Customer Reviews

Oldies But Goodies 13

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Right around the time of the year when the days are somewhat cold and the rush of the holidays is over, the spirit of the Harlem revival takes over me. Perhaps is the proximity of the Zora Neale Hurston festival (I live in Orlando, not far from Eatonville, where it takes place), or perhaps it is the fact that rhythm and blues can carry the romance of Valentine's Day so eloquently.

If you are a nostalgic at heart like me, you will like a CD like this one. Famous disc-jockey Art Laboe ensured that jewels like Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips are all included (with a few others) in their own original recordings. When I bought this CD I was looking for a song by the Flamingos called "I only have eyes for you" (listed in second place in this collection), a romantic tune that gives me goose bumps and which I first heard in the American soap opera "Days of our Lives" as a couple's song. It is a tune for slow dancing in silk lingerie, alongside a fireplace, champagne, strawberries and all.

But this collection is plagued with gems. I discovered one in Ray Charles' "What I'd say". He yells with his unique cranky but incredibly seductive voice in this rocky tune, and one understands why he's always been held in such consideration for his performances. He's truly a magnificent performer. The Righteous Brothers are the only white group in the collection with their classical "Unchained Melody". This is, however, the remastered version (one not much preferred by some fans). Marvin Gaye, that genius of black music, who died such an untimely death, gives us one of his best performances with the suggestive "Let's get it on". I was honestly surprised at the words of this song the first time I listened to it, as they could not have been more 'descriptive', and I applaud Gaye for having dared against taboos, i.e. I can't imagine him singing it during the seventies. The fact that he did, makes him even more remarkable.

"Oldies but goodies" closes with a recording of a live performance by Gladys Knight & The Pips of "The way we were". I love her voice and the hope it brings to the song. So next time that you are in for a romantic mood, I suggest you tap into some Harlem revival in play the songs in this collection. You and your significant other will be all for the treat.

THIS CD IS VERY GOOD, EXCEPT FOR THE VERSION OF UNCHAINED MELODY ON IT. INSTEAD OF THE ORIGINAL VERSION, THEY INCLUDED THE RE RELEASED NEW STEREO VERSION. I MYSELF PREFER THE ORIGINAL. STILL, THE OTHER SONGS ARE GOOD. -PETER A.

Note: The term "last waltz" used in the headline is used here as a simple expression of the truth. Just when I thought I had completed this "Oldies But Goodies" series at Volume Ten I now find that this is a fifteen, fifteen count `em, volume series. Therefore I am whipping off these last five in one day and be done with it. After all how much can we rekindle, endlessly rekindle, memories from a relatively short, if important, part of our lives, even for those who lived and died by the songs (or some of the songs) in these compilations. How many times can one read about wallflowers, sighs, certain shes (or hes), the moonlight of high school dances (if there was any) and hanging around to the bitter end for that last dance of the night to prove... what. Bastante! Enough!

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I have been doing a series of commentaries elsewhere on another site on my coming of political age in the early 1960s, but here when I am writing about musical influences I am just speaking of my coming of age, period, which was not necessarily the same thing. No question that those of us who came of age in the 1950s are truly children of rock and roll. We were there, whether we appreciated it or not at the time, when the first, sputtering, musical moves away from ballady Broadway show tunes and rhymey Tin Pan Alley pieces hit the radio airwaves. (If you do not know what a radio is then ask your parents or, ouch, grandparents, please.) And, most importantly, we were there when the music moved away from any and all music that your parents might have approved of, or maybe, even liked, or, hopefully, at least left you alone to play in peace up in your room when rock and roll hit post- World War II America teenagers like, well, like an atomic bomb.

Not all of the material put forth was good, nor was all of it destined to be playable fifty or sixty years later on some "greatest hits" compilation but some of songs had enough chordal energy, lyrical sense, and sheer danceability to make any Jack or Jill jump then, or now. And, here is the good part, especially for painfully shy guys like me, or those who, like me as well, had two left feet on the dance floor. You didn't need to dance toe to toe, close to close, with that certain she (or he for shes). Just be alive...uh, hip to the music. Otherwise you might become the dreaded wallflower. But that fear, the fear of fears that haunted many a teenage dream then, is a story for another day. Let's just leave it at this for now. Ah, to be very, very young then was very heaven.

But what about the now, seeming mandatory to ask, inevitable end of the night high school dance (or maybe even middle school) song that seems to be included in each CD compilation? The song that you, maybe, waited around all night for just to prove that you were not a wallflower, and more importantly, had the moxie to, mumbly-voiced, parched-throated, sweaty-handed, asked a girl to dance (women can relate their own experiences, probably similar). Here the classic "There Goes My Baby" fills the bill. Hey, I did like this one, especially the soulful timing. And, yes, I know, this is one of the slow ones that you had to dance close on. And just hope, hope to high heaven, that you didn't destroy your partner's shoes and feet. Well, one learns a few social skills in this world if for no other reason that to "impress" that certain she (or he for shes, or nowadays, just mix and match your preferences) mentioned above. I did, didn't you?

EXCELLENT, ENJOYED LISTENING TO ALL THE FEMALE SINGERS THAT WORKED WITH THE GOD FATHER OF SOUL, ENJOYED HEARING MARVA WHITNEY MY FAVORITE. NEED HELP IN FINDING THE WORDS TO 60'S SONG, LOUIE,LOUIE BY THE KINGMEN.

WHEN MUSIC WAS MUSIC,

MURIEL ROBINSON