Sheriff & The Ravels has been played on NTS shows including Diddy Wah, with Shombalor first played on 30 November 2015.

Sheriff and The Ravels

Apparently, The Ravels were a Brooklyn streetcorner group, just another of many hundreds of similar singing lads, looking for a shot at the big time (or at least a spin on Dr. Jive's show on WWRL). One of their acquaintances, a man named Elmore Sheriff, had a song he had written back in 1955 that he called "Shombalor". Sheriff knew a guy named Aki Aleong, who was working as an actor and was heavy into the doo-wop scene (his 45 of "How Do I Stand With You?" on Mona-Lee Records is a VERY desirable slab of wax for group harmony freaks), and Aki had some contacts with some local recording studios. Result: The Ravels got their chance to cut a record. They immediately cut one of their original songs, "Lonely One" (written by one "W. Denson" - could this have been Wee Willie Denson, who later had the equally strange 45 "Fried Marbles"? Was he a member of The Ravels?) and for the flip side, ol' Sheriff let the group know that they were gonna cut his tune. The group got behind it, and made the record (this is why original copies on Vee Jay have "Sheriff and The Ravels" on one side and "The Ravels" on the other). Of course, not only did Aki Aleong take half the writers' credit for both sides, he got one of the EARLIEST production credits EVER for a rock and roll 45! Aki then shopped the tapes around to several labels, and Vee Jay Records in Chicago picked it up. Neither side was picked as a "plug side" (Vee Jay never printed "plug side" on their promotional 45s for some reason),

Of course, the record never became a hit, but over the years it has consistently blown the minds of everyone who hears it. On top of everything else, this record might (just might) have the first use of the F-bomb on a rock and roll record - listen carefully at about 25 seconds into it!

Sheriff and The Ravels - Shombalor (Vee Jay 306) - 1958