![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/rivieras.jpg\")
\nDoo-wop \u2013 or r&b vocal, if you prefer \u2013 is an important part of the rock and roll story. The style began just after World War II, and doo-wop enjoyed its heyday in the early (read: pre-Beatles) 1960s. Doo-wop was primarily an African-American phenomenon, but many white groups got into it as well (and there<\/b> were mixed doo-wop groups, too, including The Viscaynes, a group that counted Sylvester \u201cSly Stone\u201d Stewart among its members).<\/p>\n
Something of an urban phenomenon, doo-wop had as its centers of gravity major American cities like Philly, Washington D.C., and of course New York City. And Manhattan\u2019s famed Brill Building was home to Coed Records, one of the labels focusing on doo-wop. As part of its ongoing and important work to rescue and curate the catalogs of small American labels, Omnivore Recordings has acquired the music of Coed Records. Five new releases chronicle the riches found within that catalog.<\/p>\n
The Rivieras \u2013 The Coed Singles<\/i><\/b>
\nNew Jersey-based vocal quartet The Rivieras (not the same-named Indiana combo that gave us \u201cCalifornia Sun\u201d) would release eight singles between 1958 and 1961. All 16 of those plus two tracks that appeared on long out-of-print compilations, are collected on the superb-fidelity The Coed Singles. Romance and fun are the primary subject matter here, though \u201cMy Friend\u201d is a subtly devotional number. Among the most intriguing and unusual recordings her is \u201cRefrigerator,\u201d the b-side of the group\u2019s final single from 1961. The vocals deliberately fade in and out of the mix, and the singers seem to have done that \u201cmanually\u201d rather than via studio trickery.<\/p>\n
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The Crests \u2013 The Best of The Crests (featuring Johnny Mastro): 16 Fabulous Hits<\/i><\/b>
\nThe title tells you much of what you need to know; in contrast with the little-known (yet excellent) Rivieras, The Crests scored a half-dozen Top 40 hits on the pop chart, and three on the R&B chart. 1958\u2019s \u201cSixteen Candles\u201d would be the biggest hit for this multiracial quartet out of Manhattan. There have been other best-of sets from The Crests (including a 1990 collection) but \u2013 with a couple of exceptions \u2013 this CD reissue of a 1960 LP centers on charting singles from the years (\u201858-\u201960) when future Brooklyn Bridge lead singer Johnny Mastro was in the group.<\/p>\n
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The Duprees \u2013 The Coed Albums<\/i><\/b>
\nFor the most part, doo-wop would be “singles” music; the era of the album had not quite yet dawned. But there would be exceptions. The white Jersey City quintet The Duprees cut two LPs for Coed. Coming from the tail-end of the doo-wop era, those records \u2013 1962\u2019s You Belong to Me<\/i> and 1963\u2019s Have You Heard<\/i> \u2013 are old-fashioned in style and delivery, and the material draws from standards (\u201cAs Time Goes By,\u201d \u201cSeptember in the Rain,\u201d “These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You).\u201d Across the board, the vocals are top-notch and subtle instrumentation is just right for slow dancing. Little bits of electric guitar adorn the vocal-forward arrangements, and you\u2019ll find less syrupy string work on these records than on the other sets in Omnivore\u2019s Coed series.<\/p>\n
Doo-wop \u2013 or r&b vocal, if you prefer \u2013 is an important part of the rock and roll story. The style began just after World War II, and doo-wop enjoyed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,60,64,65],"tags":[4270,4265,4269,1622,4268,4267,4266],"class_list":["post-19218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","category-rb","category-reissue","category-review","tag-adam-wade","tag-coed-records","tag-johnny-mastro","tag-omnivore-recordings","tag-the-crets","tag-the-duprees","tag-the-rivieras","cat-51-id","cat-60-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19218"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30618,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19218\/revisions\/30618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/duprees_singles.jpg\")
The Duprees — The Coed Singles<\/em><\/strong>
\nThis collection seems largely redundant, as quite a few of its 26 titles are also on The Coed Albums<\/em> (discussed above). If they are in fact different recordings, mixes or edits, that’s not immediately clear.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/adam_wade.jpg\")
Adam Wade \u2013 The Coed Albums<\/i><\/b>
\nOne of Coed\u2019s most popular artists, Adam Wade cut a pair of albums for the label as well. With a sweet and sonorous voice not unlike Johnny Mathis, Pittsburgh-born Wade released And Then Came Adam<\/i> in 1960 and Have You Heard<\/i> (aka Adam and Evening<\/i>) the following year. More adult pop than doo-wop, these sides nonetheless have a timeless, elegant and refined air. There are upbeat exceptions, though. The thrilling \u201cJust in Time,\u201d \u201cA Moment of Madness\u201d and \u201cAround the World\u201d all swing Sinatra-style; though they sound like hits, none was even released as a single. And those three tracks appeared on the \u201860 LP; the follow-up has no uptempo material at all. Like all volumes in this series, Bill Dahl\u2019s liner notes are well-researched and informative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"