Search - Four Coins :: Shangri La

Collectables Comes Up Short Once More

Paul Tognetti | 09/19/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This vocal quartet from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania - brothers Michael and George Mahramas, Jim Gregorakis, and George Mantalis - started out as the The Four Keys before changing their name to The Four Coins following the popularity of the hit Three Coins In The Fountain. From 1954 to 1959, for Columbia's Epic subsidiary, they registered exactly 8 hit singles and here, in a 19-track release, Collectables manages to omit two of them, along with five B-sides.



Now, one may say that Wendy, Wendy (# 72 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in October 1958 b/w Be Still My Heart) and their last hit, One Love, One Heart (# 82 Hot 100 in June 1959 with the Joe Sherman orchestra b/w My First Love - a # 106 Hot 100 "bubble under") were relatively minor hits and therefore not worthy of inclusion, but they WERE hits and therefore more logical choices in a release subtitled "A Golden Classic Edition" than Ting-A-Ling Telephone or Rio Rita, neither of which can fit that description. Especially One Love, One Heart, a beautiful variation on the Enrico Caruso 1913 hit Because, also done by Perry Como in 1948.



Their first hit, registered in October 1954, was We'll Be Married In The Church In The Wildwood, which reached # 30, followed early in 1955 by I Love You Madly, a cover of a 1954 R&B cut by Charlie And Ray, which peaked at # 28 Billboard Pop Top 100 b/w Maybe. Late that year they returned to the charts with Memories Of You, from the film The Benny Goodman Story, which topped out at # 22 Top 100 b/w Tear Down The Fence (not here). Both hits had the backing of the Don Costa orchestra.



After being shut out on the charts throughout all of 1956, the Marion Evans orchestra then backed them on their greatest hit, Shangri-La, which made it to # 11 Top 100 in early summer 1957 b/w First In Line (also omitted here). The Evans orchestra also backed them on My One Sin, a # 28 Top 100 in the fall of 1957 b/w Be Still My Heart (another omission), as well as the above-mentioned Wendy, Wendy, and what would turn out to be their second-best hit single, The World Outside, which peaked at # 21 Hot 100 in December 1958 b/w Roselle (omitted here).



The sound quality is very good, and in the insert are three pages of background notes written by Mark Marymont. A decent, if not exactly complete, compilation of their best."

Great 50's music

William H. Skelton | Dallas, Texas | 10/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Saw these guys on the PBS show. Shangri-la wowed the crowd and me also. This CD is very enjoyable. This was my father's music and I can understand why."