Search - Otis Williams :: Sing Their All Time Hits

A member of the Charms

04/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I find the collection of songs quite enjoyable and they bring back good times of the past. Otis is now living in his hometown and is very impressed with the album also. The CD quality is very good and hearing the sounds of the past so clear is quite pleasant. I look forward to playing the CD for friends and family members who were not able to hear and see the group when we were performing. Thank you for the memories."

Excellent 50's Doo-wop

05/12/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Charms were prolific recording artists from 1953 to 1966 on Deluxe, King and Okeh. It must have been interesting culling down their over 50 doo-wop singles down to the 12 tracks on this CD. The end result was an excellent doo-wop CD even though generally the Charms aren't highly regarded in doo-wop because of their many cover records. The majority of these tracks are from 1954 to 1956 on Deluxe. The best is their classic mid-tempo "Hearts Of Stone" which was #1 on the R&B charts in 1954 for 9 weeks, the uptempo "Two Hearts" which charted #8 in 1955, the ballad "Friends Call Me A Fool" and the uptempo "Gum Drop". I can't find the latter two referenced anywhere in my music books, but they sure are good sounding 50's doo-wop. In fact every track on this CD is at least good 50's group harmony. The weakest cut is the 1955 charted mid-tempo "Bazzoom" which has a cutesy falsetto that gives the tune an almost novelty sound. My only real gripe about the CD is that there are absolutely no liner notes."

An Ace Of London Or Rhino Treatment Needed

10/02/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"One thing about the King releases, no one will ever accuse them of being overly generous, either with the number of tracks they provide with their releases, or when it comes to liner notes and discographies. This has neither, except for a 10-line paragraph on the reverse providing a bried history of the King label.



The Charms (Otis Williams, Richard Parker, Donald Peak, Joe Penn, and Rolland Bradley from Cincinnati) had a modest nine hit singles for DeLuxe/King (the latter purchased DeLuxe in 1952) from 1954 to 1961, and it seems nowhere can you find all nine in one volume. In fact, their last two (Little Turtle Dove - # 95 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in March 1961 b/w So Can I, and Panic - # 99 Hot 100 in September 1961 b/w Pardon Me) don't seem to be available on CD in any volume.



Nor do this King release and another one with only 8 tracks - see B00005NEQ3 - offer up any of their uncharted B-sides to their earlier hits. All of which screams for a proper anthology of their hits to be produced by Ace Of London or Rhino, two of the best on the market in that regard.



Here you do get their first six hit singles, starting off with Hearts Of Stone which reached # 1 R&B in late 1954 and stayed there for NINE weeks, as well as # 16 Pop, b/w Who Knows (not here). Early in 1955, Ling, Ting Tong (the contents list on the reverse of the CD has it listed erroneously as Ling Tint Song) reached # 5 R&B/# 26 Pop b/w Bazoom (I Need Your Lovin') which topped out at # 16 R&B. Then, in March, Two Hearts got to # 8 R&B b/w The First Time We Met, losing out on the Pop charts to a Pat Boone cover on Dot.



All of the above were billed to The Charms. But in early 1956, for whatever reason, That's Your Mistake came out billed to Otis Williams And His New Group, and it peaked at # 14 R&B/# 48 Billboard Pop Top 100 in February b/w Too Late I Learned (not here). A few months later the billing changed again, this time to Otis Williams & His Charms, as Ivory Tower went to # 5 R&B/# 11 Top 100 in May/June b/w In Paradise (not here).



Over a year would then pass before United managed a # 5 R&B in July 1957 b/w Don't Deny Me, and although neither side is included here, you can find United on the 8-track CD mentioned above - but not the B-side.



The sound quality is good."