Customer Reviews

Sixty Minute Men: The Best Of Billy Ward & His Dominoes

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Early 50's R&B is often not given a place at the table when discussing music history. Because few whites listened to it at the time it isn't given the credit it earned in the then-burgeoning rock 'n' roll field, despite it being what led directly to it. Yet because of that close stylistic affiliation with rock it is not paired with any other genre of its time either, it's not blues, country, jazz or pop, and so it gets lost in a black hole of obscurity. This is worsened when those ridiculous "History Of Rock" documentaries either trace rock directly from the blues (related, but only distantly) or worse still, go straight from Patti Page pop-land to Little Richard belting out "Tutti Frutti" without showing where rock 'n' roll really grew from.

THIS is where! The Dominoes, along with the more bluesy vocal group the Clovers, were the most popular and successful R&B group of the early 50's. Their gospel roots are evident throughout these songs in their arrangements and vocal hystrionics, yet their material was always secular and in fact decidedly racy and exciting. This music was definitely geared towards a younger generation who would sow the seeds that white teenagers would later fertilize and grow, labeling the fruits "rock 'n' roll".

In Clyde McPhatter the Dominoes had the single most dynamic voice in rock 'n' roll history and while he is more known today for what he accomplished with his next group, the original incarnation of the Drifters, and even as a somewhat watered down soloist in the late 50's, it was with the Dominoes where he was at his most powerful as well as having the best mix of material to work with. Most importantly he was not following any preconceived notion as to what constituted young R&B/rock 'n' roll singing and so he was free to create his own style and that's just what he does - rising, falling, sobbing and soaring like an uncaged bird. He absolutely destroys and reconstructs pop standards like "When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano" and "Harbor Lights", his voice trilling like no other would dare. With original material, all written by group leader/pianist Billy Ward, such as "Have Mercy Baby" or "That's What You're Doing To Me" Clyde gives every subsequent rocker a blueprint to follow, though few had the chops to do so.

The most familiar song here, "Sixty Minute Man", with bassist Bill Brown's wink and a nod lead vocals, is backed by Clyde's soaring wordless tenor and the result was incredible. Surely the most explicit song to make the staid white pop charts prior to rock 'n' roll's 1955 breakthrough (and frankly post-rock 'n' roll for at least 15 years to come had little that could compare to it). Even naughtier might be the wild duet between Little Esther and the Dominoes on "The Deacon Moves In" which even today would be banned and protested by churches everywhere for its content that aurally simulates sex between a horny deacon and a young naive member of the congregation repleat with raunchy saxaphone blasts and scintillating guitar licks that leave nothing to the imagination (hear her screams in the background during the break). He finally gets her way with her after pouring gin down her throat and knocking out the lights and even she is pleased with the results of "finding true religion". Mainstream rock in the 50's or 60's never had songs this obscene or exciting.

When McPhatter left in '53 he'd been tutoring his replacement Jackie Wilson for months and left the group in good hands, though they began venturing away from the hardcore R&B and into more pop styles that ironically coincided with rock moving into the mainstream, partly as a result of the Dominoes inroads. Jackie gets two leads on this disc, including a great rendition of "Rags To Riches", before ex-Lark lead singer Eugene Mumford closes it out at the helm with a cut from mid-decade. But mostly this is all Clyde, plus some hot tenor sax and group vocals.

Do not pass this collection up if you are unfamiliar with either the group or the early 50's R&B era in general. This is pure rock 'n' roll in all but name and recognition, and some of the best ever recorded to boot. Uptempo scorchers, aching ballads, humorous double-entendres and magical reworkings of standards are all what went into the formula of rock 'n' roll music. This disc, with good notes, discography and a few pics, could serve as the unearthed recipe. In fact it wouldn't be a stretch to say rock 'n' roll's been going downhill ever since.

This CD contains Dominoes' singles released between 1950 and 1957 with most from 1952 and before. It includes all 12 of their R&B charted songs plus 8 others. The most amazing thing about the Dominoes is how they effortlessly switched back and forth between outstanding R&B uptempo tunes like "Sixty Minute Man" and "Have Mercy Baby", and top notch doo-wop ballads like "Harbor Lights" and "Rags to Riches". The group was graced by 3 excellent lead singers over its life: Clyde McPhatter, Jackie Wilson and Eugene Mumford, the best of whom was McPhatter who is featured on the majority of these tracks. If you are going to buy only one CD by the Dominoes, this is the one to get.

This CD is for those who long for old days , music that is MUSIC! The vocals are clean and pure which shows the talent of this group. this is an excellent CD.

