Search - Impalas :: Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)

Almost A One-Hit Wonder

07/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Impalas avoided being included among that dreaded collection known as "The One-Hit Wonders" by one lonely little charter.



Like The Jive Five, this foursome hailed from Brooklyn, but unlike the Eugene Pitt-led group, they became the second most prominent (for a short while at least) racially-mixed group following in the wake of The Dell-Vikings. Lead singer Joe Frazier (not the boxer) was black, while the others - Richard Wagner, Tony Carlucci, and Lenny Renda - were white.



After they secured a contract with the small Cub label in 1959, yet another prominent Brooklynite, Aristedes Giosasi, gave them a song he wrote called Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home). Giosasi was no stranger to hit songs, having taken (It's Been A Long Time) Pretty Baby to # 14 R&B and # 20 Billboard Top 100 in June 1958 with his sister Irene under the billing Gino & Gina.



This one also had "hit" written all over it, and sure enough - b/w Fool, Fool, Fool - it gained the # 2 Hot 100 spot in May and stayed there for two weeks, being kept from going # 1 only by a little ditty called Kansas City by Wilbert Harrison. It also gained the # 14 spot on the R&B charts.



Unfortunately, the follow-up Oh, What A Fool was nowhere as good, and it stalled at # 86 Hot 100, although it kept them from being technically a one-hit wonder. Because, although the group tried their luck at other labels such as 20th Century and Checker, they could never again grab the brass ring.



I can only recommend this compilation to those completists who have to have everything charted by everyone in the Fifties/Sixties because, while you can certainly find Sorry on any number of mixed compilations, chances are this is the only place you're apt to find. not only Oh, What A Fool, but both flipsides as well. That's what gives this a 5-star rating in my book."