Image
1985 | Atlantic

Bop Doo Wopp


Six of the ten tracks on Bob Doo-Wopp are live performances. The album was released at the tail end of 1984 and contained another Hot 100 single in “Baby Come Back To Me (The Morse Code Of Love)” which hit #83 on the chart. The song was dedicated to The Capris (an Italian vocal group from Queens) who had a big hit with “There’s A Moon Out Tonight” back in 1960. Also on the album was the song “Route 66” which originally appeared on the soundtrack to the Burt Reynolds film Sharky’s Machine. “Route 66” had hit the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, peaking at #78 and earned the group another Grammy for “Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group.”

Bob Doo-Wopp is “basically a live album with a few studio cuts thrown in,” says Alan. Five tracks were recorded at the Nakano Sun Plaza in Japan in November 1983. The other live cut, “Duke of Dubuque,” was recorded for the “Evening At Pops” Series on PBS. The rest of the songs were recorded in New York, except the “down under” recording of “Safronia B” in Sydney, Australia in December of 1983.

One of the studio cuts, “Baby Come Back To Me (The Morse Code Of Love)” was the first single and hit #83 on the Hot 100 Singles Chart. Janis recalls, “My brother Eric brought in his Morse code set to do a solo on ‘Morse Code Of Love.’ We never used it – but Eric was thrilled to be in the studio.” The group premiered the song at The Carleton Dinner Theatre in Minneapolis in November 1984. Do you remember the group performing this song on the Solid Gold show? They wore red varsity-style sweaters with the letter “M” on them.

The other song to note that was included on this album was “Route 66,” which had earned the group their sixth Grammy Award in 1982 for “Best Jazz Performance by a Duo or Group.” It had previously been released only on the soundtrack to the motion picture “Sharky’s Machine.” Interestingly enough, “My Cat Fell In The Well” had the vocal track recorded for the album in October 1984 – and the rhythm track used for the song was recorded eight years earlier, in 1976. Alan summed it up best when he said “A fun album.”