“You Got Me Hooked!” is the latest instalment in Ace Records’ ongoing survey of British girl singers of the 1960s. Recent volumes in the series focused on the catalogues of Decca (“Don’t Blow Your Cool!” CDTOP 1568), Pye (“She Wants You!” CDTOP 1586) and Philips/ Fontana/ Mercury (“Live It Up!” CDTOP 1550). This new edition comprises a cherry-picked collection of cool she-pop from the EMI family of labels: Parlophone, Columbia and HMV. Most of the tracks were recorded at Abbey Road, a short tube ride from EMI HQ in Marylebone, hence the “Marylebone Beat Girls” subtitle.
Of the 26 tracks, a generous half are new to CD. These include ‘Too Late To Say You’re Sorry’ by the aptly named Soulmates featuring lead vocals by Liza Strike, which garnered a USA cover by Darlene Love, no less; Friday Browne’s fabulous recording of ‘Getting Nowhere’, a great Graham Gouldman song later popularised as ‘I’m 28’ by both P.J. Proby and Toni Basil; a spunky version of Ben E. King’s ‘Cry No More’ by Liverpool sister act the Three Bells; and ‘Don’t Let It Rain’ by Kathy Kissoon, the girl formerly known as series favourite Peanut.
Among the many other highlights are Helen Shapiro’s soulful rendition of Lesley Gore’s ‘I’m Going Out (The Same Way I Came In)’; Jackie Lee’s ne-plus-ultra ‘The Town I Live In’; Alma Cogan’s ‘Snakes And Snails’, a beat group-style nugget written and produced by Chris Curtis of the Searchers; Millicent Martin’s feisty ‘Get Lost My Love’, a vocal version of Quincy Jones’ classic instrumental ‘Soul Bossa Nova’; and cover girl Vashti Bunyan’s blissfully delicate ‘Train Song’. As usual with this series, the disc comes with a swish 24-page booklet packed with pictures and a 7,000-word track commentary by compiler Mick Patrick and genre expert Ian Chapman.
