Girl Groups no: 8 the Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go? / Love Child / I'm Living in Shame)
Isn't it interesting that the two most distinctive sounds of the girl groups era derived from the fact that the producer (in the Motown instance the uber producer) was besotted with the lead singer in question, Phil Spector with Ronnie of the Ronettes, and Motown Records owner and chief Berry Gordy with Diana Ross of the Supremes. Much has been said about how Diana Ross was the third best singer in the Supremes, behind Florence Ballard (lead singer before Berry promoted Ms R
Girl Groups No: 7 the Dixie Cups - Iko Iko / Chapel of Love
In the dead winter in we're heading for the sultry heat of summer in the deep south to New Orleans and the Dixie Cups. They are...
Girl Groups No 6: the Marvelettes - Playboy / Too Many Fish in the Sea
What a lot of people don't realise was that the success of Motown was initially strongly based on girl groups, first with the very girl...
Girl Groups Week No 5: - the Shangri-Las - Give him a Great Big Kiss / Give us your Blessing / Out in the Streets
The wonderfully named Shadow Morton was the greatest Phil Spector imitator and his great oeuvre was the singles of the Shangri-Las. The...
Girl Groups Week No 4: the Chiffons - When the Boy's Happy (the Girl's Happy too) / Sweet Talking Guy / Tonight I Met An Angel
I'm guessing you've heard ""He's so fine" and "One Fine Day" so in line with the idea of playing some gems which you are less likely to come across here's three offerings from the Chiffons. After Spector did what he did with the Crystals, the Ronettes and Bob B Sox and the Blue Jeans, other rivals tried to imitate the wall of sound approach. The first contenders amongst these were the Chiffons who also released singles as the Four Pennies at first, until the Chiffons hits p
Girl Groups Week No 3: the Ronettes - Be My Baby
Aaaah we have finally arrived. 1963, the first release by the Ronettes, mind-blowing, the wall of sound is born. Apparently when Phil...
Girl Groups Week No 2: The Crystals - There's No Other Like My Baby / Uptown / He's a Rebel
So, once the Shirelles had forged the idealogical template, Phil Spector came along and forged the sound. Already a successful songwriter...
Girl Groups Week No1: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - the Shirelles
Which to begin with, demands a definition. People often use the term girl groups to describe groups like Bananarama and Spice Girls and...
Too Late for Tonight / Early Years - Laura Cantrell
Having had a room full of modern day troubadour men in that bar in Mission Beach, it's only right that we should think about the women that could have been there. We can imagine Gillian Welch at a table in the corner chatting with David Rawlings over a beer, Laura Marling surveying the room, reclining with her back on the jukebox, Emmylou Harris swapping stories with Joni Mitchell as they lean on the bar, and at the back, by the door to the toilets, Laura Nyro singing softly
Step Right Up - Tom Waits
Sorry about the delay. I was wanting to complete the songs by the fraternity of poets in Guy Clark's Mission Beach bar and had come to...
