Behold the Cadillacs

I present to you one of the greatest intros in the history of popular music: the Cadillacs' "Gloria," from 1954.



Listen to that reverb manipulation. Isn't it just fabulous? His voice goes from echoing in a church to echoing in your head in one beautiful descent. Glen Gould had nothing on these guys. And in 1953! And then the doo-wopping bass comes in, and as he descends down you have the thrill of recognizing the sonic world of R&B. And then maybe I'm imagining things, but when the groups comes in with that first "woo" in harmony, I hear such pure pleasure at creating such a perfect blend.

The Cadillacs are one of my favorite R&B vocal groups. Everything they touched was, in a word, awesome. They were almost single-handedly the conduit between pre-WWII pop quartets and Motown groups of the 60s, largely thanks to their stage shows. Sure, all of the early doo-woppers had good stage shows, but the Cadillacs introduced spectacular costumes, props, and most importantly, stage choreography courtesy of a legendary tap dancer named Cholly Atkins. Atkins, of course, would later go on to be the in-house choreographer for Motown, but it all began with the Cadillacs.

Gloria is actually a bit of anamoly for them; most of their songs were uptempo dance numbers like "Speedo." "Gloria" was released in the wake of the Orioles "Crying in the Chapel," which created a bit of a vogue for fake religious pop songs--you know, where the singer is just so sweet, and sentimental, and handsome, and when he talks about how much he loves the Lord, you might be forgiven for thinking that he might be talking about you too. And not in some ecstatic hard gospel way, but in a smooth romantic way that fits in nicely with the values of the new black bourgeoisie. Not that this is the argument of a chapter of my diss or anything. See also "Bells of St. Mary."

The best part? The Cadillacs are still going strong, with Earl "Speedo" Carroll singing up a storm and giving interviews to journalists and academics left and right. So use the nifty iTunes link below to buy a copy of "Gloria." I'm sure they don't get a dime of it, but it's the thought that counts.