The Very Best of The Drifters

Drifters | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 20, 1993)
• Original Release Date: April 20, 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino/Atlantic
• ASIN: B0000032ZQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,419 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #20 in Music > Pop > Oldies > Doo Wop
  • #32 in Music > R&B > Classic R&B

Track Listings

1. There Goes My Baby

2. True Love, True Love, (If You Cry)

3. Dance With Me

4. This Magic Moment

5. Save the Last Dance For Me

6. I Count the Tears

7. Some Kind of Wonderful

8. Please Stay

9. Sweets For My Sweet

10. When My Little Girl Is Smiling

11. Up on the Roof

12. On Broadway

13. I'll Take You Home

14. Under the Boardwalk

15. I've Got Sand in My Shoes

16. Saturday Night at the Movies

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A by-the-numbers, chronological collection that hits all the commercial highlights of the Drifters' Golden Era (1959-64)--after the frequently dazzling early records with Clyde McPhatter, but featuring the consummate vocal stylings of Ben E. King, Rudy Lewis, Johnny Moore, and more on 16 memorable hits. Among the pinnacles: "There Goes My Baby," the record whose unsettling, soaring strings launched the soul era; the romantic perfection of "Save the Last Dance for Me," "This Magic Moment," and the contagiously catchy, Latin-bouncing "Sweets for My Sweet;" and the eternally evocative cityscapes of "Up on the Roof," "Under the Boardwalk," and the stark, gritty "On Broadway." Sleepers include the heartrending Bacharach ballad "Please Stay," "I Count the Tears" (ripped off later on the Grass Roots hit "Let's Live for Today"), and "When My Little Girl Is Smiling," on which strings foreshadow the folk-rock movement. An ideal starter kit on these seminal uptown soul pioneers; those seeking further revelations (and there are plenty of them) are referred to Rockin' & Driftin': The Drifters Box. --Ken Barnes

Product Description

One of the best-known and best-loved R&B vocal groups of all-time, The Drifters were blessed with some great lead singers (Clyde McPhatter & Ben E. King), great songwriters (Leiber & Stoller, Pomus & Shuman) and great producers (Phil Spector, Bert Berns). Despite many personnel changes, they scored an amazing 11 top-20 records between 1959 and 1964, and are still on the oldies touring circuit today. This compilation album contains an excellent sampling of the group's pop classics and showcases their smooth harmonies. Features 16 total tracks including 'There Goes My First Love', 'Hello Happiness', 'Summer In The City', 'Like Sister And Brother', 'Like A Movie I've Seen Before' and more. RCA. 2005. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical., December 27, 2001

By 

"the-disco-kid" (Bay City, Babylon 7) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Very Best of The Drifters (Audio CD)

Question: How can you go wrong with a 16 track collection of the Drifters' biggest & best hits on one CD released by the finest reissue label in the business? Answer: You just can't.

Since Rhino (the label in question) rarely get it wrong and some of the aforementioned 16 songs count timeless classics such as "Save the Last Dance For Me", "Up on the Roof", "On Broadway" and "Under the Boardwalk" this, quite simply put, is a CD no-one should be without.

Unquestionably the finest, affordable Drifters collection out there, you can also trust Rhino (No, I don't work for them) to deliver flawlessly in the sound reproduction and packaging departments, respectively.

As if all that wasn't enough, here are a few more reasons why everyone should own this CD: "There Goes My Baby", "This Magic Moment", "Some Kind of Wonderful", "Sweets For My Sweet", "Please Stay", "Saturday Nigt At the Movies", Goffin/King, Pomus/Scuman, Mann/Weil, Leiber/Stoller, Burt Bacharach and Ben E. King. Magic! 'Nuff said.

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!, April 9, 2000

By 

Eric V. Moye (New York, by way of Dallas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Very Best of The Drifters (Audio CD)

FINALLY, after looking through so many offerings, we find good stuff. The originals of the cuts we recall.

The Drifters were so fine, back in their day. And their sound survives to this day in this disc. This has so many of the classics we remember. Such wonderful orchestrations. Such lush vocals by Ben E. King. These are done the way we remember them.

Whether heard remembering up on the roof, or under the boardwalk, these are some magic moments.

"Some Kind of Wonderful", indeed! The place to spend the money - at last.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview of their music from 1959 to 1965, January 13, 2005

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Very Best of The Drifters (Audio CD)

The Drifters were one of those groups that went through a lot of line-up changes, so let's first clear up any confusion first. There was a group with that name before 1959 - it featured Clyde McPhatter and recorded some wonderful R+B, some of which is available on other CD's. That group was disbanded, and a totally different group was given the Drifters name. It is that line-up, featuring Ben E King, which opens this collection (which is presented in chronological order). Ben left after Save the last dance for me to pursue a solo career. His solo hits are not included in this collection, which is why Spanish Harlem and Stand by me are missing. You can obtain these recordings on Ben's own albums, although I've also seen Drifters compilations that include Ben's solo hits.

So, what you get here are sixteen of the finest tracks from their best period, including Save the last dance for me, There goes my baby, Dance with me, On Broadway, Some kind of wonderful, Up on the roof, Under the boardwalk, Saturday night at the movies, When my little girl is smiling, Sweets for my sweet and others - all huge American hits. Only Save the last dance for me was a big hit in Britain for the Drifters, because record companies at that time often found local singers to cover the songs and they had the hits instead. This shameful practice died out by the end of the sixties.

After 1965 (which marks the end of this compilation), the Drifters didn't have much success in America, but they enjoyed a new wave of popularity in the seventies in Britain, where they had several top ten hits. Even as a Brit, I prefer their sixties music, but for anybody interested in their seventies music (including Kissing in the back row of the movies) there are plenty of other compilations available here.

If you just want a single CD of their most famous songs from their best years, this will suit you, but there are several other compilations for those who wish to explore further including a forty-track double CD that includes all the tracks from this CD.