Monday, 10 May 2021

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Johnny Staton and the Feathers - At the Altar (15 November 1992)




Never get tired of stuff like that said Peel after playing this slice of 1957 vintage doo-wop.  At the Altar was a new discovery for him thanks to a blandly named but recently released compilation album from Ace Records.  I don’t think it’s as good as Sonny Til and the Orioles version of Crying in the Chapel, but the mid-section, where Staton makes clear his devotion and need to fulfil his promise to his fiancée, seems to foretell my beloved A Thousand Stars, a track which would have still held relevance to me in 1992.  I also like the way that amid all the lush romanticism of this track, it still manages to slip in a surprisingly prosaic line about going somewhere exotic for their honeymoon.

Video courtesy of the doowopMan1961.

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