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Chapter 14: Oop-Pop-A-Da

Vocal groups & barbershop

Before modern recording techniques were developed, the best sound effect pop music had to offer was vocal harmony, especially the squeezed-tight, ear-tickling harmonies of trained vocal quartets. Groups like the Andrews Sisters pulled off acrobatic routines, separating for zippy solos before springing back together with perfect dismounts. Get on the trolley here, with tracks that span from big-band hits to modern barbershop revivalists.
1. Dealer's Choice

Coney Island Washboard Roundelay

2. The Andrews Sisters

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

3. The Pied Pipers

The Trolley Song

4. The Ink Spots

I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire

5. Ada Jones & Billy Murray

Come, Josephine, In My Flying Machine

6. Babs' Three Bips and a Bop

Oop-Pop-A-Da

7. The Fontane Sisters

Seventeen

8. The Song Spinners

Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer*

9. The Andrews Sisters

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me)

10. Suntones

Danny Boy

*Not on Spotify