The Four Preps

They were a smarmy quartet, always sounding very smug about something. On their medleys (More Money For You And Me, The Big Draft) they became positively vindictive.

There is no excuse for me not having a good collection by this group; their Capital Collectors Series is available on Amazon for about $15.00. But I’ve never seen it in person, and it never made it to my list, so there you go. The songs I do have came mostly from Capital Records anthologies or various artists. I only have 4 of their 13hits.

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The Four Preps:

• 26 Miles (Santa Catalina) – Santa Catalina is an island off the coast of California. Apart from this song, it has virtually no presence in popular culture. The Four Preps make of it the ultimate island paradise. I don’t know what to make of it at all. The tune, though, is as seductive as the geography described therein. This reached number 2 in the winter of 1958.
• Big Man – The piano intro is worthy of a Tchaikovsky concerto. This tale of a masher getting mashed was a hit in the spring of 1958.
• Down By The Station – I have to hand to these guys. They have so mastered the art of four part harmony, and their arranger creates a musical ambience that is so appealing, that this story of an emotionally superficial multi-timer is hard to resist. At the end they revert to the original children’s lyrics. From the winter of 1960.
• More Money For You And Me – The group pokes fun of the pop groups of their day, from The Platters to The Hollywood Argyles. I would like to say that this is good natured, but it isn’t. It’s vindictive. And that nastiness kills whatever cleverness they are capable of. They have issues, they should deal with them. From the fall of 1961.