deanslist101's channel

DON'T COME ANY BETTER THAN THIS!!!!!

Ray Smith is the brother of the fabulous modern jazz keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith and Donald Smith who performed with Lonnie as a member of the Cosmic Echoes in the 1970s and '80s.

This is the flip side of VALERIE. A bit of a change from the Starlites trademark repertoire of Jackie's crying theatrics. A great song but, like most from that time, way too short.

LOVE IT!!!! ONE OF THE BEST FROM THIS GREAT ERA!!

@felion4 When I talked to him, Anthony said he couldn't remember who did the great sax opening for the song. It could have been Georgie Auld or Sam "The Man" Taylor but he wasn't sure. He also told me one of the problems with the song was that people couldn't figure out how to dance to it. The c...

One of the best R&R songs of all time!

As good as it's ever going to get!

Something doesn't look right here. I was always led to believe that the one surviving copy of this record was on a blue label and the word "Jubilee" was in a script style. I could be wrong though. In any case, a great version of an old classic. It's since been "cleaned up" and made available in 4...

Here's the scoop. I interviewed Little Anthony on the phone this past Sunday (2-19-12) and he confirmed he wasn't with the Duponts for this song. He sang with them earlier on the Winley and Royal Roost labels but when this song came out he was already with the Imperials. He did record for Roulett...

They're not only all still living, all but one of the originals are still performing and recording. NEW MATERIAL! And it sounds great. I just did an hour-long interview with Little Anthony for a magazine article and the secret to his longevity is changing with the times; adapting to new styles an...

This song is so early '50s. A terrific ballad. Dated, but I wouldn't have it any other way. And nicely cleaned up. None of the early scratchiness on the few still-existing copies of the record. Ray Wooten was supposedly very young at the time but the strength of his voice is like that of an adult...

This is the original from the flip side of "Tears on My Pillow." All of the other posted versions are either later versions, covers or the accappella version. This is my absolute favorite of theirs. Nobody could do it better, despite some good covers, including the one by The Marcels. Anthony's v...

Wow! What a beautiful, romantic ballad. Never heard this before. Nobody could tear at your heartstrings better than Little Anthony. What a great career this legend has had, transitioning from the mid-50s to the present, working with some of the top producers in rock & roll history, producing hits...

A beautiful sad song that, I'm sure many of us can identify with. Very clever use of the poker metaphor to make the point.

The style may be similar to the Platters but the lead doesn't sound like Tony Williams. He has his own distinct, strong vocal style and comparisons shouldn't be made here. This is a great song on its own.

SMOOTH! MY FAVORITE OF THEIRS! AS ROMANTIC AS IT GETS ON A WARM SUMMER NIGHT.

Great lyrics! Many of us felt the same way back then. Eventually, though, we had to conform if we were to survive. Still, all the while I kept coming back to the words of this song and thinking that one day I'll be able to thumb my nose at the world like they're saying here. Still waiting for tha...

"WELCOME SONS OF THE DESERT." That's what is says somewhere at the bottom of this picture where you can't see it. These guys were hot for a short time back in the late '60s as early advocates of getting high on weed and giving up the sauce. The song that follows this one on the album is LAST CALL...

WOW! Once again, I repeat, this is as good as it gets!! Fantastic group harmony. They don't come much better than this.

They don't come much better than this. WOW! What a sound. What great group harmony. These guys rock!!!

My favorite of theirs. A great New York classic.

A great cover version by one of the few country singers I like. I saw him sing "Kiss An Angel Good Morning" during one of the recording sessions for the "Country Family Reunion" series of videos at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in the summer of 2001. I wrote to him afterward and he sent me an...

THIS ROCKS!!!

One of my favorites of that time. A fine tribute to the talent of the recently departed Johnny Otis in helping make this song possible. What a time! What a wonderfully innocent era. Will we ever see anything like it again in our lifetimes? Probably not.

My favorite song of his, by far. So meaningful and true. Everyone, male or female, should take the advice of the song before committing to a marriage. I am looking forward to seeing Percy live for the first time this coming Saturday night (1-28-12) at the Joy Theater in New Orleans and hopefully ...

Great love ballad by one of the top R&B groups of that era.

