Baby, that is rock and roll!
Johnny Heering | Bethel, CT United States | 09/14/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Coasters were arguably the greatest vocal group of the early days of rock and roll. This four CD collection features all the songs that they recorded for Atco Records. It begins with 12 songs by an earlier incarnation of the group, when they were called the Robins. These songs were originally released by Spark Records, but they were purchased by Atco when they signed the group. Some of the Robins didn't want to move from the west coast to the east coast when they signed with Atco, so the group was reorganized as the Coasters. They recorded many great songs, most of which were written by their regular producers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. But there was a big misstep made in 1960, when the Coasters recorded an album of standards called One By One. These songs (not produced by Lieber and Stoller) were given very dull easy listening type arrangements, and this type of material was wrong for the Coasters' singing style anyway. But for what it's worth, bass singer Dub Jones did a pretty good job on the songs which were sung by him (most songs featured just one Coaster singing solo, with none of the group's trademark harmony singing). After that album bombed, the group went back to doing the type of songs that they excelled at, thank goodness. But in late 1962, Lieber and Stoller left Atco, and the group ended up working with other producers for the next three years. Atco seemingly lost faith in the group, and booked only six recording sessions for them during that period, recording 13 total songs. Most of these songs were decent, although not up to the standards of the group's classics, but none of them were very successful. The Coasters' contract with Atco quietly expired in 1966 and was not renewed. The first three discs of this collection contain all of the Coasters' master recordings. Disc Four features "Unreleased, Alternates & Rarities". These are interesting variations of the songs on the other discs, although some are just the stereo versions of the songs. This is a great collection for fans of the Coasters, although the terrible One By One album prevents me from giving it 5 Stars (but it wouldn't have been right not to include it in the collection).
Disc One: Masters 1954-1958
1 The Hatchet Man
2 I Love Paris (prev. unissued on US CD)
3 Whadaya Want?
4 If Teardrops Were Kisses
5 Wrap It Up
6 Riot In Cell Block #9
7 Loop De Loop Mambo
8 One Kiss
9 I Must Be Dreamin'
10 Framed
11 Smokey Joe's Cafe
12 Just Like A Fool
- the 12 recordings above by The Robins
13 Brazil
14 Down In Mexico
15 One Kiss Led To Another
16 Turtle Dovin'
17 Lola
18 Sweet Georgia Brown
19 Young Blood
20 Searchin'
21 My Baby Comes To Me
22 Idol With The Golden Head
23 What Is The Secret Of Your Success?
24 Wait A Minute
25 Dance! (prev. unissued on US CD)
26 Gee, Golly (prev. unissued on US CD)
27 Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart (stereo master*,
prev. unissued in stereo on legal US CD)
28 Three Cool Cats (original single mono master)
Disc Two: Masters 1958-1960
1 Yakety Yak (stereo master*)
2 Stewball (stereo master*)
3 Sorry But I'm Gonna Have To Pass (stereo master*)
4 The Shadow Knows (stereo master*)
- four above prev. unissued in stereo on legal US CD
5 I'm A Hog For You (I'm A Hog For You Baby)
(original single, dubbed mono master)
6 Crocodile (stereo master, prev unissued on legal CD)
7 Charlie Brown (stereo master*)
8 Hey Sexy (stereo master*)
- two above prev. unissued in stereo on legal US CD
9 Along Came Jones
10 That Is Rock & Roll
11 What About Us
12 Poison Ivy (original edited single, mono)
13 Run Red Run
14 Keep On Rolling
15 Besame Mucho Part 1
16 Besame Mucho Part 2 (prev. unissued on US CD)
17 The Snake And The Book Worm
(original single mono master) - prev. unissued on (legal) CD
18 Wake Me, Shake Me (mono master)
19 Lady Like (prev. unissued on US CD)
20 But Beautiful
21 Satin Doll
22 Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You
23 Autumn Leaves
24 You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
25 Moonlight In Vermont
26 Moonglow
27 Easy Living
28 The Way You Look Tonight
29 Don't Get Around Much Anymore
30 Willow Weep For Me
31 On The Sunny Side Of The Street
- 12 last above stereo masters*
Disc Three: Masters 1960-1966
1 Thumbin' A Ride
2 Shoppin' For Clothes (stereo)
3 Ridin' Hood (Riding Hood) (stereo master*,
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
4 Girls Girls Girls Part I (mono master, prev. unissued on CD)
5 Girls Girls Girls Part II
6 Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)
7 Hongry
8 Teach Me How To Shimmy
9 My Babe (stereo master*)
10 Bad Blood
11 (Ain't That) Just Like Me (stereo master*)
