Diamonds – Complete Singles As & Bs 1955-62 (CD) – The Diamonds

The Diamonds were a Canadian vocal group who scored a string of US hits during the latter half of the 1950s, primarily as their record company Mercury’s vehicle for cover versions of hits from the R&B charts which they recorded in more pop-oriented style for mainstream radio stations and the pop charts. The litany of such songs, which first came to the fore as hits for doo wop groups in the R&B charts, is fascinating, as they covered Frankie Lymon’s “Why Do Fools Fall In Love”, The Willows’ “The Church Bells May Ring”, The G-Clefs’ “Ka-Ding-Dong”, Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs “Little Darlin'”and The Rays’ “Silhouettes” to register significant chart successes, along with other notable hits like the dance craze “The Stroll”. In between those opportunist outings, they ran the gamut of the current styles, embracing rock ‘n’ roll and pop ballads alike, as Mercury used them successfully as a medium for making the new music that was taking over the pop scene more acceptable for middle America. This great-value 64-track 2-CD set comprises the A and B sides of all their US singles during the period, plus some titles which were only released on singles in the UK and Australia. It naturally includes all their successes in the pop charts, and so represents a thorough overview of their core career, and an insight into an intriguing strand of pop during that era.

Track List

1. Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots
2. Nip Sip
3. Be My Lovin’ Baby
4. Smooch Me
5. Why Do Fools Fall in Love
6. You Baby You
7. The Church Bells May Ring
8. Little Girl of Mine
9. Love Love Love
10. Ev’ry Night About This Time
11. Ka-Ding-Dong
12. Soft Summer Breeze
13. My Judge and My Jury
14. Put Your House in Order
15. A Thousand Miles Away
16. Ev’ry Minute of the Day
17. Little Darlin’
18. Faithful and True
19. Words of Love
20. Don’t Say Goodbye
21. Zip Zip
22. Oh How I Wish
23. Passion Flower
24. Straight Skirts
25. Silhouettes
26. Daddy Cool
27. Honey Bird
28. The Stroll
29. Land of Beauty
30. High Sign
31. Chick-Let’s (Don’t Let Me Down)
32. Patsy
33. Kathy-O
34. Happy Years
35. Where Mary Go
36. Walking Along
37. Eternal Lovers
38. She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)
39. From the Bottom of My Heart
40. Gretchen
41. A Mother’s Love
42. Sneaky Alligator
43. Holding Your Hand
44. Young in Years
45. The Twenty-Second Day
46. Walking the Stroll
47. Batman Wolfman Frankenstein or Dracula
48. Tell the Truth
49. Real True Love
50. Slave Girl
51. The Pencil Song
52. You’d Be Mine
53. The Crumble
54. You Short Changed Me
55. I Sho’ Lawd Will
56. The Munch
57. Woomai Ling
58. One Summer Night
59. It’s a Doggone Shame
60. The Horizontal Lieutenant
61. The Vanishing American
62. Oh Carol
63. Believe Me
64. San Antonio Rose