The Falcons and Band (Ohio Untouchables): I Found A Love/Swim (Lu Pine L-1003)

Let's start off here by saying that "I Found A Love" is without a doubt one of the rawest examples of doo-wop you're ever likely to hear. The guitar is heavy in the mix and while the harmonies are tight as can be, the lead vocals yell, scream and wail. That can only be because the lead singer here is none other than Wicked Wilson Pickett, who would soon be off making his own hits. Pickett later re-recorded this song for Atlantic and had his own sizeable hit with it. That version is quite swank in its own right (not to mention at two parts, it's longer), but it doesn't quite hold a candle to this one, in which rawness is all over the place. And while we're on the subject of rawness, flip this record over for a smokin' slice of hip-shakin' 1962 groove. A couple of years before Bobby Freeman showed everyone how to do The Swim, The Falcons were spreadin' the word to those who ventured to play thie side. I believe The Ohio Untouchables would later become The Ohio Players, but I'm not sure. At any rate, this joins the ranks of the great two-siders. It does in my book, anyway.