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If I Didn't Care - The Ink SpotsI Miss You So - The Cats & the FiddleTill Then - The Mills BrothersI Learned a Lesson, I'll Never Forget - Five Red CapsSentimental Reasons - Deek Watson & His Brown DotsPlay Jackpot - Dusty Brooks & His Four TonesAtom and Evil - Golden Gate QuartetJust a-Sittin' and a-Rockin' - The Delta Rhythm BoysI Know - The Jubalaires - (featuring Andy Kirk & His Orchestra)I Sold My Heart to the Junk Man - Basin Street Boys - (featuring Eddie Beal Fourtet)I Cover the Waterfront - Cats 'N Jammer ThreeMy Baby - The Melody MastersI Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder, Pt. 2 - The Four AcesP.S. I Love You - Four VagabondsOl' Man River - The RavensDon't You Think I Oughta Know - Bill Johnson & His Musical NotesI'm All Dressed Up with a Broken Heart - The Five BarsSolitude - The ScampsAfter Awhile - The Big Three TrioIt's Too Soon to Know - The OriolesRecess in Heaven - Deep River BoysLoch Lomond - The RocketsGo Long - The DixieairesIt Takes a Long Tall Brown Skinned Gal - Four BluesYou're Heartless - The Four TunesKiss and a Rose, A - The CharioteersWrapped Up in a Dream - The Four KnightsRiver Stay Away from My Door - The SyncopatorsIf It's So Baby - The RobinsI've Been a Fool - The ShadowsTrack List
If I Didn't Care - The Ink SpotsI Miss You So - The Cats & the FiddleTill Then - The Mills BrothersI Learned a Lesson, I'll Never Forget - Five Red CapsSentimental Reasons - Deek Watson & His Brown DotsPlay Jackpot - Dusty Brooks & His Four TonesAtom and Evil - Golden Gate QuartetJust a-Sittin' and a-Rockin' - The Delta Rhythm BoysI Know - The Jubalaires - (featuring Andy Kirk & His Orchestra)I Sold My Heart to the Junk Man - Basin Street Boys - (featuring Eddie Beal Fourtet)I Cover the Waterfront - Cats 'N Jammer ThreeMy Baby - The Melody MastersI Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder, Pt. 2 - The Four AcesP.S. I Love You - Four VagabondsOl' Man River - The RavensDon't You Think I Oughta Know - Bill Johnson & His Musical NotesI'm All Dressed Up with a Broken Heart - The Five BarsSolitude - The ScampsAfter Awhile - The Big Three TrioIt's Too Soon to Know - The OriolesRecess in Heaven - Deep River BoysLoch Lomond - The RocketsGo Long - The DixieairesIt Takes a Long Tall Brown Skinned Gal - Four BluesYou're Heartless - The Four TunesKiss and a Rose, A - The CharioteersWrapped Up in a Dream - The Four KnightsRiver Stay Away from My Door - The SyncopatorsIf It's So Baby - The RobinsI've Been a Fool - The ShadowsAlbum Reviews:
Mojo (Publisher) (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "This volume provides an immaculately selected 30 tracks that actually pre-date the era of street corner groups."
Album Notes
Liner Note Author: Bill Dahl.
Illustrators: Stefan Wriedt; Charlie Horner; R.A. Andreas; Pamela Horner; Victor Pearlin; Billy Vera.
Photographers: Stefan Wriedt; Charlie Horner; R.A. Andreas; Pamela Horner; Victor Pearlin; Billy Vera.
Bear Family's ambitious multi-volume Street Corner Symphonies: The Complete Story of Doo Wop chronicles a time long before rock & roll. It begins in 1939 with the Ink Spots' "If I Didn't Care," a song that contains the DNA of doo wop within Bill Kenny's lovely, keening tenor counterbalanced by the bass of Orville "Hoppy" Jones. This slight but significant shift within vocal harmony groups can be heard throughout the 30 songs on this first volume. Almost all of these sides, all cut between 1939 and 1949, are rooted in big-band pop, not gospel, so the rhythms sway instead of jump. This begins to change in the late '40s, particularly with the Orioles' "It's Too Soon to Know," which has the swing of R&B and gospel harmonies. A few other singles here also point to nascent doo wop but most of the music on Street Corner Symphonies, Vol. 1 should be viewed as prehistory for the main event -- it is instructive, at times fascinating and entertaining, and always well-annotated by Bill Dahl, but it retains a slight musty air, possibly because the bulk of this music is so dreamy it verges on the sleepy. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
