Wednesday, September 5, 2007

The Diamonds - rare recordings

(Updated Oct.19, 2020)

You know The Diamonds from their 1957 hit "Little Darlin'". There are a couple of CD compilations now which present a lot more. Many of their releases of course weren't hits, and won't be found in collections. For the record here is a list..

Complete singles discography:

Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _/ Nip Sip (Coral) 1955
Smooch Me / Be My Lovin Baby (Coral)
Why Do Fools Fall In Love / You Baby You .. (Mercury...) 1956
Church Bells May Ring / Little Girl Of Mine
Love Love Love / Every Night About This Time
Soft Summer Breeze / Ka-Ding-Dong
A Thousand Miles Away / Every Minute Of the Day
Little Darlin / Faithful and True ...................................1957
Words Of Love / Don't Say Goodbye
Zip Zip / Oh How I Wish
Passion Flower .. (dj only) Merc #71194 .....1957
Silhouettes / Daddy Cool
The Stroll / Land Of Beauty
Straight Skirts / Patsy (uncertain)
High Sign / Don't Let Me Down (Chic-lets) ................1958
Kathy-O / The Happy Years
Walking Along / Eternal Lovers
She Say / From the Bottom Of My Heart ....................1959
Gretchen / A Mother's Love
Sneaky Alligator / Holding Your Hand
Young In Years / The Twenty-Second Day
Batman Wolfman Frankenstein or Dracula / Walkin' the Stroll
Real True Love / Tell the Truth ..................................1960
Slave Girl / The Pencil Song
The Crumble / You'd Be Mine
You Short-Changed Me / I Sho' Lawd Will (Merc 71782) ..1961
The Munch / Woomai-Ling
One Summer Night / It's a Doggone Shame
The Horizontal Lieutenant / The Vanishing American ...1962

Highlighted titles can be heard by pressing. It's probably your only chance to hear them.


ALBUMS


Their greatest album was this 1959 Wing label compilation of 12 of their best rock&roll singles. Not fully a greatest hits album, it was very enjoyable, and features my favorite picture of them.




The Diamonds' western album


A very rare 1959 album you probably never even heard of. Twelve traditional western songs in standard arrangements with Pete Rugolo's orchestra. I found it at California Albums.
Here's a link to the complete album. Otherwise it will never be available, regardless of quality


Their first album

In 1957 following their smash Little Darlin', this album contained all original songs without any hits. The song Zip Zip was then released as a single hit.








Here is a link to the other 11 songs of the complete ALBUM.


The Diamonds Meet Pete Rugolo
album can be sampled HERE.


" The Diamonds 1970s " album


This is sometimes seen in their discographies. It was in 1971. Lead Dave Somerville was no longer there, but original member Mike Douglas was leading it. Under Douglas they were moving into the Blood Sweat And Tears style. Click any picture to see it larger.








Sample the entire album.

 

 References:

The Diamonds CD that I would recommend is "The Diamonds Collection" on the Stardust label.

The official website for the original group:
http://www.min7th.com/diamonds/

A new authorized website at www.thediamondsmusic.com is no longer available as of 2020.

10 comments:

Mike said...

Great to hear Diamonds in the Old West, and "Passion Flower" as well. I guess you have a reason for the low fidelity, but it's not like there is a purchase option.

I stumbled onto your site via wikipedia, it did not come up on the Googles I tried.
Best regards, Mike

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
GeorgeS said...

I find that web search does access this post, but you need to type some specific wording. Nobody's gonna find something just looking for "diamonds". That's one of the most hopeless searches, also on Youtube.

tracy002 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ric said...

There is a great song by The Diamonds that no-one seems to list in their discography. "Limbo" from 1956. Dave Somerville does a great Harry Belafonte impression. Hear the song at www.thediamondsmusic.com - as well as lots of other rare stuff that you don't get anywhere else

Pedro said...

Desconocido y ahora estimado amigo,

No puedes imaginar mi alegría al encontrar tu página de The Diamonds.

Las grabaciones de este legendario grupo tan querido, son un tesoro perdido durante años y ahora obsequiado por tí.

Infinitas gracias.

Pedro Roca
España.

pharmacy said...

What a strange recording, of this mediocre band! anyway thank you!

xl pharmacy said...

This is an excellent CD I'd like to get something else about this subject because it's really interesting, actually I'm gonna share this information with my sister.

ausman said...

Easily the best CD issued on The Diamonds in the last 10 years is the 33 song "Diamonds Songbook" from Australia on Cane Toad International label (CTI-013) which includes a 16 page colour booklet with photos, story and discography. Quality is excellent!

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