12 The Climb (vocal) (stereo master*,
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
13 Bull Tick Waltz
14 The P.T.A.
- two above prev. unissued on US CD
15 T'Ain't Nothin' To Me (live, stereo*)
16 Speedo's Back In Town (live, stereo*)
17 Bad Detective
18 Lovey Dovey
19 Wild One
20 I Must Be Dreaming
21 Money Honey
22 Let's Go Get Stoned
23 Crazy Baby
24 Bell Bottom Slacks And a Chinese Kimono
25 She's A Yum Yum
26 Saturday Night Fish Fry
- nine last above prev. unissued on (legal) US CD
Disc Four: Alternates 1957-1962
1 Yakety Yak (take 5, stereo outtake)
2 Three Cool Cats (take 1, alternate arrangement, stereo)
3 My Baby Comes To Me (alternate outtake)
- three above prev. unissued on legal record
4 Ridin' Hood (Riding Hood) (take 28, uptempo stereo version;
prev. unissued on legal record)
5 The Shadow Knows (take 2, stereo outtake)
6 I'm A Hog For You (slow version, stereo)
- two above prev. unissued on legal record
7 Charlie Brown (alternate stereo outtake;
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
8 Poison Ivy (unedited stereo master)
9 That Is Rock And Roll (dubbed stereo arrangement;
prev. unissued on US CD)
10 The Slime (stereo master*; prev. unissued in stereo on US CD)
11 Run Red Run (stereo alternate)
12 Hey Sexy (Sexy) (take 4, alternate arr., stereo - Gardner, lead;
prev. unissued on legal record)
13 The Snake And The Book Worm (The Snake & The Bookworm)
(alternate arrangement, stereo)
14 Bad Blood (stereo alternate)
15 Keep On Rolling (Keep On Rollin' ) (stereo alternate)
16 Along Came Jones (stereo alternate; prev. unissued on US CD)
17 Little Egypt (stereo edition)
18 Girls Girls Girls Pt 1 (stereo edition)
19 What About Us (stereo alternate)
20 I'm A Hog For You (Yea Yea) (takes 6, 7 + 8 complete;
prev. unissued on legal record)
21 Crocodile (take 1, alternate, stereo; previously unissued)
22 Yakety Yak (take 3, alternate, stereo; previously unissued)
23 Wake Me, Shake Me (stereo master)
24 Poison Ivy (alternate version, stereo; prev. unissued on CD)
25 I'm A Hog For You (undubbed stereo master,
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
26 Three Cool Cats (take 12, extended stereo master;
prev. unissued on legal US CD)
27 Dance (extended alternate edition; prev. unissued on legal CD)
28 Yakety Yak (alternate stereo version)"
Rock n roll pioneers and great fun.
Visa | Malmö, SE | 07/23/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A superb cd-box with one of the great pioneers of rock n roll. You might heard these songs with The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dr Feelgood, Ry Cooder, Buddy Holly, The Hollies, Paul Jones, Elvis Presley and God knows who. But here they are in their wonderful orginal. Many of the songs are wtitten by the ledgendery songwritercouple Lieber/Stoller who also wrote for Elvis. Updated, fab soundquality and one CD worth of rarities. Do yourself a favour and get this!"