Great song. Great sax solo by Jimmy Wright in the middle. Wow! Don't get much better than this.

Wow! Never heard their version of this before. I'd rate it equal to the Fidelitys' version and that's one of my favorite '50s ballads. Somebody said this in another post: These guys could sing the phone book and make it sound great. The Duprees were among the best of their time. No contest.

Killer guitar solo! You rock Pigboy Crabshaw!!

I love the polished version with the music much better but this was a great starting point for Vito and the guys.

Amazing! Totally amazing!! Some of the best alto and soprano sax work you'll ever hear anywhere. And what a great video to go with it. For the romanticist in all of us.

For those who don't recognize it, this is the non-whistling version of the Hampton Hawes composition "Sonora" from Nelson's DESTINY CD. This is the shortened -- by nearly a minute -- version that gets played on the smooth jazz stations. Some great sax work segueing from the guitar bridge to the m...

If I recall correctly, this was their followup to "You Belong to Me." Note the similarity of the travel themes. This song hardly got any airplay and now ranks as one of the forgotten links in their sterling repertoire. Thank goodness my brother Louie liked the song enough to go out and buy the re...

One of the last great American ballad groups of the pre-British Invasion era. So fantastic that their records continued to sell even after the Brits landed ashore here. Joey Vann had a fabulous voice that was, sadly, silenced too soon. What a loss. What a great song this is, especially for someon...

Nice rendition. Does this pre-date or follow the Skyliners' great version? Anyone know? Is this Don Julian on lead? Anyone that know that either?

I challenge anyone to say anything bad about this song. This is as perfect as it gets. All the elements of a extraordinary effort are in evidence here. The lead, the harmony, the bass, the backup music on piano and guitar: everything fits neatly into place here. I love it!!!

A great version of this Robert & Johnny classic. Can't believe I never heard it before either. I'm hearing a lot of things lately I never heard before thanks to YouTube. Wow! Another classic sound by the Channels. The Videls did a fantastic uptempo version of this but Earl Lewis and the guys hav...

All of the versions of this song that I've heard are equally great in their own way. Each group had their own style they brought to the studio. Comparisons are futile to make here. Let's just appreciate these songs for who and what they are.

One of the absolute best songs to come out of that great era. It just simply doesn't get any better than this. No one could duplicate or improve on it. This is as good as it gets. No competition. I could play this song a hundred times in a row or a thousand and never get tired of it. These guys w...

OK. I didn't realize this was the flip of "That's My Desire." I don't have that song in my collection otherwise I would have known and would have heard it before. Wow! It's as great as anything else they've done.

Somehow my comments got mixed up here. I was referring to "Stay As You Are" as the song of the Channels I'd never heard before. But this one is great too, as is nearly everything these guys ever did.

What a shame he didn't live much longer after this record was cut. But at least he went out in his prime. He never hung up his rock & roll shoes and went the pop route like many of his contemporaries. What a great voice and style Chuck Willis had. Never to be duplicated.

What happened to Seven Lonely Days? It used to be up on YouTube. All I see now is everyone else's version but the best one by the Crows. I miss it.

This has to be a later version. The original was on Rama, George Goldner's label. In the later '50s, Goldner was one of the founders of Roulette so he must have had the Harptones re-record this. It's a good rendition but the original on Rama has much more soul and feeling put into it. Willie Winf...

Catch that last note at the very end. It is widely believed to be the highest note ever hit by a male vocalist in the history of Rock & Roll. Wow! If he'd have held it any longer he wouldn't have had any vocal chords left.

Bobby Fuller had the greatest love and admiration for Buddy Holly and I knew about his version of "Love's Made a Fool Of You" but I never had any idea till now that the Crickets did the original on this song. You see, you're never too old to learn. I'm almost 62, been listening to rock & roll sin...

Nice smooth vocals and harmony. Since this is on Gee I would have to assume that's the great Jimmy Wright on sax in the background and on the break. No one else from that era could duplicate that man's sound.

Great song that I still have on the original Julia label. Would love to know who played sax on that great solo. "Rinky Dink" is such a commonly used term now but back then, this 12 year old had no idea what it meant. Now I use it all the time and it describes a lot of things these days. Including...