1959
MY CHINESE GIRL * THE FIVE DISCS * DOWNSTAIRS 1001 * USA
Thanks to Jay Warner and the Da Capo book of American Singing Groups, I can identify some, of what are to me, obscure groups and their records, as in the above Five Discs cut. The Five Discs were an 'integrated' group from Brooklyn, New York, consisting of Mario deAndrade, Andrew Jackson, Joe Barsalona, Tony Basile and Paul Albano, and were originally known as The Flames, but changed their name to The Five Discs, a more hip name, as the word 'disc' was then youthful slang for record. Their first release I Remember was for the small Emge label in 1958, it was successful enough to be taken up and released on the larger Vik label soon after. Roses / My Chinese Girl was the groups second release issued on Dwain, another small New York independent, it was the third issue on the label - and was reissued on Dwain with a different catalogue number as the last on the label in 1960. The above release on Downstairs is probably from the 1970s and could be issued by the shop of the same name; that was literally downstairs in the subway arcade on the corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, in New York, the same location as a famous store called Times Square Records.