4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great two cd set..., June 16, 2007
This review is from: The Heartbeats/Shep & The Limelites: For Collectors Only (Audio CD)
I always liked Shep & The Limelights/Heartbeats, and after listening to this two cd set, I love them even more.
The standards of "Daddy's Home & the followup of "A Thousand Miles away" is always nice. But a cut I never heard of before, "Why, why won't you believe me?" brought tears to me eyes. It is so vulnerable and aching. Too much man.
There are alot of great harmony cuts in here, but I could do without the faster tempo pieces. It's the slower tempo songs you want like "Crazy for you" "People are talking" and "One week from Today". Great heartfelt tunes.
This is a good one to get.
Joe
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Puzzling Chart Performances, August 3, 2007
This review is from: The Heartbeats/Shep & The Limelites: For Collectors Only (Audio CD)
The most puzzling aspect of the two groups formed by James "Shep" Sheppard were their modest (with one notable exception) chart performances. In 1956 he, Wally Roker, Robbie Adams, Vernon Walker, and Walter Crump, all from Queens, New York, formed The Heartbeats. That same year, backed by Al Browne & His Orchestra, they cut the outstanding single A Thousand Miles Away for the small Hull label. Taken over by Rama, it made it to # 5 R&B and # 53 Billboard Top 100 in January 1957, b/w Oh Baby Don't.
That is mystery # 1. I was 19 at the time and can vividly remember that song being a staple at every dance and party, so how it could only reach # 53 Pop is beyond me. In fact, it's always included in just about every 1950s retrospective compilation and was also a part of the soundtrack of the wonderful film, American Graffiti!
Six months later they had their second hit, only this time Everybody's Somebody's Fool (not the same one as the Connie Francis hit) could only manage a # 78 Top 100 in July. Mystery # 2 was why this failed to crack the R&B Top 100, let alone barely make the Pop charts.
The group folded in 1960, the same year a re-release of A Thousand Miles Away made it to # 96 Billboard Hot 100 in November, but Sheppard soon formed another group with Charles Baskerville and Clarence Bassett, calling themselves Shep & The Limelites (note the correct spelling). Their first release, back with Hull, was an "answer" song to A Thousand Miles Away, and Daddy's Home quickly rose to # 2 Hot 100/# 4 R&B in June, b/w This I Know.
This was more like it. But then came Mystery # 3. The follow-up Ready For Your Love just missed the Hot 100 Top 40 (# 44) in August, and again failed to dent the R&B charts. The same thing happened to the marvelous Three Steps From The Altar which topped out at # 58 Hot 100 in December, b.w Oh, What A Feeling. What was going on?
In March 1962 the melodic Our Anniversary (b/w Who Told The Sandman?) made a respective showing on the R&B charts (# 7), but finished a disappointing # 59 Hot 100. After that their only charters were What Did Daddy Do? (# 94 Hot 100 in June 1962) and Remember Baby (# 91 Hot 100 in February 1963). Totally inexplicable in that this group, employing a very unique lead/ two-part harmony style, produced some of the most memorable sounds to emanate from that era.
Sadly, Shep was discovered in his car on the Long Island Expressway on January 24, 1970, savagely beaten to death. He was 34.
You would honour his memory and do your ears a big favour by purchasing this great 2-CD set.
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