8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
MGM and Mercury sides anyway...., February 12, 2003
This review is from: The Essential Collection (Audio CD)
Clyde McPhatter, after leaving the Drifters, had nearly two dozen pop charting singles during the late 50's and early 60's. This collection gathers up the top-100 sides from his stint at MGM and Mercury led by the big hits "Ta Ta" and "Lover Please". However, none of his work for Atlantic appears here and that belies the title "Essential Collection". There are five tunes here including "Sixty Minute Man" and "Money Honey" that he did while with the Dominoes and Drifters but these are re-recordings, not the original ones.
Beyond these shortcomings, this collection does offer the first legitimate gathering of his later singles. All nine of his pop-charting MGM and Mercury singles are here along with the aforementioned rerecordings and a few non-charting singles from the later 60's. If you complement this piece with the Atlantic McPhatter compilation CD, then you have a fairly comprehensive gathering of McPhatters's singles.
Sound quality here is generally good with tracks 1-5 (the re-recordings),10,12-15,17,18 in stereo and the remainder in mono. Though brief, the liner notes booklet does contain some background info on McPhatter's career.
Overall, a decent piece that completes the availability of McPhatter's hits on CD. The biggest complaint here would be the notation on the booklet cover touting "18 original recordings...." which is just misleading since the early recordings are not the Drifters originals.
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