Capitol Collectors Series: The Four Preps

Capitol Collectors Series, Four Preps | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 11, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collectables
• ASIN: B0000008ZG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,054 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #17 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Vocal Jazz
  • #20 in Music > Indie Music > Pop > Traditional & Vocal Pop

Track Listings

1. Dreamy Eyes

2. 26 Miles (Santa Catalina)

3. Big Man

4. Lazy Summer Night [From "Andy Hardy Comes Home"]

5. Summertime Lies

6. Cinderella [From the Columbia Film Gidget]

7. I Ain't Never

8. Down by the Station (Early in the Morning)

9. Got a Girl

10. More Money for You and Me (Medley): Mr. Blue/Alley Oop/Smoke Gets ...

11. The Seine

12. The Big Draft (Medley): I'll Never Smile Again/Love Is a Many ...

13. Charmaine

14. A Letter to the Beatles

15. I've Known You All My Life

16. I'll Never Be the Same

17. The Girl in the Shade of the Striped Umbrella

18. Let's Call It a Day Girl

19. Love of the Common People

20. Draft Dodger Rag

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: FOUR PREPS
Title: COLLECTOR'S SERIES
Street Release Date: 06/11/1996
Domestic
Genre: OLDIES

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars BIGGER TALENTS THAN THEIR RECORD SALES, July 12, 2000

By 

"charleshasbrouck" (Lakeland, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Capitol Collectors Series: The Four Preps (Audio CD)

Probably because they took on an early repuation as a novelty group, the richly talented Four Preps made some terrific,but often overlooked music for their time. Their collective sense of humor and brilliant mimicry of the acts of the late 50's and early 60's enhanced what some might describe as a mediocre success record. I dare anyone of any generation to listen to "26 Miles", "Big Man", "Cinderella," or several others on this well-packaged collection and not wake up singing their tunes. One more thing: As a lover of the ORIGINAL Kingston Trio, I laugh every time I listen to "More Money..." Their impression of the Trio's Bob Shane coughing during the song would miss most folks....but I loved it! Unfortunately, The Preps' later material departed from the original sound so much in an attempt to salvage some radio air time,so the quality suffered.But,still well worth the money and "More Money..." for this Preps fan.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not essential, but pleasant pop/folk from the sixties, May 27, 2000

By 

David Kenner (Fort Worth, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Capitol Collectors Series: The Four Preps (Audio CD)

It's interesting the way that Capitol made these incredible Collector's Series CDs on so many of their classic artists but then let them go out of print. It's nice that Collectables Music has been picking some of them up and reissuing them. I haven't seen others in the series that Collectables has put out, but one interesting thing about this is that the color photo spread in the Capitol book is replicated in the Collectables book in black and white. But then again, the music is the important thing and if you're a fan of the Preps, you will find this CD is very comprehensive with it's generous 20 track selection. The stand out track is their classic parody of popular vocal groups called More Money For You And Me. It's still funny after all these years, is a great showcase of the Preps' vocal talents and is full length on this CD (restoring the opening dialogue about President Kennedy and the chorus of Worried Man that were edited for single release.) All of the Preps other hits are here as well including classics like 26 Miles and Big Man and not so classics like A Letter To The Beatles. Overall, Collectables should be commended for not letting this stay out of print.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aw Come ON - 13 Hits And We Get All But One In A 20-Track Release?, September 8, 2007

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Capitol Collectors Series: The Four Preps (Audio CD)

From the point of view of their hit singles, the producers had a good thing going here for a while as they provided each of their hits in the same order (would that other CDs follow the same format) that they appeared on the charts. Tracks 1 to 9 are their hits from January 1957 [Dreamy Eyes - # 56 Billboard Pop Top 100] to 1960's Got A Girl [# 24 Hot 100], including the double-sided 1958 hit Lazy Summer Night (# 21 Top 100 from the film Andy Hardy Comes Home) b/w Summertime Lies (regarded as a "follow-along" hit).

Tracks 10, 12 and 14 then pick up their 11th, 12th and 13th hit singles. The rest are either failed singles or LP cuts. But where is the one missing hit, Calcutta? Admittedly a minor offering [it only made it to # 96 Hot 100 in 1961] at least it WAS a hit unlike, say, Charmaine.

For a completist collector this is agonizingly irritating as I doubt very much there's room for a second volume of Four Preps tunes. Unless they'd like to give us the B-sides, none of which [except for the above-mentioned two-sided hit] are included.

A product of the Hollywood High School Choir, the quartet consisted of lead tenors Bruce Belland and Marvin Ingraham, baritone Glen Larson, and bass Ed Cobb. They made their stage début with Ricky Nelson at Hamilton High School in L.A., and are often cited as one of the main influences on The Beach Boys.

Incidentally, the majority of their hits were backed by The Lincoln Mayorga Orchestra [except their first which included The Van Alexander Orchestra, I Ain't Never, backed by Morty Cobb & His Orchestra, and A Letter To The Beatles - Ray Pohlman's Orchestra]. In fact, on Big Man, that's Mayorga on piano. Two of their hits, 26 Miles and Big Man, even crossed over to the R&B charts in 1958, going to # 6 and # 9 respectively.

They were funny, wickedly irreverent, and possessed of one of the tightest harmonies of any group from that era. Significantly, when looking at their final hit, they were among the many North American artists shoved aside by the British Invasion in general, and The Beatles in particular. Obviously, with the song reaching a lowly # 85 in April 1964, Beatles' fans were not amused.