''Roots of the Outsiders'' is a

retrospective album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rele ...

by the Starfires that has been released in CD format. This album lists the band name as Tom King and the Starfires, an alternate name for the group and also highlighting the original bandleader for the Outsiders.

Release data

This album was released in 1996 by

Collectables Records Collectables is a reissue record label founded in 1980 by Jerry Greene. Jerry Greene formed Lost Nite and Crimson record labels. Soul Survivors gained the hit "Expressway to Your Heart" (1967) while on Crimson Records. History It maintains a ca ...

as an CD (#COL 0695).

Notes on the tracks

The Starfires were active from 1958 to 1965, when the band name was changed to the Outsiders. Their forte was

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

instrumentals primarily, with Tom King occasionally providing soulful vocals.Liner notes for the album. The first four songs and the last cut are the only tracks on this album that feature any vocals. The two opening tracks, "Please Don't Leave Me" and "I Love You 'Cause I Love You" are probably original songs; each has lyrics that mainly repeat the titles with some variations – e.g., "I need you 'cause I need you". On the CD, the tracks are evidently taken from a broadcast on a local

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

(along with a brief interview of ''Tom King'' by the

disk jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

) in an on-air contest to see which song the listeners like the best. "Stronger than Dirt" – based upon a popular

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

for

Ajax cleanser Ajax is a brand of household cleaning products and detergents made by Colgate-Palmolive. The brand is also licensed by Colgate-Palmolive in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. History Colgate-Palmolive introduced Ajax Powdered Clean ...

– was a minor local hit song for the band in the early 1960s; besides the tune used in the commercial, the track also features hoofbeats from the white knight on horseback that is the centerpiece of the original ad. The lead guitar part was written and played by Rockin' Ray Miller (Grab Your Balls We're Going Bowling) while the sax parts were done by Tony Sawyer. Further details on the recordings are not available. Despite the reference in the name of the album, these recordings actually bear little resemblance to those of the better known ''Outsiders''; although some of their r&b roots are still apparent, the latter band has a different style that is generally categorized as

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

, and ''Outsiders'' vocalist

Sonny Geraci Emmett Peter "Sonny" Geraci ("Jer-ah-see"); November 22, 1946 – February 5, 2017) was an American singer, best known as lead singer of musical groups The Outsiders and Climax. Biography Geraci first became known as the original lead vocal ...

sounds much different from ''Tom King''.

Track listing

# Please Don't Leave Me # I Love You 'Cause I Love You # Ring of Love # Cheating Game # Stronger Than Dirt # Honest Injun # Jam Session #1 # Honky Tonk # Night Walk # Billy's Blues # Chartreuse Caboose # Jam Session #2 # Sweet Georgia Brown # I Know

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roots Of The Outsiders 1996 compilation albums The Starfires albums