Great oldies/ early R&B hits and hiddle gems: Double Trouble: The Pomus and Shuman Story
I was at Amoeba the other day and I was going through the oldies collections they had. They had a small section on “songwriter” collections, and as I love some producer/ songwriter-focused sets, I decided to flip through and check out what they had. I found Double Trouble: the Pomus and Shuman Story and checked out the track listing. I knew and liked some of these songs–”A Teenager in Love”, “Save the Last Dance”–and I knew many of the artists–Bobby Darin, Del Shannon, Elvis, Gary “US” Bonds, Barrett Strong, Ben E. King. Also there was a song called “I Ain’t Sharin’ Sharon”. I mean, with songs like that, how could I pass it up?
When I bought it, I didn’t know that Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman were a team of songwriters that were in the famous Brill Building[1].
I’ve been listening to the CD a lot and it’s really solid. There are some great familiar songs and some hidden gems (including that “I Ain’t Sharin’ Sharon”, “Angel Face” and the teenage-boy-giggle-inducing “All You Gotta Do Is Touch Me”). I’d thoroughly recommend it[2].
“(Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame” is one of those songs that sounds familiar even if it isn’t; it’s feels comfortable with a classic sound. The guitar riff is classic, the vocals and solid and a bit endearingly showy and the keyboard is fun.
Del Shannon – (Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame (mp3)
Elvis also recorded a version of “His Latest Flame”, but apparently Del Shannon’s version was recorded 5 days before Elvis’.
You can buy it at insound.
[1] The Brill Building was a building in NYC that housed many music publishing companies, songwriters and other music industry ventures. I wouldn’t normally point this out, but I’ve talked to some serious music nerds that didn’t know what the Brill Building was.
[2] But after you get Phil Spector: Back to Mono which is the must-have oldies/ early R&B set.
