Tag Archives: Girlgroup

Various Artists: Today’s Top Girl Groups, Vol. 1

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1998 sampler of international lo-fi, punk and girlgroup sounds

After several Rock Don’t Run volumes [1 2 3] of mostly male bands, Spinout collected sixteen girl groups for this 1998 release. But other than Sit ‘n’ Spin’s note-perfect homage to the sixties, this is more punk rock than girl group. There’s primitive Merseybeat from Japan’s Pebbles and 5,6,7,8s, buzzing post-punk from San Francisco’s Poontwang, Ramones-like intensity from The Neanderdolls and Bobbyteens, and garage rock from Holly Golightly and Greece’s Meanie Geanies. The Neptunas give a swinging instrumental surf spin to Max Frost & the Trooper’s “Shapes of Things to Come,” the Friggs’ drum-and-guitar heavy “Juiced Up” brings to mind the late, lamented Pandoras, and the Maybellines’ Bo Diddley beat was studied at the feet of the Strangeloves. Best of all, though, is the drums-bass-and-grunting of the Godzillas’ “Pass the Hatchet.” If the Litter had made soundtrack music for the softcore porn scene of an AIP cheapie film, it would have, if we were lucky, sounded like this track. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Courtney Jaye: The Exotic Sounds of Courtney Jaye

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A singular vision of Hawaiian-tinged Canyon Country

Those who know Courtney Jaye from her 2005 release on Island, Traveling Light, don’t really know Courtney Jaye. A pleasant album with glossy production, an airbrushed cover and some memorable pop hooks, it propelled her into the pop mainstream, culminating with some film and television placements (including a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain”), and a performance on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. Not Conan or Letterman or Kimmel, but Leno, which tells you where her label was headed. She could see the direction the machine was taking her career, but unlike many talented young artists who sell their dreams short, Jaye shucked off the industry’s plans, took stock and reinvested in her own artist visions. She relocated to Northern California, Austin and eventually Nashville, and gathered into one set of songs the wide variety of sounds that had excited her ear.

The result is this independently recorded and released second album, with a cover that teases with the allure of Sandy Warner, and pays off with an alchemy of musical styles that bounce from girl-group to Topanga Canyon singer-songwriter to country twang to Hawaiian slack-key and exotica to classic Brill Building pop. Her knack for writing killer pop hooks is not only intact, but amplified by productions that have the spontaneous DIY charms of 1960s singles that weren’t belabored into aural numbness. Stripped of the debut album’s production gloss, Jaye’s voice is freed to launch emotional barbs into your heart. If you listen to only one song on this album, check out the video below for “Don’t Tell a Girl.” The melody and chorus hook are so necessarily repeatable as to make the track’s 3:30 about ten minutes too short. Somebody needs to spring Phil Spector from prison so he can produce a Wall of Sound version of this song.

The album opens with a lo-fi count-off and the drippy slide guitar that George Harrison played in the 1970s, but the rhythm has a Latin tinge and Jaye’s double-tracked vocal tumbles out with both need and doubt. It’s the sort of idiosyncratic mix of sounds that could only spring from an artist’s singular history of influences, giving the pained lyrics the bounce of false hope and the ache of unfulfilled longing. Jaye manages to suggest both the adolescent heartache of girl-groups and the more seasoned sorrow of grown women. She evokes Brenda Lee, Connie Francis, Kelly Willis and Rosanne Cash, but also, on the dreamily harmonized “Sweet Ride,” the mid-70s Fleetwood Mac sound of Buckingham and Nicks. There’s bending steel, acoustic and electric guitars, drums, ukuleles and baion beats that trace Jaye’s travels between Hawaii, California, Texas, and Tennessee. There are even some Arthur Lyman-styled bird calls on the instrumental “Maru Maru.”

A few of the tracks may remind you of Sheryl Crow’s summery singles, but just as you warm sound of “Sunlight,” Jaye cranks up the Gram Parsons-styled honky-tonk of “Box Wine.” And again, it all fits together into what Jaye’s dubbed “Tropicalicountry”: a blend of Hawaiian and country roots with the indie freedom of Austin and the mid-70s buzz of Los Angeles. Jaye began her journey to this amalgam with the Gary Louris-produced EP ‘Til it Bleeds, but here, co-producing with Seth Kauffmann (who also plays most of the instruments), she’s gotten the full symphony of sounds out of her head and onto tape. And just when you think you’ve hard all the album’s surprises, Jaye duets with Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell for a twanging back-porch country cover of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Sometimes Always.” And just like the rest of the album, it works perfectly and without compromise. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Hear a live acoustic version of “Sweet Ride”
Courtney Jaye’s MySpace Page

