If you want to know where doo wop started, you could easily point to the vocal group The Ink Spots, who used a formula for songs that worked for over twenty years. In various incarnations, the unique heavenly voice of Bill Kenny along with Charlie Fuqua, Deek Watson, Jerry Daniels and Orville Jones used the pattern of a lilting guitar intro, silky intro, baritone segue and harmonic closing to create a unique, definitive and irresistible collection of songs.
All of the hits and beyond are collected here on this two disc, 48 song anthology, beginning with their mega hit “If I Didn’t Care”, which still sounds both timeless and nostalgic after all these years. Other pieces such as “My Prayer” became R&B standards from other vocal groups, while their versions of jazz standards like “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “I’ll Get By” sound completely fresh in their redefined arrangements.
And then you have songs that never get old, like the joyful “Java Jive”, hip “Cow Cow Boogie” and lonely “Address Unknown”. There’s a teaming with Ella Fitzgerald on ”Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall” that oozes with coziness. For some reason, for each song you know what’s coming, but you never tire of it; you actually want more. The voices of a generation that improves with age.