A comprehensive collection by the early-'50s'
Larks
, who are considered one of the top
doo wop
groups of all time.
Westside Records
didn't leave any significant tracks off this compilation of songs recorded during the two-year span the group was together. (They were issued, however, over a five-year period, from 1950 to 1955, by
Apollo
and
Lloyd Records
.) Embraced are their
debut,
"Coffee, Cigarettes and Tears,"
"Hopefully Yours,"
a sweet
ballad
that was back-sided by member
Eugene Mumford
's
"When I Leave These Prison Walls,"
written while he was incarcerated in a North Carolina prison for allegedly raping a white woman; he was pardoned in 1949 by the governor. Also on the project is
"My Reverie,"
a classic
that demonstrates their advanced
skills; two takes of
"Eyesight to the Blind,"
which made the national
R&B
chart; and the humorous
"I Ain't Fattening Frogs for Snakes."
~ Andrew Hamilton