Rooftop Singers (Vanguard Visionaries)

Rooftop Singers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 12, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Vanguard Records
• ASIN: B000PC6GG0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,657 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable step back in time, October 4, 2008

By 

J. J. Slemenda Jr. "slemenda" (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rooftop Singers (Vanguard Visionaries) (Audio CD)

This helps to showcase Erik Darling, a standout folk artist from the 50s on, who passed away recently. Enjoyable listening for those who enjoy music from the heyday of folk singing in America. Walk Right In climbed the pop music charts in the early 60s.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nearly Forgotten..., October 6, 2010

By 

Rory Coker (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rooftop Singers (Vanguard Visionaries) (Audio CD)

The Rooftop Singers were organized to record one specific song, "Walk Right In," which became an instant hit. The three members of the group had impeccable roots in folk music, blues and jazz, and all three influences are blended in the work they recorded during their short period together. You get 10 songs here, including "Walk Right In" (1930s blues), "Tom Cat" (my favorite, an original), "You Don't Know" and the very bleak "Somebody Came Home" (blues style), "Momma Don't Allow"(lively arrangement of a standard), "Houston Special" (another bluesy number that one can picture Peter Paul and Mary also recording), "Ha Ha Thisaway" (traditional folk song depicting the end of girlhood and beginning of wedded life), "San Francisco Bay Blues" (also recorded by PP&M, allowing a direct comparison if one wants to make one), Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing," and finally the group's venture into rock and roll, "Project X," aka "Got No Reason to Cry." The musicianship is excellent and the songs are rousing and moving. One thing the Rooftoppers never did was protest songs. Otherwise they "covered the waterfront," particularly in terms of revival of jazz and blues standards done in a then more modern "folk" style. Two male and one female voices, very nicely blended, with the two males expertly playing guitar all the while. Sound familiar?

Here's an excellent and inexpensive introduction to this unjustly forgotten trio and their work.

4.0 out of 5 stars Walk Right In and discover a little more about the Rooftop Singers, November 18, 2011

By 

J. Bynum (the southwest) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rooftop Singers (Vanguard Visionaries) (Audio CD)

The Rooftop Singers / Vanguard Visionaries: I got this just for "Walk Right In" and discovered that a very fine set of songs came along with it. This isn't an indispensible CD for your music collection, but you'll have a very good experience listening to it.