Search - Bobby Freeman :: Do You Want to Dance

The Ebony Buddy Holly

L. E STOTTLEMEYER | KCMO | 05/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Whenever I hear this rockin cat he reminds me of the great Buddy Holly. That same kind of tone and energy without the hiccups of course. This is a great cd and he should've been a bigger star and should be remembered a whole lot better on today's Oldies stations regardless of what music research or some consultant infactuates."

A Slim Chubby Checker ... And A Slim Album

08/05/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Bobby Freeman's self-penned Do You Want To Dance (sometimes shown as Do You Wanna Dance) got many teenagers doing "the twist" long before Hank Ballard, and then Chubby Checker, introduced it officially with their hit records in 1959 and 1960.



When, in June of 1958, his first big hit (b/w Big Fat Woman) went to # 5 Billboard Hot 100 and # 2 R&B, little did he realize that it would be resurrected several times over the next two decades (Del Shannon - # 43 Hot 100 in 1964; The Beach Boys - # 12 Hot 100 in 1965; The Mamas & The Papas - # 76 Hot 100 in 1968; and Bette Midler - # 8 Adult Contemporary and # 17 Hot 100 in 1973).



Born on June 13, 1940 in San Francisco, Freeman had actually started out in 1954 with a group known as The Romancers who cut several unsuccessful sides with the Dootone label. He also formed a West Coast group called The Vocaleers, but this was not the same group that had the 1953 hit Is It A Dream?



Following his first big hit as a solo artist on the Josie label, he came right back in August 1958 with Betty Lou's Got A New Pair Of Shoes, taking it to # 20 R&B and # 37 Hot 100 b/w Starlight.



For his next release, which hit its peak around Christmas, he departed from the frantic rocker bits to offer the tender Need Your Love in which he hints at a Sam Cooke-like quality (# 29 R&B/# 54 Hot 100), although the flipside, Shame On You Miss Johnson, was just as torrid as his initial releases.



1959 proved to be a bit of a struggle, however, with only Mary Ann Thomas (# 90 Hot 100 in June b/w Love Me) and Ebb Tide (# 93 Hot 100 in December b/w Sinbad) doing anything. In 1960, the King label released (I Do The) Shimmy Shimmy which made it to # 37 Hot 100 that October b/w You Don't Understand Me, but not only are both sides omitted from this compilation, it is very difficult to find them anywhere. One final release by Josie in 1961, The Mess Around, struggled to a # 89 Hot 100 in April, b/w So Much To Do.



After a 3-year absence from the charts, in 1964 he then hooked up with both Autumn Records and Sly Stone (of Sly & The Family Stone fame) who produced C'mon And Swim which peaked that August at # 5 Hot100/R&B b/w Part 2 of the same song. Not bad considering the opposition (all the British groups, led by The Beatles, not to mention The Beach Boys and The Supremes).



However that stiff opposition eventually proved to be too much and his next, and final, charter was S-W-I-M b/w That Little Old Heartbreaker Me, which topped out at # 56 Hot 100/R&B in November 1964. By the late 1960s/early 1970s he had switched to the pure Soul sound for the Loma and Double-Shot labels - but without any further chart success.



While this album gives you all his hit singles but the one noted above, along with two flipsides, it is skimpy by today's standards with just 12 tracks, and could easily become a 5-star CD by expanding to 20 selections with the addition of (I Do The) Shimmy Shimmy, it's B-side, and the other missing flipsides."