The Capris Gotham Recording Stars (LP, Cut-Out)

The street corners of Philadelphia have given birth to many vocal groups that have become legends in the Rhythm &, Blues music field. Among the most respected of the early groups were the Buccaneers, Castelles, Lee Andrews and the Hearts, and the Capris.

The Capris story began in the early 195O’s when West Philadelphia youngsters Ruben Wright, Eddie Warner, Harrison Scott, Bobby Smart and Charlie Stroud began harmonizing on the corner. When Charlie Stroud left the group in 1953, the Capris looked for a replacement. They eventually settled on Rena Hinton who had been singing with a popular local female quartet. Thinking a female lead would distinguish them from other groups, the Capris quickly taught Rena the lead parts of all their songs. Rena had only been with the Capris a couple of months when they signed with Gotham records in June 1954.

In the year that followed, Gotham released three records (six sides) by the Capris. “God Only Knows" was an instant hit, drawing quite a bit of local airplay. The Capris found themselves making radio and even television appearances. Like “God Only Knows," the ballads “It Was Moonglow" and “It’s A Miracle" were beautiful examples of Philadelphia-style R&,B, featuring Rena Hinton’s tenor lead.

The Capris career was cut short when some of the guys entered the Air Force. Although the group was reactivated in 1958 to record “My Weakness)” (Fred Hale replaced Harrison Scott) the group could not recapture the success of “God Only Knows” and decided to go their separate ways.

When I agreed to help assemble this Capris album from the original Gotham recording session tapes, I had only a slight idea of what was ahead. I remembered Rena telling me about the Capris recording “God Only Knows” over and over again until they felt it was perfect. I recalled Charlie Stroud telling me about some of the great songs in the Capris’ repertoire-songs like “Just A Fool" and “You’re Mine Again” which I had never heard. What I found was a total of thirteen reels of tape, all in their original boxes. Some boxes looked like they hadn’t been opened in twenty five years. One tape disintegrated from age when we tried to play it. The other twelve, however, provided a glimpse back in time to those days in 1954 when the Capris recorded.

This vinyl-album truly contains the best of the Capris’ recordings. Twelve of the sixteen cuts contained here have never before been released. The Capris’ hits “God Only Knows," “It’s A Miracle," “Too Poor to Love" and “Yes My Baby Please” are included here as they were released during the 195O’s. The versions of “My Weakness," “It Was Moonglow,” and “Let's Linger Awile” are alternate takes from the sessions that produced the released versions.

When the Capris recorded “That's What You're Doing To Me” Rena was not familiar with the song’s lyrics and sang from a lead sheet. The song was written for a male lead, and contained the line “. . .why I love that woman so. . ..” After the first take, Rena changed the lyrics but Gotham mistakenly released the first take on the Capris’ 1954 single. This album contains an alternate version of “That’s What IYou’re Doing to Me” where Rena sings the corrected Lyrics.

“He Still Loves Me” is a beautiful ballad in classic Capris’ style featuring Rena’s tenor lead. A male lead version of the same song, “She Still Loves Me,” is also included. Rena also leads the group in the outstanding ballads “You’re Mine Again," “Just A Fool” and a cover of the Chord’s record, “Bless You." Ruben leads on the mambo influenced “How Long." Rounding out the album are two more fine Capris songs, “Please Believe’ Me” and “I Miss Your Love.”

Our knowledge of early Rhythm &, Blues vocal group styles is limited by the few recordings we have from them. This historic album allows us to better appreciate one of the finest of the 1950’s harmony groups-the Capris.