 'n' roll concert it was not. It was, however, a rather enjoyable experience.

The Crew Cuts presented pleasant and easy listening vocal arrangements. I'd say most were soft and mellow rather than rocking. As rock 'n' roll came in, the Crew Cuts faded. Many critics treated them with contempt and panned their R&B cover songs. Well, they certainly didn't deserve that. They brought wonderful R & B songs to an audience that was not ready for the original versions. Now, I notice that a number of Crew Cuts compilation albums are available. This "Best of the Crew Cuts" compilation is a good one. Should they be considered some of the first rock 'n' roll? Well, listen for yourself and decide. It's excellent, well-crafted, mid-fifties music, if nothing else.

Gary Peterson

a great cd . brings back fond memories of when popular singing groups actually knew how to sing ....