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Although scant facts are available on The
Nitecaps and more than one line-up has been
offered, the most likely components were the three
Hamilton brothers: Eugene ‘Ronnie’ (lead), Bob and
Al (born 1938), along with Freddy Price. One thing
The Nitecaps and The Diablos had in common was
the sound which owed much to The Dominoes and
the early Drifters. They tried to sound more pop-
orientated and ‘modern’ especially with the jump
tunes from their first November 1955 session for
Groove.
A Kiss And A Vow
resembles The Orioles’
ballad style, most likely because of Ronnie’s tenor
voice that had the same high soulful feeling as Clyde
MacPhatter’s. With
Snap, Crackle And Pop
and
Your’re Gonna Be Sorry
from their second session
(both issued here for the first time, together with takes different from the final master),
they gave us two distinctive jump tunes of the same musical quality. If you listen very
close to the vocal background on
Snap, Crackle And Pop
, you can hear the group singing
the sort of nonsense syllables ‘doo-Wop’, which later gave this music it’s name.
Bamboo
Rock And Roll
from their third single fits exactly into the
Ling Ting Tong
theme popular
two years before, while
You May Not Know
is a ballad par excellence.
The sound of the third and last session did not change much towards songs popular
at the fall of 1956, like
See-Saw, Stranded In The Jungle
or
Love, Love, Love,
but goes
back to music popular two years before. In
Each Corner Of My Heart
delights much the
same way as some Dominoes’ releases, with a heavy bass break and a high tenor. If you