Search - The Crows :: Gee

One Of Many Doo-Wop Groups To Record For George Goldner

08/21/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"George Goldner, a New York City garment dealer who indulged in his love for music, especially Latin-flavored, by running dance halls in the early 1940s, and by forming Tico Records, branched out at the start of the 1950s to record many of the most renowned East Coast Doo-Wop groups on a variety of labels he started. These included The Wrens and The Valentines on Rama, The Five Crowns, The Heartbeats, The Cleftones, and The Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon on Gee, The Starlighters, Little Anthony & The Imperials, The Flamingos and The Chantel on End, and The Trickles, The Isley Brothers, The Dubs and The Channels on Gone.



One of the first to enter his recording studios was this Harlem group consisting of lead Daniel "Sonny" Norton, tenors Harold Major and Jerry Wittick, baritone/tenor Bill Davis and bass Gerald Hamilton. However, the competition for the ear of the listening public was at its peak by the time they came along, with the likes of The Orioles, Ravens, Robins, Dominoes, Clovers, Five Keys, Four Blazes, "5" Royales and Drifters already dominating the juke boxes, air waves and concert halls. Consequently, The Crows were destined to become a One-Hit Wonder, and even that one hit took its time climbing the charts.



Unfortunately, none of this is imparted in the insert provided by Collectables/Oldies.Com, which contains only a listing of the other CDs available in their Great Group Series: The Avons, Cookies, Eddie Collie & The Dimples, Cleftones, Monotones, Shep & The Limelites, Marcels, Dubs, Four Tunes, Dominoes, Crests, Ray-O-Vacs, Heartbeats, Valentines, Ravens, Regents, Wrens, Flamingos, Harptones, Orioles, Cadillacs and Chantels. All contain minimal tracks (in this case just 10), which is fine when dealing with One-Hit (or even No-Hit) Wonders - but many in the series had many more than 10. The sound quality, on the other hand, is excellent.



Their first release in April 1953 on Rama was a cover of, of all things, the 1953 Country hit No Help Wanted (by The Carlisles and also Hank Thompson), which had, on the flip-side, a cut (Seven Lonely Days) by Viola Watkins. Neither side charted. In July, their only hit was released, but it would take some time before Gee, b/w I Love You So, made an impact on the charts. In fact, at the start, the B-side (later a 1958 Pop/R&B hit in a cover by The Chantels) was receiving more attention in places like Philadelphia, L.A., Dallas and St. Louis, and when Gee did start to be noticed it was in March 1954 and on the Pop charts, where it finished at # 14 on Rama 5. Then, in April, it climbed to # 2 on what then passed for the R&B charts. Pop covers by June Hutton for Capitol and The Skylarks on Okeh failed to chart, but in 1960 a Jan & DEan cover would go to # 81.



It was also in July 1953 that Call A Doctor (the actual title, although when singing it they say "call the doctor") was released initially on the West Coast as, for some reason, by The Jewels, b/w Heartbreaker, which is not included here. Untrue, b/w Baby (not here) was released in May 1954 following the eventual success of Gee, but it went nowhere, and on his Tico label Goldner distributed the Latin-flavored Mambo Shevitz b/w Mambo # 5 (omitted), neither of which made any impact. Nor did a nice rendition of Perfidia, which came out early in 1954 on his new Gee label b/w a cut by Lorraine Ellis, but is also excluded here.



Later that spring, Miss You b/w I Really Really Love You came out on Rama 30, and in July, Baby Doll b/w Sweet Sue (on which Bill Davis sang lead) was issued on Rama 50. When none of these could get them back into national prominence, the group split in 1955, with Davis joining a group called The Continentals.



Some liner notes along these lines, and an additional 2 to 4 tracks would have increased this to a 5-star release in my opinion. Really, the powers-that-be at Collectables/Oldies.com would be well-served to send their production staff to Ace Records in London to see how it's done."