Search - Platters :: Very Best of the Platters

The very best of the "Very Best of the Platters" albums.

Mary Whipple | New England | 03/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Only You"-2:39

"Enchanted"-2:55

"You've Got the Magic Touch"-2:29

"The Great Pretender"-2:43

"You'll Never Know"-2:41

"Mystery of You"-3:01

"My Prayer"-2:48

"Smoke Gets in Your eyes"-2:40

"I'm Sorry"-2:55

"My Dream"-2:40

"If I Didn't Care"-3:11

"Twilight Time"-2:47

"Remember When"-2:51

"To Each His Own"-2:51

"On My Word of Honor"-2:42



Of the four "Very Best of the Platters" albums now available, this collection by Universal Music is the one that includes ALL the Platters favorites for any teenager who was in love in the 1950s--"Only You," their first #1 hit on the R and B chart, which then became #5 on the pop chart, when it crossed over; "The Great Pretender," their next hit, which was #1 on the pop charts; and "Magic Touch," "My Prayer" (another #1 pop hit), and "Twilight Time." It is also the only one of the recordings to include another favorite, "On My Word of Honor."



Featuring the wonderful Tony Williams as tenor soloist, with a voice ranging from a soft whisper to a soaring vibrato, these songs bring back the days of the post-football game parties in basement rec rooms, slow dancing, duck tail haircuts, and "true romance." If you were alive in the '50s and early '60s, I defy you to hear this collection without tapping toes and reminiscing about your first sweetheart. The voices are so strong that the very small amount of background noise will not be noticeable.



Now thought of as "doo wop," because of the beat and the finger-snapping rhythms, these songs set the scene for rock and roll a few years later, ushering in a new music which incorporated gospel and soul sounds never before part of the mainstream. The first all-black group to become universally popular, the Platters established a hit-producing presence and opened doors to the many black doo-wop groups which succeeded them into the 1960s. Trend-setters whose influence was felt for fifteen years, the Platters (and this collection) are an indispensable part of the high school memories of a whole generation. Mary Whipple



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