Customer Reviews

Diamonds Collection

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

 

 

This full length CD not only contains the Mercury tracks but also includes the harder to find Coral titles - excellent sound quality.

Stardust Records of Canada, whose multi-artist compilation series Treasured Tunes and Vintage Instrumentals are easily among the best such collections on the market today (unless you're an audiophile who seeks only "pristine" sound reproduction), provides ALL 16 of their Billboard Pop Top/Hot 100 singles, whereas the Mercury "Best Of" does not.

The missing hits included here are: Love, Love Love [# 14 R&B/# 30 Billboard Pop Top 100 in summer 1956], Soft Summer Breeze [# 34 Top 100 in October 1956 and the A-side involving Ka-Ding-Dong, the uncharted flip of High Sign [Don't Let Me Down], the double-sided 1958 hits Kathy-O [# 16 Top 100] and Happy Years [# 73 Top 100], and the failed Mercury singles Straight Skirt, Sneaky Alligator, and Walkin' The Stroll.

Inside are four pages of liner notes written in 1993 by Dave Booth of Showtime Music Archives in Toronto and another nice shot of the group taken in 1959. The sound quality is, like everything produced by Stardust, not perfect, but certainly tolerable.

One of three renowned vocal groups formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (the others being The Crew Cuts and The Four Lads), this quartet is often maligned as being among those "opportunistic" recording artists who rode to success by covering the selections of black recording artists. Which, of course, is a load of hogwash. "Covers" as such had been around for years, and in the 1930s, 40s and early 50s it wasn't uncommon to see upwards of 6 to 8 charted versions of the same tune on as many different labels. That was the spirit of free enterprise at work, and why should the colour of the artist or group coming out with the song first be a factor?

It's also interesting to note that The Diamonds had these seven of their hits cross over to the R&B charts where, in all but one instance, they scored higher than on the Pop charts: Love, Love, Love (# 14 R&B/# 30 Top 100 - a cover of The Clovers # 4 R&B/# 30 Top 100 in 1956; Ka-Ding Dong (# 8 R&B/# 35 Top 100 in late 1956 - a cover of The G-Clefs # 9 R&B/# 24 Top 100 that same year; Little Darlin' (# 2 R&B/# 2 Top 100 in early 1957) - a cover of The Gladiolas # 11 R&B/# 41 Top 100; Words Of Love (3 12 R&B/# 13 Top 100 in summer 1957 - a cover of the Buddy Holly failed single that year on Coral; Zip Zip - # 12 R&B/# 16 Top 100; Silhouettes - # 6 R&B/# 10 Top 100 in late 1957 - a cover of The Rays # 3 R&B/Top 100 hit that year (the flipside, Daddy Cool, was also the B-side to The Rays' release on Cameo; The Stroll (# 4 Top 100/# 5 R&B).

Their appeal, therefore, clearly spread across the various aspects of the listening audience and buying public. Quite frankly, they have every right to be in the R&R Hall Of Fame as many of the slugs in there now.

I found the sound quality on this disc to be quite satisfactory and the Collection is better than any other product available.

I LOVE the wit and humour of these Canadian copycats, and THAT'S WHY I have been offended by the boldness of the issuing record company, who somehow neglected to dust off the vinyl from which they have copied most of the tracks for this CD. Furthermore, some of their transcriptions here are grossly distorted. I have heard better sounding bootlegs, of which this may well be the one!? In comparison, my Diamonds' original Australian MERCURY singles sound like master-tapes... Try UK import instead! Sometimes it is wiser to spend a bit more than to throw your money away.

It's amazing to me how the reviews to date on this terrible disk include several fives! Although there are many selections included, including the Diamonds' greatest hits, many of the selections are apparently recorded directly from someone's old records. On modern equipment the fidelity is just awful. If you enjoy this fine 1950's group, you will be most disappointed.