Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:53
Size: 105.1 MB
Styles: R&B, Doo-wop
Year: 1990
Art: Front
[2:44] 1. You Baby You
[3:12] 2. Little Girl Of Mine
[3:05] 3. You're Driving Me Mad
[2:56] 4. Can't We Be Sweethearts
[2:25] 5. Neki-Hokey
[2:54] 6. Happy Memories
[2:47] 7. String Around My Heart
[2:03] 8. Why You Do Me Like You Do
[2:36] 9. I Like Your Style Of Making Love
[2:32] 10. See You Next Year
[2:51] 11. Lover Boy
[2:13] 12. Beginners At Love
[2:20] 13. She's So Fine
[1:53] 14. Heart And Soul
[2:00] 15. How Do You Feel
[2:29] 16. Please Say You Want Me
[2:36] 17. For Sentimental Reasons
[2:07] 18. Lover Come Back To Me
Beginning their career as The Silvertones while high school students at New York City's Jamaica High School, lead Herbie Cox, first tenor (and guitarist) Charlie James, second tenor and sometimes lead Berman Patterson, baritone William McClain and bass Warren Corbin had changed their name to The Cleftones by the time of their first single for George Goldner's Gee Records, then functioning as a subsidiary of Roulette Records. With the backing of the Jimmy Wright orchestra, You Baby You edged into the Billboard Pop Top 100 at # 78 in February 1956 b/w I Was Dreaming, but made no impact whatsoever in the national R&B market. The label number, Gee 1000, marked a new numbering system for Gee after numbers 1 to 12, a ploy used by many small record companies at the time to give the "illusion" of having been around longer. The follow-up Little Girl Of Mine which, again with Wright backing, rose to # 8 R&B and did much better than their debut hit on the Pop charts, reaching # 57 in May/June on Gee 1011 b/w You're Driving Me Mad. Of these four sides, only I Was Dreaming is omitted in this Collectables volume.
There then followed a string of releases that, even though presenting what is now regarded as classic Doo-Wop, failed to make any mark on any national charts, right into 1958 (those in this release are receded by an asterisk (*):*Can't We Be Sweethearts?/*Niki-Hoeky ( Gee 1016) and *String Around My Heart/*Happy Memories (Gee 1025), both in 1956; *Why Do You Do Me Like You Do?/*I Like Your Style Of Making Love (Gee 1031), *See You Next Year/Ten Pairs Of Shoes (Gee 1038), and Hey Babe/What Did I Do That Was Wrong? (Gee 1041), all in 1957; and in early 1958 (by which time McClain had quit), *Lover Boy/*Beginners At Love (Gee 1048). Nor did a switch to the parent Roulette label help with *She's So Fine/Trudy in July 1958 on Roulette 4094, Cuzin Casanova/Mish Mash Baby on Roulette 4161 in June 1959 and, with Patterson departed and newcomers Gene Pearson and female vocalist Georgianna "Pat" Spann added, She's Gone/Shadows In The Very Last Row on Roulette 4302 in September 1960. In May 1961, Vacation In The Mountains/Leave My Woman Along came out on another of Goldner's labels, Rama, credited only to Herb Cox, although the entire group took part (Rama 233). By now Cox was sharing he lead from time to time with Pearson and Spann.
With Gee having been resurrected by Roulette as an active label in 1959, their next single was released there, with their cover of the old 1938 Larry Clinton & His Orchestra # 1 Heart And Soul becoming their best hit ever at # 10 R&B and # 18 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in June/July 1961 b/w How Do You Feel on Gee 1064 (both sides here). Since that worked they tried next with another cover, this time of the 1946 # 1 for Nat "King" Cole, (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons which topped out at # 60 Hot 100 in September 1961 b/w another oldie, Deed I Do (which is omitted here) on Gee 1067. The next two, however, both failed, the first a cover of the 1954 smash by The Penguins, Earth Angel b/w the old standard, Blues In The Night (Gee 1074), and Again/Do You? (Gee 1077) later in 1961 (none of the four sides are here). It was also in 1961 that Roulette released their two albums on the Gee label, the first "Heart And Soul" (Gee GLP-705) appearing in June with these tracks: 1. Heart And Soul; 2. How Do You Feel?; 3. 100 Pounds Of Clay; 4. Please Say You Want Me; 5. Can't We Be Sweethearts?; 6. Time Is Running Out On Our Love; 7. Little Girl Of Mine; 8. Heavenly Father; 9. The Glory Of Love; 10, You And I Can Climb; 11. You, Baby, You; 12. String Around My Heart. Tracks 15 and 16 in this release are from that LP. The other, issued in December, was "For Sentimental Reasons" (Gee GLP-707) containing: 1. For Sentimental Reasons; 2. Blues In The Night; 3. Red Sails In The Sunset; 4. She's Gone; 5. Vacation In The Mountains; 6. My Babe; 7. She's A Rollin' Stone; 8. Earth Angel; 9. Deed I Do; 10. Shadows In The Very Last Row; 11. What Did I Do That Was Wrong?; 12. Hey Babe; 13. Leave My Woman Alone. None of the sides not already mentioned above and included in this LP were included in this CD.
Their final Gee release, coming in 1962, was another old standard, How Deep Is The Ocean? b/w Some Kinda Blue (Gee 1080) but it failed. In 1964 Roulette released He's Forgotten You/Right From The Git Go on another of their subsidiaries, Ware 6001 with the same result. None of the four sides is here. If what you want are their 5 national charters, all are in this release which has excellent sound reproduction and informative liner notes written by Michael Redmond. However, as noted, just two B-sides are here and if you want those as well you will have to scour the other CDs covering the group. ~George O'Leary
The Best Of The Cleftones mc
The Best Of The Cleftones zippy
