"Hung On You: More Gerry Goffin and Carole King Songbook" by VARIOUS [Gerry Goffin and Carole King] (March 2015 Ace CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…It Hurts To Live…"

Most people perceive Carole King as beginning her musical life in 1971 with the magisterial and legendary "Tapestry" album (both it and her life before that - are now the subject of the "Beautiful" musical which has just hit the West End of London to rave reviews). But her songwriting skills go back to the early Sixties where she and her husband Gerry Goffin penned a huge run of hits for other people. 

And that's where this rather lovely CD compilation comes in - 4th in a series by Ace Records of the UK covering Goffin & King's wide-ranging net of artists. Here are the American boys and girls handling their teenage ups and downs...

UK released March 2015 - "Hung On You: More Gerry Goffin & Carole King Songbook" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDCHD 1427 (Barcode 029667070324) is a 25-Track CD compilation in the British label's Singer Songwriter Series that breaks down as follows (67:17 minutes):

1. Hung On You - THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS (1965 USA 7" single on Philles 129, B-side of "Unchained Melody")

2. That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho) - DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (1969 USA 7" single on Atlantic 45-2647, B-side of "Willy & Laura May Jones")

3. Road To Nowhere - THE HEARTS AND FLOWERS (1967 USA 7" single on Capitol 5829, B-side to their debut 45 "Rock And Roll Gypsies")

4. Don't Let Me Stand In Your Way - SKEETER DAVIS (1964 USA 7" single on RCA 47-8450, B-side of "What Am I Gonna Do Without You")

5. You Turn Me On Boy - THE HONEY BEES (1965 USA 7" single on Fontana 1505, A)

6. What A Sweet Thing That Was - THE SHIRELLES (1961 USA 7" single on Scepter 1220, B-side of "A Thing Of The Past")

7. Will Power - THE COOKIES (1963 USA 7" single on Dimension 1012, A and in the UK on Colpix PX 11012, A)

8. This Little Girl - DION (1963 USA 7" single on Columbia 4-42776, A)

9. The Sheik - THE CLOVERS (from the 1960 US LP "Love Potion Number Nine" on United Artists UAS-6099, Stereo)

10. Am I The Guy - TONY ORLANDO (1961 USA 7" single on Epic 9452, B-side of "Bless You")

11. Show Me Girl - THE HONDELLS (1966 USA 7" single on Mercury 72626, B-side of "Cheryl's Goin' Home")

12. Sharing You - BOBBY VEE (1962 USA 7" single on Liberty 55451, A)

13. When My Little Girl Is Smiling - THE DRIFTERS (1962, Atlantic 2134, A)

14. Randy - EARL-JEAN (1964 USA 7" single on Colpix 748, A)

15. Anything Can Happen  - WALTER JACKSON (1962 recording first issued in 2006 on the CD compilation "It's All Over: The Okeh Recordings Vol.1" on Kent-Soul CDKEND 263)

16. It's Gonna Be All Right - THEOLA KILGORE (1966 USA 7" single on Mercury 72564, B-side of "I Can't Stand It")

17. Where Does Love Go - FREDDIE SCOTT (1964 USA 7" single on Colpix 724, A)

18. Please Hurt Me - LITTLE EVA (1963 USA 7" single on Dimension D 1019, A)

19. So Many Lonely People - HENRY ALSTON (1964 USA 7" single on Colpix CP 731, A)

20. Don't You Want To Love Me - CONNIE STEVENS (1966 USA 7" single on Warner Brothers 5691, A)

21. Keep Your Hands Off My Baby - THE ORLONS (from the 1963 US LP "All The Hits By The Orlons" on Cameo C 1033, Mono)

22. No One Ever Tells You - THE CRYSTALS (1962 USA 7" single on Philles 105, B-side of "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)")

23. The Boy From Chelsea - TRULY SMITH (1967 UK 7" single on Decca F 12700, A)

24. Snow Queen - THE TOKENS (from the 1970 LP "Greatest Moments" on BT Puppy BTPS 1012)

25. Something In The Morning - THE AMERICAN BREED (from the 1968 LP "Bend Me, Shape Me" on ACTA Records 8003, Mono)

NOTES:

