123. The Satintones: “Faded Letter”
An interesting exercise and no more; inconsequential to the point of pointlessness. [...click title to read more]
Category Archives: The Satintones
122. The Satintones: “Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart”
Hardly a fitting send-off for a group who never really got the recognition they deserved, either for their place in Motown history or for the handful of exceptional records they released.
93. The Satintones: “My Kind Of Love”
It’s an indicator of where the HDH stable would eventually ply its trade: knocking out a straight pop song with a strong hook and effortless charm, but twisted ever so slightly so that the tune grabs the ear and forms the beginning of an involuntary smile.
92. The Satintones: “I Know How It Feels”
This is a worthy successor to My Beloved and Angel; that should be enough for anyone. (7)
75. The Satintones: “Angel”
This is the last great doo-wop record, a fitting monument to a dying art as well as a superb single in its own right, and the fact that it was only released because Motown were sued into withdrawing a third-rate Shirelles knock-off is one of the luckiest of all the label’s lucky scrapes with history.
72. The Satintones: “A Love That Can Never Be”
Neither engaging or likeable, this is one of the most thoroughly forgettable of all Motown B-sides, making it especially ironic that it ended up being used three times. Poor.
71. The Satintones: “Tomorrow And Always”
literally a note-for-note cover version with slightly different lyrics. Not only that, a note-for-note cover version of a song everyone in the world already knows.
24. The Satintones: “Sugar Daddy”
The Satintones had really upped their game for the A-side of this single, the spectacularly good My Beloved, so it’s more than a little disappointing to see them turning in a fairly pedestrian midtempo R&B number on the flip side, aping the comedy doo-wop of the Coasters with a forgettable tune and slightly ropey harmonies.
23. The Satintones: “My Beloved”
After the slightly ropey harmonising on the previous Satintones records, this one shows that these guys really could do tight harmonies and complicated arrangements after all. Rather unexpectedly, this turns out to be one of the best ’59/’60 Motown singles, all the more welcome for being a surprise. (9)
14. The Satintones: “Motor City”
If you’d asked anyone at the time whether Tamla Records was going anywhere special, whether people would remember Berry Gordy in fifty years’ time, the answer would most likely have been a polite but firm “no, not really”. The next release would change all that.
13. The Satintones: “Going To The Hop”
It’s a nice enough little song, if still not exactly remarkable. It has to be said, though – and I apologise in advance to any surviving Satintones who happen to come across this – that for a vocal harmony group, they just aren’t very good singers. (4)
8. Chico Leverett: “I’ll Never Love Again”
A better song than Solid Sender, a solid (ha!) chunk of doo-wop balladry made considerably more interesting by whoever the (uncredited) vibes player is, but it’s still not much to write home about. (4)
7. Chico Leverett: “Solid Sender”
An R&B record written specifically not to offend religious relatives? Nothing can go wrong with that idea! (3)
