They Call Us Au Go-Go Singers

They Call Us Au Go-Go Singers

Track Listings

1. San Francisco Bay Blues

2. What If

3. Gotta Travel On

4. Pink Polemoniums

5. You Are There

6. Oh Joe Hannah

7. Miss Nellie

8. High Flying Bird

9. What Have They Done to the Rain

10. Lonesome Traveler

11. Where I'm Bound

12. This Train

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Among those Au Go-Go singers were two gentlemen named Stephen Stills & Richie Furay! This album marked the recording debut for both, and here is where they honed the vocal skills that served them so well in Buffalo Springfield, Poco and CSN&Y. And, aside from the future star power, this 1964 Roulette release isn't a bad little folk album, either. Collectors' Choice Music.

Tracks:

San Francisco Bay Blues
What If
Gotta Travel On
Pink Polemoniums
You Are There
Oh Joe Hannah
Miss Nellie
High Flying Bird
What Have They Done to the Rain
Lonesome Traveler
Where I'm Bound
This Train

Product Description

1. San Francisco Bay Blues
2. What If
3. Gotta Travel On
4. Pink Polemoniums
5. You Are There
6. Oh Joe Hannah
7. Miss Nellie
8. High Flying Bird
9. What Have They Done To The Rain
10. Lonesome Traveler
11. Where I'm Bound
12. This Train

Format: CD

Customer Reviews:

NOT SPRINGFIELD BUT A VERY GOOD CD.......2005-02-25

A friend told me about this album since I like all things Steve Stills. I bought it and was surprised about two things: #1 I thought it would be more like Buffalo Springfield, which was after the Au Go Go Singers (I think a group called The Company with some members of the Au Go Go Singers was in between); #2 Although the CD has only hints of what was to come, I truly still enjoy listening to it. A couple of the songs are corney, but many were in the 50s and 60s. The majority of the cuts are solid, musical, and very enjoyable ("What Have They Done to the Rain)" a song without instruments about nuclear fallout, is tight, haunting and more than beautiful). "What If" is another beautifully sung number with an extraordinary full sound - they echo the Mormon Tab. Choir, but more hip. These singers and musicians had/have remarkable talent. I know where Furay and Stills went afterward, but I wonder what happened to the rest of nine. Some of the cuts are fun, others toe-tapping from another era, and the rest very well performed. I give it all five stars!

Good Variety, Great Voices.......2005-02-24

I stumbled on to this CD while reading a book about Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Volume One was full of referrences to the Au Go Go Singers since Stills came from that group, and the New Chautauguans (sp?) before that with some of the same members, and also after the Au Go Go Singers, he went into the Company with former members of the Au Go Go Singers, Michaels, Geiger, Gurney and Scott, who were also members of the Bay Singers before the Au Go Go Singers. It was in Canada that the new group, the Company, managed by Rollins & Joffee, met up with Neil Young in Canada and the rest is history as they say. I find the voices on this CD tremendous, the soprano and bass especially extraordinary; the full harmony and togetherness a marvel to listen to. Yeah, it's a mixture of all kinds of music, not necessarily folk (retro: "You Are There;" cutsey: "Miss Nelly;" and Jimmy-Rogers-style Pink Poli-whatever they are), but my understanding is that the group was really a lounge act, and not a folk group: the famous Cafe Au Go Go from whence they came and were named, was primarily a jazz club that Lenny Bruce got busted in about the same time these singers and musicians became the house group. The book I mentioned earlier (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Sometimes Young) that I got through the Internet, gives a lot of background about the Au Go Go Singers in the 60s. They were very much in demand, played on the same bill with Vaughn Meader, Woody Allen, Jackie Vernon, Roy Clark, etc. The book mentioned they were in high regard by fellow entertainers of that period, and after the album was recorded, Jim Friedman (partner of Shel Silverstein) became their arranger - too bad those new songs, although recorded, never were released commercially. And, despite what this guy says below, I think Stephen Stills version of High Flyin' Bird is every bit as good as Judy Henske, whose version I also like; and yeah, the Au Go Go Singers coming in as a background with Stills doesn't ruin it, but makes it sound exciting - it must have been great hearing this perfomed live.
Few other mentions: Richie Furay in the group right afterward formed the Buffalo Springfield with Stills and Young, getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Richie went on to form Poco and of course, Stephen into CSN&Y. The soprano, Kathy, sent on to sing with Bobbie Vinton, the bass player, Mike, played for the Highwaymen, and Roy, who was in all of the above mentioned groups, played with Hendricks and in the group Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys. The Au Go Go Singers were that talented!!
This is a very good CD - it got great ratings on the new & used portion of Amazon, and some good reviews on other Webs. If you buy it, I think you'll enjoy some great uptempo big group singing and playing; there's something in that CD for everyone.

Pass the Wonder Bread.......2005-01-15

The best thing about this album is that you can play it for your friends to put to rest speculation that the New Main Street Singers in the excellent folk parody "A Mighty Wind" are modelled on The New Christy Minstrals or The Serendipity Singers. They've got to be doing the Au Go Go Singers, specifically this album. These guys make the aforementioned groups sound like Dylan & the Hawks. To paraphrase one of the Folksmen, this is not folk music, it's a toothpaste commerical.

The songs are, mostly, highly arranged. The arrangements vary somewhat harmonically from the styles of Alice Parker to the Kings Singers to the Whiffenpoofs to Mitch Miller and the Gang. But rather than give this disc variety, it gives the impression of lacking artistic vision and that the group has no real style of its own.

The homogenzied, highly stylized phrasing demonstrate some craft and polish by the musicians -- who are by no means untalented -- but draws attention to itself rather than serves any expressive ends.

The best parts of this CD are the solos. While they are nothing special, they are generally enjoyable. But eventually the whole group comes in and ruins the song. Stills' High Flying Bird feature struck me as highly derivative of Judy Henske's superior rendition.

The group clearly had talent and was well rehearsed. But its a bad disc that will probably appeal to neither fans of folk or folk-rock, and to only a very few fans of dated breezy pop. Nonetheless, kudos to Collectors Choice for making these artifacts available for us to check out.

Much Closer to Kingston Trio Than Buffalo Springfield.......2001-10-24

As a big fan of Stephen Stills and, to a lesser degree, Richie Furay, I picked this up out of curiosity. It turns out to be folk music along the lines of the Kingston Trio, well sung by a group of around 9 kids, ages 18-21, including the aforementioned future stars. Much of it is extremely lightweight, often silly and too cute for my tastes. Stills handles lead vocal on two songs, one of which ("High Flyin' Bird") is the only track on the album that really hints at what was to come for him and Furay. Perhaps a true folk music fan might find this holds up well on its own merits, but for those of us more inclined towards rock 'n' roll, I'd say pass, unless you're such a strong CSNY/Buffalo Springfield fan that you really need to have everything. Me, I need to have everything.

Before they were stars...........2001-03-21

This folk gem features the first recordings of Steve Stills (Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills & Nash), and Ritchie Furay (Buffalo Springfield; Poco), as part of a nine person 'folk chorale' that was popular in Greenwich Village (the 'house group' of the Cafe Au Go Go), in 1964-65. Among the other members: Roy Michaels went on to Cat Mother & the All-Night Newsboys. The album was recorded in Manhattan in the fall of '64, with studio musicians - against the wishes of the band, who wanted to play their own instruments; thus, the slightly canned sound of several arrangements. The group wanted to do another album, but Roulette wasn't interested, and the group broke up a few months later.

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