‘Right Now!’: The Righteous Brothers’ Album Landmark

The Righteous Brothers were enjoying exciting times in 1965. After two years of lesser chart entries during their spell on the Moonglow label, Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley had signed to Phil Spector and Lester Sill’s Philles label, and were going places.

They entered the US charts in mid-December 1964 with the song that would go on on to reshape their career, ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin.’’ Then, as the new year dawned, there was another landmark to celebrate, as they appeared on the Billboard album chart for the very first time with the Right Now! LP.

The album, which made its chart debut on January 2, 1965, was a Moonglow release that was swiftly compiled to round up the best of their material for the label, now that they were a hot item on Philles. In fact, Moonglow managed to mine that territory again to good effect with the albums Some Blue-Eyed Soul (which also charted in the January) and This Is Now!, in June.

Meanwhile, Philles came with an album named after the new single sensation, so that Hatfield and Medley were on the charts in the latter part of January with no fewer than three LPs: Right Now!, ‘Some Blue-Eyed Soul, and You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin.’

Listen to uDiscover Music’s official Righteous Brothers Best Of playlist.

But it was Right Now! that arrived first, charting at No.142 and eventually reaching No.11 in the US. It included their first two Hot 100 singles from 1963, “Little Latin Loupe Lu” and “My Babe,” and another chart single in their cover of “Georgia On My Mind.” The LP also featured their versions of numbers like “Let The Good Times Roll,” “My Prayer,” and “Bye Bye Love.”

Within a few days, as “Lovin’ Feelin’” continued its American climb, the Righteous Brothers were in the UK for promotional duties, appearing on shows like Ready Steady Go, Scene At 6.30 and Discs A Go-Go.

Buy or stream Right Now!