Tracks: 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 to 16, 18 and 19, 20 to 24 and 26 are MONO

Tracks: 1 to 4, 6, 9, 12, 13, 17 and 25 are STEREO

There's the usual fact-filled 16-page booklet from Ace with great liner notes from MICK PATRICK - the text peppered with label photos of those rare 45s on Colpix, Dimension, Philles and Scepter (to name but a few). There's a repro of sheet music for Vee's "Sharing You", superb black and white publicity shots for Skeeter Davis, Tony Orlando and The Cookies and the rare US picture sleeve for "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers (its B-side "Hung On You" opens the compilation). It's a typically lovely job done. The audio is remastered by an engineer of long-standing - NICK ROBBINS - and despite the differing sources - the audio is uniformly excellent throughout (even on those dense Philles recordings). In some cases the audio is exceptional.

"Hung On You" heavily features the Sixties Girl-Group Sound - Pop tunes full of catchy melodrama and High School joy/misery. Period charm oozes out of these grooves - even if at times it's dolloped on with way too many spoons of sugar. It opens strongly with a nice one-two of The Righteous Brothers and Dusty. But a piece of genuinely forgotten Pop genius crops up with The Hearts And Flowers flipside on Track 3 - "Road To Nowhere". The Hearts And Flowers were a West Coast Folky-Rock ensemble similar to the cheery sounds of The Association and they produced a winner with this concoction. The song was later picked up Judy Henske and Britain's Trash - it's a total nugget on here (and in fabulous audio quality). You're then hit by a four flusher for Girl Power - Skeeter Davis on "Don't Let Me Stand In Your Way" (produced by Chet Atkins), the infectious "You Turn Me On" by The Honey Bees (sounding so Phil Spector) - but the best of all is the catchy "Will Power" by The Cookies featuring the lovely vocals of Dorothy Jones, Earl-Jean McCrea and Margaret Ross (Earl-Jean gets a solo outing "Randy" on track 14).

Breezy Pop comes in the form of Tony Orlando's "Am I The Girl" followed quickly by the Herman's Hermits sound of The Hondells doing "Show Me Girl" and the cheesy bubblegum pop of Bobby Vee.

Wobbles - "The Sheik" feels like The Clovers reaching for a novelty hit and not quite making it - while the Stereo mix of "When My Little Girl Is Smiling" actually sounds strange after all these years of hearing the Mono version (all those plucked strings). Walter Jackson sounds uncomfortable with the obvious Pop slant of "Anything Can Happen" - but despite that he still puts in a fabulous vocal performance that lifts the song. And I'm not sure the PC brigade who watch over us all (nice of them) would approve of the emotional flagellation advocated in Little Eva's sappy "Please Hurt Me". Countering that is the surprisingly lovely "Where Does Love Go" where Freddie Scott puts in a Soulful belter of a performance (the Cash Box trade advert for Colpix CP 724 is reproduced on Page 10). The mournful "No One Ever Tells You" by The Crystals is a young-girls advice song (lyrics from it title this review). Even more disarming is the gorgeous longing in "The Boy From Chelsea" by Truly Smith (Josephine Taylor) - an overlooked British Pop nugget musically directed by Island Records' Chris Blackwell. It was penned a few years prior and slated to be used by Davey Jones of The Monkees - and you can see why its wistfulness and melodrama appealed to Northern Soul fans (quite apart from the fact that it sold zip on release).

As ever - Ace Records pull off a neat stunt - another CD winner (their 4th) for one of the most successful songwriting duos in History - Gerry Goffin and Carole King. And would we have it any other way...

PS: the other three Ace compilations covering the Goffin & King output are:

1. Goffin & King: A Gerry Goffin & Carole King Song Collection 1961-1967

(October 2007, Ace Records CDCHD 1170)

2. Honey & Wine: Another Gerry Goffin & Carole King Song Collection

(March 2009, Ace Records CDCHD 1216)

3. Something Good From The Goffin & King Songbook

(March 2012, Ace Records CDCHD 1327)

GERRY GOFFIN and CAROLE KING [by Various Artists] – "Hung On You: More Gerry Goffin & Carole King Songbook" (March 2015 Ace CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…It Hurts To Live…"

Most people perceive Carole King as beginning her musical life in 1971 with the magisterial and legendary "Tapestry" album (both it and her life before that - are now the subject of the "Beautiful" musical which has just hit the West End of London to rave reviews). But her songwriting skills go back to the early Sixties where she and her husband Gerry Goffin penned a huge run of hits for other people. 

