Album of the Day

While The Drifters are perhaps best remembered for the string of Brill Building-penned pop hits they cut in the early 1960s, the group owes their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just as much to the seminal sides they recorded with Clyde McPhatter in the preceding decade. The band was actually built around the talented singer, waxing such R&B s classics as “Money Honey,” “Such A Night” and “White Christmas” - all of which can be heard on CLYDE MCPHATTER & THE DRIFTERS. The 1956 Atlantic album, as was the custom of the day, was actually a compilation of singles, and as such plays like a greatest hits set, moving from strength to strength. A highly influential vocalist (who was also inducted into the Hall of Fame as a solo act), McPhatter passed away on this day in 1972, and CLYDE MCPHATTER & THE DRIFTERS is a tribute both to him and to the glories of the early rock era.