This 6-CD Doo Wop box set contains the entire Spotlite on Apollo Records series.
Product Description:
The Collectables box Spotlight on Apollo Records collects the label's half-dozen previous volumes (variantly titled Spotlite on Apollo Records) in one set, an exhaustive and exhausting look at the work of one label's doo wop output. Apollo featured some great groups, notably the Larks, the "5" Royales, the Cellos, and the Keytones, but anyone with less than a fanatical interest in doo wop will have trouble handling a collection of this size. Among the 84 performances are sprinkled a few gems, like "My Reverie" by the Larks (one of the top doo wop anthems of all time), "Baby Don't Do It" by the "5" Royales, and the Cellos' "Rang Tang Ding Dong." ~ John Bush
I grew up with this music
Music Lover: Diddley Squat from
Transplanted NY'er in Denver -- August, 9, 2007
These label collections are real gems for people who remember the music from early childhood, but who don't necssarily remember song or artist names.
And there must be a lot of us out here. It was a different world then. There were no rock stars. Record players cost a couple hundred dollars, half a year's rent for some people. And many record collections in those days still consisted of the old 78 RPM discs - huge, heavy, and breakable. Even the 45s were beyond the reach of most young people, selling at about $1 each, as I remember.
There was no MTV, of course,
and what little you saw on television was either the old commercialized "Top 40"
Frank Sinatra-type stuff that had little appeal for youth, or you got the "teen idol" movie star singers, who just didn't make good recordings.
That left the majority of us with two sources of music - AM radio and (for older teens) jukeboxes. It wasn't at all uncommon in that era to have favorite songs and never even know the name of the group that recorded them.
That's why these collections are so meaningful. They're full of wonderful music - some of it just reminiscent of the times, some sounding vaguely familiar, and some that can be recognized instantly. They never cease to be a goldmine of material that is as fascinating today as it was 50 or 55 years ago.
