{"product_id":"rockin-the-groove-when-groove-was-more-than-just-a-habit","title":"Rockin' the Groove: When Groove Was More Than Just a Habit","description":"Liner Note Author: Bill Dahl.\u003cbr\u003eRCA decided to leap into the flourishing blues and R\u0026amp;B marketplace in 1954 via the new imprint Groove. This subsidiary didn't last long. By February 1957, RCA folded the label, whose lone hit -- Mickey \u0026amp; Sylvia's \"Love Is Strange\" -- wasn't enough to keep it afloat. A lot of the Groove sides stayed in the vault, which is what makes Bear Family's two 2016 reissues -- this R\u0026amp;B collection, Rockin' the Groove, and its down-and-dirty blues companion Groovin' the Blues -- so welcome. Rockin' the Groove tips the scales slightly toward the aftershocks of jump blues, devoted to hopping combos and swinging singers -- all the elements that made the R\u0026amp;B charts shake, rattle, and roll in the mid-'50s. Sometimes, there are echoes of big bands -- both in wailing horns and snazzy vocal arrangements -- but throughout these 35 sides, the rhythms snap and are sometime quite gritty, particularly when goosed along by fuzzed-up guitars as they are on Paul Williams' \"Humpty Dumpty.\" There aren't a lot of stars here -- the closest is a teenage George Benson and maybe a Clayton Love -- but that's part of the appeal: all these also-rans and hits that never were wind up showing just how good Groove was at finding talent, even if they never found a way to market it. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine","brand":"MovieMars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51491954655519,"sku":"5397102174124","price":21.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0679\/7833\/0399\/files\/e9c7249291c7289b98c5afa3427f37da.jpg?v=1777786467","url":"https:\/\/www.moviemars.com\/products\/rockin-the-groove-when-groove-was-more-than-just-a-habit","provider":"MovieMars","version":"1.0","type":"link"}