The Marvels so perfectly embody the magic of ’61-’65 Southern campus-soaked R&B that from the initial blast of “The U-T” (short for University of Tennessee!), visions of madras pants, Gant shirts, stomping Bass Weejuns and Pabst Blue Ribbon sloshing out of Dixie Cups cannot be suppressed. Led consecutively by Georgia Tech students Harry “M” Middlebrooks and Cliff Thomas (who met Marvels’ drummer Ronnie Rich at—where else?—a fraternity party!), two Southerners with strikingly similar musical backgrounds in pop, gospel and—most of all—rhythm and blues, the recordings herein capture the raw talent of two men who would soon separately crack the industry as successful pop and soul songwriters, producers and session men.
Ten unreleased Middlebrooks originals see the light of day here; including well put together vocals like “Collaboration” and overdriven instrumentals like “Rockin’ Jam.” Middlebrooks’ treasure trove is topped with a slammin’ take on Dave Bartholomew’s “Bumpity Bump” that essentially sums up the musical aesthetic of the Marvels: pounding piano, drumming so intense that it sounds like one wrong move might destroy the whole kit, rocking vocals and best of all, whammy bar-tinged guitar riffs laid over the top for that elevation to as-good-as-it-gets-territory.
The occasion for the Thomas-led Marvels to record came after Cliff and his brother Ed scored a hit with “The Popeye,” a song they’d recorded in New Orleans with Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns. Needing enough songs to fill the up a follow-up album, the Thomas brothers whipped out a bushel of Clowns-inspired numbers that featured the K-Doe-esque “Come On Let’s Hully Gully” and nine others including the swinging “Don’t Pony With Tony” and “Crazy ’Bout The U-T.” “Gonna Do The Fish” prefigures Thomas’s future work with the Tams, while Middlebrooks’ “Everybody Ought To Love Someone” bears a similar Beach Music vibe. The Marvels may have been a footnote in the careers of their dual leaders but this is an astounding collection of undiluted pre-British Invasion Dixie rock ‘n’ roll that’s more than earned its enshrinement in the Frat Rock Hall Of Fame.
