This 2000 release on England's Flyright label contains the greater portion of the recordings made by Ivory "Deek" Watson and his Brown Dots. Watson had been one of the original Ink Spots, but quit the group in the fall of 1944, after the passing of Orville "Hoppy" Jones, who had acted as a peacemaker between Watson and lead tenor Bill Kenny. Watson had wanted the group to continue in the "jive" tradition, even though it had had great success beginning in 1939 with ballads along the lines of "If I Didn't Care," while Kenny and the others wanted to pursue the ballad idiom.
When Watson left he formed his own group, which, for a short while, performed as "Deek Watson's Ink Spots," but to avoid litigation, Watson subsequently changed the name of his group to the Brown Dots. Watson's group consisted of Watson, William "Pat" Best, Jimmy Gordan and Joe King (soon replaced by Jimmy Nabbie). The group recorded for the Manor label of Newark, New Jersey, which was never known for the quality of its pressings, so even with modern restoration techniques, several tracks on this compilation are of substandard quality.
By the end of 1946, the other members of the Brown Dots had begun recording on the side for Manor with Danny Owens of the Coleman Brothers as the Sentimentalists, while continuing to also record with Watson as the Brown Dots. When Watson learned of this around 1948, he "fired" the rest of the group.
This package contains 21 sides by the Brown Dots and 3 by the Sentimentalists, who ultimately went on to record as the Four Tunes. Recommended despite the poor quality of some tracks.
To learn more about this group, see Marv Goldberg's in-depth article about the Brown Dots.
Track listing:
1. For Sentimental Reasons (1945)
2. Bow Wow Wow (1948)
3. You're Heaven Sent (1945)
4. Satchelmouth Baby (1946)
5. Let's Give Love Another Chance (1945)
6. Thirty-One Miles For A Nickel (Subway Serenade) (1945)
7. That's What She Gets (1945)
8. Esscuchame (Listen To Me) (1945)
9. Shout Brother Shout (1948)
10. At Our Fireplace (1948)
11. Dark Town Strutters Ball (1948)
12. Patience And Fortitude (1945)
13. Surrender (1946)
14. If I Can't Have You (1946)
15. I'm Loving You For You (1946)
16. Please Give A Broken Heart A Break (1946)
17. Well Natch (1946)
18. Rumors Are Flying (1946)
19. You Took All Of My Love (1946)
20. I Don't Know from Nothin' Baby (1948)
21. As Though You Don't Know (1948)
22. I'll Close My Eyes - Sentimentalists (1948)
23. Send Me A Dream - Sentimentalists (1948)
24. I Want To Be Loved - Sentimentalists (1948)
