Starry Eyed Serenaders

Dreamy Doo Wop, Romantic R&B, Passionate Pop.

Romance has been the overriding preoccupation of songwriters and performers through the ages, and never more so than in the golden years of rock & roll. On Starry-Eyed Serenaders, music historian and producer Stuart Colman has intertwined an array of love songs, some famous, many much sought after, that together assert what the classic make-out ballad is all about. Not every song is devoted to matters of the heart, but they certainly predominate. Sweet-sounding harmonies have an uncanny ability to render a heaven-sent lyric even dreamier, and vocal groups abound here: some in a supporting role but many as the defining ingredient of doo wop.

The collection spans 1955 to 1962, the golden years of rock & roll, and draws on the catalogues of a wide array of labels ranging from majors to small indies. Virtually all of the recordings feature vocal groups, mainly as the featured artists, but occasionally in a support role, but there are also a handful of solo performances which fit nicely with the romantic theme. True to form Stuart has largely eschewed familiar artists or titles in favour of lesser-heard recordings. So key interpreters such as the Clovers, the Crests and the Harptones, sit alongside lesser-knowns such as the Electras, the Lavenders and Robert Peebles. Many rare sides are included within the set, sides that usually sell for telephone numbers in the collectors' world.

The groups and soloists may have been starry-eyed when it came to their objective, but they all knew how to dispense romance and classiness with a free-flowing air of authority. Starry-Eyed Serenaders will be welcomed by rock & roll fans, and (being released ahead of Valentine's Day), would also make the ideal present for a loved one.