Customer Reviews

The Coasters on Atco - There's A Riot Goin' On

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

 

 

The Coasters were arguably the greatest vocal group of the early days of rock and roll. This four CD collection features all the songs that they recorded for Atco Records. It begins with 12 songs by an earlier incarnation of the group, when they were called the Robins. These songs were originally released by Spark Records, but they were purchased by Atco when they signed the group. Some of the Robins didn't want to move from the west coast to the east coast when they signed with Atco, so the group was reorganized as the Coasters. They recorded many great songs, most of which were written by their regular producers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. But there was a big misstep made in 1960, when the Coasters recorded an album of standards called One By One. These songs (not produced by Lieber and Stoller) were given very dull easy listening type arrangements, and this type of material was wrong for the Coasters' singing style anyway. But for what it's worth, bass singer Dub Jones did a pretty good job on the songs which were sung by him (most songs featured just one Coaster singing solo, with none of the group's trademark harmony singing). After that album bombed, the group went back to doing the type of songs that they excelled at, thank goodness. But in late 1962, Lieber and Stoller left Atco, and the group ended up working with other producers for the next three years. Atco seemingly lost faith in the group, and booked only six recording sessions for them during that period, recording 13 total songs. Most of these songs were decent, although not up to the standards of the group's classics, but none of them were very successful. The Coasters' contract with Atco quietly expired in 1966 and was not renewed. The first three discs of this collection contain all of the Coasters' master recordings. Disc Four features "Unreleased, Alternates & Rarities". These are interesting variations of the songs on the other discs, although some are just the stereo versions of the songs. This is a great collection for fans of the Coasters, although the terrible One By One album prevents me from giving it 5 Stars (but it wouldn't have been right not to include it in the collection).

Disc One: Masters 1954-1958
1 The Hatchet Man
2 I Love Paris (prev. unissued on US CD)
3 Whadaya Want?
4 If Teardrops Were Kisses
5 Wrap It Up
6 Riot In Cell Block #9
7 Loop De Loop Mambo
8 One Kiss
9 I Must Be Dreamin'
10 Framed
11 Smokey Joe's Cafe
12 Just Like A Fool
- the 12 recordings above by The Robins
13 Brazil
14 Down In Mexico
15 One Kiss Led To Another
16 Turtle Dovin'
17 Lola
18 Sweet Georgia Brown
19 Young Blood
20 Searchin'
21 My Baby Comes To Me
22 Idol With The Golden Head
23 What Is The Secret Of Your Success?
24 Wait A Minute
25 Dance! (prev. unissued on US CD)
26 Gee, Golly (prev. unissued on US CD)
27 Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart (stereo master*,
prev. unissued in stereo on legal US CD)
28 Three Cool Cats (original single mono master)
Disc Two: Masters 1958-1960
1 Yakety Yak (stereo master*)
2 Stewball (stereo master*)
3 Sorry But I'm Gonna Have To Pass (stereo master*)
4 The Shadow Knows (stereo master*)
- four above prev. unissued in stereo on legal US CD
5 I'm A Hog For You (I'm A Hog For You Baby)
(original single, dubbed mono master)
6 Crocodile (stereo master, prev unissued on legal CD)
7 Charlie Brown (stereo master*)
8 Hey Sexy (stereo master*)
- two above prev. unissued in stereo on legal US CD
9 Along Came Jones
10 That Is Rock & Roll
11 What About Us
12 Poison Ivy (original edited single, mono)
13 Run Red Run
14 Keep On Rolling
15 Besame Mucho Part 1
16 Besame Mucho Part 2 (prev. unissued on US CD)
17 The Snake And The Book Worm
(original single mono master) - prev. unissued on (legal) CD
18 Wake Me, Shake Me (mono master)
19 Lady Like (prev. unissued on US CD)
20 But Beautiful
21 Satin Doll
22 Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You
23 Autumn Leaves
24 You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
25 Moonlight In Vermont
26 Moonglow
27 Easy Living
28 The Way You Look Tonight
29 Don't Get Around Much Anymore
30 Willow Weep For Me
31 On The Sunny Side Of The Street
- 12 last above stereo masters*
Disc Three: Masters 1960-1966
1 Thumbin' A Ride
2 Shoppin' For Clothes (stereo)
3 Ridin' Hood (Riding Hood) (stereo master*,
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
4 Girls Girls Girls Part I (mono master, prev. unissued on CD)
5 Girls Girls Girls Part II
6 Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)
7 Hongry
8 Teach Me How To Shimmy
9 My Babe (stereo master*)
10 Bad Blood
11 (Ain't That) Just Like Me (stereo master*)
12 The Climb (vocal) (stereo master*,
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
13 Bull Tick Waltz
14 The P.T.A.
- two above prev. unissued on US CD
15 T'Ain't Nothin' To Me (live, stereo*)
16 Speedo's Back In Town (live, stereo*)
17 Bad Detective
18 Lovey Dovey
19 Wild One
20 I Must Be Dreaming
21 Money Honey
22 Let's Go Get Stoned
23 Crazy Baby
24 Bell Bottom Slacks And a Chinese Kimono
25 She's A Yum Yum
26 Saturday Night Fish Fry
- nine last above prev. unissued on (legal) US CD
Disc Four: Alternates 1957-1962
1 Yakety Yak (take 5, stereo outtake)
2 Three Cool Cats (take 1, alternate arrangement, stereo)
3 My Baby Comes To Me (alternate outtake)
- three above prev. unissued on legal record
4 Ridin' Hood (Riding Hood) (take 28, uptempo stereo version;
prev. unissued on legal record)
5 The Shadow Knows (take 2, stereo outtake)
6 I'm A Hog For You (slow version, stereo)
- two above prev. unissued on legal record
7 Charlie Brown (alternate stereo outtake;
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
8 Poison Ivy (unedited stereo master)
9 That Is Rock And Roll (dubbed stereo arrangement;
prev. unissued on US CD)
10 The Slime (stereo master*; prev. unissued in stereo on US CD)
11 Run Red Run (stereo alternate)
12 Hey Sexy (Sexy) (take 4, alternate arr., stereo - Gardner, lead;
prev. unissued on legal record)
13 The Snake And The Book Worm (The Snake & The Bookworm)
(alternate arrangement, stereo)
14 Bad Blood (stereo alternate)
15 Keep On Rolling (Keep On Rollin' ) (stereo alternate)
16 Along Came Jones (stereo alternate; prev. unissued on US CD)
17 Little Egypt (stereo edition)
18 Girls Girls Girls Pt 1 (stereo edition)
19 What About Us (stereo alternate)
20 I'm A Hog For You (Yea Yea) (takes 6, 7 + 8 complete;
prev. unissued on legal record)
21 Crocodile (take 1, alternate, stereo; previously unissued)
22 Yakety Yak (take 3, alternate, stereo; previously unissued)
23 Wake Me, Shake Me (stereo master)
24 Poison Ivy (alternate version, stereo; prev. unissued on CD)
25 I'm A Hog For You (undubbed stereo master,
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
26 Three Cool Cats (take 12, extended stereo master;
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
27 Dance (extended alternate edition; prev. unissued on legal CD)
28 Yakety Yak (alternate stereo version)