And that's where this rather lovely CD compilation comes in - 4th in a series by Ace Records of the UK covering Goffin & King's wide-ranging net of artists. Here are the American boys and girls handling their teenage ups and downs...

UK released March 2015 - "Hung On You: More Gerry Goffin & Carole King Songbook" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDCHD 1427 (Barcode 029667070324) is a 25-Track CD compilation in the British label's Singer Songwriter Series that breaks down as follows (67:17 minutes):

1. Hung On You - THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS (1965 USA 7" single on Philles 129, B-side of "Unchained Melody")

2. That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho) - DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (1969 USA 7" single on Atlantic 45-2647, B-side of "Willy & Laura May Jones")

3. Road To Nowhere - THE HEARTS AND FLOWERS (1967 USA 7" single on Capitol 5829, B-side to their debut 45 "Rock And Roll Gypsies")

4. Don't Let Me Stand In Your Way - SKEETER DAVIS (1964 USA 7" single on RCA 47-8450, B-side of "What Am I Gonna Do Without You")

5. You Turn Me On Boy - THE HONEY BEES (1965 USA 7" single on Fontana 1505, A)

6. What A Sweet Thing That Was - THE SHIRELLES (1961 USA 7" single on Scepter 1220, B-side of "A Thing Of The Past")

7. Will Power - THE COOKIES (1963 USA 7" single on Dimension 1012, A and in the UK on Colpix PX 11012, A)

8. This Little Girl - DION (1963 USA 7" single on Columbia 4-42776, A)

9. The Sheik - THE CLOVERS (from the 1960 US LP "Love Potion Number Nine" on United Artists UAS-6099, Stereo)

10. Am I The Guy - TONY ORLANDO (1961 USA 7" single on Epic 9452, B-side of "Bless You")

11. Show Me Girl - THE HONDELLS (1966 USA 7" single on Mercury 72626, B-side of "Cheryl's Goin' Home")

12. Sharing You - BOBBY VEE (1962 USA 7" single on Liberty 55451, A)

13. When My Little Girl Is Smiling - THE DRIFTERS (1962, Atlantic 2134, A)

14. Randy - EARL-JEAN (1964 USA 7" single on Colpix 748, A)

15. Anything Can Happen  - WALTER JACKSON (1962 recording first issued in 2006 on the CD compilation "It's All Over: The Okeh Recordings Vol.1" on Kent-Soul CDKEND 263)

16. It's Gonna Be All Right - THEOLA KILGORE (1966 USA 7" single on Mercury 72564, B-side of "I Can't Stand It")

17. Where Does Love Go - FREDDIE SCOTT (1964 USA 7" single on Colpix 724, A)

18. Please Hurt Me - LITTLE EVA (1963 USA 7" single on Dimension D 1019, A)

19. So Many Lonely People - HENRY ALSTON (1964 USA 7" single on Colpix CP 731, A)

20. Don't You Want To Love Me - CONNIE STEVENS (1966 USA 7" single on Warner Brothers 5691, A)

21. Keep Your Hands Off My Baby - THE ORLONS (from the 1963 US LP "All The Hits By The Orlons" on Cameo C 1033, Mono)

22. No One Ever Tells You - THE CRYSTALS (1962 USA 7" single on Philles 105, B-side of "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)")

23. The Boy From Chelsea - TRULY SMITH (1967 UK 7" single on Decca F 12700, A)

24. Snow Queen - THE TOKENS (from the 1970 LP "Greatest Moments" on BT Puppy BTPS 1012)

25. Something In The Morning - THE AMERICAN BREED (from the 1968 LP "Bend Me, Shape Me" on ACTA Records 8003, Mono)

NOTES:

Tracks: 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 to 16, 18 and 19, 20 to 24 and 26 are MONO

Tracks: 1 to 4, 6, 9, 12, 13, 17 and 25 are STEREO

There's the usual fact-filled 16-page booklet from Ace with great liner notes from MICK PATRICK - the text peppered with label photos of those rare 45s on Colpix, Dimension, Philles and Scepter (to name but a few). There's a repro of sheet music for Vee's "Sharing You", superb black and white publicity shots for Skeeter Davis, Tony Orlando and The Cookies and the rare US picture sleeve for "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers (its B-side "Hung On You" opens the compilation). It's a typically lovely job done. The audio is remastered by an engineer of long-standing - NICK ROBBINS - and despite the differing sources - the audio is uniformly excellent throughout (even on those dense Philles recordings). In some cases the audio is exceptional.

