The Rivingtons

Most people in the early 2000s are surprised to find out about the Rivingtons -- that's primarily because people mostly discover their existence when they hear one of the group's three hits, "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow," "Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow (The Bird)," and "The Bird's the Word," which are much, much better known in their composite re-recording by the Trashmen (as "Surfin' Bird"). And when they hear the Rivingtons' version, they're inevitably surprised by the fine singing and superb R&B phrasing, miles away from the Trashmen's punk stylings. Their version of the song was just as nonsensical, but it had amazing class and panache, and it's more than that -- it's part of a story of superb singing, bird dances and surfin' birds, great dances and even better times, before the world of the 1960s got all dark and serious and too dangerous for good clean fun. The Rivingtons were a West Coast vocal group whose lineup featured Al Frazier, Carl White, John "Sonny" Harris, and Turner "Rocky" Wilson Jr. That lineup went through myriad reshapings to get there, along with renamings -- they weren't even the Rivingtons to start with. It all started with Al Frazier, in high school in Los Angeles at the end of the 1940s, who sang baritone and formed his own group, the Mello-Moods, whose ranks included future Platters member Paul Robi. They had aspirations to record, but never got that lucky -- Frazier went into the army and served in Korea, which didn't interrupt his desire for a music career. When he got out he formed a new outfit, a mixed male/female quartet called Emanons (which was "No Names" backwards). They were good enough to wrangle a TV appearance locally in 1952, but that was as far as they ascended. Then, in 1953, Frazier crossed paths with lead singer Thurston Harris, bass singer Matthew...