The popular appraisal of Lesley Gore is that she sang teen soap opera songs that never pulled their substance much above puppy love, and while a cursory listen to songs like "It's My Party" and "Judy's Turn to Cry" would appear to support that view, there's more going on beneath the surface than meets the ear. For starters, Gore had a jazz background, and her vocal phrasing, even in her most generic releases, was always sharp and clear. Add to that the production of Quincy Jones, who worked with Gore during her peak Mercury ...
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The popular appraisal of Lesley Gore is that she sang teen soap opera songs that never pulled their substance much above puppy love, and while a cursory listen to songs like "It's My Party" and "Judy's Turn to Cry" would appear to support that view, there's more going on beneath the surface than meets the ear. For starters, Gore had a jazz background, and her vocal phrasing, even in her most generic releases, was always sharp and clear. Add to that the production of Quincy Jones, who worked with Gore during her peak Mercury years, and the end result is a series of recordings cut between 1963 and 1966 that continue to sound fresh and effective even into the 21st century. In retrospect, it would appear Gore's theme was always the struggle for personal identity (which also happens to be a pretty good definition of what goes on during the teen years), culminating in the powerful "You Don't Own Me," a feminist anthem a decade before the term even began to take hold. Even "That's the Way Boys Are," which could be read as a shallow song of blind acceptance, is sung by Gore with a sly sense of dismissal that turns the song on its own heels, while later-era tracks like "Small Talk," which illustrates the desperate ennui that can enter and undermine a relationship, demonstrates that in matters of love -- even puppy love -- personal identity is always at stake. There are several fine anthologies of Lesley Gore's key Mercury years on the market, including good sets from both Mercury and Rhino, and now this one from Australia's Raven Records, which includes all the above songs plus the subtly sung "I Don't Care," where Gore bounces between sounding emotionally certain and totally lost in a wonderfully vocalized exposé on the effects of lost love, the shiny "California Nights," and the ever-shifting arrangement of "Brink of Disaster," which may well sum up the whole of the human condition, particularly when it comes down to matters of the heart. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi
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