Bo Peep is a companion disc to Bi Bop Winos, an earlier collection of recordings made by the seminal but hitless doo wop group
the Lamplighters. The Lamplighters are remembered, if at all, because its members later went on to greater success as solo artists (
Thurston Harris) or in other groups (
the Sharps,
the Rivingtons).
Bo Peep gathers up a handful of
Lamplighters sides that were omitted from Bi Bop Winos, as well as other cuts by related groups such as the aforementioned
Sharps, the Tenderfoots, the Crenshaws, and
the Buddies. In places, the music really rocks in a
Hank Ballard sort of way, with hot electric guitar solos, beginning with the "Steel Guitar Rag" intro of "Bo Peep," presented here in its 45 version. The 30 cuts, three of which are previously unreleased, cover a range of black vocal group styles, from R&B ballads to pop and jump tunes. Unfortunately, despite a fairly lengthy biographical overview in the booklet, the package leaves the burden of determining who did what to the consumer. The sound quality ranges from very good to acceptable and, although the package could have been more carefully arranged,
Bo Peep rounds up a slew of rare and valuable records for doo wop and R&B collectors.