Leaning more to the soul (rather than doowop) side of Black Music, The Fiestas career spanned nearly 20 years. This CD expands on the old Ace LP (CH 173) and includes their biggest hit So Fine (which reached No 11 on Billboard’s Hot 100) plus 28 other great sides. So Fine hit No 3 on the R&B chart and then crossed to the Billboard Hot 100 tin 1959, the year following the birth of the soul movement (when hits like Jerry Butler & The Impressions, Jackie Wilson, The Falcons, Marv Johnson and The Drifters all burst on to the Black Music scene).The Fiestas hailed from Newark, New Jersey and signed to Old Town after Hy Weiss heard them singing in the toilet next to my office. I heard them and came out of my office and thatís how I go that group. It cost me $40 to record So Fine, that’s all”. Many of the tracks here are presented in stereo for the first time – You Could Be My Girlfriend is in the original 2-track stereo mix. The music captures the changes going on in Black Music at the time and there are echoes of Sam Cooke, The Coasters and Jackie Wilson, though these are more to do with choice of material than the band’s sound. Think Smart (the flip of their cover of Arthur Alexander’s Anna), incidentally, is now a much-coveted Northern Soul rarity”