Shangri La

Four Coins | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collectables
• ASIN: B0000008UP
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,671 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Shangri-La

2. Memories of You

3. Heartache Street

4. Lovers' Island

5. Manhattan Serenade

6. The Curly-Headed Kid in the Third Row

7. You're Breaking My Heart

8. This Life

9. Ting-a-Ling Telephone

10. New World

11. I Will Never Be the Same

12. Maybe

13. I Love You Madly

14. My Anxious Heart

15. Rio Rita

16. We'll Be Married

17. That's the Way

18. My One Sin

19. The World Outside

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifc harmonies from a long forgotten group., May 8, 1999

By 

Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shangri La (Audio CD)

Prior to acquiring this CD, my only exposure to the music of the Four Coins was "Shangri-La". As one who appreciates great harmony, I have always enjoyed the offerings of such artists as the Vogues, the Lettermen and the Fifth Dimension among others. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this CD. Almost every cut is enjoyable. Among my favorites are "My One Sin" and "We'll Be Married in the Church in the Wildwood". Highly recommended.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shangri-La by the Four Coins, February 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Shangri La (Audio CD)

I was very much a fan of the Four Coins when I was young and have been looking for an album by them for a long time. I always loved their music. Shangri-La was always one of my favorites, along with many others offered on the album. I was fortunate enough to meet them many years ago as my husband was a close friend of theirs.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Collectables Comes Up Short Once More, September 18, 2007

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shangri La (Audio CD)

This vocal quartet from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania - brothers Michael and George Mahramas, Jim Gregorakis, and George Mantalis - started out as the The Four Keys before changing their name to The Four Coins following the popularity of the hit Three Coins In The Fountain. From 1954 to 1959, for Columbia's Epic subsidiary, they registered exactly 8 hit singles and here, in a 19-track release, Collectables manages to omit two of them, along with five B-sides.

Now, one may say that Wendy, Wendy (# 72 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in October 1958 b/w Be Still My Heart) and their last hit, One Love, One Heart (# 82 Hot 100 in June 1959 with the Joe Sherman orchestra b/w My First Love - a # 106 Hot 100 "bubble under") were relatively minor hits and therefore not worthy of inclusion, but they WERE hits and therefore more logical choices in a release subtitled "A Golden Classic Edition" than Ting-A-Ling Telephone or Rio Rita, neither of which can fit that description. Especially One Love, One Heart, a beautiful variation on the Enrico Caruso 1913 hit Because, also done by Perry Como in 1948.

Their first hit, registered in October 1954, was We'll Be Married In The Church In The Wildwood, which reached # 30, followed early in 1955 by I Love You Madly, a cover of a 1954 R&B cut by Charlie And Ray, which peaked at # 28 Billboard Pop Top 100 b/w Maybe. Late that year they returned to the charts with Memories Of You, from the film The Benny Goodman Story, which topped out at # 22 Top 100 b/w Tear Down The Fence (not here). Both hits had the backing of the Don Costa orchestra.

After being shut out on the charts throughout all of 1956, the Marion Evans orchestra then backed them on their greatest hit, Shangri-La, which made it to # 11 Top 100 in early summer 1957 b/w First In Line (also omitted here). The Evans orchestra also backed them on My One Sin, a # 28 Top 100 in the fall of 1957 b/w Be Still My Heart (another omission), as well as the above-mentioned Wendy, Wendy, and what would turn out to be their second-best hit single, The World Outside, which peaked at # 21 Hot 100 in December 1958 b/w Roselle (omitted here).

The sound quality is very good, and in the insert are three pages of background notes written by Mark Marymont. A decent, if not exactly complete, compilation of their best.