Customer Reviews

The Moonglow Years

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

 

 

Though I rated this CD 4 stars, I would rate it 3 stars in comparison to later Righteous Brothers Material. If you are a Big Righteous Brothers fan, this is an essential. Some of the tracks are forgettable, but a few really stand out. 'I Still Love You', and 'For Your Love', are two of the highlights. Bobby also does a great cover of 'My Prayer'. Some of the tracks are just plain fun. This CD encompasses a wide variety of styles. The tracks have a distinctively different sound than the "Wall of Sound" songs produced by Phil Spector in their later years. Overall, I have enjoyed this CD.

Ever since someone gifted me a stack of RB records when I was six, these guys have been among my faves - and their Moonglow tracks were always the standouts. Before Phil Spector ever got to water the guys down, Bill and Bobby were the epitome of indie-label brilliance: self-produced, choosing/writing their own stuff, cutting roof-raising music on low budgets with their own band. Oh, and packing in more energy and pure SOUL then any 20 white artists of the time.

Almost every track from their three Moonglow albums is here (minus only 2-3 out of 30 or so, one or two with different mixes) and shows the RB's in full force. On every single song, they came out swinging and gave their all to the performance (as Bobby remarks in the liner notes, they cut live in the studio with everyone in the room, going full-tilt) and the results even hold their own with the black artists who were their obvious heroes. You could fault Bill and Bobby for covering some arrangements verbatim (e.g. the Don & Dewey classic "Justine") but with such great singing and sheer attitude, why be cynical? Sure, they were still finding their sound, and they wore their influences (D&D, Ray Charles, Jimmy Reed, the Isleys) on their sleeves, but what a great shirt.

My Faves:"I Just Want To Make Love To You", the hilarious "Try To Find Another Man", and Ray Charles' "This Little Girl Of Mine", which must be heard to be believed. To quote Bobby, at track's end:"Aw, righteous!!!!"

This is a great collection of Righteous Brothers music that I have not been able to find on other currently available CDs. I have the old vinyls, but they are not really very portable so this was a great find. If you love the Righteous Brothers, you need this disc!

Terrific set of early recordings from top artistes - The Righteous Brothers. This is music loaded with raw talent from a much-loved duo, and is recommended without reservation to anyone who simply appreciates first class music.

I rated this collection 5 stars because there is no 6 star ranking.

I still remember when I first heard and saw the Righteous Brothers. It was on the Shindig TV show and, as a long time R&B fan, I was absolutely blown away! Two whites guys like me singing like so many of the black artists I had so long loved listening to. They weren't just trying to sound black, they really had soul, not rubber soul but soul!
I had to find recordings by these guys but it's not so easy when you live in WV. Finally at store in Charleston,which sold 45 rpm singles which had been taken off jukeboxes, I spotted that Moonglow label and the single of My Babe. So there were recordings and they were on a label I hadn't seen before: Moonglow.
A few weeks later I went to a music store in South Charleston which had a record section and I discovered my first two Righteous Brothers albums, Right Now and Some Blue Eyed Soul. It was also the first time I had heard the term blue eyed soul. I spent more of a poor teenager's meager funds than I should have but I have never regretted it. Those two albums blew my mind. Not a bad cut on either. I learned that the Righteous Brothers had written and performed Little Latin Lupe Lu which I had thought was a Kingsmen song. The single by the Kingsmen had incorrectly listed the author as Phil Medley who had written songs for the Isley Brothers, when of course it should have been Bill Medley, 1/2 of the Righteous Brothers.
Those two albums began a life long devotion to the Righteous Brothers which carried on through their success with Phil Spector and King and Goffin and Mann and Weil. I loved all those songs and albums and bought them all but nothing ever matched the excitement and pure joy of those earlier two albums. A few years later I discovered This Is New! also on the Moonglow label and it was like finding those first two all over again.
So the trick was the label, as good as all those other recordings were and are, nothing was like the pairing of Bill and Bobby and Moonglow.
This CD captures all of those songs from those three albums, save four, on one CD.
It is magical and there is not a bad cut on the CD. Some of course are extraordinary. I single out In That Great Gettin' Up Mornin', B-Flat Blues, I Just Want To Make Love To You, For Your Love (foreshadowing Bobby's definitive version of Unchained Melody some years later), and Cryin' Blues as the best of the best.
Some of these songs are on other of the many Righteous Brothers collections but to really appreciate the Moonglow experience this is the way to listen to them, as a collection. Maybe someday you'll hear Gotta Tell You How I Feel, I Need A Girl,If You're Lying You'll Be Crying and There She Goes, all written by Bill or Bill and Bobby and all gems not included. There are only two kinds of Righteous Brother songs; great and better.
I was lucky enough to see Bill and Bobby live on four different occasions and they never disappointed and always did a lot of the Moonglow catalog.
Sadly Bobby Hatfield is gone and we will never see their like again. They were made to sing together and together they were the best.
As great as You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling and the many songs that followed are, the Moonglow years are the best.