[Marv Goldberg]
This is a song-by-song guide to the Flamingos' 1953-1954 recordings for their first two labels, Chance and Parrot Records. Click on any title to read the post.
Links are provided at the end to couple of other posts which help fill out the background. One of these is about engineer Bill Putnam, whose work with reverb and echo helped define the Flamingos' sound. The other contains two accounts of the recording process, from a backing musician who worked with the Flamingos and from a singer in another fledgling group.
I've stopped with the Flamingos' departure from Parrot. The group joined Chess Records early in 1955.
Flamingos # 1: Cross Over the Bridge
Flamingos # 2: That's My Desire
Flamingos # 3: Golden Teardrops & Carried Away
Flamingos # 4: If I Can't Have You
Flamingos # 5: Someday, Someway
Flamingos # 6: Plan for Love
Flamingos # 7: You Ain't Ready
Flamingos # 8: Hurry Home Baby
Flamingos # 9: Blues in a Letter & Jump Children
Flamingos # 10: September Song
Flamingos # 11: Listen to My Plea
Flamingos # 12: Dream of a Lifetime
Flamingos # 13: On My Merry Way
Flamingos # 14: If I Could Love You
Flamingos # 15: I Really Don't Want to Know
Flamingos # 16: I'm Yours & Ko Ko Mo
Flamingos # 17: Get With It & I Found a New Baby
Two other posts help to fill out the picture:
"Virtually mistake-free": a doo wop group in the studio
Bill Putnam and Universal Recording
"Virtually mistake-free" ... includes accounts by singer Johnny Keyes of the Magnificents and saxophonist/bandleader Red Holloway of the tensions of vocal group recording
sessions at the studio where the Flamingos cut their sides.
When
I first began writing about the Flamingos' Chance and Parrot sides I
didn't have a clear idea of the role played by Bill Putnam and his
experimentation with echo and reverb effects. The second post attempts to
rectify this.
Main Sources:
Doowop: the Chicago Scene by Robert Pruter
Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks page on the Flamingos
The Chance Label (website) - Robert Pruter, Armin Buttner and Robert L Campbell
The Parrot and Blue Lake Labels (website) - Robert Pruter, Armin Buttner and Robert L Campbell
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