Search - Little Joe Cook, Thrillers :: Meet the Schoolboys

Odd Results For These Two R&B Groups From The 1950s

08/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Both these R&B groups originated in Harlem [Schoolboys made up of Leslie Martin, Roger Hayes, James McKay, and Renaldo Gamble - Little Joe & The Thrillers consisting of lead Joe Cook, Farris Hill, Richard Frazier, Donald Burnett, and Harry Pascle]. Both recorded for Columbia's "race" subsidiary Okeh, abd both had the Leroy Kirkland band backing on their only hits, which all came in 1957.



However, whereas The Schoolboys made both the R&B [# 15] and Billboard Pop Top 100 [# 91] with Shirley [the flipside, Please Say You Want Me, also reached # 13 R&B], Peanuts, the only hit by Little Joe & The Thrillers, scored higher on the Pop charts [# 22] b/w Lilly Lou, but was shut out completely on the R&B charts. Go figure.



I suppose the dearth of hit singles by the two groups was the reason Collectables chose to combine them in this album. On the other hand, after listening to bouncy selections like Let's Do The Slop and Echoes Keep Calling Me, and the slow ballad This I Know, you have to wonder why Little Joe & The Thrillers, at least, were not more successful.



Good sound quality enhances this interesting little collection."