Featuring 24 tracks by almost as many groups, Remember Me Baby is a mixed-bag collection of harmony-laden pop from a bygone era. It’s a dated style, with plenty of carefully picked guitar arpeggios and doo-wop vocals. These singles, originally released between 1958 and ’64 on Cameo-Parkway Records, aren’t well-known hits. All but one of these cuts are new to CD, so anyone with a strong interest in the genre should consider it mandatory.
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Truth be told, some of the songs on this one hour collection kind of blend in with one another. The aforementioned arpeggiated licks that begin The Turbans “Golden Rings” turn up in similar form on The Roommates’ “A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening,” The Skyliners’ “Everyone But You,” Lee Andrews & the Hearts’ “Gee But I’m Lonesome” and others.
At its best, Remember Me Baby has some fun, up-tempo tunes like The Exceptions’ “Down by the Ocean,” propelled by a prominent vocal bass line. But most of the time, you’ll be playing spot the rewrite (i.e. Andrew Jones and Leroy Kirkland’s “When You Dance,” a well-sung but ultimately pale redo of “Save the Last Dance for Me”).
Real Gone Music has put Remember Me Baby back in print following the identical 2010 release by Collector’s Choice. Ed Osborne’s liner notes provide more than enough background for the casual listener. A reissue such as this is aimed at a very specific sector of the record buying public. If groups such as The Gleems, Billy and the Essentials, and Rick and the Masters mean something to you, this one’s definitely up your alley.
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