Customer Reviews

Doo Wop 51 Live!

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

 

 

This disk (and others in the series) offers a selection of performances from the PBS fund-raising concerts of recent years (2000, 2001, etc).

They are live (recent) performances of classic songs by the original performers or groups (or what is left of them). For many of these artists, it's a chance to get a little bit of love and respect, long overdue. Many of the performances are very touching, and beautifully sung. The first disk has a heart stopping performance of EARTH ANGEL by the Penguins. The highlight for me of this disk is Jerry Butler and Betty Everett reuniting for their version of an old Everly Brothers' song LET IT BE ME, from 1960, which Jerry and Betty brought back to the top 10 in 1964.

To get even more of these songs, you should consider the longer DVD versions of the concerts.

That being said, the cds suffer from poor sound, partly due to live concert mixing, and overpowering modern instrumentation, but perhaps also due to modern engineering techniques (digital compression). Too often the peaks and lows of what were often very dramatic songs back in the 50's and 60's are lost in a buzz of noise that bleeds into other tones. The ultimate disappointment to this fan is that the next (third) cd in this series was encoded at a higher volume level than the first two, so if you put all three on your cd system for sequential play, the last one may drive you to turn the volume down! Since all three disks came from Rhino, which used to mean quality, it is very disappointing. For that reason, I give the disk only 3 ½ stars

Personally, I hope the series continues, as there are many more artists who could perform for their "last hurrah", and altho it would be nice if the sound could be better, I would still pick such disks up for the emotion and memories they stir .

The Cd was good, but not all the songs that were on TV were in the CD. That was a little disapointing.

I saw the PBS show a while back. I love this music now as much as I did way back when. I wish I had not waited so long to buy the CD. This music makes me very happy and glad to be alive. When this music is on I amaze myself with the things I get accomplished. My body reacts like it has been transported back in time and can move like it did back in my teens. I can sing along as I remember all the words. It just feels great.

If you have some Doo Wop already this is a useful recording but it suffers from the usual 'live' issues when you remember the studio recording! Also suffers from a common problem that some tracks are not what I would call Doo Wop. Overall a good listen though.

I have the DVD of the show (5 stars!!) and wanted to get a CD. Unfortunately, the CD only has 20 of the 34 songs. If the CD had all the songs, I would buy it.

This applies to the Doo Wop 50 CD (only 20 of 38 songs).

Too bad Rhino didn't issue a 2 CD set with all the performances.

AS WITH ITS PREDECESSOR(DOO WOP 50),THIS DVD IS A CONTINUATION OF THE BEST THAT DOO WOP HAS TO OFFER. IF YOU ARE INTO DOO WOP OR ENJOY MUSIC OF THE FIFTIES, THIS DVD IS A MUST BUY. YOU WILL NEVER FIND ANY OTHER DVD'S THAT WILL GIVE YOU MORE THAN WHATS OFFERED HERE.

This cd is not what I expected from the show that I saw Doo-Wop 51.
I thought this was supposed to be the best from the doo-wop era
Its not. The only good ballad on the cd is from the Dubs( Please dont ask me to be lonely) the rest of the stuf on the cd is average that you would hear on any oldies station not the good, rare, ballads that you cant hear on the air waves. It is OK but not enough ballads from the PBS show. SORRY !!!!!!!