​Together with 'The Rockin' Man' around Jimmy McCracklin, this album with Frankie & Lewis Lymon appeared in the 'Koko Mojo Spotlight Series'. The Lymon brothers were both born in Harlem, New York County. Frankie was born on September 30, 1942 and Lewis two years later on June 20, 1944. Father Lymon, who also sang in a vocal group, encouraged the brothers to be actively involved in music. When Frankie auditioned with his group The Teenagers on Gee Records, he sang an original song, 'Why Do Fools Fall In Love', which immediately was a big success. Inspired by his brother's success, Lewis and The Teenchords also made catchy doo-wop.
'The Harlem Hotshots' offers a nice picture of the musical legacy of the Lymon brothers. Careers, however, were cut short much too early. Frankie died of an overdose at the age of 25 and the musical career of Lewis and The Teenchords lasted only a few years. Too bad because talent was clearly present with the brothers. This album clearly shows that. 'The Harlem Hotshots' is another gem in the series.

​About Clyde McPhatter, the previous artist featured in the Bear Family released ‘Rocks’ series, we mentioned that he had a profound influence on the development of soul music. That also applies to The “5” Royales. This quintet also knew via gospel to have more than one finger in the pie in the development of rhythm & blues, which would result in soul. The group started with gospel-soaked songs, but after their contract with New York's Apollo Records in 1951, the worldly rhythm & blues got more grip on their repertoire and the quintet turned out to be a real rocking rhythm & blues band, who also shined by the powerful, beautiful blending voices.
More rocking than the 31 recordings bundled here that The “5” Royales made for Apollo and King, no other vocal group did. This album is therefore an absolute must!

​With ‘Doctor Velvet’, Mojo Man Little Victor launched the series ‘The Mojo Man Special’, a series of dance floor killers. Volumes 2 and 3 have already been released. We will first pay attention to volume 2, entitled ‘Voodoo Doll’. This volume contains 24 dance grooves registered under the ‘crème de la créme’. Doo-wop, rhythm & blues, blues, rock and roll or gospel, you will find it all on this compilation.
Already curious about volume 3? Soon you will read the review here.

​In the late 1950s and early 1960s, American girl groups were hugely popular. One of them and perhaps the most popular were The Shirelles. The girls, mostly teenagers, knew each other from school, as was the case with The Shirelles. Their love for doo-wop made the girls sing.
This Jasmine collector pays attention to The Shirelles through all A and B sides, supplemented with some rare recordings, which the group recorded from 1958 to 1962.

​The third commandment of those Ten Commandments of rock and roll says ‘Become Self-Sufficient, Get A Job’, in other words, get a job, so that you can make a living for yourself. Mark Armstrong collected another 30 amazing songs around this fact. How can you obey this command? Well, without money, it gets damn hard to obey this.
How to approach it or not, these rhythm & blues, rock & roll and doo-wop tracks offer enough inspiration. Now it's up to you!

Like so many other music genres, the doo-wop also has its own Christmas experience. Compiler of this album Eamonn Doyle collected no less than 30 songs within the doo-wop that provide a Christmas atmosphere in their own way. Together with the other Christmas releases reviewed here, ‘Let's Have A Doo-Wop Christmas’ provides a Christmas with sublime roots music.

​Frankenstein's and Dracula's mysterious castles may be the ultimate places for a Halloween party. From now on you can experience it at home with the spooky rock and roll, rockabilly and doo-wop from ‘The Mojo Man's Halloween Party’. Nice mix of vocal and instrumental tracks. And ……… believe it, this album also sounds very good throughout the year. Talking about a ‘win situation’!

The doo-wop that Lee Andrews and The Hearts performed contrasted with the repertoire that most doo-wop groups brought in the fifties. Lee Andrews's doo-wop was more sophisticated and polished. On this album you will hear 28 such, mostly quiet songs.

​This compilation in Bear Family’s 'Rock' series contains all the uptempo tracks that The Coasters recorded for Atco Records between 1957 and 1962. Very high quality doowop and rock 'n' roll. A must have!

​Just like volume 1 in this catchy 'Pajama Party' serie, volume 2 is also definitely recommended for pajama and other parties ......!

​The Jasmine label highlights in the first volume of this series, as the title already indicates ‘R&B Answers, Copycats & Follow-Ups’. A nice approach, because if we take a closer look at the rhythm & blues, doo-wop, rock 'n-roll and pop from the last century, there are many songs that meet the requested selection. The nice thing about this album is that when you hear a song, you inevitably look for the link it has with well-known work. A fun activity in this era of corona!

​The conquest of space in the fifties did not leave the musicians untouched. This album provides you with a wonderful collection of 'space songs' and…… if you turn the volume knob a little further, the space ships are guaranteed to fly into your living room.

​Unique compilation of the vocal group The Lamplighters, founded in the 1950s, which would evolve into The Rivingtons.

​Little Joe Cook is best known for his song 'Peanuts'. That he was a very talented artist, who deserved more recognition than he received, can be heard on these 29 songs. Gospel, rhythm & blues, doo-wop and soul at its best!

By means of 12 mostly well-known songs, the English Richie & The Rockets show that they are not only skilled instrumentalists, but also highly adepted in harmonious singing. If they pick out less well-known songs for their next album, or even better compose themselves, they will soon be among the top bands in the swing genre.

Although they only had one big hit with 'At The Hop', Danny & The Juniors deserved more success than what they got. The 32 uptempo songs and tearjerkers put a sublime doo-wop group in the spotlights.

The English The Retrobaits deliver a splendid album with 'All Systems Go'. Diversity is an asset! Expect authentic rockabilly, rock 'n' roll and doo-wop of an extremely high level, all to be found in 12 super melodic original songs. A must have!

Beautiful compilation of extremely rare songs in which Lee Hazlewood, not only as a singer, but also as a producer and songwriter, scored.

Nice collection of the doo-wop recordings of this teenager band, which with their hit from 1956 'Tonight, Tonight' paved the way for Dion & The Belmonts

Anyone who thought that beautiful vocal harmonies could only be heard in the doowop groups of the fifties is wrong. Just listen to the Spanish The Velvet Candles. You will quickly change your mind!

An impressive compilation of often obscure and hard to find recordings. Highlights are undoubtedly one of the very first recordings of Frankie Valli (listed as Valle) and a recording of The Wanderers with lead singer Ray Pollard. Pollard would later get success in the Northern Soul scene with 'The Drifter'. Highly recommended! 

A superb compilation of rock and roll, rockabilly, country, blues, rhythm & blues, doo-wop and surf composed of the record collection of Lux and Ivy, key figures of the former punk band The Cramps.

What a glorious return to the golden fifties with the sublime vocal harmonies of this famous English doo-wop band!