Street Corner Serenade: The Greatest Doo Wop of the '50s and '60s

Various Artists - R&B/Soul - Doo Wop

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 20, 1999)
• Original Release Date: July 20, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00000JFV7
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,033 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

1. Why Do Fools Fall in Love? - Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers

2. Whispering Bells - The Del Vikings, Corinthian "Kripp" Johnson

3. Speedoo - The Cadillacs, Jesse Powell Orchestra

4. Earth Angel - The Penguins

5. Little Star - The Elegants

6. I Wonder Why - Dion & the Belmonts

7. Book of Love - The Monotones

8. Sincerely - The Moonglows

9. Come Go with Me - The Del Vikings

10. Only You (And You Alone) - The Platters

11. Hushabye - The Mystics

12. There Goes My Baby - The Drifters

13. I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos

14. Teenager in Love - Dion & the Belmonts

15. Sixteen Candles - The Crests

16. Stay - Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs

17. Oh, What a Night - The Dells

18. There's a Moon Out Tonight - The Capris

19. Blue Moon - The Marcels

20. Get a Job - The Silhouettes

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If you've never seen kids harmonizing on a street corner you didn't grow up in any major city in the 1950s. The music was pure, the lyrics understandable, and the theme was love--unrequited, lost, and found. Where classic doo-wop is concerned, the leader usually boasted the best voice, but his or her supporting cast was of equal importance when it came to vocalizing the likes of "Blue Moon," "I Wonder Why," "Barbara-Ann" and "Get a Job," performed here by the Marcels, the Regents, and Dion & the Belmonts, respectively. Also included among the 20 artists featured on this hit-laden 22-song primer are Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers ("Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"), the Monotones ("Get a Job"), and the Flamingos ("I Only Have Eyes for You"). Decades after these songs filled the airwaves, they still elicit memories and a desire to sing along--in the background, of course. --Cal Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Sampler of Fifties Doo Wop, February 9, 2001

By	Susan Nunes (Reno, NV United States) - See all my reviews

If you are like me, a fan of the great harmonies of the 1950s doo wop groups, but don't have the money for the big boxed sets, I heartily recommend this CD. It is an excellent introduction to that great sound and some of the tunes popular on oldies radio are included in this set, such as "Teenager in Love," "Little Star," "Hushabye," and that timeless classic, "In the Still of the Nite."

Since there were so many great songs from that era, Rhino could not include every great doo wop song ever made. One major omission is "At the Hop," by Danny and the Juniors. Still, these recordings are an obvious testament to the superiority of the music forty to fifty years ago, when people could actually sing and when listeners could actually make out a melody. We may never have that era back, but thank goodness we have these recordings for posterity.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Street Corner Serenade, May 31, 2001

By	Jimmy C. Stokes (Madison, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This is a fantastic CD for anyone that loves harmony and 50's and 60's music. The quaility is superb and the selection of tunes is very appealing. It a most entertaining collection of music.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Kinder, Gentler Urban Sound, December 24, 2003

By	Andy Agree "jackrabbit79" (Omaha, NE) - See all my reviews

My first exposure to pop music was the Beatles and Motown, and anytime the radio played any doo-wop, I changed the station, sneering "Ewww, oldies!" Times sure have changed, and this is very, very special music to me now. Doo-wop was truly born on America's urban street corners in the 1950s, invented and perfected by teenagers without any serious help from the adult world. The music wears its teenage heart on its sleeve, with a purity and innocence that only a child or teen could conceive. The instrumentation is bare - scarcely noticeable, while vocals provide the bass, the percussion, the counterpoint and the harmony as well as the melodious leads. Propelling the music are the most creative baby-talk syllables ever invented, such as sha-la-la, dip-dip-dip, mum-mum-mum, bom-bada-bom, ding-a-dong-ding, wop-wop-wop, rata-tata-too and many, many more.

As with many American musical inventions, blacks took the lead, but were quickly followed by white and interracial groups from adjacent urban neighborhoods, and all made major, innovative contributions to the "genre". Valuable detail on many of these groups is provided in the CD cover notes. They exemplify vocal teamwork as well as any church choir, all the way from falsetto to bass, and that is what makes them so much fun to listen and sing along to. Unlike other musical styles prevalent in the fifties and early sixties, doo-wop evolved virtually in isolation, having little in common with blues, jump, jazz, swing or rock `n roll, and its influence on the subsequent evolution of rock or pop was limited. Still, you can hear the influence of barbershop quartets in doo-wop, and echoes of doo-wop in the harmonies of the early Beatles or Temptations. Doo-wop is like one of those evolutionary anomalies, such as the Koala - cute, cuddly, funny-looking, well-loved, but nothing like a dog, or a cat, or a horse. And yet, doo-wop was a critical part of the soundtrack of the decade 1954-1963 (roughly from "Earth Angel" to "So in Love"), and was actually close to being dominant from 1958-1961.

Doo-wop exudes joy and yearning, both in the songs themselves, and in their performance, and you can be sure that these studio creations, although masterful enough to draw tears from your eyes, fall far short of the magic of the actual street corner serenade. And so, this CD is only the tip of the iceberg - but what a treasure. And to make an obvious comparison to what is today marketed as the "urban sound", this was from a far kinder, gentler, more inclusive urban culture.