Early Girls Volume 2
28 tracks spanning the kitsch to the cool, featuring The Shirelles, Rosie & The Originals, Lesley Gore, Barbie Gaye, The Exciters, Ruby & The Romantics, The Sensations, The McGuire Sisters, The Pearlettes and many more. The first thing you notice is the mouth-watering cover: as soon as you flip open the lid, you half expect to find delicately sculpted Swiss chocolate: wrapped in gold foil rather than the digital storage medium that is a compact disc. However, the music it contains is equally delicious and not nearly as ephemeral. Brought to you by the professorial team behind theGolden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll(plus input from Mick Patrick),Early Girls Vol. 2continues our exploration of female pop in the early rock era and encompasses solo artists, girl groups and male vocal groups fronted by a female lead. In common with the first volume, the emphasis is on Hot 100 hits, such as Ruby & the Romantics' stylishOur Day Will Come(a U.S. #1), Lesley Gore's cry for independenceYou Don't Own Me, Peggy Lee's truly timelessFever(heard here in phenomenal stereo), Dinah Washington's irresistibleSeptember In The Rainand The Exciters' torrid pop-soul innocence,Bobby's Girl, a Top 3 US hit in 1962. Incidentally, another goodie, April Stevens' kitschTeach Me Tigeris being featured in a (UK) TV ad for a well- known cat food, and will probably receive a wider audience than when it first came out (in the States only) in 1959. Ann-Margret'sI Just Don't Understandwas a particular favorite of John Lennon's and a Beatles' version, recorded for the BBC 1963, was released on one of theAnthologyvolumes. Rockabilly singer Kent Westberry originally wroteI Just Don't Understandas a harmonica instrumental for his friend Charlie McCoy but nothing came of it. Songwriter Marijohn Wilkin put words to the melody and Ann-Margret cut the song in Nashville, with McCoy on harmonica and Jerry Kennedy playing the first fuzz guitar licks-heard on a hit record. Damita Jo recorded the engaging answer recordI'll Save The Last Dance For You, which reached the US Top 30 in the wake of the Drifters #1Save The Last Dance For Me. Both records utilized the same arranger, Stan Applebaum, who astutely ensured that Jo's version was sufficiently different to merit airplay in its own right. In fact, there are those who prefer it to the Drifters' original. We leave it for you to decide. This sparkling set also contains several significant non-hits, most notably the little known original version ofMy Boy Lollipopby 16 year old Barbie Gaye, recorded some 7 years prior to Millie Small's million seller. We feel this alone is worth the price of the CD. Songwriter Ellie Greenwich (heard elsewhere on this CD as a member of the Raindrops), was so taken by the record that she named herself Ellie Gaye when she began making records in 1958. Also included is the rare Highland label version ofLonely Blue Nights, Rosie & The Originals' lost follow-up toAngel Baby, andForgive Me (For Giving You Such a Bad Time)by Babs Tino - surely a record that deserved a better fate than its minuscule chart placing. As always, we bring you premium audio quality and presentation to match. Please form an orderly queue!