The Shangri-Las: The Complete Collection

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Nearly complete collection with some stereo bonuses

With so many cheap Shangri-Las compilations arriving on digital download lately, you have to wonder if someone forgot to renew the copyrights. This set is a nearly complete accounting of the Shangri-Las official releases, including the tracks from their two albums (Leader of the Pack and Shangri-Las ’65), their pre- and post-Red Bird singles for Spokane, Scepter, Smash and Mercury, the well circulated alternate take of “Give Him a Great Big Kiss,” two ads for Revlon, and Mary Weiss’ period “good taste tip” radio spots. All that’s missing is their cover of “Twist and Shout,” as it appeared on their first album and single B-side. Perhaps the second, lo-fi version of “It’s Easier to Cry” that’s included here was supposed to be the missing track.

These appear to be all original recordings, mono except for 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, 17 and 26. The stereo mixes exhibit some differences from the mono versions anthologized on RPM’s Myrmidons of Melodrama [1 2], particularly in the instrumental balance. “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)” is 2:41 rather than the mono version’s 2:15, with the backing vocals panned left the handclaps and finger snaps panned right, and an ending that stretches the bass riff and backing vocals past Mary Weiss lead vocal. After the motorcycle crash sound effect, “Leader of the Pack” includes two extra vamps that aren’t present on RPM’s mono master. Assuming these are original stereo performances, they’re great bonuses for Shangri-Las collectors, but it’s a shame Goldenlane doesn’t provide any explanation of where these came from.

Track ordering mostly front-loads the group’s Red Bird era singles, though not uniformly. This leaves their pre-Red Bird singles as bonus tracks at collection’s end. Track-to-track volume levels aren’t perfectly balanced, though most MP3 players will fix this for you in playback. The packaging, or complete lack thereof, keeps this from reaching the pinnacle of reissue heights, but it’s hard to argue with thirty-nine girl group classics for less than the cost of a typical 12-track CD. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Mary Weiss’ Home Page
Mary Weiss’ MySpace Page
Unofficial Shangri-Las Web Site

Darlene Love: Songs of Love

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Too short anthology of Darlene Love’s greatness

There’s no arguing that all five of these Darlene Love-sung tunes are classics, but the brief 13-minute running time barely scratches the surface of the singer’s greatness. Collected here are her two hits as lead vocalist of the Los Angeles edition of the Crystals, including their iconic, chart-topping rendition of Gene Pitney’s “He’s a Rebel” and the follow-up “He’s Sure the Boy I Love.” Both were issued under the Crystals’ name, though they were in fact Love and her group the Blossoms doing the singing. “He’s a Rebel” broached new lyrical territory with its depiction of wayward youth, and though the follow-up wasn’t as daring, the warmth of Love’s vocal is a perfect match for Mann & Weil’s lyrics.

Love continued to score with hits under her own name, starting with “(Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry.” Framed by church bells and backing vocals, Love’s vocal is love-struck and nearly tearful in its undying devotion. It’s hard to believe this barely cracked the Top 40 at #39. Her next single “Wait ‘til My Bobby Gets Home” is a jaunty brush off, and the closing “A Fine, Fine Boy,” though the weakest of the five songs here, shows how Love could blend the exaltations of her church choir background into a pop song. What’s missing from this collection is substantial; for example, no collection of Love’s music is complete without Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans’ “Not Too Young to Get Married” and her seasonal, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

Bottom line: five classic, original Love/Spector recordings, but this set is too short. Better is the out-of-print 1992 ABKCO CD The Best of Darlene Love (available for download at a bargain price on the Jukebox Joy label), or Phil Spector collections such as Back to Mono, The Phil Spector Collection, and the recent reissue of A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. With any luck, this is just a teaser for a full line of artist-centric reissues of Phil Spector’s classic productions. Hopefully Darlene Love’s volume will be in the first batch! [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Various Artists: The Shangri-Las & The Girl Group Sound

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Various_ShangriLasAndTheGirlGroupSoundExtensive girl group collection with little provenance

70 tracks, all of which seem to be original, many or all remastered from vinyl. There’s some surface noise, pops and clicks, and passing moments of groove distortion, but they don’t detract from the enjoyment of spinning this collection of girl group classics and rarities. Among the best-known are original sides from the Shangri-Las that Goldenlane seems to have leased at a very agreeable price (see their accompanying Shangri-Las set, The Complete Collection), the Murmaids’ “Popsicles and Icicles,” and the Chiffons’ brilliantly ecstatic “I Have a Boyfriend.” Many of the other sides here will be familiar to girl group collectors, but for those who only know the Shirelles, Ronettes, Crystals and Shangri-Las, there are some great rarities awaiting you.

