Street Corner Soul final episode now on BBC iplayer

The final episode of Street Corner Soul was repeated last night on Radio 2 and will be available on BBC iplayer for one week - link here. Again, another highly enjoyable and recommended episode, with some titbits of information I had forgotten about.

Did you know, for example, that Maurice Williams' Little Darlin' and Stay were both inspired by the same girl and written when Williams was about fourteen? Or that the Five Satins' All Mine (a particular favourite) was only acapella because the band didn't show up? The issue of ripoffs (in the matter of songwriting) was only dealt with briefly at the end, as was the impact of the British invasion, but given the time available I still say that this series was as good as could be hoped for.

For example, Steve Propes was on hand to talk about Dootsie Williams and Dootone, so there could be no compolaints about the quality of interviewees throughout the series: everyone who is prominent on the internet was there. (And Maurice Williams himself was interviewed.)

Members of the Chantels - as in the Channel 4 series The Voice - recreated Look Into My Eyes, still sounding pretty good, all those years on: like the Flamingos, another example of church-inspired singing which wasn't gospel but which influenced doo wop. The Chantels were produced by Richard Barrett (both are pictured top), and it's interesting to discover that, as with Frankie Lymon, their hits were the result of numerous takes: the groups who recorded on tiny labels may not have had the opportunity to try for perfection, but some of the genre's biggest hits were the result of people like Barrett.

And for those still lamenting the loss of Mark Lamarr's show from Radio 2, it was good to hear Jesse Belvin's Goodnight My Love at the end, a fitting farewell and signoff from this exemplary series. I hope that it inspired at least some listeners to go out and find some of this music, or reminded others (like me) of its importance. If it is a dying art, then at least these four half hours give some indication to the novice of why it demands to be celebrated.

Doo wop documentary Street Corner Soul Episode 3 now on BBC iplayer for one week

What? No, that's just a screengrab. Find a direct iplayer link for Street Corner Soul Episode 3 here, assuming you are reading this within a week of its posting. I'm going to drop any pretence of critical assessment of this radio documentary series and simply urge you to listen to it if you want to learn, or to learn more, about doo wop. Each episode is on BBC iplayer for a week and you should be able to access it in America  as well.

Street Corner Soul Episode Two now on BBC iplayer

 

The second episode of Street Corner Soul has now been broadcast and will be available on BBC iplayer for one week. If you haven't heard the series and are even vaguely interested in doo wop I strongly recommend it.

Street-Corner-Solicited Testimonials

 

In an effort to shame the BBC (no, I don't really think it'll work either) below are extracts from two reviews of the original broadcast of Street Corner Soul (to read earlier post about the programme, click here).

And I suppose I have to admit that the second review also hints at why this repeat may have been curtailed. Whatever doo wop enthusiasts may feel about the form, it is unlikely that there will be a worldwide conversion - or reconversion - to this form of music at this late stage.

And whatever the plaudits for Jersey Boys - a musical I saw and enjoyed - doo wop it ain't, even though doo wop songs feature early on: it's a turbocharged, brightened, poppified thing, accurately reflecting what the Four Seasons brought to the form. And good luck to it; I have just recommended it to Clarke, in fact.

No, the nearest I have got to seeing what I'd consider a a doo wop musical was Sister Suzie Cinema, almost thirty years ago; Kat and the Kings, which I remember discussing with Clarke on the Kewl Steve board (you can read it here) was a big disappointment for me when I eventually saw a revival in London; I walked out after the first half.

This is getting away from the point of the post but I'll briefly say why. The revival was at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn and I got the impression, rightly or wrongly, that the performance were making it more feelgood than it might have been. Also, the instrumentation meant there wasn't much of a chance to enjoy the singing. Yes, yes, it wasn't staged for the likes of me and the rest of the audience were enthusiastic and I was probably the only walkout.

Sole Repeat?

As Tommy Cooper would say, "That's nice." Have just checked the radio schedule for today and seen that instead of Part Two of Street Corner Soul at 8pm on Radio 2 there is the first of a two part tribute to Peggy Lee. The forthcoming schedule on the BBC website doesn't go further than next Sunday, which is the concluding part of the programme. So will Street Corner Soul continue its run after that? Who knows?

Street Corner Soul (Radio 2 documentary about doo wop) now on BBC iplayer

Street Corner Soul, a four-part documentary series about the rise of doo wop, is currently being repeated on BBC Radio 2 on Sundays at 8pm and can be recommended very highly indeed. Episode 1 was broadcast today (Sunday 22nd July 2012) and will be available on bbc iplayer for one week.

Over its four 30 minute programmes the series really does a great job in setting out the whole story, from doo wop's roots to the British invasion which did for it. Here's how the episodes are summarised on the Radio 2 website:

1/4. The beginnings of doo-wop, with the emergence of vocal harmony groups such as The Ink Spots, The Dixie Hummingbirds and The Mills Brothers.

2/4. Flying High. With the success of The Ravens and The Orioles, vocal groups became familiar names in the charts.

3/4. Sh-Boom: As doo wop took root in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and LA, the mainstream music industry moved in for a slice of the action.

 4/4. The Price of Fame: An invasion of British acts was about to change the music business forever.

I don't know whether producer Owen McFadden conducted original interviews or had access to a cache of material, nor do I know how extensive the source material might have been. But, having listened periodically to the series since its first broadcast, what I can say is that the selection process is an intelligent one: many of the interview snippets make you feel like a spectator, or an eavesdropper, at some key moments in the development of the form.

In the first episode, for example, we hear from Deborah Chessler, composer of It's Too Soon to Know, the song recorded by the Orioles which is generally believed to be the start of doo wop.

Did you know that Chessler had gotten into trouble with her employer for selling clothes to Ella Fitzgerald in the Baltimore shop where she worked? Or that her songwriting stemmed from her efforts to make sense of her feelings after a disastrous early marriage? It's Too Soon ... wasn't her first song, but there were others with similarly questioning titles.

The song which kickstarted the whole doo wop shebang - or shboom? - came about when a supportive male friend offered to help pay for her divorce and suddenly declared his love. Normally it's parents who counsel caution in these matters but Chessler's mother was all for it; it was Deborah who told her mother "How can he love me? It's too soon to know."

Then, going to the toilet, inspiration struck but, with no paper in the house, she was obliged to scribble down the words on toilet paper. She sang it twice to a group she had been drafted in to help, the Vibranaires (as the Orioles were originally called) at their next practice session. The group got the harmonies "almost immediately" then she gave the lead sheet (on sturdier paper, I trust) to Sonny Till who, she says,

sang it like he had been singing it all his life.