A superb cd-box with one of the great pioneers of rock n roll. You might heard these songs with The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dr Feelgood, Ry Cooder, Buddy Holly, The Hollies, Paul Jones, Elvis Presley and God knows who. But here they are in their wonderful orginal. Many of the songs are written by the ledgendery songwritercouple Lieber/Stoller who also wrote for Elvis. Updated, fab soundquality and one CD worth of rarities. Do yourself a favour and get this!

The music is great, I love the Coasters. But really you can get all the music in this set for well well UNDER a hundred... With a little shopping around you can even get the box set for $50 to $60. Really think about what you're paying for. I mean, if you can't wait then pay the extra $40 to $50, but if you can then trust me "shop around" and you'll find a better deal.

This is it, folks. Very likely the most complete and best-sounding Coasters anthology that will ever be produced. If you like them (and who doesn't), buy one of the 4,000 copies in this limited edition set by Rhino Handmade.

I judge a Mexican restaurant by the taste of the tamale, and a Coasters compilation by the sound of "Riot in Cell Block #9" - that is, the degree to which the distortions of that 1954 recording are minimized vs. other reissues. This version is the cleanest I've heard and predicts - accurately - excellent sound quality for the entire set (or at least as good as the original masters permit).

Room for improvement: in the liner notes, I would like to have seen comments about every single and every album. In particular the author tells us nothing of the story behind their 1960 album of standards on disc 2. One could speculate that The Coasters simply wanted to do the album, and that their contributions to the bottom line at Atlantic gave them the clout to make it happen in spite of the obviously poor sales prospects of such an album.

Very nice packaging, with the 33-page booklet nestled in the four-fold digipak, and all inserted in a heavy cardboard case. All of the hits are here, of course, along with some interesting novelties that you undoubtedly haven't heard before. Quite a few tracks are in stereo. Alternates and rarities are included on disc 4.

The biggest surprise is on disc 2, where we hear the Coasters singing Great American Songbook tunes from their 1960 album "One by One." Who'd a thunk it? The concept of a traditional pop album by Coasters, strange as it may be, is fairly well executed within the limitations of their R&B chops. And let's acknowledge that a traditional pop album by the Coasters is as much a novelty as the Leiber and Stoller songs they recorded. I enjoyed and appreciated it, but then I am a GAS addict. The foregoing acronym for Great American Songbook also aptly describes my reaction to the entire set: it's a gas!

i heard their songs yakety yak charlie brown and along came jones when i was little and they still had eight tracks. that tells you how old i am. other songs like searching poison ivy young blood and many more incudeing some from their days as the robins came later. i already had fifty coastin classics when i saw this but i had to have this too. espeally since it has even more. everthing on it is so funny.well not everthing but still this is an excellent album. i used to to call the coasters the black version of the beatles and its ironic that one of the songs is a novelty song about the beatles. anyway to some extent i still believe it. they were the first black group inducted into the rock in roll hall of fame and with good reason. their novelty songs are very funny and will stand the test of time. unlike most most not all but most novelty acts they are not one hit wonders.