Long ago, when 42nd Street around Times Square in
New York City was much seedier and way more real than it is now, there were a
lots of discount places selling cameras, binoculars, Army surplus (known as “war
surplus” back then), and records. Taped to the windows of the latter, and
looking as if they’d been up there for years, were LP album covers. One
of the most striking was The Paragons
Meet the Jesters. Against a murky background of indeterminate color stood black
leather-jacketed hoods, a la Grease, with
a shadowy, menacing figure to their front and right. I mean, these guys
radiated attitude (see left).
The music was something else, though. Doo wop was a popular
force in the 1950s and early 1960s. It was hugely influential on everyone from
Robert Plant to Frank Zappa, and the progenitor of the great soulful Motown and
Stax vocal groups of the following decades. It was also a regional music. Place
like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, to name a few of the meccas of doo wop, were
hotbeds, as was New York, the home of the Paragons and the Jesters. For years
both groups had strong regional hits with records like Florence and Let’s Start All Over Again (the Paragons) and I Laughed and The Wind (the Jesters. In 1959, The Paragons Meet the Jesters, an
anthology of Jesters and paragons singles
came out as an LP―one of the first rock and roll compilation albums and,
according to Wikipedia, “the most commercially successful
doo-wop compilation ever released.”
The album leans heavily toward ballads, although there are
some fine up-tempo tunes, like I Laughed
and Oh Baby by the Jesters. I’m
partial to Julius McMichael’s great falsetto lead vocals for the Paragons, but
I also love the greater variety the Jesters bring to the table. Both groups were
terrific, and this recording is a landmark in the history of a unique American
vocal style. Doo wop isn’t just an historical artifact or the background music
for a Martin Scorsese movie. It’s great mixture of passion and humor, executed
with panache by a bunch of kids who sang in the streets, got ripped off by
their fly-by-night record companies in the great tradition, and left a legacy
for all of us to enjoy.
P.S. Thanks to Eddie Griese and Donn Fileti of Relic Records, who for years worked to preserve the lost world of doo wop on LP and CD.
Here are two selections―and it was tough to pick just a couple. I hope you
enjoy them and decide to explore this great music further.
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