Although he's hardly the natural choice for a volume dedicated strictly to rock & roll waxings,
Bobby Darin
nonetheless holds up surprisingly well when his early career is separated from his supper-club peak and his folk-rocking later career.
Bobby Rocks
, one in an excellent series from
Bear Family
(which includes volumes on artists ranging from
Jerry Lee Lewis
to
Sonny James
), focuses on the late '50s and early '60s. During these years,
Darin
was first a struggling songwriter and Brill Building hang-about, then, later, a brief one-hit wonder when
"Splish Splash"
became yet another of the rock novelties that convinced all adults within earshot that music had hit a new low. His recording career had a rocky start, however, when during 1956 he briefly recorded for
Decca
. All that changed once
signed to
Atco
the following year and began recording with its famed triumvirate --
Ahmet Ertegun
,
Jerry Wexler
, and
Tom Dowd
-- and magic inevitably began to happen.
proved himself not just an agile songwriter with an eye on the charts, but also an energetic R&B singer. (His love of
Ray Charles
made him one of the hippest white pop singers in New York.) That Brill Building pedigree may have also resulted in an inordinate number of takeoffs on R&B hits of the day, but
's new songs were quite good -- and far from the usual method of undercutting the originals as other pop singers had.
is naturally still one of the most smoking novelty hits of its day, and his
"Mighty Mighty Man"
is a revelation, rivaling the Southern blue-eyed soul then being produced by
Elvis Presley
and
Charlie Rich
.
may focus strictly on a short period when
was known for one novelty hit, but it reveals that
was an artist even before he put on his suit and started hitting the supper clubs. ~ John Bush