Among the more traditional girl group tracks are the Coupons’ infectious “Turn Her Down” and the Cinderellas’ “Baby Baby (I Still Love You),” a pair that will be familiar to fans of April March’s late-80s group, The Pussywillows. Other highlights include The Aprils’ soaring and soulful “Precious Love,” the Marvelettes-styled “Mary Ann” by Honey Love & the Love Notes, the Blue Cat/Red Bird single “Dum Dum Ditty” by the Goodies, the Phil Spectorish “Oo Chang-A-Lang” by the Orchids and “I Love Him” by the Castanets, Betty Hope’s call-and-response “Just a Little Bit More,” the Shangri-Las styled drama “Nightmare” by the Whyte Boots, the Puppets’ bad attitude on “Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart” and the British Invasion pop of Donovan’s “You Just Gotta Know My Mind” as sung by Karen Verros.

But this set isn’t all pop, as there are brassy sides like Shirley’s “Big Boss Man,” and a twangy cover of Willie Cobbs’ classic blues “You Don’t Love Me” sung coolly by the Starlets. There’s mid-60s psych by Manuela and Drafi on the German/English “Take it Easy” and an acid-drenched cover of the American Breed’s “Bend Me, Shape Me” by the Models. Folk-rock is heard in the Termites cover of the Stones’ “Tell Me” and the Chymes’ “Quite a Reputation,” and Merrilee Rush, a few years ahead of her chart hit “Angel of the Morning,” sings the tough “It’s All Right.” There’s Collins’ Kids-styled rockabilly, garage punk, and even a side by Trik and the Paramounts that sounds like Nico with the Velvet Underground!

A few novelty tunes also make the cut, such as the Belles’ rewrite of “Gloria” as “Melvin,” the Beatles reply “I’ll Let You Hold My Hand” by the Bootles, and Judy Carne’s Laugh-In inspired “Sock it to Me.” It’s not 100% hits or would-be hits, but the number of excellent tunes here is almost numbing in its intensity. For a record label that’s been known to substitute re-makes for originals, this is a big step forward in presenting original recordings. What would send this set over the top would be well researched liner notes and photos that provide provenance for the wealth of obscure cuts included here. But given the price for seventy tracks, it’s hard to complain. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Various Artists: Phil’s Spectre III

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Various_PhilsSpectorIIIMore gold bricks in the wall of soundalikes

Phil Spector’s revolutionary production techniques and monumental chart success in the early ‘60s spawned a lot of imitations, some of which hit, but many more of which passed by virtually unnoticed. Ace Records continues their collection of Wall of Sound tributes and knock-offs with a third volume that’s more varied in quality than the first two. To be sure, there are some tremendous gems here, well worth the price of this disc, but there are also wanna-be productions that have all the earmarks, but not the magic dust that could have made them hits. It’s one thing to have a baion beat, soaring string arrangement, massed instruments, deep echo, and castanets, but it’s quite another to have the Brill Building’s songs, Gold Star’s rooms, and Ronnie Spector’s pipes. Not to mention Jack Nitzche’s arrangements, Larry Levine’s engineering and Phil Spector’s ears; winningly, several of these tracks have the first two of those three.

That said, there are many high points to this collection. “Who Am I” opens with a lonely bass riff and Jerry Ganey’s soulful vocal, rises momentarily to an echoed backing chorus and threatens a full wall of sound, only to fall back to Ganey and the bass. It’s not until 1’22 of teasing has passed that writer-producer (and Righeous Brother) Bill Medley unleashes the full force of the song’s arrangement. Sonny Bono’s rendition of Spector’s sound traces back to his years working directly for the master. 1967’s “It’s the Little Things,” recorded for the soundtrack of Good Times, has the requisite musical elements but truly excels in Bono’s charmingly self-deprecating lyrics. Cher gives it everything as she sings of loving a man who’s not smart or handsome but is her everything. Remembering her speech at Bono’s memorial it’s hard not to get a bit teary when this one plays.

