The Platters - The New Golden Hits of the Platters (1967/1968) [Vinyl]

New Golden Hits of the Platters was the fourth album and first compilation on the Musicor label which garnered the last two of 23 Top 40 hits for the reconstituted group after they left Mercury. Those new songs, "I Love You 1,000 Times" from 1966 and 1967's gem "With This Ring," are included here, along with "Washed Ashore (On a Lonely Island in the Sea)." Those are the three original titles as recorded by the revamped Platters. Like Kenny Rogers' Ten Years of Gold album on United Artists Records where he re-recorded five of his hits with the First Edition for his new label, the Platters used that same formula ten years before Rogers' 1977 release. It is interesting hearing Sonny Turner with his take on some of the original hits, 1957's "I'm Sorry" ten years after the fact, along with "Only You," "The Great Pretender," "You've Got The Magic Touch," "My Prayer," "Heaven on Earth," "Twilight Time," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," among others. There are so many albums by the Platters on the market that it gets more than confusing for the consumer. Musicor later released 22 Platters songs on a similarly titled collection, A Golden Hour of the Platters: One Hour of Entertainment, cramming 22 tracks on one vinyl LP, 11 titles per side. Still, "With This Ring" is a delight, is the real thing, and was the Platters with a sound much like the Four Tops and the Spinners when they were at Motown. For those who like to hear a band reworking their classic music -- and some people do -- this album will work. As long as you keep in mind that the majority of the renditions are NOT the original hits. Thanks to mastering engineer Walter DeVenne for some information utilized in this review.