Search - Drifters :: Definitive Collection

Spanning their whole career

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 10/17/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The original Drifters were an R+B/doo-wop group featuring Clyde McPhatter and it was this group that recorded the first twelve tracks here - from Money honey to Drip drop. This group was disbanded and a completely different soul/pop group, featuring Ben E King, was given the Drifters name. Any doubts that they would carry the name with distinction were quickly dispelled as they became more successful than the original group. The remainder of this collection (and my review) focuses on these Drifters who continued to record great music well into the seventies.There were several line-up changes along the way. Ben E King left to pursue a solo career following the success of Save the last dance for me, the most famous Drifters song of all. His solo hits are not included in this collection, which is why Spanish Harlem and Stand by me are missing. You can obtain these recordings on Ben's own albums, although I've also seen Drifters compilations that include Ben's solo hits.From 1959, the Drifters were hugely successful in America, their hits including Save the last dance for me, There goes my baby, Dance with me, On Broadway, Some kind of wonderful, One way love, Up on the roof, Under the boardwalk, Saturday night at the movies, When my little girl is smiling, Sweets for my sweet and others. Only Save the last dance for me was a big hit in Britain for the Drifters, because record companies at that time often found local singers to cover the songs and they had the hits instead. This shameful practice died out by the end of the sixties. Even with all their hits included, there is plenty of room to explore their B-sides and album tracks. All the ones included here are excellent, but my favorite is their cover of Stranger on the shore, an extremely sad song which was a huge instrumental hit for clarinetist Acker Bilk. Many vocal versions of this song exist, but the Drifters sing it as well as anybody. After 1965, the Drifters didn't have much success in America, but they enjoyed a new wave of popularity in the seventies in Britain, where they had several top ten hits. The last ten songs of the second CD include all the essential songs from this period including Kissing in the back row of the movies, Down on the beach, There goes my first love, Hello happiness, Every night's a Saturday night with you and You're more than a number in my little red book.So, this contains fifty-eight songs spanning three decades of great music and you won't find a more comprehensive Drifters compilation than this."