THE FLAIRS
The Ultimate Flairs (Ace Records; CD)
     The first doowop supergroup of the 1950s, The Flairs recorded for the eponymous Flair label between 1953 and 1955 and this Ace CD reissues all of their recordings for Modern Records' new subsidiary, together with those of related groups such as The Hunters, The Whips, The Five Hearts, The Chimes and The Rams. Including such leading-lights of the harmony field as Richard "Louie Louie" Berry, Obie "Young" Jessie, and Cornel Gunter, later of The Platters and The Coasters, these 29 tracks are arguably the primo recordings of the oft disregarded West Coast vocal group scene; sweeter and greasier on the ballads, rougher and wilder on the stompers than their Eastern Seaboard counterparts, they provide essential listening for all doowop newbies and a cherished compilation for those of us with longer teeth.
www.acerecords.co.uk

LARRY WILLIAMS
Larry Williams At His Finest: The Specialty Rock 'n' Roll Years (Ace Records; CD)
     A great favourite among the British beat and R&B groups of the early 1960s, Larry Williams will be forever remembered for such manic 1950s stompers as "Short Fat Fannie", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", "Bony Moronie", "Slow Down" and "Bad Boy". This present double CD collection from Ace, collects together those and all the other fine tracks laid down by New Orleans-born Larry Williams between his debut with the label in 1957 until he left to pursue a more (ahem!) nefarious career as a small time gangster two short years later.
     Williams began his professional career as driver/valet to his famous cousin, Lloyd Price, in addition to a bit of session musician work in Los Angeles, prior to hawking his songs around to some of the big R&B stars of the day. Art Rupe, owner of Specialty Records, needed a singer/pianist to fill the huge gap left in his catalogue by the departure of Price, and Larry Williams fitted that gap admirably. His signing was doubly fortuitous because, before the year was out, Little Richard had departed too, and indeed among the unissued-at-the-time masters are very tasty covers of tracks by Richard and Price, in addition to versions of obscure white rockabilly tracks such as "Love Charms" and "Hocus Pocus", all backed by the all star Hollywood session bands that usually graced Specialty's wonderful hits.
     The CDs have been decorated to appear as facsimiles of two versions of the original 1950s Specialty label, and the attractive twenty-page booklet benefits from a track-by-track discussion by that doyen of British rock 'n' roll writers/broadcasters, Stuart Colman. It is the attention to such details that places Ace Records head and shoulders above the rest of the reissue companies...except, perhaps, for Bear Family in Germany.
     This CD will be welcomed, I'm sure, by any old rocker worth his salt, but those interested in the roots of such as The Beatles, The Stones, The Who and The Animals, too, will find much to enjoy.
www.acerecords.co.uk

THE STAPLE SINGERS
The Ultimate Staple Singers: A Family Affair 1955-1984 (Kent Records; CD)
     Led by patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples, The Staple Singers was a family gospel quintet consisting of "Pops", son Pervis, and three daughters, Cleo, Yvonne and Mavis, which was formed in Chicago in 1951. Their earliest recordings were made for the small United Records in 1953(Won't You Sit Down is included here), but they remained obscure until they signed with the emergent Vee Jay label in 1955 and scored with the atmosphericUncloudy Day featuring Pops' shimmering guitar accompaniment. In the 1960s they spent some time on the jazz imprint Riverside Records (where they covered Dylan'sHard Rain's Gonna Fall) and Columbia's Epic subsidiary (covering BuffaloSpringfield's For What It's Worth and a gorgeous version of the country standardBe Careful Of The Stones That You Throw), before landing on Stax/Volt. The biggest successes were to come in the early 1970s with contemporary, soulful but inspirational hits such as "Respect Yourself", "I'll Take You There",  and "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)", recorded for Stax; in fact, for 15 years from 1970, The Staples scored 25 R&B chart hits, and 14 of the biggest of those are included on this 2CD set along with 30 others expertly chosen by fan and Ace consultant, Tony Rounce, includingThis May Be The Last Time from their rare Sharp 45 from 1960...five years before Jagger and Richard "wrote" it! The CD also includes a handful of solo sides by Pops and Mavis and finishes out with more recent tracks cut for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records, Warner Bros, and finally Private I (coveringSlippery People by Talking Heads) in 1984.
     A great uplifting experience of a CD - whether you're one of the faithful or not!
www.acerecords.co.uk