Ruby & The Romantics

[rasputin@gvtc.com]

I re-listened today to "I Cry Alone" by Ruby & The Romantics.

It really is a superb record, and Ruby, IMHO, is a vastly underrated R&B diva of the early 60's.

Her version of "I Cry Alone" is my favorite... she sings with the confidence and precision of a great singer-- like Dionne herself.


Dave B.

[DARIO DARII]

Ruby is really one of her kind.

She did a splendid record, and a mild hit---called Our Day Will Come.

First offered to a superb vocalist in the name of Dionne Warwick,
who was then in contract with a label company--Scepter/Wand.

No Dionne, nobody knows the behind the scene negotiation but , Ruby sang it herself and the rest is history.

Dionne on the other hand, fully aware that she missed a great song,
rectify the incident, and fully realized her own peculiar take on it, or
should we say--her cover version of Ruby's song. It made the song 3 labels later.--Arista in a record called HEARTBREAKER.A record produced by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees.--DD

It

[rob]

Ruby & the Romantics version of "I Cry Alone" would be my choice as the definitive rendition of this song. It was the "B" side of their moderate hit "When You're Young & In Love." Outstanding vocal coupled with an equally outstanding arrangement by Mort Garson. The rendition on this group's recent double-CD anthology is a different take than the version on 45. Close but not quite as good.

There is also a version (released as a single) by Maxine Brown that was produced and arranged by Burt Bacharach. Not one of the maestro's better efforts.

[Dennis Webb]

I have a copy of Maxine Brown's "I Cry Alone" on one of those CD sets of mostly covers various performers did of Bacharach songs. I imagine my version of "I Cry Along" must be the same as on the single Rob mentions. I would swear that for this recording Maxine's vocals were just dubbed in over the pre-recoreded arrangement. I say this because the instrumental playing is identical to Dionne's recording. I don't know whether separate vocal and instrumental tracks were made back then at Scepter, but Maxine's accompaniment certainly sounds identical to Dionne's.

For the record, I've always loved this song and Burt's arrangement, which is unobtrusive but complements the vocals so perfectly. Anything more would be too much.

[scotsgreg]

Maxine Brown's "I Cry Alone" IS just a vocal dub over the original recorded arrangement for Dionne Warwick's demo. Scepter did this repeatedly with Bacharach's beds. The backing track of Tommy Hunt's "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" was used for Big Maybelle's subsequent re-recording. I think even Chuck Jackson used it. B.J. Thomas dubbed a new vocal over Dionne Warwick's version of "This Girl's In Love With You." The engineer just sped up the backing tracks to artificially change the song's key! The Shirelles used the backing track of Dionne Warwick's "It's Love That Really Counts" for their modest hit take on the song. If a single didn't sell particularly well, they'd simply use the backing track for another artist's album cut. It's funny. On some of these, if you listen closely, you can even hear a bleed of the original vocal echo through the instrumentation. Florence Greenberg knew how to get a lot of mileage out of a Scepter dollar!

[Guest]

yeah...how do i say that sucked without having it bleeped out of the forum?
lol