My True Story

"My True Story" delivers the joy of romance with doo-wop music.

Aaron Neville's "My True Story" is a warm and easy-going tribute to doo-wop rock ballads of the 1950s and 1960s. I know it's only January but "My True Story" is my pick for romantic CD of the year. The timing of the CD release three weeks before Valentine's Day is probably not accidental.

Aaron Neville is a New Orleans R&B singer who looks like he has lived a hard life but has a sweet tenor voice. Neville's vibrato gives his voice a shimmery translucent sound. He can float above the melody in a way no one else can. The songs on "My True Story" give him a chance to show his talent.

The 12 tracks of "My True Story" reach perfection for me. It's only rarely I get a new CD that out of the box sounds so great you want to listen to it over and over. I didn't have to break-in the CD, make excuses for production issues or ignore the weak songs since there are none. The vocal and instrumental performances are perfect. "My True Story" is simply the sweetest sounding CD I've heard in years.

"My True Story" pairs Neville with Stones guitarist Keith Richards and the Grammy Award-winning rock producer and musician Don Was. Richards and Was assembled experienced session musicians and backup singers.

The Richards/Was arrangements are respectful of the original performers and add modern sensibilities to the songs. Neville and the backup singers are given plenty of room to strut their stuff, rocking the songs to infectious finger snapping and toe tapping beats.

Aaron Neville picked the songs from his favorites. "When I was a kid, doo-wop was like medicine to me," said Neville. "I didn't care what else was goin' on in the world as long as I could sing along with Pookie Hudson and The Spaniels, The Flamingos, The Clovers, Sonny Til and The Orioles, Clyde McPhatter."

Neville sings the songs with authentic feeling. When he sings "Be My Baby" it's not corny. You feels he means it. In "Tears on My Pillow", he has mature feelings of loss and longing. The songs are transformed from adolescent puppy love to love songs for today, for us.

"This was a dream session, said Keith Richards "The band fell right into the groove and Aaron sang like an angel. It was an honor!"

You can feel the magic in the recordings. Everything hits the right note. The arrangements and mixing are modern and let the singers, especially Aaron Neville, take front and centre.

The band adds something fresh to each song with tasty arrangements and featured soloists, without making the vocals fight for air. "Ting A Ling" has a low note sax riff. "Be My Baby" features a flute solo. "Gypsy Woman" features two tremolo heavy lead guitars, mixed left and right, laid over a mysterious organ backing.

Holding the CD together are the drumming of New Orleans native George Receli and the Terry Sherr on bass. On "Little Bitty Pretty One", Receli starts and ends the song with just his kick drum and hand claps. He's not flashy, just right on the money.

The backup singers share Aaron Neville's familiar affection for the songs. They knew the songs by heart and recorded more than enough songs for the CD, many in less that 3 takes.

I like my share of driving rock, blues, folk, and Bob Dylan's nasty songs. "My True Story" is music for the heart and soul. It's simply gorgeous, transporting you back to the time when the romance of boy-meets-girl was number one. Granted I'm a romantic.

After living in the real world for 5 decades with its inevitable disappointments and failures, Neville gives us the comfort that comes from believing in love and relationships.

Do-wop songs are 50s/60s romantic ballads that featured tenor voices and close harmony backing singers. Some say the style was developed on the street corners of Cincinnati when vocal groups would practice their chops without backing. Doo Wop could be sung a cappella, with the backup singers nonsense doo-wop lyrics substituting for the instruments.

Aaron Neville Doo Wop: My True Story| March 2013 | PBS

PBS took this CD on the road to the Brooklyn Bowl in November 2012. They recorded a special to be broadcast in March 2013. The promo video gives you a taste of how the CD sounds. (see NJN Network for the videos, photos, session credits and links)

Thanks for reading.

I love doo-wop. I really love doo-wop. I turned the radio on in 1956 and haven't turned it off yet, so I have listened to a lot of music over the decades. (i.e. I am about the same age as this crew of musicians.) So, now I have been listening to these tunes for almost a week already and really would like to know: "What the heck happened on this project?"