"Hung On You" heavily features the Sixties Girl-Group Sound - Pop tunes full of catchy melodrama and High School joy/misery. Period charm oozes out of these grooves - even if at times it's dolloped on with way too many spoons of sugar. It opens strongly with a nice one-two of The Righteous Brothers and Dusty. But a piece of genuinely forgotten Pop genius crops up with The Hearts And Flowers flipside on Track 3 - "Road To Nowhere". The Hearts And Flowers were a West Coast Folky-Rock ensemble similar to the cheery sounds of The Association and they produced a winner with this concoction. The song was later picked up Judy Henske and Britain's Trash - it's a total nugget on here (and in fabulous audio quality). You're then hit by a four flusher for Girl Power - Skeeter Davis on "Don't Let Me Stand In Your Way" (produced by Chet Atkins), the infectious "You Turn Me On" by The Honey Bees (sounding so Phil Spector) - but the best of all is the catchy "Will Power" by The Cookies featuring the lovely vocals of Dorothy Jones, Earl-Jean McCrea and Margaret Ross (Earl-Jean gets a solo outing "Randy" on track 14).

Breezy Pop comes in the form of Tony Orlando's "Am I The Girl" followed quickly by the Herman's Hermits sound of The Hondells doing "Show Me Girl" and the cheesy bubblegum pop of Bobby Vee.

Wobbles - "The Sheik" feels like The Clovers reaching for a novelty hit and not quite making it - while the Stereo mix of "When My Little Girl Is Smiling" actually sounds strange after all these years of hearing the Mono version (all those plucked strings). Walter Jackson sounds uncomfortable with the obvious Pop slant of "Anything Can Happen" - but despite that he still puts in a fabulous vocal performance that lifts the song. And I'm not sure the PC brigade who watch over us all (nice of them) would approve of the emotional flagellation advocated in Little Eva's sappy "Please Hurt Me". Countering that is the surprisingly lovely "Where Does Love Go" where Freddie Scott puts in a Soulful belter of a performance (the Cash Box trade advert for Colpix CP 724 is reproduced on Page 10). The mournful "No One Ever Tells You" by The Crystals is a young-girls advice song (lyrics from it title this review). Even more disarming is the gorgeous longing in "The Boy From Chelsea" by Truly Smith (Josephine Taylor) - an overlooked British Pop nugget musically directed by Island Records' Chris Blackwell. It was penned a few years prior and slated to be used by Davey Jones of The Monkees - and you can see why its wistfulness and melodrama appealed to Northern Soul fans (quite apart from the fact that it sold zip on release).

As ever - Ace Records pull off a neat stunt - another CD winner (their 4th) for one of the most successful songwriting duos in History - Gerry Goffin and Carole King. And would we have it any other way...

PS: the other three Ace compilations covering the Goffin & King output are:

1. Goffin & King: A Gerry Goffin & Carole King Song Collection 1961-1967

(October 2007, Ace Records CDCHD 1170)

2. Honey & Wine: Another Gerry Goffin & Carole King Song Collection

(March 2009, Ace Records CDCHD 1216)

3. Something Good From The Goffin & King Songbook

(March 2012, Ace Records CDCHD 1327)

"Yesterday Has Gone: The Songs Of Tony Randazzo" by VARIOUS (September 2019 Ace Records CD Compilation – Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Gonna Take A Miracle..."

(TONY RANDAZZO is part of Ace Record's Singer Songwriter Series)

I've had Ace CDs that went the extra Country Mile in the Audio department before - but this little British issued doozy goes a few 60ts furlongs further.

