Music publisher Max Dreyfus, the dean of New York City’s Tin Pan Alley, once said, “Always take care of your writers. Without them you are nothing.” Dreyfus knew a good songwriter when he heard one – Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin and Cole Porter, to name but three – and we like to think we at Ace do too, although we specialise in a more recent era.
This bumper collection of numbers penned by revered New Yorkers Gerry Goffin and his wife Carole King includes familiar hits (the Shirelles’ ‘What A Sweet Thing That Was’, Bobby Vee’s ‘Sharing You’, the Cookies’ ‘Will Power’, the Drifters’ ‘When My Little Girls Is Smiling’, etc), overlooked gems (the Hondells’ ‘Show Me Girl’, the Hearts & Flowers’ ‘Road To Nowhere’, Walter Jackson’s ‘Anything Can Happen’) and some new-to-CD rarities (‘You Turn Me On Boy’ by the Honey Bees, the Orlons’ ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Baby’, the Clovers’ ‘The Sheik’ and Theola Kilgore’s ‘It’s Gonna Be Alright’).
By 1968 Carole and Gerry had moved from the East Coast and were living apart in Los Angeles, where Carole formed the group the City. ‘Snow Queen’ (heard here in a rare version by the Tokens) and ‘That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho)’ (here by Dusty Springfield, one of the Goffins’ biggest champions), were among the six Goffin and King songs on “Now That Everything’s Been Said”, the City’s album. After their divorce, Carole and Gerry did resume writing together, although much less prolifically than before.
In a poll of the top songwriting teams of the 1960s, there’s a strong chance Goffin and King would win the vote. This is the fourth volume of their work we have released. That’s over 100 songs, with no drop in quality – proof if needed that the couple were among the most consistently excellent exponents of their craft.
Mick Patrick
