Listen: The Boy From New York City / The Ad Libs AdLibs.mp3

The Ad Libs were basically a Doo Wop act, leftover from a few years and name changes earlier, when the genre was more mainstream. I never got into the style. In hindsight, I’ve ended up collecting several genres I didn’t live through, but not Doo Wop. This sounded quite current, not at all out of place, blaring from my transistor AM radio in ’65. It’s one of those early musical memories that stuck into my little kid’s brain. I loved the line about ‘pockets full of spending loot’. Very 60′s and full of verve.

Lead singer Mary Ann Thomas had a fantastic voice, and I’m surprised the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller at Blue Cat’s parent label, Red Bird, didn’t recognize it.

Listen: There Goes My Baby / The Drifters DriftersThere.mp3

Listen: There Goes My Baby / The Walker Brothers WalkerBrothersThereGoes.mp3

Speaking of The Drifters, as I did in my previous post, one of their Ben E. King written hits, ‘There Goes My Baby’, not only stands up on it’s own, but shows that a great song interpreted well can sometimes even get better. Hate to be politically incorrect, but my opinion is just that when it comes to The Walker Brothers version of ‘There Goes My Baby’.

Don’t misunderstand, I like both, maybe it’s just The Walker Brothers’ haircuts, my official diagnosis of having terminal Scott Walker disease or probably my admitted lack of Doo Wop appreciation. Why theirs wasn’t released as a 7″ in the UK remains a mystery to me. Those Ivor Raymonde ‘Night Of Fear’ leaning orchestral riffs just take the cake. John Franz, what were you thinking?

Listen: Supernatural Thing (Part 1) / Ben E. King BenEKingSupernatural.mp3

Tell me this doesn’t sound fantastic the very second it starts and I’ll tell you you’re a liar. Doesn’t even matter if you don’t prefer a particular genre of music, certain songs transcend all that. Any person can hear a seminal record regardless. Clearly this is one.

Talk about reinventing yourself – here you go. A member of The Drifters, basically a Doo Wop group in ’58, he only recorded a dozen or so songs with them before wising up to money bullshit and went solo. He hit quick with ‘Spanish Harlem’ and the hits continued. Despite all that early 60′s success dying down as a result of the British Invasion, he powered back in ’75 with this.

Yeah, it reached #1 both Pop and RnB. Great, it’s the real deal. I play it often.