So many of my records have siblings or other family relations elsewhere in my collection. This one has an obvious sister in The Penguins' Earth Angel: both ensembles are mentioned in the same breath as "hard core doo-wop" by Billy Talbot.
I didn't buy this at the same time as Earth Angel, however. It was too expensive. I did what I normally do with such luxuries, which is add them to my Amazon wishlist. This list is now absurdly long, but I kind of like it that way; I like that I've forgotten what's on it. It means that, even though everything I get on Christmas Day is something I've 'asked for', everything is still a surprise. My mum, bless her, usually homes in on the expensive stuff (see also The Famous Charisma Box). So it was that I got this triple CD for Christmas in 2004.
At first, I have to admit, I was disappointed. Surprises can be like that. The title For Collectors Only seemed like it should have tipped me off — I am the opposite of a doo-wop collector; I am a novice. But I like it more now that I hear it again (even though I have yet to make it as far as Disc 3). I like it that there are demo versions as well as the 'final' ones. My understanding was that doo-wop originated because the performers couldn't afford instruments, so they had to mimic them with their nonsense syllables and sounds — hence the Hearts seem more authentic than the Penguins, because they seem to have fewer instruments. But this is probably a bogus myth, as we are being told that authenticity in popular music is a chimera
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