Six Teens Casual Look: The Flip Recordings CD

The Six Teens only had one substantial hit, 1956's "A Casual Look," but made, like many such groups of the time, a surprising number of records. Both sides of all dozen of their 1956-1960 singles are on this CD, as well as a fast version of "A Casual Look"'s B-side, "Teenage Promise," that was first issued in 1961 as credited to Trudy and Louise. There's an appealing innocence to the group, particularly Trudy Williams' vocals, and it's impressive that almost all of their songs were written by a member, Ed Wells. This cannot obscure, however, the general formulaic mediocrity of the material, which usually sticks to simple doo wop ballads at their most innocuous. There's an occasional glimpse of something a little more interesting, like a bit more sophisticated melody in the 1956 B-side "My Special Guy," lusher-than-usual harmonies on "Oh It's Crazy," and the addition of strings on their final sides in what sounds like a conscious or unconscious attempt to emulate acts like the Skyliners and (on "So Happy") the duets by Brook Benton and Dinah Washington. For almost everyone, however, the presence of "A Casual Look" on oldies collections (though it's shown up on surprisingly few of those) will be enough. As usual, Ace's liner notes supply more information about the group than you'll find anywhere else, including comments on each track. ~ Richie Unterberger

All the groups singles on one CD, 19 of them from the original master tapes.

Contains 25 tracks.

Six Teens includes: Ed Wells, Trudy Williams, Louise Williams, Ray Johnson Combo, Kenny Sinclair.