Customer Reviews

Love Is Strange: A Golden Classics Edition

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

 

 

Mickey Baker and Sylvia Robinson had a few hit records in the 50's...they are all right here in this great COLLECTABLES package. "Love Is Strange", "I'm Going Home" , "There ought to be a law", "Love will make you fail in school"..all are classics and taken from the original master tapes. This is a must for any 50's rock'n roll collector.

Great artists. Nice collection of songs. Noticeably missing was "Lovedrops", but the thing I appreciated the most was the inclusion of "I'm Goin' Home" the flip side of the original issue of "Love Is Strange" on the Groove label. More collections CDs should include the flip sides of the hits which are usually accessible only by playing the old 45s.

"Love is strange" is one of the sexiest, sweetest love songs ever created. If you like the "1950's" sound, you will love that song and the album. Mickey & Sylvia both have such great, unique voices. "Love is strange" has been featured prominitely on the hit movies "Casino" and "Dirty Dancing".

The musical collaboration of McHouston "Mickey" Baker (b. October 15, 1925 in Louisville) and Sylvia Vanderpool (b. March 6, 1936 in New York) dates back to 1954. Before that the guitarist Baker, who had formed his first combo back in 1949, had done session work with some of the biggest stars of the day such as Ray Charles, Louis Jordan, The Drifters, Ivory Joe Hunter, Ruth Brown and Joe Turner and, for a while, he, drummer Paramour Crampton (and sometimes Connie Kay), bass player Lloyd Crompton and tenor saxophonist Sam "The Man" Taylor appeared on just about all singles released by the Atlantic, King and Savoy labels.

Sylvia, on the other hand, first appeared on record at age 15 billed as Little Sylvia on How Long Must I Be Blue b/w Little Boy on Savoy 816 with the backing of the Heywood Henry Orchestra. She then cut three singles for Jubilee in 1952/53, two of them with the Buddy Lucas band, and in 1954 did Fine Love b/w Speedy Life on the Atlantic subsidiary Cat C-1148 billed as "Little" Sylvia Vanderpool And Mickey Baker & His Band. Unfortunately, those sides, their first together, are omitted as well.

But in 1955 the new duo turned up at Eddie Heller's Rainbow Records in New York and you get the A-sides of all three singles released there plus one B-side: I'm So Glad b/w Se De Boom Run Dun (Rainbow 316), Rise Sally Rise (Rainbow 318 - the flip, Forever And A day is not here), and Where Is My Honey (Rainbow 330 - the flip, Seems Like Just Yesterday also omitted). Each was billed as Mickey & Sylvia, and it was in this period that Mickey taught Sylvia how to play guitar.

Their next stop was the giant RCA Victor's Groove subsidiary where their initial release was No Good Lover b/w Walkin' In The Rain on Groove 0164 in 1956. Neither side charted, but late that year they cut a side penned by Bo Diddley, Love Is Strange, finally giving them their first charted hit as it soared to # 1 R&B and # 11 Pop Top 100 early in 1957, initially on Groove 0175 and then on Vik 0252, another of RCA's subsidiaries, b/w I'm Going Home.

For that one big entry, some sources unfairly label them as a One-Hit Wonder, but the fact is, they would go on to post 7 more Top/Hot 100 hits, two of which would also score highly on the R&B charts, starting with There Oughta Be A Law which peaked at # 8 R&B/# 47 Top 100 in April 1957 on Vik 0267, while the flipside, Dearest, made it to # 85 Top 100 in July. Their next three in 1957 would fail: Love Will Make You Fail School on Vik 0280 b/w Two Shadows On Your Window (not here), Love Is A Treasure on Vik 0290 b/w Let's Have A Picnic (not here), and There'll Be No Backing Out b/w Where Is My Honey on Vik 0297 (neither side here).

In early 1958, Bewildered reached # 57 Top 100 on Vik 0324 b/w Rock And Roll Room (omitted), while the next two releases that year also failed: It's You I Love b/w True, True Love on Vik 0334 and, on the main RCA label, Oh Yeah! Uh-Huh on RCA Victor 47-7403 b/w To The Valley (not here). They would have no singles released in 1959, but in 1960 they released Mommy Out De Light on RCA Victor 47-7774 b/w Sweeter As The Days Go By (omitted), followed by What Would I Do, a cover of a Shirley & Lee 1955 release as That's What I'll Do, which started its climb in late December 1956 to # 46 Pop Hot 100 early in 1957 on RCA Victor 7811. The B-side, a cover of the 1955 Gene & Eunice hit, This Is My Story, just made the Hot 100 at # 100.

Their final release for RCA, 1961's Love Is The Only Thing b/w Love Lesson on RCA Victor 47-7877 did not chart, nor are they here. At this stage they formed their own label, Willow Records, and in the fall of 1961 had Baby You're So Fine (a cover of the 1960 Joe & Ann R&B hit which they called Gee Baby) reach # 27 R&B/# 52 Hot 100 on Willow 23000 b/w Lovedrops, which also charted at # 97 Hot 100. But Collectables, up to their old tricks, either could not get the rights, or did not bother including, either side.

And for that reason I had to deduct 1 star from an otherwise good volume which also has two pages of background notes by Mark Marymont that makes reference to those missing sides. So why not include them? There is no dedicated discography.

Grew up in the 50's I loved Micky and Sylvia. What great music we had back then...

i really dug this disc and the songs Love is strange,I'm so glad,Walkin' in the rain among the others.Mickey&Sylvia had a good solid Chemistry.

I bought this CD for their version of "Love is Strange" that I remember from decades ago and was in the movie "Dirty Dancing". The CD contains a number of songs that were not hits at the time of original release. I have a classic Peaches and Herb CD that I like better.

I grew up listening to this in Nigeria. Are they still alive?

What a voice Sylvia had/ has?

Kele