This is a truly fantastic sounding CD containing Melodrama Pop, 60ts Soul, Girl Group heartache and young boys going out of their heads whilst pining for miracles (and not just the Smokey kind). Most of the music centres around late 1965 and into 1966 (primo 45-singles time) and at 71:43 minutes - "Yesterday Has Gone..." is a generous slab of quality misery into the bargain that collectors will lick their lips over.

For sure Randazzo's overblown Phil Spector-ish I'm-gonna-die pleading same-song-structure every time can grate after a while - and there are some truly yucky saccharine moments with The Vogues and The Kane Triplets that will test punters patience worse than EU Brexit negotiations. But make no mistake, with the likes of Little Anthony & The Imperials, Timi Yuro, The Royalettes and Derek Martin on board – musically there is also so much here to adore (twelve are in glorious Stereo too). Let's move from the outside and start looking in...

UK released Friday, 27 September 2019 (4 October 2019 in the USA) - "Yesterday Has Gone: The Songs Of Teddy Randazzo" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1556 (Barcode 029667096027) is a 25-Track CD compilation of Remasters in their Singer-Songwriter Series that plays out as follows (71:43 minutes):

1. I'm On The Outside (Looking In) - LITTLE ANTHONY & THE IMPERIALS (August 1964 US 7" single on DCP Records DCP 1104, A-side)

2. Can't Stop Running Away - TIM YURO (May 1965 US 7" single on Mercury 72431, A-side)

3. Baby Are You Puttin' Me On - THE ROYALETTES (from the 1966 US LP "The Elegant Sound Of The Royalettes" on MGM Records SE-4366 in Stereo)

4. You Don't Need A Heart - TONY RANDAZZO (March 1965 US 7" single on DCP Records DCP 1134, A-side)

5. Think Before You Act - TONY ORLANDO (September 1965 US 7" single on Atco 45-6375, A-side)

6. You Better Go - DEREK MARTIN (June 1965 US 7" single on Roulette R-4631, A-side)

7. It's Gonna Take A Miracle - THE ROYALETTES (June 1965 US 7"single on MGM K 13366, A-side)

8. Rain In My Heart - FRANK SINATRA (December 1968 US 7" single on Reprise 0798, A-side)

9. We're On Our Way - THE VOGUES (May 1971 US 7"single on Bell 991, B-side of "Love Song")

10. Buttercup Days - THE KANE TRIPLETS (October 1968 US 7" single on United Artists UA 50466, A-side)

11. Let Me Dream - GEORGIA GIBBS (December 1965 US 7" single on Bell 635, A-side)

12. Let Me Know When It's Over - ESTHER PHILLIPS (September 1965 US 7" single on Atlantic 45-2304, A-side)

13. Lonely Girl - ANNABELLE FOX (May 1966 US 7" single on Satin S-402, A-side)

14. Better Off Without You - RITCHIE ADAMS (November 1966 US 7" single on MGM K 13629, B-side of "You Were Mine")

15. I'm Lost Without You - BILLY FURY (January 1965 UK 7" single on Decca F. 12048, A-side)

16. Or Not At All - JIMMY RICE (April 1965 US 7" single on Red Bird Records RB 10-027, A-side)

17. Good For A Lifetime - AL HIBBLER (January 1966 US 7" single on Satin S-401, A-side)

18. Goin' Out Of My Head - DIONNE WARWICK (from the 1970 US LP "Very Dionne" on Scepter SPS 587 in Stereo, produced by Bacharach & David)

19. Better Use Your Head - MEL TORME (from the 1966 US LP "Right Now!" on Columbia CS 9335 in Stereo)

20. I Watched You Slowly Slip Away - HOWARD GUYTON (February 1966 US 7" single on Verve VK-10386, A-side)

21. Yesterday Has Gone - ANTHONY & THE IMPERIALS (May 1968 US 7" single on Veep V-1285, A-side)

22. Think Twice Before You Walk Away - PORGY And THE MONARCHS (December 1966 US 7" single on Musicor MU 1221, B-side of "My Heart Cries For You")

23. Hurt So Bad - THE DELFONICS (from the 1968 US LP "La La Means I Love You" on Philly Groove PG 1150)

24. Love At First Sight - THE STYLISTICS (January 1979 US 7" single on Mercury 74042, A-side)

25. A Million To One - THE MANHATTANS (October 1971 US 7" single on DeLuxe 45-137, B-side to "Cry If You Wanna Cry")

Tracks 1, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24 and 25 are in STEREO

Tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,20 and 22 are in MONO

The 24-page colour booklet is the usual classy affair from Ace Records of the UK - each artist and song given promo photos, those rare US labels repro'd and of course photos of our elegant songwriting hero - Brooklyn's Tony Randazzo. Soul and R&B Music aficionados IAN CHAPMAN and MICK PATRICK both do a bang-up job of filling in the 60ts details - Patrick quite rightly pointing out that Randazzo's co-writers Bobby Weinstein, Victoria Pike, Lou Stallman, Bobby Hart and Roger Joyce all deserve to be spoken of in the same voice of respect that is afforded the affable Randazzo. You might argue that TR is so closely associated with the orbit and success of Little Anthony & The Imperials (that's him sat in the control booth with the boys around him on the front cover of the booklet) - that more of their classic output should have been featured here - but Little Anthony's catalogue on End, DCP and Veep Records has been done extensively elsewhere.  For sure by the time you reach The Stylistics in 1979, the end of the CD is putting up mediocrity instead of magic - but the rest is fabulous 60ts melodrama and I suspect collectors will accept the rough with the smooth that comes with all-encompassing compilations like this. Besides NICK ROBBINS - long-time Audio Engineer at Ace Records and a guy who’s transferred literally hundreds of full-length compilations from every conceivable type of master-tape box - has excelled himself. The Audio is properly gorgeous.

"Yesterday Has Gone" opens with a killer one-two - a magisterial Stereo cut of Little Anthony & The Imperial's masterpiece "I'm On The Outside (Looking In)" followed by the Mono beauty of Timi Yuro with "Can't Stop Running Away" (a tune she apparently also recorded in Italian for the Euro market). The Royalettes two slices of 60ts Soul live up the word elegant in their US LP title (they are given a beautiful full-page black and white publicity photo on Page 13 of the booklet) – while the Derek Martin smoocher and one-time Fireflies vocalist Ritchie Adams are me discoveries of the month. I can honestly live without the Sinatra workmanlike rendition of "Rain In My Heart" and the aforementioned syrup-overloads of The Vogues and The Kane Triplets (no matter how gorgeous their blond hair looks on Page 17) – stuff like the Jimmy Rice cut and the Howard Guyton slowly slipping away melodrama (recorded with The Five Pearls in 1954) are the business.

Not all genius for damn sure, but this is a CD compilation that for many has been a long time coming. I suspect collectors everywhere are going top be well pleased – and frankly – yet another feather in the cap of Ace Records – a cap that after 40 years of quality reissues must weigh a few tons by now...

"Sweet Things From The Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry Songbook" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (2015 Ace Records CD – Duncan Cowell Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...He Smiled At Me And The Music Started Playing..."

Volume 3 of 3 for American Brill Building songwriters ELLIE GREENWICH and JEFF BARRY gives us a wad of Girl Group bubblegum symphonies about explosive kissing and falling headlong for dodgy Leaders of the Pack on unreliable motorbikes.

Volume 1 in the superbly annotated series is called "Doo-Wah-Diddy: Words And Music..." and came out September 2008 on Ace CDHD 1203 - while Volume 2 "Da Do Ron Ron: More From..." on Ace CDCHD 1340 hit the shelves in April 2012. 

This latest 24-track compilation (2015) stretches from 1963 to 1978 (almost all from the 60's) and includes two tracks recorded in the mid-Sixties but not released until 1976 and 1987. Unfortunately the overall listen is not all sweetness and light. Time to whisper sweet things (and some details) in your ear...

