Once upon a time, “rock and roll” was not a ubiquitous lifestyle used in truck commercials, but a fledgling genre that was geared towards Baby Boomers looking for something musical beyond “How Much is That Doggy in the Window?” This two disc set chronicles one of the most important vocal bands that lit the rock and roll match, Danny and the Juniors.
These days, it’s difficult to appreciate their influence, but the team of Danny Rapp, Davie White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova was one of the first groups to distill the black R&B and make it palatable for suburban white middle class ears, spawning artists in the wake such as Fabian, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell and Freddy Cannon. While sounding sweet an innocent by today’s standards, their first hit from 1957 “At the Hop” was like a nuclear bomb, with incessant drumming and swinging piano backing up the hip vocals and harmonies. The follow-up “Rock and Roll is Here to Stay” is not too far behind, with the other pieces such as “Do The Mashed Potatoes” and “Just Because” delivering bowdlerized rhythm and blues. It worked, and worked well. Because most of the musicians were studio cats that grew up in the big band era, the music swings much harder than today’s “indie” rock sounds, and the harmonies, highly influenced by the Everly Brothers, reflects a vocal style sadly missing in today’s music. More than a trip down memory lane; a real trip!