Look at the lineup of musicians gathered in the studio: Don Was producing with assistance from Keith Richards. With Richards on lead guitar. Greg Leisz also on guitar. Benmont Tench on keyboards. Tony Sherr on bass. Aaaand... back-up vocals from Eugene Pitt of the Jive Five, Bobby Jay of the Teenagers, and Dickie Harmon from the Del-Vikings. What a collection of giants! This CD should be THE BOMB! But it isn't.

The selection of tunes is fine. Obviously all the notes are there (mostly) and the production is clean... but overall, it lacks something. It lacks spirit. No, to be honest, I really want to say it lacks "balls." Rock'n'roll and Doo Wop were driven by a spirit of rebellion and driven by an "in yo face" energy. This wonderful collection of tunes sounds like it was made by a group of very polite, very rich, old guys who have lost the "in yo face" attitude and spirit of rebellion that made this music so great when it burst upon the scene in the mid fifties. It's all just too polite and too well modulated. And it's nutless! I keep thinking as I listen to it: "well, maybe if I bump the volume up a bit more?" But it's not the volume... it's lack of feeling and "intensity" and "attitude" that are sadly missing. Guess what I want is the rawness, the attitude and the energy we heard in a lot of original Doo Wop and early rock. Maybe when these guys were in the studio they should have passed around a bottle of something... maybe viagra? Does Doo Wop really need performance-enhancing drugs?

Anyway, yes, it IS wonderful to hear these songs again and all collected in this one package. Quite lovely. But I cannot escape the feeling as I listen... where's the juice? Even Frank Zappa's "Reuben and the Jets" doo wop recordings have something this CD does not. And again, sorry to repeat myself, it's attitude. Is there such a thing as being "too polite?" Probably. And this sounds like an example of that.

Maybe some remixes are scheduled to be released? I'm hoping...

My recommendation? By all means, get these tracks. Listen. Enjoy. But tell me when all is said & done... They're good but isn't there something missing? Some intangible thing which would propel these tracks into a higher category which could (or should?) have happened considering the caliber of the musicians involved. Check it for yourself.

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The voice of Aaron Neville is unique and great, but I must admit I don't fancy his trademark high pitched falsetto. That's the first thing I love with this album this is a constrained Neville staying in medium range. The pitch in his voice is fantastic. Then there is the doo wop retro sound, great too.

What makes this album stand out is the creativity and level of musicianship shown by the great musicians. Go to 2.50 on tears on my pillow and hear the twist they do, or listen to the beautiful tiny piano solo on Under the Boardwalk. These are only two of several great moments on the album.

Highly recommended!

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This showcases Aaron doing what he does best. Singing Doo Wop. I have been a fan for over forty years and am a Louisiana native. So, of course I love Aaron Neville. This is a good album to add to the collection of any fan of serious singers and good music.

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Who could not love this man's angelic voice? On this cd, he tries to stay true to the songs as they were written and recorded in their day. What we lose a little bit by his doing that is getting to hear Aaron make them his own with that silvery falsetto and the little rifts he adds when he sings songs and makes them truly HIS OWN !! I just wish his band had joined him on this and they had recorded these the way he performs when you see him in concert, because in concert he rocks the house, with his brother Charles on the horn and Aaron giving it his all !! I am missing that here.

I would say I love 85 % of this album. Songs I really like: This Magic Moment, My True Story, Under The Boardwalk, Tears on My Pillow. I have never liked Money Honey or Ruby Baby, and Work with Me Annie just doesn't do anything for me personally.

There are some great reviews already written. I am giving it 5 stars because I love Aaron Neville, follow him on Facebook, and go to every concert I have the opportunity to attend. So buy this for the sweetness and light that is Aaron Neville, for the privilege of getting to hear a piece of American history, and a unique and lilting voice that is unmistakable, beautiful and still as rich as it ever was.