“Christmas Island” by The Andrews Sisters [1946]

Here’s a fun little tune by the Andrews Sisters about spending Christmas on tropical Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean. With cold weather nowhere in sight in much of the U.S., it almost feels like a tropical Christmas. I’m home in Minnesota and I will only need a sweater on this sunny Christmas Eve day. (This song came back in a big way when Bob Dylan covered it on his infamous Christmas in the Heart in 2009.)

Merry Christmas wherever you are!

“That Old Gang of Mine” by Mitch Miller & the Gang [1958]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 14

We end our survey of pop vocal groups of the 1950s with the blandest, most parent-pleasing, date-ending, rock’n’roll-killing vocal group of the era: Mitch Miller & the Gang. As director of Arts and Repertoire for Columbia Records, Miller had enough taste to sign Mahalia Jackson and Erroll Garner, so his deafness and stubbornness when it came to rock and folk are still surprising. Columbia cofounder and leader John Hammond should really have been the head of A&R too.

Mitch Miller’s preferred taste is evident on the recordings he led with “The Gang” - an all-male chorale that fell somewhere between pop of The Crew-Cuts and the classically-trained Robert Shaw Chorale. Though it’s hard to comprehend today, Miller’s 1958 album Sing Along with Mitch sold quite well - enough even to inspire NBC to create a sing-along television show of the same name in 1961. Listening to this, would you believe that a decade earlier, Miller played oboe on a Charlie Parker record? Bird seems too hip to have included such a straight-laced fellow, but it really happened: 

(Image on the back of the 1949 LP Charlie Parker with Strings)

“That Old Gang of Mine” is also a good closing number for this playlist. While some pop vocal groups maintained their chart presence into the early 60s, very few survived the decade with much of a fan base. Many of the singers spent the rest of their lives working regular jobs and reminiscing about their glory years.

“Twnety-Six Miles (Santa Catalina)” by The Four Preps [1957]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 13

The Four Preps, a reasonably successful vocal group from Los Angeles, released this lover’s ode to Santa Catalina Island in late 1957. The song reached #2 nationally in January 1958, despite its specific geographic reference to a place that is honestly rather obscure outside California. Then again, everyone identifies with the ideal “tropical heaven out in the ocean / covered with trees and girls,” no matter where it is. In this case, once the protagonist managed to cross the (actually less than) 26 mile channel, he and his lover undoubtedly stopped to dance at the Catalina Casino ballroom.

The song had more to overcome than just geography. Capitol Records at first refused to release the song, citing the chart failures of the groups earlier (eight) records. The group’s fortune turned when a teenage Nancy Sinatra heard them at a party and pressed her father’s label to give them another try. Even then, “26 Miles” was only released as the B-side of “It’s You.”

Lastly, does a local vocal group singing about Southern California sound familiar to anyone? From this perspective, The Beach Boys were simply treading the same territory, but with an updated sound built on folk and surf rock - both of which took off not long after “26 Miles.”

“What Is There to Say?” by Rosemary Clooney and The Hi-Lo’s [1957]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 12

Vocal groups did not exist solely for their own gain. Various record labels occasionally paired their leading trio or quartet with successful solo singers. In 1957 Columbia Records - the same label who hosted The Four Lads - matched the popular vocal group The Hi-Lo’s with star Rosemary Clooney (for those of you born more recently, she’s George’s aunt) on the release Ring Around Rosie. The 12 track LP served as both a place for collaboration (four tracks) and a means of exposing fans of one artist to the work of the other (four for each group separately). My favorite song from very a solid record is the E.Y. Harburg number “What Is There to Say?”

“Standing on the Corner” by The Four Lads [1956]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 11

Most of the groups in this playlist have come across as harmless sweethearts, who, we assume, would go out of their way to avoid even stepping on an ant. We take clean-cut charm to a whole new level today. I mean, what could be more harmless than four Canadian lads?

That image set up a bit of humor since The Four Lads put on the perfect guise for the Frank Loesser Broadway tune “Standing On the Corner.” We can decry the sexism (catcalls no longer get a pass), but we can’t deny that every one of us (either gender) took part in a scene like this as a teenager.

I had a tough choice with The Four Lads. The group was so perfect for “Standing On the Corner” - which reached #3 on the Billboard Top 100 - but they were also the group that first took “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” into the charts (#10).

