The Original G-Clefs - Then & Now

All Music Guide

Then Now is a collection of 15 songs by the five musicians who were the first Boston rock roll band to have a national and international hit with "Ka Ding Dong" in 1956. Then Now is the follow-up disc to the album Ka Ding Dong featuring the four Scott brothers, Teddy, Llanga, Chris, and Timothy aka Tim "Payme" as in "pay me," and their friend Ray Gipson, collectively, the G Clefts. The vocals are impeccable -- be it "Lucky Old Sun," a remake of a tune by Frankie Laine circa 1947, or the final track "This Time," an authentic period piece with Drifters/Lieber/Stoller-style strings and backing vocals. Written by Otis Blackwell, the legendary Blackwell is also on piano. Producer John Vincent Hooley wrote the liner notes in March of 1999, and what is perhaps the major flaw of this package is that there is not enough information on the recording. Even the songwriting and publishing is missing. Hooley states " the G-Clefs approached me to produce some new material that was written by Tim Payme Scott." Hooley also gives some Boston history -- that Bruce Patch co-owned G-Clefs Records with Teddy Scott. Patch would form his own label -- Spoonfed -- in the '70s, before moving out of Boston and relocating to Hawaii. The producer also notes that the band was formed in 1952, "are still together, and sound as amazing today as they did when I first heard them perform live back in 1964." "Is This a Dream" has a great pop hook and sterling performance. It is one of the five titles recorded by John Vincent Hooley in 1998, the others being "The Note," "Why Can't We All Get Along," "Won't You Tell Me Where You Stand," and "Zoom Gale Gale." It is followed by two versions of "The Whirlwind," a dance where you "put your arms in a circular motion" whenever you get the notion. Both were recorded at the legendary ~Fleetwood Sound in Revere in the 1960s, and according to Teddy Scott, teen star Ricky Nelson plays tambourine on both versions of "Whirlwind" included on this disc. The Clefs climb vocal heights on Little Lonely Boy which Scott says was written by Terry Phillips, producer for Jay the Americans. There's an almost Lettermen feel to "On the Other Side of Town" -- The Lettermen with Gene Pitney strings perhaps, right out of a Western movie; it should come as no surprise the arranger for the Drifters was involved. The reggae/jungle beat of "Zoom -- Gali -- Gali" is a good change of pace -- the theme song to "love and laughter." The song was inspired by an Egyptian act the Scott brothers and sisters charged a penny to see when they were kids, performing in a fenced-off alley in Boston where they would do shows. The opening track, "I Shall Sing," was written by Miriam Makeba, and re-recorded in 1972 at Intermedia Studios which the band co-owned and was later sold to the Cars who turned it into Syncro Sound. Not to get mired in too much history -- this record is truly "Then" and "Now," and is highly entertaining. the G-Clefs can do amazing things with their voices, evident on Then Now -- -a good document of their decades of hard work.

- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide