Announcing the new album"Doo Rock" which is my latest studio recording effort. This is a tribute to the early days of the origins of Rock and Roll going back to the mid-'50's to early ‘60’s (all “pre-Beatles”). This album was a lot of fun to do as I attempted to capture the doo-wop harmonies and instrumental styles of the original artists who created the beginning of Rock and Roll history.

Some songs are classics, some are a little goofy (bordering on “novelty”) but all are a part of history. With the exception of 3 tracks, the instruments and vocals on all tracks were performed by me. As a result, this album took a little more time to arrange, record and produce than I anticipated and I had to delay the release into October. That being said, I am excited on how this turned out and hope those of you who have been listening to my work will give this one a listen or two while in your car or walking the dog or just playing it on your bluetooth speak in your home.  The song list for the album is below. Crank it up and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did creating it!

Available on all major streaming services (search for “Joe Vitullo”).

“Trickle Trickle” - originally recorded by “The Videos” in 1958 but the version I first heard was from Manhatten Transfer released in 1979. The doo wop chorus is the highlight here (more so than the verses). I added a short piano solo for good measure.

“All Shook Up” - the Elvis classic from 1957. I did my best “Elvis” impersonation here but the most fun I had on this was singing as the Jordanaires (Elvis' backup band).

“The Great Pretender” - the oldest of the songs on this album, originally recorded by The Platters in 1955. I always loved this song since my Dad bought me a “Golden Days of Rock and Roll” vinyl album at a local Sears store in Philly. One of the tracks I played Tenor saxophone on to blend in with the backup harmonies.

“Bye Bye Love” - Everly Brothers song from 1957. This is a song that my brother Tony and brother-in-law Gabe used to sing and play at family gatherings in Philly. It was only appropriate to have my brother Tony join me on this track on co-vocals and guitar (so maybe a remake by the “Vitullo Brothers”?

“Don't You Just Know It” - This is goofy yet really fun tune to perform and to listen to. Originally recorded by Huey “Piano” Smith, I actually heard this song initially by “Sha Na Na” (remember them?). Lots of different voices and vocal ranged for such a simple, silly tune. I still have the original 45 vinyl record of this song from the early ‘60’s.

“Blueberry Hill” - The classic Fats Domino tune that I first heard on the ‘70’s show “Happy Days”. This song was actually written in the 1940's for the Glenn Miller Orchestra  (fun fact) but it was Fats Domino's version from 1957 that most people remember. His version is so simple yet so effective. I played multiple sax parts on this one to capture the original feel of the song.

“Love Is Strange” - Most people will remember this from the movie “Dirty Dancing”. After recording “Cry To Me” last year I had to pick another song from that movie as the soundtrack is so good. This was originally recorded by Mickey and Silvia in 1956 and was covered by many other artists over the years including Paul and Linda McCartney in 1970. For this one I needed a lot of help so I recruited Tammy Jo for the duet (she is on a couple songs on my Christmas album) and Michael Cohen (an excellent local guitarist here in Minnesota who I knew would capture that classic riff that needed to stay in the song. 

“The Book of Love” - recorded by The Monotones in 1957. This one is FAST and has some tough backing “doo wops” to recreate but was another one that I always wanted to record and was so much fun singing all the parts. 

"Silhouttes" - recorded by The Rays in 1957 (notice the trend in the year of some of these songs?). Similiar to “The Great Pretender” this is a beautiful tune that tells a story and has a rate transition (key change) that was not common for this era. In addition to the multi-track vocals, piano licks and a sax solo are highlighted here.

“The Wanderer” - Dion and the Belmonts circa 1961. Everyone knows “Runaround Sue”, but this one was always from favorite from Dion: it's a little harder, tougher and was a bit ahead of it's time musically. I wish I knew how the backup vocals were originally recorded as they are non-stop and hard to catch your breath! The sax solo took some time for me but was another great tune to record.

“Little Bitty Pretty One” - Two different versions of this song recorded by both Bobby Day and Thurston Harris in 1957 (both released within a couple months of each other). I actually first heard it (of all places!) in the Stephen King horror film “Christine” in the 80's. This song is very repetitive (could have used a “looper” if one existed back then) but it works mostly due to the unique harmonies

“I Walk The Line” - yes - this is the Johnny Cash tune from 1956. While recording this album I rewatched the movie “Walk The Line” and realized how much of an influence this song was to Rock and Roll. No harmonies but it has the unique Johnny Cash “train percussion" (not sure what else to call it) and the chord progression is SO unique that each verse is technically in a different key. The song is brilliant and I did my best here to try and recreate it.

“Surfin' Bird” - recorded by the Minneapolis band “The Trashmen” in 1963. This was on that same record my Dad bought for me that had “The Great Pretender” on it. This is one of the goofiest, silliest songs I've ever recorded (and I almost didn't include it, but figured “why not?!". There's some history of this song along with The Rivington's “Bird Is The Word” and “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” songs which are all very similiar. But the Trashmen's “mash up” of these songs was always my favorite.

“One Night” - This was recorded by Elvis in 1957 (!) but not released until 1958 as the “B”-side of “I Got Stung”. This is arguable one of Elvis' hardest rockers that he ever recorded. This was a tough one to record on my own as I wanted to give it a harder edge than the other songs on this album (and doing it without a guitar was tricky).

“You've Lost That Loving Feeling” - written by Phil Spector, Barry Mann and Cynthia Well in 1964 and originaly recorded by The Righteous Brothers. My version on this album, however is closer to the 1980 Hall & Oates version.  This is another song that was frequently played at Vitullo family gatherings in Philly so I brought my brother in once again to help out with this one to close out the album on vocals and guitar. This was the most difficult to record and mix than any other track on this album: partially because of doing it remotely between Minnesota and New Jersey but also because of the multiple-tracks that were required to to this song justice. I felt it was an appropriate closer for the album.