They Sing like Angels

Although this 20-track CD is billed to the Dreamers, it's stretching it some to call it a legitimate Dreamers disc. Only two of the songs are billed solely to the Dreamers. Two others are billed to "the Dreamers featuring Richard Berry," on which Berry actually takes lead vocals; a couple of others are billed to Richard Berry & the Pharaohs with Gloria Jones (who was a member of the Dreamers); three are billed to the Rollettes, the name the Dreamers used when recording a couple of singles for Class; a couple of others are billed just to Richard Berry & the Pharaohs, which might, possibly, include Jenell Hawkins, who recorded with the Dreamers at one point, among the backup vocalists. Then there's a side, "The Mess Around," bearing the unwieldy billing of Jenell Hawkins with Richard Berry & the Lockettes, and an instrumental by Googie Rene & His Wham Bams which was on the flip side of one of the Rollettes' singles. Six of the other tracks are billed to Richard Berry and the Dreamers, and one billed just to Richard Berry. It's enough to make your head whirl, figuring out all the connections, and unless you're a dedicated fan, you will probably have to read the liner notes several times over for all of this to click. Of course, it's primarily dedicated fans who will be picking this up, and after all's said and done, it might be of more interest to Richard Berry fans than to anyone else, since he's the featured singer on no less than 13 of the 20 songs. Judged in that light, it's fair mid-'50s R&B, with more of a pop-doo wop cast than the raunchy proto-rock and humorous novelty songs for which Berry's more known. Only his "Have Love Will Travel" (from 1959) really stands out, though the more rollicking numbers (like "Daddy Daddy" and "Jelly Roll") are decent, and it's fun to hear him do "Besame Mucho." When the Dreamers sing on their own, they manage fair but run-of-the-mill doo wop.