The subtitling - Early Girls Volume 1: 1955-1964 - merely hints at the delights waiting to be heard on this CD. Among its 28 tracks are some of the best girl recordings of the 1950s and 1960s. Carole King sings her classic It Might As Well Rain Until September - a wonderful recording that predates her mega-selling 'Tapestry' album by 9 years. Shirley Ellis raps and rhymes the novelty hit The Name Game, Betty Everett asserts herself after the realisation of You're No Good while Reparata & The Delrons sing their eternal song of confused adolesence Whenever A Teenager Cries. The Shirelles define the girl group sound with Dedicated To The One I Love (and on the way offer an anthem for the harmony sound of the late 1960s - the song was covered by The Mamas & Papas). The Paris Sisters caress I Love How You Love Me, The Angels philsophise on 'Til and Rosie & The Originals sing Angel Baby (in an alternate take of Highland 1011).The Blossoms feature on Son-In-Law, their only hit under their own name. As session singers they appeared on a multitude of other people's recordings as well as ghosting the vocals for The Crystals on He's A Rebel. The group's Darlene Love and Fanita James also scored as two-thirds of Bob B Soxx & The Blue Jeans with Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and Darlene went on to chart on Phil Spector's Philles label. Unlike other 'girl' compilations, this mixes groups with solo artists and is drawn from far wider period. From start to finish, this album is a joy (and there is more still to come).More trivia...
The Murmaids Popsicles & Icicles was a one-hit wonder, though it did smash in to the Hot 100 at No3. Who wrote it? None other than David Gates
