Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Doo Wop

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Doo Wop

    Inspired by AdC on the documentaries thread.

    The Orioles - It's Too Soon To Know (1948)

    Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 28-03-2021, 09:57.

    #2
    Doo-wop was really a subset of R&B harmony singing derived heavily from gospel so I am taking the liberty to include this gorgeous duet: I'll Never Be Free by Annie Laurie with the Paul Gayten Orchestra (1950)


    Comment


      #3
      Fuck it, let's make it an R&B thread too. This is a total gem:

      Comment


        #4
        I did a Doo Wop thread a few years back where people shared some lovely stuff I would share it if I could find it.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Sits View Post
          I did a Doo Wop thread a few years back where people shared some lovely stuff I would share it if I could find it.
          I can only find this two-post thread:

          https://www.onetouchfootball.com/for...the-fleetwoods

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Sporting View Post

            I can only find this two-post thread:

            https://www.onetouchfootball.com/for...the-fleetwoods
            Yep, that’s what I found too.

            Comment


              #7
              https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...FtGZ8UjZYhusTc

              https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...GJXkDxPCpnesqi

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                Doo-wop was really a subset of R&B harmony singing derived heavily from gospel so I am taking the liberty to include this gorgeous duet: I'll Never Be Free by Annie Laurie with the Paul Gayten Orchestra (1950)
                Yeah the boundaries are fuzzy. Basically if group harmonies are foregrounded, whether or not there's instrumentation it's Doo Wop. Pure acapella — a la Persuasions or Belmonts — is a rarer beast. In many cases the early practitioners were singing gospel in church on Sunday, and Doo Wop on the street corner, or school yard, the rest of the week.

                Comment


                  #9
                  I watched and very much enjoyed the "Streetlight Harmonies" doc on AdC's recommendation. The interviews with surviving members of some great groups were interesting & probably just in time. This will always be a favourite track, lead vocals by Harvey Fuqua who went on to Motown where he had many writing & production credits including Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, the Supremes & Jr Walker.
                   

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Fuqua was Marvin Gaye's mentor.

                    I too enjoyed the "Streetlight Harmonies" doc after seeking it out on AdC's recommendation. The section on the Deep South was indeed very well done, and there was an important distinction between white acts who were clearly ripping off black music (like Pat Boone) and those for whom it was a genuine love and blended with elements of their own culture (such as The Elegants).
                    Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 29-03-2021, 12:07.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Maybe a bit hard on Pat. He was probably just singing what the company A&R man put in front of him.

                      Yeah if the doc had a lack it was in Italian-American content. It would have been great if Dion had been interviewed (perhaps he was asked?) Aside from The Elegants and Jay & The Americans, who didn't contribute much, that was it. No one from The Chimes or the Duprees, not to mention The Four Seasons. It did have a different sound, less smooth, more of an "edge." heavy use of falsetto etc.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I thought it jumped around in the timeline quite a lot, and you wouldn't have realized the jumps if you weren't familiar with the records. The Orioles themselves were different in 1953 than 1948. I was please that Deborah Chessler got her due, e.g. she wrote the song in the OP above that inspired a new generation of harmony groups to take over from the Ink Spots, and incorporate gospel more directly into the vocal.

                        One thing that has struck me listening to the records is that tempos in 1947-50 were quite slow (especially The Ravens) and I'm curious as to when and why they speeded up thereafter; perhaps the influence of New Orleans R&B (Fats Domino, Lloyd Price) was a factor, as was the emergence of The Drifters with the writing of Lieber and Stoller, who were also writing for Big Mama Thornton? Electrification generally meant that the backbeat could become more prominent and the the dances being fed by the music because louder and quicker.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                          One thing that has struck me listening to the records is that tempos in 1947-50 were quite slow (especially The Ravens) and I'm curious as to when and why they speeded up thereafter;
                          An important factor was the growth of Jump Blues, uptempo R&B from that period, of which Shake Rattle and Roll was typical. It became called Rock & Roll when white kids began singing it. Prior to that black vocal groups modeled themselves on smooth crooners like the Ink Spots.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Do Something For Me - Dominoes (Clyde McPhatter lead vocal; their debut single, 1951)



                            This was followed the same year by Sixty Minute Man, which is bawdy single entendre R&B not doo wop:


                            Comment


                              #15
                              A good collection of early 50s Jump/R&B is Gabe's Dirty Blues. Gabe ran a bar on Seattle's waterfront during that era and this was the stuff on his jukebox.
                              View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1978 Vinyl release of "Gabe's Dirty Blues" on Discogs.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                I have started on the Little Richard book. First chapter: literally, Oh shit!!

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  This podcast is very good on the period:

                                  https://www.500songs.com/category/little-esther/

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Ooooo. I'll have to look into that. Johnny Otis is an interesting dude. He's one of the few white musicians/producers that was all over black music in the late 40s and 50s, you really can't avoid him. The son of Greek immigrants, his father was a grocery store owner in Berkeley CA, which then was a predominately black neighbourhood. At nineteen he eloped with an eighteen-year-old African American woman Phyllis Walker. Together they had four kids including Shuggie Otis, also a musician. He auditioned Big Mama Thornton in 1952, producing co-writing and playing drums on Hound Dog. He also discovered, Etta James, Little Willie John, Hank Ballard and Jackie Wilson. He ran for political office in California and had his own church where he preached every Sunday. Quite the career.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      His 'Mambo Boogie' is very good indeed:

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        I have just noticed that Sirius XM has a blues channel:

                                        Ch 74

                                        B.B. King's channel for blues music from the past to the present: B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Robert Cray, Keb' Mo', Taj Mahal, John Lee Hooker and others.
                                        https://player.siriusxm.com/enhanced...f-02420e2bd2d6

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Shouldn't I Know - Cardinals (1951, Atlantic)



                                          Eyesight To The Blind - Larks

                                          Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 16-04-2021, 18:38.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            This is stunning: The Five Keys from 1955:

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Oh yeah, that's really, really fine.

                                              From the sublime, to something that's a little more... camp perhaps? Valarie by Jackie and the Starlites (1960)





                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                I'm at the end of this thread (didn't look) and if there are no Platters, then you all suck.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Fuck me, there's some good taste, washing around in this thread.

                                                  The Penguins were ok too. That was mum's. Dad was more Orioles (upthread). We went through a stylus every two months.

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X