“Speak Low” by The Four Freshmen [1955]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 10

A minor Broadway classic from Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash’s 1943 farce One Touch of Venus (in which Mary Martin first made a name), “Speak Low” was given a modern update by the Four Freshmen in 1955. You will notice that The Four Freshmen, while not sounding dissonant, come across sounding less clean-cut and a bit more adventurous than most of the artists we’ve already heard in this survey. This is because they sang open harmonies - leaving unexpected voids in the chord structure - based more in jazz than standard popular choral music.

The group was also fairly enterprising in the types of albums they put out. Where most 10” and 12” pop LPs in the 1950s were nothing more than a collection of assorted standards, The Four Freshmen released themed albums. “Speak Low” comes from the group’s second LP, 1955’s Four Freshmen and Five Trombones. As the title suggests, every song on the record saw the group accompanied by a quintet of trombones. 

This venturesome form of vocal group was the type most likely to hold fans as other genres, particularly West Coast jazz, drew ever more sophisticated listeners in the late 1950s. 

“It’s Almost Tomorrow” by The Dream Weavers [1955]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 9

As with other genres, for each hit by “big name” vocal groups like the ones we’ve looked at so far, there were many local and regional groups just lucky to see one recording reach the national charts. The Dream Weavers were “one hit wonders” in the UK (and essentially in the US). “It’s Almost Tomorrow” first received airplay in Miami before being picked up by Decca and rerecorded for national release. The song hit #7 in the US and topped the chart in the UK. 

The song is also in a slightly different style from those we’ve looked at already. Instead of simply a small group singing close harmony, The Dream Weavers balanced the lead tenor of Wade Buff against a quartet (or more?) of female singers. For most of the song that group sang background harmonies, but they took a more traditional vocal group lead for the third chorus.

“Sincerely” by The McGuire Sisters [1954]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 8

The title of this little playlist takes on a real meaning today. The McGuire Sisters released their cover of “Sincerely” in direct competition with The Moonglows’ original doo-wop version. With The Moonglows recording still on the Billboard pop chart, this (white) pop cover made a direct pass on its way to six weeks at #1 in early 1955. The original then stalled at #20. In another interesting quirk, The McGuire Sisters took over the top spot from a different doo-wop cover by a white female vocal trio: “Hearts of Stone” by the Fontane Sisters (originally recorded by The Jewels). Can you see why many people saw the system as unfair (or blatantly racist)?

“Sh-Boom” by the Crew-Cuts [1954]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 7

To complement The Four Knights doo-wop pop post, here’s a white vocal group (with a terribly corny name) covering arguably the best doo-wop song recorded before the rock and roll era. The Chords’ rockin’ original reached #5 on the Billboard pop chart, among the highest chart positions for an R&B song to that date. When the Crew-Cuts released their version of “Sh-Boom” a few months later, it topped the pop chart for nine weeks and they were awarded with a performance on Ed Sullivan’s show Toast of the Town (which would soon be renamed The Ed Sullivan Show). 

“Oh, Baby Mine (I Get So Lonely)” by The Four Knights [1954]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 6

Now that we have come down from our Halloween hangover (or sugar high?), we now return to our even more thrilling survey of pop vocal groups of the 1950s. The first few groups we looked at were rather traditional, while the last two brought us at least a bit more character. 

By 1954, many white pop vocal groups were becoming aware of the level of success African-American vocal groups were having, with a few breaking onto the Billboard pop chart. Groups like The Crows, The Drifters (with a young Clyde McPhatter), The Jewels, and The Chords had melded the influences of gospel and pop vocal groups with the upbeat rhythms of jump blues. The next three songs we will survey each come from 1954 and show the significance doo-wop began to take on.

“Oh, Baby Mine (I Get So Lonely)” was the biggest hit for The Four Knights - a black vocal group from North Carolina - reaching #2 on the US pop chart and #5 in the UK. The “oh baby” baritone intro, walking bass line, and light backbeat make clear that this is doo-wop, but the overly-extroverted horn arrangement is an obvious pop touch.

When we talk about the birth of rock and roll, many people forget that in the two years before Elvis Presley became a household name, the first throws of “racial” music mixing on the charts were taking place with vocal groups. As exemplified above, doo-wop could soften the shock of black music for white audiences by incorporating the clean cut innocence and sweet harmonies of traditional vocal groups. Of course almost immediately - at the first sign of commercial viability - white groups moved to imitate (but never to replicate) the new fad. It’s foolish to blame either side for cultural “theft.” White audiences potentially meant more money for black groups, covers were more common (rather ubiquitous actually) in that day, and everyone wanted to keep up with the new sound.