Platters Anthology

The Beach Music Anthology Review by Jeff Burger
A four-CD, 90-track "beach-music anthology" with not a hint of Jan and Dean or the Beach Boys? The official explanation is that this is beach music from the other coast, specifically from the Carolinas. But this collection's definition of Southern beach music is loose, to put it mildly. It extends beyond records created in the South (there's at least one track by a British group), beyond tunes popular during the summer (some of these hit the charts in mid-winter), and way beyond the subjects of sun and surf (there is a smattering of songs on the subject, but most have nothing to do with it). So what is the theme? It appears that any R&B-spiced rock that got played on Carolina beaches from the mid-'50s to the mid-'90s, no matter where it came from or what it was about, was fair game. One suspects a more honest title for this package would be 90 Songs the Label Could License Rights To. That said, the anthology holds together well musically, the quality level is rather consistently good, and the collection includes quite a few national hits and regional obscurities that are difficult or impossible to find elsewhere. Among the many highlights: Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops," Chuck Jackson's "Any Day Now," the Corsairs' "Smoky Places," the Foundations' "Build Me Up Buttercup," and Billy Stewart's "Sitting in the Park." This may not all be what you'd call "beach music"; it may not even contain much of what you would call beach music. Still, you could do a heck of a lot worse for a soundtrack for your next beach party.

The Singles Plus is double disc collection of singles and more from BR Music (The Netherlands) for the world famous L.A.-based Doo Wop/R&B vocal group. 48 tracks & a full-color glossy booklet with track by track credits.

In his own time on Immediate Records, British soul shouter Chris Farlowe's output was sliced and diced and re-compiled so many times that no one even remembers the names of his original albums for the label (not that those were any better or more coherent – Immediate founder Andrew Oldham was always so busy trying to exploit Farlowe any way he could, as one of the two or three best-selling talents on his label). Out of Time, subtitled "The Immediate Anthology," is the solution, its 49 songs drawn equally from Farlowe's singles, B-sides, EPs, and LP tracks, with the quality of the performances the only real deciding factor.

In his own time on Immediate Records, British soul shouter Chris Farlowe's output was sliced and diced and re-compiled so many times that no one even remembers the names of his original albums for the label (not that those were any better or more coherent – Immediate founder Andrew Oldham was always so busy trying to exploit Farlowe any way he could, as one of the two or three best-selling talents on his label). Out of Time, subtitled "The Immediate Anthology," is the solution, its 49 songs drawn equally from Farlowe's singles, B-sides, EPs, and LP tracks, with the quality of the performances the only real deciding factor.

Scoring over 40 hits in the R&B Top 40 charts, The Miracles started out as the Five Chimes in the mid-'50s while the members were still in high school. The Detroit vocal group consisted of William "Smokey" Robinson, Warren "Pete" Moore, Clarence "Humble" Dawson, Donald Wicker, and James "Rat" Grice. Not too long after the group formed, Wicker and Grice left and were replaced by cousins Emerson "Sonny" Rogers and Bobby Rogers, who both sang tenor, and baritonist Ronnie White was in Dawson's place. The vocal quintet then changed their name to the Matadors, and in 1956 Claudette Rogers joined the band after her brother Sonny Rogers was drafted. The Matadors auditioned for Jackie Wilson's manager, Nat Tarnapol, in 1956. Although Tarnapol wasn't interested, finding the group too similar to the Platters, Jackie Wilson's songwriter Berry Gordy Jr. was, and he soon began producing the band, who now went by the name The Miracles. Gordy produced their first single, "Get a Job," which was issued by the N.Y. label End Records in 1958.

This fills in another of the gaps on our strand of R&B and country collections associated with Acrobat's highly popular 'America's Greatest Hits' series, this one focusing on the top R&B records in the US Billboard charts during 1955.

This fills in another of the gaps on our strand of R&B and country collections associated with Acrobat's highly popular 'America's Greatest Hits' series, this one focusing on the top R&B records in the US Billboard charts during 1955.