Back of The Billboards: The Drifters' 'All-Time Greatest Hits & More (1959-1965)'

Society always celebrates the records that top the Billboard 200 album chart. Back of The Billboards is a Music Times weekly segment that looks at the opposite end: the record that finished at no. 200 for the previous week. We hope to give new life to music that you might have missed, or new life to classic albums you may have forgotten.

Week of 07/28/2013

WHO: The Drifters
WHAT: "All-Time Greatest Hits & More (1959-1965)
ORIGINALLY RELEASED: November 15, 1988
BILLBOARD PEAK: 166
LAST WEEK: Off the chart
WHY?: Assigning a "best" title to doo-wop groups is near impossible, so the best method is to measure how effectively an outfit operated under the definition of the genre. There have been many incarnations of The Drifters, but the group's 1959-'64 run with Atlantic was certainly its best. There are many a track on this 40-song collection from that era that helped many a young couple fall in love during the heyday of doo-wop.

This generation of Drifters saw Ben E. King at the fore, and anyone who knows his later hit "Stand By Me" understands his grasp of romanticism. "Save The Last Dance For Me" melted cold hearts in 1960 (and guys: It'll work just as well in 2013). After successfully wooing the girl of your dreams, men can skip forward a few tracks, where other lead singer Rudy Lewis will help you celebrate with "Some Kind of Wonderful." Other highlights include "There Goes My Baby," the first doo-wop track to incorporate strings.

Although, to be honest, no one listens to doo-wop for strings. The 40 tracks on "Greatest Hits" are a showcase of group harmonies and wordless vocal melodies. The underrated star of the show is bass vocalist Elsbeary Hobbs, whose articulated rhythm both effectively and humorously mimics a walking-bass guitar.