Who was/is The Crests V.s.The Flamingos ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
The Crests V.s.The Flamingos
Johnny Maestro and his Crests had a good thing going at Coed Records. Co-owner George Paxton was a music publisher whose output had a polish that many New York indies lacked. The Crests had been Coed's flagship group ever since their 16 Candles just missed topping the pop charts (you will find it on our 1958 edition).
Maestro's powerhouse leads and the harmonies of second tenor Tommy Gough, baritone Harold Torres and bass J.T. Carter kept the multi-ethnic Crests posting hits: Six Nights A Week, Flower Of Love and The Angels Listened In in 1959 alone. Step By Step, written by house songwriters Ollie Jones (a former member of The Ravens and The Cues) and Billy Dawn Smith, climbed to number 14 pop in the spring of 1960, with Gee (But I'd Give The World) on the other side.
"That got us back up in the Top Ten again," said the late Maestro. "It was a good song." Coed spared no expense. The sound, he remembered, was phenomenal, the first time he had been in the studio with live strings, a beautiful sound. Paxton's studio manner was calm and laid-back; he rarely had much to say and left most of the decisions to the arrangers, though he was always there. Bert Keyes and Billy Dawn, Maestro noted, were very instrumental in all of their recordings.
Between Step By Step and its Top 20 follow-up Trouble In Paradise the Crests were flying high, but trouble loomed on the horizon. Trouble In Paradise, Maestro felt, was the beginning of the end for the group. The record company told them that sales were falling because the group was integrated, and felt they could not get national television exposure as a result. So the decision was made to record them separately, Maestro as a soloist and the group with another singer. They were young, had little say, and simply followed what they were told.
Maestro went solo at Coed and landed three hits in 1961, but he was not happy. Having spent his whole vocal life with a group, he missed that support in the studio and onstage. After a couple of records he left the label and began travelling the country with a band. Meanwhile the Crests carried on without him. Maestro was singing with the Del-Satins, Dion's vocal group on Runaround Sue, but they wanted a bigger sound and merged in 1966 with a horn band called the Rhythm Method. The eleven-piece outfit needed a new name; someone at the manager's office joked that it would be easier to sell the Brooklyn Bridge than a group that size.
Buddah Records boss Neil Bogart wanted the Brooklyn Bridge to go bubblegum, but Maestro had heard a Jimmy Webb song on a 5th Dimension album and felt they should arrange it their own way and record it. The Brooklyn Bridge's Wes Farrell-produced version of Worst That Could Happen went gold in early 1969, soaring to number 3 pop. They scored smaller hits through 1970 and were still going strong when Maestro died on March 24, 2010.
Various - Street Corner Symphonies 1960 Vol.12
Copyright © Bear Family Records
Copyright © Bear Family Records®. Copying, also of extracts, or any other form of reproduction, including the adaptation into electronic data bases and copying onto any data mediums, in English or in any other language is permissible only and exclusively with the written consent of Bear Family Records® GmbH.
More information about The Crests V.s.The Flamingos on Wikipedia.org