top of page

The Blueberries

johnaalex














The Blueberries – CDET7041 

The Blueberries (El-Toro) 

Released on: 2024-04-12 


Reviewed 15th January 2025 by Jack Brown 


It’s not very often I get to review a new release of Doo-Wop, at least one that isn’t a compilation of vintage recordings. Yet here we have it, a brand-new Doo-Wop album released by those reliable folks at El-Toro. I know my life has been greatly enriched by my El-Toro of Look Out Heart. But we’re not here to discuss Harmonica Sam, instead let’s look at The Blueberries. I know nothing about this group, other than their influences include Dion & The Belmonts, The Mystics, Tokens, Elements, & The Cascades. We’re promised vocal harmonies that will take us back to the golden age of Doo-Wop. What I love is that they share the lead vocals between their male & female singers. So let’s see what we have here. 


Bad Friends – The opener is a gritty number that instantly made me think of Runaround Sue-era Dion. A hard-edged vocal with attitude. This track is sung by their female lead. She has some very deep desires on what she’d like to do to here bad friends, all said tongue in cheek I’m sure. Well I hope so anyway. A good start to proceedings. 

 

Falling Star – We switch to the male-lead here for a loverly catchy ballad that reminds you of so many great close-harmany vocal-groups of the late 50s or early 60s like all the album, there’s only basic guitar backing, which is played well throughout. I love the classic guitar ending to this that ends so many classic songs we all love from the original rockin era, listen to it & you’ll see what I mean. The high note at the end reminds me of the Skyliners. 

 

Darling – back to the female lead. Great base-voice vocals kick off this finger-clicking slice of classic Doo-Wop. It’s a fun, rather lovely, upbeat number. 

 

What Do Little Girls Dream Of – this album has seven band originals along with three covers. This was a track from another influence of theirs, The Castells. They were around in the early 60s & hit in the States with Sacred & So This Is Love. This is a lovely little teen song, cheesy as a plowman’s platter, but none the worse for it. With male lead, the band do a fine job on this one. 

 

Love Is Sad & Blue – We have a great female lead on this one, one of her best on the album. It’s a really nice heartbreak track. If you’re doing a true doo-wop album, you gotta take the heartbreak with the happiness. The backing is perfect, with understated guitar & backing-vocals. 

 

My Little April – Back to the male lead. Another lovely love song. Again the Dion influence plays so heavily  here, with some great electric-guitar. The track starts off slow, then goes into something a bit quicker & more catchy. But the lyrics tell us it’s a song of love. 

 

Again – back to female. She gives us another great vocal on this really catchy piece of Doo-Wop. By now you know what you’re getting, but the different arrangements keep the album fresh & never repeatitive. 

 

Night & Day – I was expecting the male lead, based on the previous pattern of female the male. However this changes things by giving us another female lead. Again a really catchy number with great backing vocals. This one, like much of the album, should play out well live. I especially like the keychange. 

 

Hard To Find – the male lead gets his final chance to shine on this album.another Dion-influenced uptempo Doo-Wop, again with backing that reminds me of the lead singer of The Skyliners. This is really catchy with really nice lyrics. One of the highlights & my favourite track with a male lead. 

 

Good Luck Darling – we end with something a little different. Female lead on a covers of a 5 Crowns track that takes us back to a slightly earlier-era. The era being that of the great black R&B Vocal-Groups of the 1950s. their cover is very different, in that they don’t employ a full band backing, no wailing sax here. Instead we have the simple guitar playing we’ve had throughout the whole album. However we’ve still the attitude of a 1950s Jump-Blues influenced vocal-group track. I do prefer the original, but this different take is rather refreshing I must admit. 


Summary  


I’ve enjoyed the refreshing change of a new Doo-Wop album. The accented vocals give this a unique feel & I enjoyed reviewing it. I look forward to what The Blueberries & El-Toro both offer us, more Doo-Wop please. 



check out the web page, www.slapthatbass.online  

5 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


Slap That Bass recommends:

RadioRED.webp
336383272_943795836796158_5749227656590879727_n.jpg
305032244_431808618931917_6306267644733508420_n.png
299875306_507710811356843_6810792154563826846_n.jpg
Screenshot 2022-12-14 at 19.59.29.png
bottom of page