The disc’s biggest surprise is the 1910 Fruitgum Company’s last chart single, “When We Get Married.” Written by Ritchie Cordell (of “Indian Giver,” “Mony Mony” and “I Think We’re Alone Now” fame) under his real name (Richard Rosenblatt), the production of bubblegum legends Jerry Kaszenetz and Jeffry Katz pulls out all the stops, and lead singer Mark Gutkowski leans into every line, so exhausting himself with his outpouring of emotion that he has to stop and take a very audible and dramatic breath at 3’25. Imagine a teenage Ronnie Spector given the chance to sing about her upcoming nuptuals, supported by the harmonies of the Cowsills and backed by a wide stereo version of Phil Spector’s wall of sound. Truly extraordinary.

There are many other treats here, even if they don’t reach the stratospheric heights of the collection’s key cuts. Lesley Gore’s “Look of Love” (written by Brill Building legends Greenwich & Barry) began life as an album track, but in 1964 producer Quincy Jones thickened the production with handclaps, sleigh bells and echo. The folk-rock of the Kit Kats “That’s the Way” is given a deep stereo backing and features a falsetto chorus vocal reminiscent of the Newbeats. There’s more folk-rock in the Ashes’ “Is There Anything I Can Do,” which benefits from the Gold Star sound, courtesy in large part to the engineering of Larry Levine. Yet another Spector alum, arranger Jack Nitzsche, gives Judy Henske the wall of sound treatment for a cover of Shirley and Lee’s “Let the Good Times Roll” that rings down the curtain with its forceful climax.

Several producers took Spector’s work too literally for their own good. The Castanets’ “I Love Him” is a by-the-numbers imitation of the Crystals that’s adequate but isn’t the Crystals. Girl group collectors will enjoy this previously unreleased single-tracked vocal version. The Satisfactions’ “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” slows the 1925 tune to a soulful crawl but doesn’t find the groove Spector perfected on “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.” Better is Alder Ray’s “’Cause I Love Him,” which could pass for a Darlene Love track. Ace has done another fine job of lining up the disciples of Phil Spector and augmenting the music with a 16-page booklet stuffed with photos, sleeve and label reproductions, and detailed liner notes. Everything here is in AM-ready mono except tracks 2, 4, 10, and 23 which are true stereo. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Ace Records’ Home Page

RIP Ellie Greenwich

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Various_DoWahDiddyDiddyI don’t actively read obituaries, as I expect the passing of anyone of import will filter to me through regular news channels. Apparently not. Ellie Greenwich passed away a week ago, and I just happened upon the news today. Brian Wilson said, “She was the greatest melody writer of all time.” Quite a compliment from anyone, but even more so from such a terrific melodicist in his own right. My affection for Greenwich isn’t tied only to specific songs, but also to the craft that she helped define as part of the Brill Building stable.

Several years ago I was listening to the Shangri-Las “The Train From Kansas City” and marveling at the lyric “I’ll be back in the time it takes to break a heart,” I started searching the web to see if I could find Greenwich’s address so I could see if there was a back story to this song, and on her home page found a link to a contact page. I expected a canned reply or a note from a publicist thanking me for writing, but a couple of days later I got a response directly from Ellie Greenwich. She couldn’t remember what inspired her and Jeff Barry to write the song, but was touched that someone would seek her out to ask about a 40-year-old lyric to a song that was never a hit.

I still find it difficult to wrap my head around one person writing or co-writing:

And Then He Kissed Me
Baby, I Love You
Be My Baby
Chapel of Love
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Da Doo Ron Ron
Do Wah Diddy Diddy
Good Night Baby
Hanky Panky
He’s Got the Power
He Ain’t No Angel
I Can Hear Music
Leader of the Pack
Not Too Young To Get Married
Out in the Streets
River Deep, Mountain High
Then He Kissed Me
(Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry
Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts?

Not to mention lesser-known gems like Connie Francis’ “Don’t Ever Leave Me,” The Shangri-Las “Give Us Your Blessings,” The Chiffons’ “I Have a Boyfriend” (remade to perfection by Reparata & The Delrons) and dozens of sides for the Blue Cat and Red Bird labels that never made the charts. She recorded fine singles and albums under her own name and as part of the Raindrops, and discovered Neil Diamond.

Diane Warren said, “Those songs are part of the fabric of forever.” They’re certainly part of my forever.

Ellie Greenwich was 68 when she passed away on August 26, 2009. RIP.

Listen to Ellie Greenwich sing “Hanky Panky”

Deena Shoshkes: Somewhere in Blue

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DeenaShoshkes_SomewhereInBluePlayful DIY pop, bubblegum, girl-group and country sounds

Deena Shoshkes steps out from her work with The Cucumbers to record a solo album that’s more singularly focused on her own singing. Shoshkes has a girlish voice that brings to mind Julie Miller or Rosie Flores, but with a delivery that’s folk-pop rather than country, and music that’s indie bubblegum and girl-group, even as it stretches to twangier melodies and adds harmonica and pedal steel. The album’s catchiest tunes, “Mr. Midnight” and “Gemini Guy,” are bouncy power-pop that bring to mind the DIY sounds of Oh-Ok and Wednesday Week. There are smoky ballads (“Mr. Midnight”), bass-lined funk (“What the Love”), country folk (“That Moon’s Got it Made” “Goodbye Dreamer”), rockabilly (“Best Kind of Something”), and Brazilian rhythm (“You Are the Sweetest Dream”), all given a playful edge from Shoshkes’ voice. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Gemini Guy
Deena Shoshkes Home Page
Deena Shoshkes MySpace Page

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles: The Stars Are Out

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SarahBorges_TheStarsAreOutBewitching rock, girl-group and indie pop

Sarah Borges has always been one of Sugar Hill’s most surprising roster artists. Her 2007 label debut, Diamonds in the Dark, harbored some atmospheric steel moans, but the chewy pop center of Borges girl-group, and rockabilly was so citified as to be virtually unrelated to the typical Sugar Hill string band. Her covers of X (“Come Back to Me”) and Tom Waits (“Blind Love”) mated effortlessly with the exuberant Lesley Gore-styled vocals of Greg Cartwright’s “Stop and Think it Over,” a convincing take on Hank Ballard & The Midnighter’s bawdy “Open Up Your Back Door” and the country “False Eyelashes.” Perhaps it’s the latter, originally recorded by Dolly Parton in 1968, that gives Borges the imprimatur of a Sugar Hill artist, but it was also the album track that least fit her vocal gifts.

This follow-up album roars from the gate with even less intention to sound country; the opening “Do It For Free” pounds out Joan Jett-styled guitar, bass and drums as Borges lasciviously anticipates a post-show hook-up, and make-up sex fuels the wailing harmonica garage stomper “I’ll Show You How.” There’s Rockpile- and Stones-styled roots rock and even a couple of modern pop arrangements, but the album truly soars when Borges holds forth with updated twists on a girl-group that brings to mind Josie Cotton’s Convertible Music. The bouncy, Beatle-blue harmony of Any Trouble’s “Yesterday’s Love” brightens the original’s Elvis Costello-styled lament into chiming desire, and the double-tracked vocal and baritone guitar of the original “Me and Your Ghost” will have you turning up the volume on your iPod like it’s a push-button radio in a ’65 Falcon.

As on Diamonds in the Dark, the song list is split evenly between originals and covers. An earthy take on the Magnetic Fields’ “No One Will Ever Love You” translates the original’s anger and disappointment from pulsating keyboards to deeply twanging guitar. The Lemonheads’ “Ride With Me” and NRBQ’s “It Comes to Me Naturally” are good fits, though not revelations, and Smokey Robinson’s “Being With You” is uninspiring. Additional originals include the lightly psychedelicized Americana “Better at the End of the Day” and the moody closer, “Symphony,” mates a drum machine with warm strings. Borges voice holds the album’s variety together, but she and the band sound most vital when they take it up tempo and girlishly sweet. Don’t let the Sugar Hill tag mislead you; this is an excellent album of pop and rock with only a few undertones of country and Americana. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Better at the End of the Day
Listen to “Do It For Free”
Sarah Borges’ Home Page
Sarah Borges’ MySpace Page

Various Artists: One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds, Lost & Found

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various_onekisscanleadtoanotherBroad anthology of girl group rarities

There’s little to fault in the research and production put into this set, but the breadth of collected works and the focus on rarities makes this the province of collectors rather than casual fans. Every track included here is likely the favorite of someone, but few have the global appeal of the era’s hits. The difference between a hit and miss may be razor thin (and at times circumstantial rather than artistic), but at 120 tracks, the back-to-back obscurities will really only hold the attention of aficionados who’ve internalized the genre’s flagships. Plaudits are due the set’s producer, Sheryl Farber, for pulling this set together, getting the clearances and documenting each of the tracks with notes (by Cha Cha Charming‘s Sheila Burgel), release data, label reproductions and photos. But it’s hard to imagine regularly listening to these discs beginning-to-end, or in place of hit-, label- and scene-based anthologies, group best-ofs or original albums. The mixture of Brill Building pop, Motown soul and British productions may be a fair representation (though where’s the non-English cohort?), but the combination is likely to leave less fanatical listeners pining for more of one and less of the others. The rarity factor is a great lure to collectors, and while casual listeners will discover a few new favorites, they’re likely to find the overall mass to be ponderous. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]