The Drifters Album: “Golden Hits”

If you're an audophile who likes the sound of old records popping and warped tapes getting louder and softer, this recording could be for you. If you want your recordings to sound crisp, this isn't. And if you want your greatest hits of a group to be the classic recording, not of some other version with less colorful instrumentation, this isn't for you. "Under the Boardwalk," "Up on the Roof," and "Stand by Me" are not performed with the instruments that made them classics. Most of the stuff here are in acoustics. "There Goes My Baby" sounds as though it had been "remastered" from worn tapes, with pops and wavering dynamics. With only a little more than twenty-four minutes of playing time, this is one CD Drifters fan can avoid!

THE DRIFTERS GOLDEN HITS was a dog in 1968, and it's still flea-bitten and barking 40-plus years later. One of the first-ever collections of vocal group "retreads," the versions here are inferior to the classic Drifters 50s ATLANTIC records tracks.

(1½ woofs)

TOTAL RUNNING TIME -- 29:41

Recommended:

is the one to get!

Of all the singing groups of the rock-n-roll era, the Drifters simply

revolutionized music with an inimitable sound. The combination of: European/concert string melodies, Latin syncopation, and R&B voices,

created a sound never to be duplicated or forgotten. The group was blessed

with a multitude of lead singers and wonderful harmony. Their music was

"class." Only after the tragic and untimely death of Rudy Lewis did the

group begin the wane. I have followed the history of many singers and

groups and have done research into the background of their personnel and

history. Although their music was not Gospel/religious, the music seemed

to bring heaven and love a little closer

I am a sucker for anything by 'The Drifters';I don't believe they ever came out with a bad song.This compilation of their music from '59 to '64 is hard to beat,even as the lead singers changed from Ben E. King to Rudy Lewis to Johnny Moore.Listening to this,it's impossible not to be reminded how far popular music

has drifted-in the wrong direction.