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Covers
I am going to date myself here – I became a teenager during the doo wop era and have always enjoyed the harmonies. Recently while listening to a doo wop anthology in the car I got to wondering how the Twins would sound covering doo wop, something from The Platters, or The Skyliners, The Paris Sisters? I dont see them doing Blue Moon but how about I Love How You Love Me, or The Great Pretender. Any other seniors out there wonder about this?
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10 Replies
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Will, I was born after the doo-wop era ended, but it’s long been my favorite genre, ever since I was introduced to snippets of it on Happy Days as a kid. The songs may be formulaic, but they never fail to make me smile and relax, no matter which group it is. Some of the harmonies are to die for.
From the first time I heard it, I thought Close to You was almost a doo-wop tune. It certainly has that distinctive beat. Maybe if the lead guitar part were replaced with vocalizations it would cross over the line. And in Questionable, the background vocals during the “question after question” part sound pretty doo-woppy to me.
Will MLT actually record any doo-wop songs? I don’t think they’ve ever hinted that they would. It may be a branch of music history that they bypassed, or perhaps it just doesn’t call out to them the way the Beatles do. But they did say a couple of years ago that they were exploring music from the 1920’s, so maybe they’ll get around to it eventually. And given their diverse repertoire and talents, there’s no doubt that they would render it beautifully.
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Will,
the Twins claim to have a huge backlog of covers to work on.
They continue to have to politely say no to most requests.
I can imagine that they feel overwhelmed.
Take it one step at a time.
Good luck.
P.S.
Say – how about the Kingston Trio? Tom Dooley, Where have all the flowers gone… etc
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Hi Will, hi David,
now you have made me curious: I don’t know the term „doo wop“. What exactly is meant by this genre of music? Thanks.
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Juergen, doo-wop is a style of music popular in the U.S. in the 1950’s. I don’t know exactly how to define it, but I know it when I hear it. Basically it’s smooth group vocals with lots of nonsense syllables in the backing parts. This song is one of the best-known examples:
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Jurgen, doo wop music was based on what was called street corner harmony, young singers getting together without any instruments. Later when record companies became involved, instruments were added. My personal favorite group of this genre is The Crests whose most possibly most famous song is “16 Candle” or “The Angels Listened In”. Doo Wop faded out during the early 1960s. last song of the genre is considered to be “Denise” by Randy and The Rainbows. Hope this helps.
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Thank you both. Some of the music pieces I know, but could never assign them to a specific music style. Very Interesting.
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One more question comes to my mind: Did later bands like “The Commodores”, “Kool & The Gang” and “Earth, Wind and Fire” take up the tradition of “doo wop” and revive it in a new guise or does that have nothing to do with it at all?
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vocal harmonizing has been a part of music for a long time, centuries. In its purest form it consisted of 3 or 4 part vocalization, tenor baritone, soprano with voices providing a form of accompany (instruments). The groups you mentioned didnt break down the vocals in that manner in my opinion. Of course music is not stagnant and everything feeds into whatever is new. Main thing with doo wop is it can stand alone without guitars etc, I have often thought that The Four Tops and the Temptations had their roots in doo wop but went beyond it into more structured music forms
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Thank you for all the information and the exciting topic Will. I am not a musician and therefore can not put some things I hear in terms and words. Posts like this one help me to better classify music and understand the background. I would also find it interesting in the future, if similar topics are treated here in the forum. You have a comprehensive knowledge to many musical focuses and I am glad about it, if you let me share it.
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