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street corner symphonies vol.1 1939-1949

1-CD DigiPac (4-plated) with 84-page booklet, 30 tracks. Playing time approx. 87 mns.

Doo-Wop is one of the foundation stones of rock 'n' roll. Bear Family will issue the defintive story of Doo-Wop from 1939-1963! Every Doo-Wop hit! Every neglected classic! Every ground-breaking record! Detailed song-by-song notes and amazing rare photos from the golden era!

Like Rap, Doo Wop music was an urban American art-form. It was sung on street-corners, in stairwells of tenement apartments, in high school toilets ... and it was preserved for posterity in recording studios. Most of the performers were African American, and many of the songs were romantic - in sharp contrast to the bleak reality of urban African American life at the time. Doo-wop had its origins in the black pop and gospel groups of the pre-World War II era, but it flourished in the years after World War II and became a major contributing force to the evolution of rock 'n' roll. In fact, some eminent cultural historians cite records like 'Sixty Minute Man' and 'Gee' as among the first rock 'n' roll records. Both of those classics, along with many more, are on Bear Family's defintive history of Doo-Wop, 'Street Corner Symphonies.' As always, you can trust Bear Family to get it right.

Starting in 1939 with pre-Doo-Wop acts like the Golden Gate Quartet, the Ink Spots, and the Mills Brothers, 'Street Corner Symphonies' will take the story until the end of the Doo-Wop era in 1963. The first five volumes cover the years 1939 to 1953: in other words, Doo-Wop's true golden era. There are simply too many hits to list. Just look at the track listing! Suffice to say that these were the records that provided the soundtrack to the rock 'n' roll revolution ... and the records that changed American and global popular music forever.

This series has been compiled and annotated by R&B music's foremost scholar, Chicago's Bill Dahl, and every song comes with detailed notes and illustrations. There have been plenty of Doo-Wop compilations, even a few Doo-Wop boxed sets, but this series is the last word on the genre. Truly definitive! Every hit, every underground classic, every song that lit up the airwaves at the dawn of rock 'n' roll. Every shoop, every doop, every doo-doo-wah!