The Dells

In 1956, this Chicago harmony quintet scored with the elegant, sexy "Oh, What a Night." The Dells' followup hit came twelve years later; "Stay in My Corner" is a standard-issue lover's plea lifted by its dynamic vocal arrangement and Marvin Junior's warm baritone. When the group reemerged on Chess later in the '60s, after knocking around on several independents, its bold new sound left that classic street-corner casualness far behind. A full quotient of strings and horns contrast and emphasize the play of voices. When everything falls into place, as it does on the heaven-bound "There Is," the Dells' harmonies rumble and flash like an approaching storm. There Is duplicates the original Cadet LP. The leaner sound of early '70s soul nuggets like "Give Your Baby a Standing Ovation" and "Bring Back the Love of Yesterday" offsets the remade earlier hits: The Dells explain doo-wop to people too young to remember the real thing.

For a pickup match, The Dells Vs. the Dramatics never lapses into hot-dog tricks. Sensitive arrangements carry the day: "Love Is Missing From Our Lives" is clearly a duet between two harmony groups, not two lead singers. Dramatics main man Ron Banks erupts with gruff, joyous Stax soul on "Choosing Up On You," but the Dells' Marvin Junior invests "Strung Out Over You" with tragic, helpless beauty. This battle royal comes out a draw -- everyone's a winner. The Dells' more recent -- and far less necessary -- efforts on Mercury and Private have fallen out of print. But once again, this veteran group rebounded: "A Heart Is a House for Love," taken from the Five Heartbeats soundtrack, sounds comfortable and assured on the 1991 R&B charts. The best available compilation, Anthology, collects all the essential Cadet sides as well as their fine later singles onto two discs. (MARC COLEMAN/GAYLORD FIELDS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide