Doo Wop 45-CRESTS on Joyce: NO ONE TO LOVE (Their BEST)

$

31

Doo Wop - R & B - Vocal Group Harmony 45

by the CRESTS

Record Label: JOYCE

Record # 105

Titles: NO ONE TO LOVE b/w WISH SHE WAS MINE

Condition: NEW - STORE STOCK and has NEVER BEEN PLAYED

The great Crests recorded this record for Al Browne’s Joyce Record Label in 1957. It was the follow up to the group’s great recording of Sweetest One, and My Juanita.

The Joyce Label was a small independent label owned by arranger-sog writer-band leader Al Browne. Few copies of the record were actually pressed and made avbailable to the public. Al was located in Brooklyn, NY and had no real ability to distribute his records outside of NYC and maybe a couple of other big cities on the East Coast. The result was that this excellent record never was played or sold. It became, almost immediately a highly sought after collectors item (especially after the Crests achieved national fame for their later releases on the Coed Label.) The result of all this is that today a first pressing of this record on Joyce, in Mint condition is virtually impossible to find. Such a copy could easily cost you $500 or more.

The copy here on auction is an old Collector’s Pressing / Reissue / Repro.

Both the ballad (No One To Love) and uptempo (Wish She Was Mine) sides of this 45 are great. The record was so popular and at the same time unobtainable for collectors even in the early 1960's, that Times Square Records reissued it as Times Square # 2 in 1962.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EARLY CRESTS

The Crests were one of the most popular groups of the late 1950's/ While they had a distinctive Black sound, the group was racially mixed, which was somewhat of an oddity for groups who achieved commercial success in the 50's.

There were 4males in the group (two Blacks, a Puerto Rican, and an Italian), and one Black female: Talmadge (Tommy) Gough (first tenor), Harold Torres (second tenor), and Patricia Van Dross (tenor) were all from the Alfred E. Smith housing projects in Chinatown on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In 1955, while students at P. S. 160 Junior High, they teamed up with Jay (J. T.) Carter (bass) of Delancey Street to form a group. The unnamed quartet started performing at school, church, hospital and charity functions.

In 1956, John Mastrangelo, who also lived in the neighborhood on Mulberry Street met the group at the Henry Street Settlement House, and soon joined them as their lead singer. J. T. Carter came up with the name the Crests. The group sang wherever they could, mainly in their neighborhood, and in nearby Subway stations (because of the great natural acoustics) At the time, many a group found New York subway system to be an excellent place to polish their sound.

As the story goes, one day the Crests were harmonizing in the Lexington Avenue IRT Station at the Brooklyn Bridge stop, when a woman passenger handed them a business card that read "Al Browne and Orchestra," The group knew who Al Browne was from his work with groups, especially those on the Hull Label, like the Heartbeats. The group wasted no time in contacting Al Browne, and by June 1957, they recorded two original Mastrangelo compositions for Al Browne and the tiny Joyce label. (By the way, the woman who gave them the business card was singer Mary Moore, aka Mrs. Al Browne.)

"Sweetest One" and "My Juanita" were two great recordings, which achieved some success, especially in the NYC market. In fact, "Sweetest One" broke into the National Top 100 chart peaking at number 86.

The Crest's next single was "No One to Love," a beautiful ballad with an "Earth Angel" type intro created by Al Browne. It is the recording here on auction.

In 1958, the group got their break, when Billy Dawn Smith, who worked with Al Browne on all the Hull releases, and on every recording made by Billy's groups, brought them to music publisher George Paxton who was in the process of forming Coed Records. Paxton signed the group just as they became a quartet. Pat Van Dross was forced to leave when her mother refused to let her tour with the older guys (in 1958 the members were 18 to 19 years old). Pat's younger brother wanted to replace her in the group, but he was much too young even though his big sister took him with her to most practice sessions; his name: Luther Van Dross.

The Crests' first Coed release was "Pretty Little Angel" which did OK in New York City, but it was their second release, "16 Candles" that brought fame to the group.

"Six Nights a Week" followed "16 Candles" and was also a big hit. From 1959 - 61, the group had numerous hits for Coed. Even their non-hits, were excellent recordings.

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NOTE: If you were a member of any vocal group who recorded 50's style group harmony (Doo Wop) records in the 50's or early 60‘s, or if you are related to or know or knew any one who sang with such a group, please send us an email to Lysabe@yahoo.com as we would like to help document the membership of as many vocal groups as possible
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This record was pressed in very limited quantities a number of years ago solely for the relatively small Doo Wop collector's Market. Pressings generally did not exceed 500 copies and sometimes were even smaller. With the passing of time (often 35-37 years), the growth in the number of collectors, and the declining number of records available, the value of these records has grown significantly due to the laws of supply and demand. Today, these "reissues" (which were originally intended to make available on a more widespread basis, rare first pressings that had become impossible to find collectors' items) have become very hard to find collectors' items themselves. This may be your last chance to obtain this record at a reasonable price, or at any price at all. As stated above, these records are brand new, dealer or store stock, and have never been played. Sometimes fidelity of recordings may not be up to year 2009 standards, because, it must be remembered, many of these recordings were produced 45-55 (or more) years ago, and may have been reproduced from Masters that were not always in pristine condition. Some of the original masters for the original records themselves were produced on what today some might call primitive equipment, in "studios" that could have included a basement, or garage, as well as a professional studio. But for the true collector that all adds to the magic and honesty of these recordings. In a small number of instances, they may have even been recorded with some surface noise, even though records are brand new. This affects a very limited number of records, and is an accepted part of some of these old recordings. All records are New Dealer or Store Stock and have Never Been played, therefore I cannot tell you anything about surface noise (in the few cases where it exists) or about reversed labels (in the very, very few cases where that occurs.)
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