Smooth and soulful mid-60s Philly vocal sounds

The Tymes were a Philadelphia vocal group originally incorporated as the Latineers. By the time they signed with the powerhouse Cameo-Parkway label, they’d honed their vocal arrangements into a sophisticated sound that was as much supper club soul as street corner doo-wop. Their first recording and first single for Cameo, “So Much in Love,” was also their biggest hit, topping the chart in 1963. They’d land two more singles in the top-twenty, including the terrific cover of “Wonderful! Wonderful!” heard on this 1963 LP. The album was filled out with compelling takes on standards (“That Old Black Magic” and “Autumn Leaves”), ‘50s hits (“Goodnight My Love” and “My Summer Love”), and ensemble-sung originals from the team of Straigis, Jackson and Williams. The wonder-struck spoken introductions that adorn the tracks grow gimmicky by album’s end, which make the single edits of “So Much in Love” and “Wonderful! Wonderful!” terrific bonuses alongside the Coasters-styled “Roscoe James McClain” and a spirited 1963 take on Jan & Dean’s “Surf City.” Twelve of these eighteen tracks (the eighteenth being an unlisted Italian-language version of “So Much in Love”) do not appear on The Best of the Tymes 1963-1964, making this a wonderful complement to the earlier anthology. All tracks are remastered in their original AM-ready mono, and the set includes an eight-page booklet with liner notes by Gene Sculatti and full-panel reproductions of the album’s two different covers. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]