Bob's Crew: The Complete Recordings 1955-1962 (Uk)

Fronted by the distinctive voice of Hal Miller, New York quartet the Rays scored one of the most memorable double sided hits of the classic Rock 'n' Roll era in 1957 with the original versions of 'Silhouettes' and 'Daddy Cool', two Hall Of Fame classics that have endured for almost 70 years, and that will live on in Doo-Wop history forever. As the title of this CD containing 30 examples of their craft (almost everything they ever recorded) implies, they were indeed 'Bob's Crew'- the 'Bob in question being songwriter-producer Bob Crewe who, with his own writer-producer partner Frank Slay Jr. , discovered the group in 1955 and worked with Hal Miller and an ever-changing line up of Rays through to the mid-60s. The Double Dynamite of 'Silhouettes' and 'Daddy Cool' may have provided the Rays with their career hit, but it was not their only hit and several more of the fine tracks collected here also breached the lower reaches of the US Hot 100. From the Rays, Slay moved on to work extensively with Freddy Cannon while Crewe steered the Four Seasons (who appear on two tracks here as incognito Rays!) to global superstardom in the 60s. These, though, are the recordings that shaped their future success as 'backroom boys'. Here are 30 great slices of Big Apple Doo-Wop and early soul that mostly should have fared better than they did back in the day, and that now show the Rays to be an important bridge between the black American music of the 1950s and the 1960s, collected by Jasmine for the first time on a UK CD.