One of the prize Barbershop compilations of all time by the legendary 139th Street Quartet, "Collection" is a winner for lovers of the finest Barbershop Harmony in the history of SPEBSQSA. The quartet was formed in 1975, and got its name from the address of Pete Neushul's factory building in LA, deciding to let the group make the name, instead of the name making the group. Four different lead singers, Jim Meehan (1975-78), Larry Wright (1978-88), John Sherburn (1988-91) and Dan Jordan(1991-present) contribute at least 10 songs to the grand total of 64 songs on this 3-disc set (which are, oddly, numbered 1, 3 and 9). Within 2 years of its founding, the 139th won a silver medal at the SPEBSQSA Internationals in Philadelphia, and regularly did well in competition, for instance scoring bronze medals in 1989, silver in 1990, and bronze again in 1991. Appearing on TV for the first time in 1985 on the first of several episodes of "Cheers," this was quickly followed by an episode of "Night Court." They were also very fortunate to record with the legendary Neil Diamond, who sang lead with the group on a song for each of his Christmas recordings, both of which went multi-platinum, "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" on disc 3 is one of these tunes. The group wrote several of its own tunes, including "Best Times I Ever Had," "Now Here You Are Back Again," "My Dear Old Irish Mammy," as well as original words, intros and bridges to many other songs. Anyway, the liner notes are thick with Barbershop history and comments by the guys, and the music is all a cappella except for a couple of tunes like "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do." It's very hard to pick a favorite with so much great material, so we're going to go with the "Theme Song From Cheers." Sit back and enjoy about 3 hours of tunes by one of the great Barbershop quartets of all time! |
