Doo Wop Revival: R&B Vocal Group Sound 1961-62 / Various

Rhythm & Blues vocal groups have a unique place in music history and are revered by record collectors and aficionados of the music. When Fantastic Voyage released Doo Wop: The R&B Vocal Group Sound 1950-1960 in 2011, it clearly struck a chord with collectors. Collecting the 89 best-selling R&B vocal group hits from the Fifties, the compilation remains amongst the label's most popular titles. Now Doo Wop Revival continues the story into the early sixties when R&B vocal groups found themselves back in favour, and like it's predecessor it is annotated by Marv Goldberg: The world's leading authority on R&B vocal groups. By the end of the 1950s, according to some music historians, Rock & Roll didn't even exist anymore; it had been absorbed into, and then became, mainstream Pop music. Teen idols were on the ascendant, and, in the opinion of many, American popular music, after the mid-1950s flash of greatness, was dying. And then, some sparks of brilliance flared up. The early '60s saw a string of hits by R&B vocal groups, most shifting down the Soul path, and the Doo Wop Revival was declared. Some of these groups had been around for years (the Platters, the Midnighters, the Coasters, the Wanderers, the Drifters), but most were new to the scene, or at least to the charts. All the selections on the 90-track 3 CD Doo Wop Revival were chart hits in 1961 and 1962 (almost all on the Pop charts and most on the R&B charts as well). Some went to #1. Others barely made the top #100. But they're all worthy tunes, most of which you'll remember (and if you don't, be prepared to meet some new friends).