Album Notes

ROBINS
A Top 10 R&B chart act in December 1955 with their Leiber & Stoller produced "Smokey Joe's Café", the history of The Robins vocal group goes back a decade before that from their origins in Johnny Otis' revue in the late 1940s, with whom they scored big R&B hits with "If It's So Baby" (#10) and "Double Crossing Blues" (#1). This new El Toro compilation catches up with the group in 1953 after escaping from the Otis band and signing with RCA Victor, recording several sessions with budding producers, Leiber and Stoller, who took them to their new Spark label where they cut "Smokey Joe's Cafe".
Featuring a talented, all-star line-up including Bobby Nunn and Carl Gardner whom Leiber and Stoller would use as the nucleus of their next supergroup, The Coasters, this compilation is a near perfect blend of smoky ballads and torrid jump tunes.