Dorsets, "Pork Chops" c/w "Cool It," Asnes 101 (rel. 4/1961)

 

Change in protocol starting today. I trust you're all savvy enough to recognize a link and how to click on it to get to it. Blogger's clunky framework invites failure at every turn. It is a five-click process to empower the "Hear it Here" image with the ability to link, to embed the link, apply the procedure and save the process. I am unable to complete this complicated series of tasks with much accuracy.

        Since the links no longer contain searchable names of songs or performers, I think they're sufficiently safeguarded from internet trolls. So, in review: see a link, click on it. It's underlined. It will still open the link on a new page so you don't lose your connection to the post it's on. This will make things easier and less stressful for me. I don't enjoy having my failures smeared in my face. Let's have less of that, please.

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The Dorsets were a super-obscure Black vocal group who made one fabulous record and then disappeared--sort-of. They kick off a week devoted to the powerful and delightful music made by such groups in the 1950s and '60s. Three of The Dorsets formed the core of The Manhattans (pictured above). They did very well for themselves and had oodles of hits. This record, one of four leases on the Asnes imprint, is where it all began.

        In 1961, an obvious template for a young vocal group was the sound and vibe of The Coasters. This transplanted LA group specialized in colorful story-songs delivered with comical glee by its talented singers. Under the wing of songwriter-producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, The Coasters delivered a large catalog of beloved recordings. It made sense that young groups would follow in their footsteps. Most of these highest-form-of-flattery efforts sound like imitations, and a good deal of them are amusing, well-performed and memorable, despite their obvious debt to that better-known group.

        Sometimes, these efforts go off the rails in an exciting way. "Pork Chops" is a case in point. To a moody groove with distant, tinkling piano, a lascivious lead voice sings the praises of his favorite comestible. It's as if he exalts the pleasures of the flesh as he wails his devotion to "the other white meat." 

        This is a carnal love song to food, sung at the point of madness by this gifted goofball who fronts the group. A thick, loose sound distinguishes this side which might cause hunger pangs before its greasy conclusion.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/m405cc5f2j32tqznaozbw/2075a.mp3?rlkey=18cqtqr2pdq0jcy5xuja84bw0&st=so9nufau&dl=0

On the flip is "Cool It," a lo-fi, hi-octane rock-out. One can hear the future finesse of The Manhattans in the background harmonies. Our lead voice's gruff tone is ideally attached to this rough-and-tumble mover that might have been a better pick for the A-side.
        A sax soloist is almost lost in the thicket of voices on their brief break. This is the type of obscure record that could make a soul DJ's reputation. It sounds as if it were recorded in someone's basement at 3 AM. There aren't enough records like "Cool It" in this world.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t61e89c8uikb58wbha76j/2075b.mp3?rlkey=rcu1pbhrvtwwbihvec34flprp&st=dktm03vt&dl=0

This single wasn't promoted; the small label had no resources for a big splash. If copies were sent to the music magazines, they were round-filed. One Asnes release got a positive review in Cash Box; otherwise, it's as if the label never existed. (A photo of Harry Asnes, his wife and family appears on a page with documents a two-day celebration held in North Bergen, NJ around the opening of a coin-machine parlor. Times were simpler then!)

        The group reformed as The Manhattans in 1964 with a single on the Carnival Records label. The lead singer on these two sides is heard on their early sides, all excellent New York soul sides well worth hearing. (I'll have to track some of those early sides down!) They became one of the biggest Black vocal groups of the 1970s; those sides are well-known and acclaimed. This single is where it all began.

        PS: the single got a belated UK issue in 1964 on their version of the Sue Records imprint. It might have been chosen for its raw approach, which might have found favor with the cadre of soul fanatics already ensconced in the UK music scene.

Tomorrow: The Valiants, primo LA vocal group, deliver a pair of sublime items on a Keen Records single of 1958.