I’m a ’60s kid & if you grew up in early-60s New York, you still heard the music of The Drifters, The Coasters, The Moonglows, Johnny Ace, The Flamingos, Jesse Belvin, Charles Brown, The Orioles & all of the “bird” groups, to name but a few, in your home.
I saw this announcement & being an unabashed fan & friend of Russell Thompkins Jr., I had to check this out.
A listen to this song made me smile, because it brought back memories of being a pre-school kid, sitting in our living room, when my mother would play these songs, as well as memories of my pre-teen years, when my mother still played those 78’s & the Rock & Roll craze was kicking in with the Dick Clark LPs, ushered in by movies like The Lords Of Flatbush, American Graffiti, shortly followed by TV shows like Happy Days.
This song has that 1954 Flamingos/Moonglows/Ravens/Drifters type of vibe. I won’t compare Russell to any of those pioneering falsetto tenors, because Russell Thompkins Jr. has his own style, besides which, Russell has always given credit to his forbears. But, it was nice to hear Maurice in an entirely different element, getting his Jimmy Ricks/Bill Pinckney on.
This is the sound that nudged us forward from Gospel, the blues, into the R&B era, which led directly into one of the most dynamic eras of music, bar none…the SOUL ERA.
Listening to this song is like seeing an long-lost old friend & if you grew up with this sound as I did, it’s familiar, comforting & soothing.
I only wish that today’s generation were able to really hear music such as this & to be able to appreciate music that actually features something called melody, lyrical content, modulations, chord changes & more than that, love.
I love this song & this is a great job all around.
