Thursday, April 07, 2005
Musical Interlude
I Only Have Eyes For You, The Flamingos
The Flamingos were one of the two greatest doo-wop groups associated with the Chess record company, the other being the Moonglows. Fans of the Dells may disagree. But during their time with Chess, the group's sound epitomized a purer form of doo-wop than their later, and more successful End records would have anticipated. While the End recordings were polished and pop oriented, the Chess fare finds the Flamingos at a searching, struggling beginning.
Their sound was truer to that of a group of young men bursting out of the ghetto with world-class harmonies and jumping rhythm &blues stylings.
The later End recordings would search for and emphasize the group's "crossover" appeal (Remember, the End album covers depict white teenagers at a party, pink flamingos in a garden, and the group, resplendent in supper-club wear.} by broadening the group's repertoire to include songs like Oscar Hammerstein's "Everybody's Got A Home But Me" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" along with the Swallows' "I Only Have Eyes For You" and the Five Royales' "Crazy, Crazy, Crazy."
The earlier Chess recordings cast a different light on the young group, featuring then-typical jumps like "Chicka-Boom" and "Ko Ko Mo." But it was their early Chess ballads like "Dream Of A Lifetime," Whispering Stars," and "A Kiss From Your Lips" that would foreshadow the coming of the professionalism epitomized by the Temptations, and foretell the Flamingos eventual recognition as a world-class, Hall of Fame supergroup. --"Mr. Blues" Doug Curry
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