hey all ..it's a long day ..I apologise for the layout but the turdmunchers at wordpress (or one of the piece of crap plug-ins) have gone and changed everything without any notice and I don't have the time right now to figure out how to edit this fucker into the proper format …I will do so later. in the meantime, read in the knowledge that technology is all about fucking you once you think you have worked it out.
here goes….
Dance
Dance.
Dance.
You Can't Sit Down
Dance.
When someone says “dance music’ I think of this type of music.
And, though it is not stylistically similar this music has much in common with contemporary “dance music”.
Their sole reason for existing is to get people up and about and dancing.
Dancing is important. You can’t dance to Dylan (well, not well). But importantly I reckon more people got roots after a dance session rather than after a solitary think fest on a Dylan album.
Is that important?
At a point in your life (as a young male at least) it is.
Sure, you can pick up a chick on the back of some Dylan music but would you want to?
Dylan (and fellow travellers) work on the brain and emotions whereas dance music is purely visceral.
For sure, you need both, but sometimes we don’t let our feet do enough talking.
You just have to let yourself go.
Wikipedia: “The Dovells were an American music group, formed at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1957, under the name 'The Brooktones'. The members were Arnie Silver, Mark Gordesky, Len Borisoff (better known as Len Barry), Jerry Gross, Mike Freda and Jim Mealey (alias Danny Brooks). Their first single was "No, No, No", which was a minor local hit for The Brooktones, who soon broke up. Summers and Dennis left the group, forming The Gems with Mark Stevens and Alan Horowitz in 1960. The remaining Brooktones signed to the Parkway record label and added Jerry Serlen and William Shunkwiler to the group, while changing the band's name to The Dovells…. Their first hit was "Bristol Stomp", a dance song with the lead vocal actually sung by Matthew Cavallaro,[dubious – discuss] a short time member forced to leave the band due to military obligations. This was followed by the similar hit "Do the New Continental" (featured in the John Waters movie Hairspray for a minute). "Bristol Stomp" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. They appeared performing both songs in the Chubby Checker movie Don't Knock The Twist in 1961. They released a series of singles over the next few years. These included "You Can't Sit Down", a #3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. Len Borisoff left in 1965 for a solo career under the name Len Barry”.
I got this album because I love vocalist Len Barry – his “1-2-3” is one of the best pop songs of the 60s.
His work with The Dovells is (less distinctive) than his solo work but thematically more consistent. The band, which is a vocal group, existed to lay down white dance pop. The roots lay in the up-tempo black dance R&B of Jackie Wilson and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers but there is more than dose of white frat rock n roll in there also.
You can see this music leading to the emotive, frantic blue eyed garage soul of Mitch Ryder which in turn the guitar crunch rock n roll of Detroit in the late 60s (Stooges, MC5). Detroit is only 8 hours away from Philadelphia and they share some of the same sounds.
A long bow perhaps but if you think about it …..
A lot of this music was manufactured but The Dovells are the real deal. They aren’t overly adventurous but they hold their own against black pop. Hey, what do you want from migrant kids (or the sons of migrants) from Philadelphia?
A little of this goes a long (very long) way but whilst it is on it’s fun.
They, not surprisingly are on the Parkway label, who were the pop and dance label of the early 60s with Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, Dee Dee Sharp,
Tracks (best in italics)
- You Can't Sit Down – (Upchurch / Clark / Muldrow / Mann) – Originally by the Bim Bam Boos and Phil Upchurch this is a high energy dance workout and if I could dance at my workstation I wouldn’t be able to sit down. A great track.
- Short Fat Fanny – (Larry Williams) – the great 50s song by Larry Williams that name checks just about every 50s rock song. This is give a honking treatment
- 36-22-36 – (D. Malone) – even the slower songs are danceable and this one is a bit of a jive. Great measurements too! This originally appeared on a Bobby Bland album from 1962.
- Maybellene – (Chuck Berry) – though this doesn’t capture the youthful freedom that is encapsulated in Berry’s motor car this version sounds more black than Chuck’s original and there is a great funky organ break.
- Miss Daisy de Lite – (Mann / Appell) – a suggestive little song with the oom cha cha strippers beat. A little dated and dull. Freddy Bender also did a version in 1963 and on the Parkway label.
- Hey Beautiful Baby – (Rose Marie – Segmann) – a excellent danceable number with a lyric and beat that would fit into a frat rock or garage rock song. This is an old style blue eyed soul "shouter" which doesn’t recognise the British (music) invasion.
- Workout – (Wilson / Tucker) – It certainly is a workout! Done by many including the great Jackie Wilson.
- Wildwood Days – (Mann / Appell) – This could be an outtake to a beach teen film. Infectious. Label mate Bobby Rydell later in the year had a #17 hit with it.
- If You Wanna Be Happy – (Guida / Royster) – an old school calypso number – I'm not sure why they chose this. Jimmy Soul had a number one hit with it in 1963…perhaps they were just adding a familiar dance song to the repertoire.
- Lockin' Up My Heart – (Holland / Dozier / Holland) – standard soul of the time (The Marvelettes, 1963) – nothing added here and not soulful enough.
- Summer Job – (Mann / Appell) – a teen mid tempo bouncer – similar to "Here Comes the summer" in attitude if not in style.
- Havin' a Good Time – (H. Smith) – hmmm, a so so song – though with good rock n roll lyrics like "I'll be dead in the morning, but I'm living it up tonight."
And …
Yup…. I'm keeping it.
Chart Action
US
Singles
1963 You Can't Sit Down R&B Singles #10
1963 You Can't Sit Down The Billboard Hot 100 #3
Album
1963 You Can't Sit Down The Billboard 200 #119
England
Singles
Album
—
Sounds
You Can't Sit Down
mp3 attached below
The Dovells – You Can't Sit Down
36-22-36
Maybellene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFASOkuUYqQ
Hey Beautiful Baby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7uyvDCHU7o
Workout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywB4vNOt4U0
Wildwood Days
If You Wanna Be Happy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz1oal3Ljdo
Others
with Matthew Cavallaro as singer ?
Len Barry and one of the greatest of 60s songs
The Magistrates
Review
http://www.allmusic.com/album/for-your-hully-gully-party-you-cant-sit-down-mw0002062588
Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dovells
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Barry
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-dovells-mn0000784670/biography
Website
Trivia
- The group thought it was too hard to spell their original name The Brooktones and since the big thing then was the "L" sound, (The Shirelles, Bobby Rydell, The Chantels, etc.), the group became The Dovells.
- After Len Barry left The Dovells struck one off gold (#54, 1968) as The Magistrates with “Here Comes The Judge”, a “Laugh-In” TV Show cash in.
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