Retro Redux: Beyond Doo-Wop - The Original Platters

I've never been able to come up with a catchy name for a type of song I've written about before. It's not a genre in the usual sense of the word, although in the broadest definition - as a category of music - I guess you could call it a genre. But this particular genre is different than most, because it consists entirely of songs that seem to have been bouncing around in my head for as long as I can remember.

I realize that it's not a category that applies to me alone - I'm sure everybody has songs like that - but the specific tunes themselves are unique to each person, and since I'm doing the writing here, mine are the songs that count. (I also realize that my sometimes-fuzzy memory can play a part in all this, but that's a subject for another time.)

My common sense (another suspect facility) tells me that I probably first started hearing these songs during my childhood, either on the radio or from the stacks of platters we played on our record player. One thing I know — at least a couple of those platters featured - er - the Platters. (Sorry.) Even after more than fifty years, when I hear songs such as "Only You", "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", or "The Great Pretender", it's as if I just heard them yesterday.

Doo-wop is a term used by some to describe early R&B singing groups, but others feel that it applies only to specific types — and some don't much care for the term at all. Whatever your feelings, the fact remains that the Platters were one of the best of those groups, especially on romantic ballads. Their precision harmonizing was almost hypnotic, and they became one of the biggest successes of the 1950's, transcending any discussion of their doo-wopism. (Like that word? Just invented it.)

Article Author: Big Geez

The Big Geez is a retiree who takes time off from trimming his ear hair to write about music -- sometimes doing conventional reviews, but often just sharing his opinions about how something resonates with his memories and those of his generation. …

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