Barbara-Ann

by Greg AdamsBarbara-Ann is a straight reissue of the Regents' 1961 album and contains the group's only two hits. "Barbara-Ann" was a Top 15 hit for the group in 1961, but the Beach Boys had even greater success with the song five years later. The Regents' minor follow-up hit, "Runaround," is not the same song with which the Three Chuckles and the Fleetwoods had hits. The album tracks are a mixture of ballads ("Sunday Kind of Love" is covered) and up-tempo songs, some of which are original. The Regents were a competent white doo wop group who mostly sang in tune (which is more than you can expect from many of the marginal vocal groups), with five-piece vocal arrangements that made their rockers dense and powerful. Collectables could have added a few bonus tracks to make this a complete anthology of the Regents' Gee recordings, but as it is, Barbara-Ann is a good summation of the group's brief career for Beach Boys fanatics and collectors of white doo wop records.