Jan & Dean Twofer's

[Don't Back Down]

I've been listening to a lot of Jan & Dean lately from my "All The Hits: From Surf City to Drag City" collection. Are the twofer albums worth getting?

Looks like there's a ton of overlooked stuff overshadowed by the hits "Surf City", "Little Old Lady From Pasedena", "New Girl In School", etc. etc.

I just want to know if my money's going to something good before I order. Thanks!


-OMP

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

I just want to know if my money's going to something good before I order.

It is.

[Mark A. Moore]

OMP,

The One Way two-fers are oddly paired . . . but you'll want to buy whatever it takes to get the following four original albums:

1. DRAG CITY ('63)

2. DEAD MAN'S CURVE / THE NEW GIRL IN SCHOOL ('64)

3. RIDE THE WILD SURF ('64)

4. THE LITTLE OLD LADY FROM PASADENA ('64)

These four albums pack a wallop . . . aside from the hits . . . in terms of great album cuts penned by Jan Berry and his creative team. Also some good covers, and some of the best instrumentals from the era.

The One Way re-issues are good renderings of the original stereo recordings.

EMI did a two-fer of RTWS and LOL . . . but it's a Furmanek re-mix thing . . . like All the Hits and Best of . . .

C5 Records (France) also put out some good versions of the original stereo albums.

After listening to the four albums above . . . I would start exploring the rest of Jan & Dean's catalog. It's an interesting evolution . . . from the raw, Black R&B of Jan & Arnie in the late '50s, to J&D's early "bomps" and crooner stuff . . . then into the Surf & Drag era . . . and then to the changes of 1965 and 1966 . . . followed by the post-accident stuff in '67-'68.

M.

[jazzfascist]

Apropos Jan and Dean I think their first record "Jennie Lee" sounded a lot like "Yakety Yak" by Coasters, I think they were recorded around the same time, so it's hard to tell who copied who, or if it was just a coincidence, both could have been inspired by Ray Charles´ "Mess Around".  Later it sounds like Burt Bacharach updated that sound with "Bond Street". Besides the stuff they did with Brian I like "Walk On The Wet Side".

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