Customer Reviews

The Cadillacs For Collectors Only

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For Collectors Only is the best compilation available for the Cadillacs, having the edge over the single disc one on Rhino. Every song on that compilation is collected here, along with quite a few excellent tracks that didn't make it on. I will review some of those. Buzz Buzz Buzz, featuring energetic vocals, "King Bee" styled guitar and fine production arguably betters the Hollywood Flames version. Shock-A-Doo and If You Want to Be a Woman of Mine are very catchy up-tempo rockers.The ballad Carelessly has a mysterious beginning in the voices, and could be compared to Window Lady and Gloria in its use of the organ. Also great is the raucous Holy Smoke Baby, with hilarious lyrics and screaming vocals reminiscent of Little Richard. There are plenty of other small pleasures on this set, although every track is not of a uniformly high quality. Still, I would say the Cadillacs may deserve a spot near the end of the top ten list for best R&B vocal groups of all time. Despite having only two big hits, they recorded alot of material in their day. Unfortunately, there are no recording dates, personnel, or other valuable information. In buying this set, you are getting 60 tracks, (three and a half times more than the single disc collection), for only about twice the money. I recommend buying this, because the gems on this set missing from the single disc are just too good to overlook.

Sixty selections seems a bit much for a group that put four - count 'em - four songs onto the singles charts! And in this massive compilation, Collectables does their usual thing by leaving out their last hit, 1961's What You Bet which made it to # 30 R&B b/w You Are To Blame for the Smash label. What's wrong with this picture?

The biggest hit for Earl "Speedo" Carroll, LaVern Drake, Earl Wade, Charles Brooks, and Robert Phillips was, of course, 1956's rocking Speedo which, b/w the ballad, Let Me Explain, reached # 3 R&B and # 17 Billboard Pop Top 100 that February. Their next didn't come until the end of the year when their cover of Gene Autry's Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer topped out at # 11 R&B b/w Shacka Doo (erroneously spelled above). On both these hits, recorded for the Josie label, they were backed by the orchestra of Jesse Powell.

Over a year would then pass before Peek-A-Boo peaked at # 20 R&B and # 28 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in February 1959, backed by Osie Johnson & His Orchestra. And that was it for their Josie hits. Carroll, following the charting of What You Bet in 1961, joined The Coasters.

You have to admire the effort that went into the production of this compilation but, COME ON. Can't you just give us a nice, compact single CD with ALL their hits and their B-sides, plus a few selected non-charters or album cuts? It's not like they were The Beatles of their day.