The "5" Royales are often referred to as the forerunners of Soul music. Their southern heritage and background in gospel music served them well when they made the switch to secular music. One of the bluesiest vocal groups of their era, their records sold like crazy when they exploded on the music scene in 1952 on Apollo Records. Securing their sevices on King Records, which is where the songs on this CD are from, was considered a major coup in 1954. They were so popular at the time that their move to King required a lesser-known group which had been recording for King's Federal subsidiary without much success to that point, The Royals, to change their name to The Midnighters to avoid further confusion. Unable to make the switch to the Soul era, the "5" Royales disbanded in the late 1960s. It was a sad ending for a group wich had been at the top for longer than almost any other TRUE R&B group of the 1950s, and one that should have been able to weather the transition from R&B to Soul like The Dells and The Four Tops did. Their legacy remains in their recordings, among the best of which are featured here..............
[Disc 1]
01 Bedside of a Neighbor
02 Journey's End
03 Come over Here
04 Let Nothing Separate Me
05 Too Much of a Little Bit
06 Give Me One More Chance
07 Courage to Love
08 You Know I Know
09 Baby Don't Do It
10 Take All of Me (Baby)
11 Help Me, Somebody
12 Crazy, Crazy, Crazy
13 Too Much Lovin'
14 Laundromat Blues
15 I Want to Thank You
16 All Righty
17 I Do
18 Good Things
19 I'm Gonna Run It Down
20 Behave Yourself
21 Cry Some More
22 I Like It Like That
23 Monkey Hips and Rice
24 Devil with the Rest
25 What's That

[Disc 2]
01 Let Me Come Back Home
02 School Girl
03 One Mistake
04 With All Your Heart (Put Something in It)
05 6 O'clock in the Morning
06 Every Dog Has His Day
07 You Didn't Learn It at Home
08 How I Wonder
09 Mohawk Squaw
10 I Need Your Lovin' Baby
11 When I Get Like This
12 Women About to Make Me Go Crazy
13 Do Unto You
14 I Ain't Getting Caught
15 Someone Made You for Me
16 When You Walked Through the Door
17 Right Around the Corner
18 I Could Love You
19 My Wants for Love
20 Get Something out of It
21 Come on and Save Me
22 Just As I Am
23 Mine Forevermore
24 Tears of Joy
25 Thirty Second Lover

[Disc 3]
01 Think
02 I'd Better Make a Move
03 Messin' Up
04 Say It
05 Dedicated to the One I Love
06 Don't Be Ashamed
07 Do the Cha Cha Cherry
08 The Feeling is Real
09 Tell the Truth
10 Double or Nothing
11 The Slummer the Slum
12 Don't Let It Be in Vain
13 Your Only Love
14 The Real Thing
15 Miracle of Love
16 I Know It's Hard but It's Fair
17 Tell Me You Care
18 Wonder Where Your Love Has Gone
19 My Sugar Sugar
20 It Hurt's Inside
21 Please, Please, Please
22 I Got to Know
23 Solid Rock
24 I'm a Cool Teenager

[Disc 4]
01 Don't Give More Than You Can Take
02 I'm with You
03 Why
04 (Something Moves Me) Within My Heart
05 Now Baby Don't Do It
06 Everybody Knows
07 Please, Please Be Mine
08 Rain Drops Keep A-fallin'
09 Jailbird
10 Here It 'tis, Right Here
11 If You Don't Need Me
12 I'm Gonna Tell Them
13 Much in Need
14 They Don't Know
15 Send Me Somebody
16 Come on Let's Have a Good Time
17 Help Me Somebody
18 Talk About My Woman Part 1
19 Talk About My Woman Part 2
20 Take Me with You Baby
21 Not Going to Cry
22 Catch That Teardrop
23 Goof Ball
24 What's in the Heart
25 I Want It Like That