Ben-Lee's Philadelphia Story

A couple of solid tracks on this release. "Pretty One" by The Rockmasters and a nice mid tempo track, "Don't Go, He Don't Love You" by The Cymbals. A couple of other slow tracks by The Moniques and The Marvells but not as strong as The Rockmasters' track.
4 out of 10.

Urr Ine The 50's & 60's

Silly cover but a few nice Doo Wops make up for it. Highlights: "Where Are You" by Steve Gibson and The Red Caps, "Thumb Prints" by The Popsicles, "Dream My Darling Dream" by The Re-Vels and "You Said Goodbye" by The Reflections. Recommended for the Doo Wop fan.
4 out of 10.

Ben Aiken And Friends

An interesting release from Collectables Records that brought to light some rare soul tracks. Highlights include "When Times Are Bad (We Turn To Love)" and "Face The Future" by The Coupe De Villes and  "Didn't We Make It" by Broadway Express.
6 out of 10.

Tony Owens

Little known soul artist out of New Orleans, Tony Owens cut a killer track that has long been extremely popular in the low-rider scene. Sadly the version of "Confessin' A Feeling" is mostly known from the cover version done by Sly, Slick & Wicked a couple of years later. Other nice tracks include "Wishing, Waiting, Hoping" and "I Need, I Need Your Love".
6 out of 10.

Ollie & The Nightingales

Mostly mid and up tempo material. The good tracks are "A-B-C-D", "Showered With Love" and "You'll Never Do Wrong".
5 out of 10.

Maintain 45's Speed

A set jam packed with mainly sweet 70's soul that, as quickly as it appeared it went away. Many good, rare and truly hard to find soul tracks are included in this compilation. I will name a few of the highlights: "Problem Child" by 4 Miles High, "Dad I Love Her" by The Ponderosa Twins, "I'm A Winner" by Executive Suite, "Everything Is You" by Spice, "It's Gotta Be Love" by The Trumains, "I've Come To Stay" by The Smith Connection, "I Wasn't There" by The Whatnauts, "Let Them Keep On Talking" by Top Shelf, "Don't You Want To Fall In Love" by The Stepstones and "High On Love" by Masterpiece. Sound quality varies.

9 out of 10.

Sam Cooke

Classic material by Sam Cooke. Highlight for me is "Bring It On Home To Me" followed by "You Send Me" and "Nothing Can Change This Love".
6 out of 10.

Linda Jones

 

A pretty complete look at the late Linda Jones' material. Collectables did a good job in gathering up her big hits but they did not include any liner notes and sound quality varies. You can get the import releases which count with better sound quality and have all tracks from the Collectables release plus "That's When I'll Stop Loving You", "When The Hurt Comes Back" and "I Who Have Nothing". Highlights include "Hypnotized", "Give My Love A Try", "Ooh Baby You Move Me" and "What Have I Done (To Make You Mad)".
7 out of 10.

Chicago Radio Soul

I decent release on the Kent Records label with excellent sound quality and a good bit of liner notes. Highlights include "Selfish One" by Jackie Ross, "Lonely Girl" by Andrea Davis, "A Thousand Miles Away" by Jo Ann Garrett and "Strange Feeling" by Billy Stewart.
5 out of 10.

Betty Wright

I wish I would have bought The Essentials release first. It contains "Tonight's The Night" plus "Girls Can't Do What The Guys Do". Besides these two tracks I did not find the rest of her material interesting enough to mention any other track. Recommend you pass on the TK Years and go for The Essentials release if you must have her CD.
3 out of 10.

The Three Degrees

Only a few tracks by The Three Degrees really catch my attention. With the Collectables release it is their cover of "Look In My Eyes". The rest of that release sounds much like The Ronettes. The later CD it is of course "When Will I See You Again" and their cover version of "Distant Lover". The rest leans more towards disco.
3 out of 10.

The Choice Four

Not very popular in the low rider scene but The Choice Four have some solid 70's slow jams. Highlights include "If I Don't Love You",  "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "This Time It's For Real". A recommended addition to your collection.
7 out of 10.

Delegation

"Oh Honey" and that is it. You are better off picking up that track on another compilation.
2 out of 10.

The Best Of The Rarest Doo-Wops

Another risked and lost deal with this CD as it contains no decent ballads. You can pass up this release.
1 out of 10.

The Spaniels

One of the most memorable groups of the early Doo Wop era with their big hit "Goodnight Sweetheart". Other good ballads on these two releases include "I'll Be Waiting", "Baby It's You", "You Painted Pictures", "Let's Make Up", "I Lost You" and "These Three Words". Overall good sound quality.
6 out of 10.