The Del Vikings - Live at the Academy of Music - 1970 скачать в хорошем качестве

The Del Vikings - Live at the Academy of Music - 1970

The first of the legendary rock’n’roll revival shows at the Academy of Music, located on East 14th Street in New York City, took place over two nights, Friday and Saturday April 17-18, 1970. In front of enthusiastic sellout audiences, the Harptones, Danny and the Juniors, Don & Juan, the Del Vikings, Monotones, Bobbettes, Mystics, Cadillacs, Passions, Dubs, Cleftones, Orioles and Skyliners all sang their classic hits. The event was conceived and produced by MCA Records producer Fred Bailin. Veteran disc jockey Alan Fredericks, host of the popular “Night Train” radio show, was selected to be the host, and was joined by WCBS-FM personality Gus Gossert. For the house band, Bailin brought in many of the musicians who worked with the acts on stage in the 1950s and appeared with the Alan Freed Orchestra. For these performances, the reunited Alan Freed Orchestra was conducted by Count Basie band alumni Earle Warren and included legendary tenor sax players Big Al Sears and Budd Johnson. Guitarist Leroy Kirkland arranged and oversaw the music. Both nights were professionally recorded and mixed for a double album release of the concert, later reissued on CD in 2000 by Goldisc Records. A one camera black and white film of the first night’s concert was shot and tucked away for safe keeping but was never professionally produced or released. Several collectors were believed to have copies of the print including producer Bailin. This 8 minutes of footage is from the first night of the two-night event and is one of very few surviving films of the Del Vikings featuring the original lead singers on their two biggest hits, Norman Wright who led “Come Go With Me”, and Corinthian “Kripp” Johnson, who sang lead on “Whispering Bells”. Clarence Quick, bass singer, founder of the group and composer of their hits, is present, along with his cousin, tenor William “Billy” Blakely, who joined the group when they signed with Mercury Records in the spring of 1957. At the time of this performance, Johnson had already relocated to Michigan while the others remained in New York. It had been about two years since the group’s most recent show. For this reunion performance, they unsuccessfully tried to bring 1950s recording member Gus Backus from Germany. Another original, David Lerchey, was in California and did not fly in for the event. The soundtrack album was comprised of “Come Go With Me” from this first night performance and “Whispering Bells” from the second night. Excited and energized by the audience’s enthusiastic response, Quick comes in with the bass introduction eight bars early in this first night performance, forcing Warren and the orchestra to adjust on the fly. The audio and video have been restored and resynchronized for this upload. A myriad of Del Vikings lineups appeared on concert stages throughout the 1970s and 1980s with Johnson, Quick and former ABC-Paramount group members Ritzy Lee, Doug White, and Billy Woodruff participating in one unit. Norman Wright teamed with Johnson and Lerchey to re-record the group’s hits for an album in the mid-1980s. Quick and Blakely worked the circuit with their New York-based quintet, which continued on after Clarence’s death in 1983. Blakely died in 1991. From his home base in Michigan, Kripp Johnson continued touring with his own group until his death from cancer in 1990. Wright and Lerchey teamed up for special shows in their later years with Wright fronting a self-contained group with his sons, Anthony and Skip Wright until his passing in 2010. The last of the group’s 1950s/’60s recording members, Joe Lopes and Doug White, both passed away in 2025.