UK released 27 April 2015 (May 2015 in the USA) - "Sweet Things From The Ellie Greenwich And Jeff Barry Songbook" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDCHD 1434 (Barcode 029667070621) breaks down as follows (66:07 minutes):

1. Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Heart? - BOB B. SOXX & THE BLUE JEANS (USA 7" single on Philles 110, A)

2. He's Got The Power - THE EXCITERS (USA 7" single on United Artists UA 572, A)

3. Friday - JAY & THE AMERICANS (1964 USA 7" single on United Artists UA 693, A)

4. (Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry - DARLENE LOVE (USA 7" single on Philles 111, A)

5. Then He Kissed Me - THE CRYSTALS (1963 USA 7" single on Philles 115, A)

6. Dance Marie - VIC DONNA (1964 USA 7" single on Tiger TI 106, A)

7. Another Boy Like Mine - THE RAINDROPS (1964 USA 7" single on Jubilee 45-5487, A)

8. Little Bell - THE DIXIE CUPS (1964 USA 7" single on Red Bird RB 10-017, A)

9. Whisper Sweet Things - THE JELLY BEANS (a 1964 Red Bird Recording that first appeared on the UK 2LP set "The Red Bird Story Vol.2" in 1987 on Charly CDX 19)

10. Leader Of The Pack  (1964 USA 7" single on Red Bird RB 10-014, A)

11. Gee Baby Gee (1964 USA 7" single on Red Bird RB 10-016, A)

12. What's A Girl Supposed To Do - LESLEY GORE (on the 1965 USA LP "My Town, My Guy & Me" on Mercury SR 61042)

13. Heaven Only Knows - THE SHANGRI-LAS (1965 USA 7" single on Red Bird RB 10-030, A)

14. You Don't Know - ELLIE GREENWICH (1965 USA 7" single on Red Bird RB 10-034, A)

15. Our Love Can Still Be Saved - JEFF BARRY (1965 USA 7" single on Red Bird RB 10-026, A)

16. I'm Nobody's Baby Now - REPARTA & THE DELRONS (1966 USA 7" single on RCA Victor 47-8820, A)

17. I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine - THE RONETTES (a 1966 Philles Recording first issued in 1976 on in the UK on the album "Rare Masters 2" on Phil Spector International 2307 009)

18. Spring Fever - TONY PASS (1966 USA 7" single on Atco 45-6421, A)

19. Honey Do - THE STRANGELOVES (1968 USA 7" single on Sire 4102, A)

20. Am I Grooving You - FREDDIE SCOTT (1967 USA 7" single on Shout 212, A)

21. Sugar, Sugar - WILSON PICKETT (1970 USA 7" single on Atlantic 2722, A)

22. What Good Is Love To You - DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (1971 USA 7" single on Atlantic 2722, A)

23. Be My Baby - ANDY KIM (1970 USA 7" single on Steed 729, A)

24. Baby, Let's Stick Together - THE PALEY BROTHERS (1978 Sire Recording first released in 2013 on the US CD "The Complete Recordings" on Real Gone Music RGM-0182)

The 20-page booklet is jammed with label repro's, album sleeves, publicity photos - the usual superlative presentation from Ace with very upbeat liner notes on each song and artist by noted writer MICK PATRICK. Longstanding Engineer DUNCAN POWELL has done the masters and given the notorious density of the Phil Spector Productions - Cowell does well to give them oomph. The others vary from great to really good.

The music for me is a very mixed bag. Tracks 1 to 17 are pure Girl Group melodrama with classics like "Then he Kissed Me" and "Leader Of The Pack" which still pack a wallop - but after a while subpar crud like "Dance With Me" by Vic Donna and all that silly Sixties angst starts to grate real fast. The upbeat pure Sixties Pop of "Spring Fever" by Tony Pass and "Honey Do" by The Strangeloves are completely at odds with the Girl Group stuff that dominated for 17 tracks before. Then we get the CD's really odd moment (but what a welcome change) - the Funky Soul groove of "Am I Grooving You" by Freddie Scott where he comes on like's just drunk a pink glass of Wilson Pickett DNA. Speaking of Pickett - his cover of the Archie's smash "Sugar Sugar" is saccharine Soul at best (even if it did chart well) and probably not his greatest moment. Worse comes in the shape of Andy Kim's cruddy version of "Be My Baby" and the awful pop of The Paley Brothers ends the disc on a bit of a downer. The Dusty track is lovely though.

Not the greatest CD in Ace's cannon and that's for sure - and for collector's who already own Red Bird stuff and any Phil Spector compilations - a waste of their money. But if you've a penchant for Girl Groups and some Sixties Spector-like melodrama - and given the great sound and presentation - then investigate further...