Gene & Eunice - Go On Ko Ko Mo (2011)

Tracklist
---------
01. Ko Ko Mo
02. You And Me
03. Tell Me That You Love Me
04. Flim Flam
05. Move It Over, Baby
06. This Is My Story
07. I Know A Girl
08. Can We Forget It? (Colder By The Minute) Tk 1
09. Can We Forget It? (Colder By The Minute) Tk 2
10. I'll Never Forget You
11. Send Me Someone
12. Only Lovers

The 28 tracks here give an extensive overview of the duo's '50s recordings, dominated by 13 tracks from their 1955-1958 Aladdin singles, including the Top Ten R&B single "This Is My Story." There's also their most famous song, the original version of "Ko Ko Mo" released on a 1954 Combo single; the 1959 mid-sized chart hit "Poco-Loco," from a Case single; seven previously unissued sides the pair did for Combo; a 1953 solo Gene Forrest single; a 1960 single by Eunice, billed here to Eunice Levy; and a previously unissued Combo track by Eunice Levy and the Four Feathers. It's rather innocuous mid-'50s R&B for the most part, heavy on nonsense song titles like "Hootchy Kootchy," "Hi Diddle Diddle," and "Doodle Doodle Doo." But it does have its importance as a document of one of the early male-female duos in rock music. Actually, like much Los Angeles black music of the time, it's really R&B starting the transition to rock & roll, but it's close enough. The jump blues backing moves the upbeat cuts along well, if predictably, and the two could harmonize well on smoochers like "This Is My Story." The unreleased tracks are really sketchy 1954 demos (including an early version of "This Is My Story") with no instrumental backing save piano.

DOWNLOAD ALBUM [flac]