Twenty-four girl-group rarities from all over the place, released between 1961 and 1968 (the track by Reparata and the Delrons was previously unissued). This will have pretty limited appeal beyond the hardline girl-group collecting market. The level of production expertise is high -- indeed, there are little-known efforts by Leiber & Stoller, David Gates, Goffin-King, and future early Byrds producers Terry Melcher and Allen Stanton. Yet the songs aren't really too special, with a higher innocuousness quotient than is the ...
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Twenty-four girl-group rarities from all over the place, released between 1961 and 1968 (the track by Reparata and the Delrons was previously unissued). This will have pretty limited appeal beyond the hardline girl-group collecting market. The level of production expertise is high -- indeed, there are little-known efforts by Leiber & Stoller, David Gates, Goffin-King, and future early Byrds producers Terry Melcher and Allen Stanton. Yet the songs aren't really too special, with a higher innocuousness quotient than is the norm in an already innocuous genre. It does have a couple of semi-forgotten classics (though they actually hit the Top 40) in Ruby & the Romantics' 1963 original of "Hey There Lonely Boy" (which would be reworked into a number two hit by Eddie Holman in 1970 as "Hey There Lonely Girl"), and Patty & the Emblems brassy'n'sassy "Mixed-Up, Shook-Up Girl" (co-written by Leon Huff). Curiosity seekers, it must be said, will find plenty here, including barely known girl-group-style singles by Joey Heatherton, Doris Day, and Dolly Parton; a 1961 single by Erma Franklin, Aretha's sister; and a 1962 single by Idalia Boyd, sister of Little Eva of "Loco-Motion" fame. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
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