The Drifters - Discography - 320kbps Bitrate

The Drifters

The history of rhythm and blues is filled with vocal groups whose names -- the Orioles, the Cadillacs, the Crows, the Flamingos, the Moonglows, the Coasters, the Penguins -- are held in reverence by fanatics and devotees. The Drifters are part of an even more exclusive fraternity, as a group that managed to carve out a place for themselves in the R&B firmament and also define that music, not only at its inception as a national chart phenomenon in the early '50s but also in the decade that followed. Their place in history is as complex as their role in it, by virtue of the fact that there are two distinct phases to their music and the continuity of their membership, and their extraordinary longevity -- only the Platters could claim as great a span of years as an active recording unit, though the latter group, due to major differences in the way they were organized, were far more stable in their membership and output. The Drifters can also claim a unique place in popular music history, as a major R&B group founded at the instigation of a record-label chief.

Their story began in early 1953, when Clyde McPhatter, the soaring high-tenor lead singer in the Dominoes, a vocal quintet formed by Billy Ward three years earlier, quit that group. The Dominoes were playing a scheduled gig at the New York club Birdland, one of their first performances without McPhatter, when one of the audience members present asked after the singer backstage. That fan was Ahmet Ertegun, a one-time record collector who had started Atlantic Records in the late '40s; as soon as he learned of McPhatter's having left the Dominoes, he contacted the singer and signed him to Atlantic.

1956 - Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters

1958 - Rockin' & Driftin'

1962 - Save the Last Dance for Me

1964 - Under the Boardwalk

1965 - The Good Life With the Drifters

1966 - I'll Take You Where the Music's Playing

1988 - All-Time Greatest Hits & More 1959-1965

CD01 - CD02

1988 - Let the Boogie-Woogie Roll_ Greatest Hits 1953-1958

CD01 - CD02

2005 - Up on the Roof_ The Best of the Drifters

2007 - Drift and Dream

2019 - Hits and Rarities