#1 for weeks of November 23 and 30th, 1963.
Happy 101 reviews...oh...wait, I've done that already. Well...today we have a male/female duo...wait...we've had that happen yesterday too! Well, you're not having deja-vu, there really were two back to back #1's both by a duo. This time, we have the even lesser known Dale & Grace.
Unless I have been living under a rock (there's a pun for ya), I have not only never heard of this song or even this duo before. This could mean three things, one is that the song is so poor that time has rightly chosen to forget it. The song could also be a buried gem, lost through the years. Or perhaps this song is one that's more neutral - neither good nor bad.
Before I go into the artist overview and review, it is worth pointing out what America was like around this time. Just one day previous, John F. Kennedy had been shot, and the nation would be thrown into a long period of mourning. By sheer coincidence, Dale & Grace were in Dallas waving to JFK on his motorcade and were due to perform for him that night, which of course never happened.
The late Dale & Grace only came together as a musical duo in 1963 and "I'm Leaving It Up To You" was their first single together. Just like several other artists, they would find less success once the British Invasion started. The song is a cover by another duo from the 1950's, "Don And Dewey". Because of this, the tune is once again heavily steeped in the 1950's sound, in this case Doo-Wop.
I must be experiencing deja-vu because these two also have a similar vocal feel to the previous #1 duo Nino and April. You have a guy with a low voice, mixed with a more vocally prominent gal. In terms of the two duos, it's really apples and oranges in terms of which song is better. I personally liked the other song's music more due to I'm Leaving It Up To You's music sounding rather run of the mill. If I had to nitpick, I do find Grace's vocals to be just a bit on the nasally side
There really isn't anything bad I can say about this song, but I can't exactly rave about it either. It's one of those background hits which doesn't move me, but doesn't bore me either. I can say there were much more notable songs from this time period that should have hit #1 instead like "Louie Louie".
Final Verdict - A more middle ground #1 hit which has no huge highs or lows. Give it a listen anyways as it's one of the last examples of authentic 1950's style pop charting so high.
Last Up For 1963 - "Dominique" by The Singing Nun.
Until Next Time - I'm leaving it up to you to tune in to the next Dr. Rock review.
No comments:
Post a Comment