Complete Original Record

The Roomates had their greatest success backing Cathy Jean on her 1961 hit "Please Love Me Forever," an example of the "sick" sound -- a term used in music trade magazines of the day to describe the unvarnished amateurism of teen singers such as Kathy Young and Rosalie Hamlin (of Rosie & the Originals). The Roomates weren't "sick," however -- they were an accomplished white doo wop group whose own records usually hit all the right notes. Their most successful record without Cathy Jean, a remake of the Benny Goodman/Five Keys hit "Glory of Love," is an ear-catching delight that breathes some new life into a familiar song. The group's only other single to approach hit status was another oldie, a doo wop remake of Don Cherry's "Band of Gold." Complete Original Recordings collects 23 tracks of the Roomates alone and an additional nine songs by Cathy Jean. Taken mostly from Valmor label singles and LPs, but with a smattering of sides recorded for other labels, Complete Original Recordings is a thorough career retrospective that reveals the Roomates as an excellent New York harmony group with a predilection for standards. Most of the recordings, including several previously unreleased cuts, were reissued previously on a 1980s vinyl anthology titled Greatest Hits, but Complete Original Recordings has several more tracks and edits out the earlier collection's false starts and studio chatter. The Cathy Jean records are good for a few chuckles over her hapless vocal performances, but the Roomates' sides are the more enduring ones. ~ Greg Adams