The "5" Royales - All Righty! (The Apollo Recordings 1951-1955) (2009)

Tracklist

01. Too Much of a Little Bit
02. Give Me One More Chance
03. You Know I Know
04. Courage to Love
05. Baby, Take All of Me
06. Baby, Don't Do It
07. Crazy Crazy Crazy
08. Help Me Somebody
09. Laundromat Blues
10. Too Much Lovin'
11. I Want to Thank You
12. All Righty!
13. I Do
14. Good Things
15. Cry Some More
16. I Like It Like That
17. What's That
18. Let Me Come Back Home
19. Put Something In It (With All Your Heart)
20. Six O'Clock In the Morning
21. See, Hear and Know Nothing
22. So God Can Use Me
23. I Am Thinking
24. I Wanna Rest
25. Put Something In It (Alternate Version)
26. Bedside of a Neighbor
27. Journey's End
28. Come Over Here
29. Let Nothing Separate Me


The "5" Royales were a relatively unheralded, but significant, link between early R&B and early soul in their combination of doo wop, jump blues, and gospel styles. Their commercial success was relatively modest -- they had seven Top Ten R&B hits in the 1950s, most recorded in the span of little over a year between late 1952 and late 1953. A few of their singles would prove extremely popular in cover versions by other artists, though -- James Brown and Aretha Franklin tore it up with "Think," Ray Charles covered "Tell the Truth," and the Shirelles (and later the Mamas & the Papas) had pop success with "Dedicated to the One I Love." Almost all of their material was written by guitarist Lowman Pauling, who influenced Steve Cropper with his biting and bluesy guitar lines, which at their most ferocious almost sound like a precursor to blues-rock.

Pauling's guitar is pretty muted on their early sides, though, which sometimes walk the line between gospel and R&B. The gospel elements aren't surprising, given that the Royales were originally known as the Royal Sons Quintet when they formed in Winston-Salem, N.C. In fact, they were still known as the Royal Sons Quintet when they began recording for Apollo in the early '50s, although they had six members. They would change their name to the "5" Royales in 1952, although they would, confusingly, remain a six-man outfit for a while; the quotes around the 5 in their billing were designed to alleviate some of the confusion. The Apollo singles "Baby Don't Do It" and "Help Me Somebody" made number one on the R&B charts in 1953, and they had a few other hits for Apollo before being lured away to King Records in 1954.

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