The Platters - The Very Best Of (Vinyl)

180 Gram Black Vinyl

Eighteen Mercury-era Platters sides on a single 180-gram LP, nine to a side, issued by Not Now Music as CATLP198. The recordings run from 1955 to 1960, and the back cover carries a writer credit and a recording year for every one of them.

The group came together in Los Angeles around bass singer Herb Reed, with Tony Williams on lead tenor and Zola Taylor, Paul Robi and David Lynch alongside him. Their manager Buck Ram wrote, arranged and produced for the group, and his name sits on much of this record: "Only You (And You Alone)," "The Great Pretender," "Wish It Were Me," "(You've Got) That Magic Touch," "I'm Sorry," "Enchanted," and a share of "Twilight Time." "Only You" was first cut for Federal Records in May 1954 and re-recorded for Mercury the following year; the Mercury version reached the American Top 10. "The Great Pretender" went to number one in 1956, as did "My Prayer" the same year, and a slow revival of Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," recorded in Paris, topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic in 1959.

The sequence closes on an alternate take of "Only You (And You Alone)" from 1956, a year after the hit version. Spencer Leigh's sleeve notes run the length of the reverse.

Tracklist

Side One

1. Only You (And You Alone)
2. The Great Pretender
3. Harbor Lights
4. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
5. My Prayer
6. Twilight Time
7. I'm Sorry
8. Remember When
9. You'll Never Never Know

Side Two

1. Wish It Were Me
2. (You've Got) That Magic Touch
3. It Isn't Right
4. He's Mine
5. Enchanted
6. To Each His Own
7. One In A Million
8. Sixteen Tons
9. Only You (And You Alone) (Alt. Ver.)

Complete the Collection of 2:

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