Day 14: Rhythm and Blues

The "5" Royales
Dedicated to You

This is R&B in the truest sense of the term: jump blues mixed with gospel and doo wop vocal styling. Though scholars such as Peter Guralnick have recognized the important role they played in the evolution of R&B as it hit the cusp of earning the new distinction "soul," the "5" Royales are much more likely to get young R&B fans' attention as a historical footnote at the Smithsonian Museum of Rock 'n Soul than as the beneficiaries of the kind of institutional rediscovery reserved for someone like, say, Solomon Burke. This is not to suggest that the Burke revival is unwarranted-indeed he remains a larger-than-life force in soul music to this day. The fact remains, however, that pre-soul R&B is still largely waiting to be discovered by the current generation of musical omnivores, and the relatively low-profile of such a seminal force as the "5" Royales is proof positive. With less restrained and more expressive vocals than earlier vocal groups such as the Ravens and the Orioles, the Royales foreshadowed the focus on expressiveness that took hold of their genre in the early 60s. Setting his soulful blues guitar to back-beat grooves, group guitarist and songwriter Lowman Pauling drew up the blueprint for the sound that Steve Cropper perfected as guitarist for the legendary Stax house band Booker T. & the MG's. On top of their contributions to the style and aesthetic of soul, the Royales contributed more than a handful of R&B classics. Two of Pauling's greatest compositions--"Think" and "Dedicated to the One I Love"--were later covered to great effect by James Brown and Aretha Franklin and by the Shirelles and the Mamas and the Papas, respectively. Both songs were included on the "5" Royales finest LP, 1957's Dedicated To You. Unfortunately, the CD issue of the album appears to be on the verge of going out of print (Amazon is down to its last copy), soon to join Rhino's fantastic two-disc set Monkey Hips and Rice: The "5" Royales Anthology as high-priced merchandise.

To hear audio clips from Dedicated to You, click here and press play.