This is the missing link between Louis Jordan and Elvis Presley. Billy Ward, the brains behind the outfit, was uncanny in his ability to hear just the right vocals and vocalists for his great r&b upbeat numbers and doo wop ballads. Can there be no greater rock moment than the immortal "Sixty Minute Man", a naughty-naughty hit from the puritanical pre-Elvis fifties that begged for censure! (OK, OK, "Work With Me Annie" comes close!) Rhino's excellent reissue boasts immaculate sound reproduction, all the great hits (check out "Pedal Pushin' Papa") and wonderful notes, too! This is essential stuff for lovers of rock's formative years. It's so much an influence, extremely important historically, but - and here's the fun part - it still swings after all this time! Hotcha!

Great cross-section of this aggregation's recordings! Would love to have "St. Theresa of the Roses" led by Jackie Wilson.

Billy Ward, working as a singing coach in New York in 1950, recruited some of his best students ro form The Dominoes - tenors Clyde McPhatter and Charlie White, baritone Joe Lamont and bass Bill Brown, with Ward himself featured on piano.

After securing a contract with Federal they began turning out a prodigious number of cuts, with the first one to click being Do Something For Me b/w Chicken Blues. With McPhatter as lead it reached # 6 R&B in the early part of 1951. A few months later their second charter was the hilarious Sixty-Minute Man b/w I Can't Escape From You (not in this set).

Reaching # 1 R&B in June (where it remained for 14 weeks), it also crossed over into the Billboard Pop charts, peaking at # 17. No mean feat considering the highly suggestive lyrics belted out by Brown at lead, who made it clear in the few first few bars that he wasn't singing about an endurance race. Not exactly.

McPhatter was back at lead for I Am With You b/w Willow Weep For Me which, by Christmas that year, had reached # 8 R&B, followed early in the New Year by That's What You're Doing To Me b/w When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano, with the A-side peaking at # 7 R&B.

Then it was back to the top with Have Mercy Baby (# 1 R&B in June for ten weeks) b/w Deep Sea Blues (not in this set). Brown and White then left the group, being replaced by David McNeil and James Van Loan, and from this point on their releases - always shown as The Dominoes up to now - changed to Billy Ward And His Dominoes.

Late in 1952 I'd Be Satisfied b/w No Room (not included) went to # 8 R&B. Clyde sang lead on everything so far except Sixty-Minute Man, but on the next release he did more hysterical crying than singing in the morose The Bells b/w Pedal Pushin' Papa. This was a double-sided hit with The Bells topping out at # 3 R&B in February 1953, and the flip, with McNeil at lead, surging back in April to the # 4 spot.

Clyde was back in his usual spot for the old standard These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You which settled in at # 5 R&B in June. The flip, Don't Leave Me This Way, is omitted, as is the B-side (Where Now, Little Heart) of their next hit, You Can't Keep A Good Man Down (# 8 R&B) with new lead singer Jackie Wilson (Clyde had moved over to front The Drifters).

By Christmas of 1953 the group had switched to the King label and Wilson had their version of Rags To Riches - a huge Pop hit for Tony Bennett - at # 2 R&B b/w Don't Thank Me (not included in this compilation).

There then followed a two-year chart drought before, after moving over to Decca, Wilson and the boys took the lilting St. Theresa Of The Roses to # 13 Billboard Top 100 in the fall of 1956. For some strange reaon this beautiful rendition, which failed to dent the Top 100 in the R&B market, remains one of the hardest to find of their hits on CD.

Then, after changing labels (Liberty) and lead singers (Eugene Mumford) again, they returned to both charts in 1957 with Hoagy Carmichael's Star Dust, a # 5 R&B and # 12 Top 100 hit in the summer (b/w Lucinda - not included). They then concluded their chart appearances with another old standard, Deep Purple, again only making the Top 100 charts at # 20 in November 1957.

This is a fantastic collection of the very best of one of the most significant groups to surface in the early part of the Fifties and you will be absolutely thrilled at the quality.

This cd isn't good rockin' tonight, it's booring, the songs are strictly commercial and way overproduced and stiff, no soul or rock. Skip Bill and his dominoes

This is nothing innovative or all that interesting, in fact vocally it's very annoying and has nothing to to with rock'n'roll. This is NOT the missing like between Roy Brown and Elvis Pressley, this is the rightly forgotten jazzed up Ink Spots imitation group. The Ink Spts sounded dated and tacky from the beginning, using tenor on top of bass, as often bone here but more upbeat. B-O-R-I-N-G. I give it two stars only because the title songs is cool and so is r&b msuic, just EXCLUDING thsi very un-original group, that doesn't belong in the r'n'r hall of fame but in the CORNY music hall of fame alongside the Ink Spots and other goofy doowop groups.