THE CLOVERS "Jukebox Hits 1951-1955"

Collectors of Golden Oldie R&R, R&B and Country music hits are, I'm sure, well aware of the quality received from British outlets, especially Ace Records with their almost flawless sound reproduction and copious liner notes in series such as The Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll.
Acrobat Music & Media Ltd. is almost as good with their Jukebox Hits series of individual artists and multi-artist compilations and, so far, they seem to be largely a secret in North America. My first experience with them was a Lucky Millinder compilation of his hits from 1942 to 1951, and my pleasure is outlined in a review of that CD.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg as I soon discovered. So far I have identified others in the series for: Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Johnson, Erskine Hawkins, Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, Andy Kirk & His Clouds Of Joy; Ivory Joe Hunter, Ruth Brown, Count Basie, T-Bone Walker, Johnny Otis, Muddy Waters, Billy Eckstine; Jimmie Lunceford, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Nat "King" Cole, and Lionel Hampton (I have also found multi-artist year compilations as well for 1942 to 1944, 1947, 1953 and 1955 - and I'm sure there are others).
And, of course, this one for The Clovers covering their hits for Atlantic from 1951 {Don't You Know I Love You? - # 1 R&B) to 1955 (Nip Sip - # 10 R&B), presented in order in the CD. The liner notes provide details on each selection (although not to the same extent as does Ace), and the sound quality is excellent. Only one of their hits failed to make the Top 10 on what then passed for the R&B charts (Blue Velvet - # 14 in April 1955), and they had two more # 1 hits in addition to the first one mentioned above: Fool, Fool, Fool in September 1951 and Ting-A-Ling in August 1952.
Many of their hits were later covered by some of the giants of the industry, including One Mint Julep (Ray Charles), Ting-A-Ling (Buddy Holly & The Crickets), Lovey Dovey (Buddy Knox), Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash (Steve Miller), Blue Velvet (Bobby Vinton), and four that are not included here - Devil Or Angel (Bobby Vee) and its flipside Hey, Doll Baby (The Everly Brothers), both from early 1956, Love, Love, Love from summer 1956 and covered that year by The Diamonds, and Love Potion No. 9 from 1959, and covered later by The Searchers.
Truly one of the best of the early 1950s vocal groups, right up there, in my opinion, with the original Drifters and The Dominoes, and long, long overdue for recognition by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. (Amazon)

trax:
01 Don't You Know I Love You 02 Fool Fool Fool 03 One Mint Julep 04 Middle Of the Night 05 Ting A Ling 06 Wonder Where My baby's Gone 07 Hey Miss Fannie 08 I Played The Fool 09 Crawlin' 10 Good Lovin' 11 Comin' On 12 Lovey Dovey 13 Little Mama 14 Your Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash 15 I Got My Eyes On You 16 Blue Velvet 17 Love Bug 18 Nip Sip 19 Devil Or Angel 20 Hey Doll Baby
...served by Gyro1966...