Customer Reviews

The Best Of The Shangri-Las

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I became obsessed with 60's girl groups because of the Ronettes "Be My Baby." While looking for everything I could on the phenomenon, I came upon a short documentry on girl groups in the used bin of a local video store for .99 cents. $1.08 later, I was home and glued to the tube. The nararator began talking about Shadow Morton and his creation, "The Shangri-La's". The stills that flashed on the screen were of bad girls. Leather jackets, motorcycles, big hair, and bad boys. I was instantly hooked. Two days later, I owned this CD. The Shangri-La's fit every requirement of the day, songs about crushes, teen love, and broken hearts... but then took it further. This CD is, for the most part, quite dark. Boyfirends die in flaming carwrecks, mothers shun their daughters for teen pregnancy, and subtle hints about rape are all fodder for songs here. Luckily for us, it's ballanced nicely with more bubblegum fare like "Give Him a Great Big Kiss", and "Sophisticated Boom-Boom". Mary Weiss is one of the best singers of this era. This is an essential for anyone interested in music of this era. The Shangri-La's sound can also be heard echoed in much of the indie rock of today... like the Aislers Set, Clinic, and Le Tigre.

Though not racking up as many hits as the Shirelles or Supremes, the Shangri-Las rank up there with the most remarkable girl groups of the era. No other girl group of their time earned both the fame and notoriety for their pushing of the musical envelope. Going beyond the boy-infatuation or dance-craze dominant themes of girl group tunes of the mid-60's, the Shangri-Las presented the music buying public with sometimes remarkably sophisticated, sometimes marginally mainstream-acceptable and often over-the-top musical melodrama. The dramatic lyrics were often accompanied by complicated and extravagant productions and topped off with the powerful readings given the songs by the girls themselves. No wonder the girl group sound was lurched forward, lost all its innocence and made way for many future artists that owe much to these tunes.

This compilation brings together all 11 of the Shangri-Las Red Bird-label charting tunes along with b-sides, a few album cuts and a few Mercury singles. After the demise of Red Bird, the girls moved to Mercury (with no further success) and therefore this collection comes from Polygram. The down side here, and the reason for less than a five-star rating, is that the entire CD is in mono. While some tracks are clean and crisp, some are muddy-sounding and these tunes exhibit none of the life found in the stereo versions that have since appeared on the Red Bird compilations from Taragon and Varese Vintage. Notwithstanding the less than stellar sound quality, for the best and most complete Shangri-Las collection, this is the one to go for. An absolute necessity for 60's pop music collectors.

The Shangri-Las early-60s sides for Leiber & Stoller's Red Bird Records were among the very best girlgroup recordings ever made. In addition to their own bad-girl charms (epitomized by lead vocalist Mary Weiss), the group was the recipient of some of Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich's finest songs. Having worked with Phil Spector, their songs readily adapted themselves to producer Shadow Morton's own operatic grandeur. Morton also penned many fine sides for the Shangri-Las, including their towering hit, "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)" and the tortured pair, "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" and "Past, Present and Future."

Mercury's 25-track collection hits all of the classic highpoints, though it doesn't quite measure up on breadth of Red Bird sides to RPM's anthology, "Myrmidons of Melodrama." On the other hand, Mercury's collection includes four post-Red Bird singles (tracks 22-25), not on the RPM release. Though none of the latter-day tracks were commercial successes ("The Sweet Sounds of Summer" scrapped the bottom of the chart at #123), they're still quite good, and must-haves for Shangri-Las fans. (To complicate matters further, RPM has issued two different versions of "Myrmidons," with slightly different track lineups and mono/stereo sound!). This Mercury edition is a fine starter, and a definite follow-on purchase (despite the duplication of everything but the last four tracks) to any completist who starts with "Myrmidons."

Part of the 60s girl group scene,the Shangri-las set themselves apart from the others with a darker slant to the pop song.Death,run-aways,war,and surviving rape are idea bandied about along side love ditties,all delivered with a dramatic passion that has never been duplicated.Absolutely top-notch.
Check out the 60s british pop singer Twinkle.Her song "Terry"is like another take on the "Leader of the Pack" idea.Her other songs are great too.

While some of the themes found in the music are pretty dark (rape, lots of dead teenagers, teen alienation) this is truly some great music. Songs like Remember, I Can Never Go Home Any More, The Train From Kansas City, Never Again) reflect a lot of teenage anguish, but the girls voices combined with the music are great to listen to.

Very well done CD "The Mercury Years". I fell in love with them as a teen and still like to listen to them. The CD was made in Australia and very well done. If you like the Shangri-las i recommend this one.

I have to go along with the majority of reviewers so far and give this the top rating allowable. OK, so it doesn't include stereo versions, but this is the way most of us remember the original Red Bird 45s, and as an added bonus, without the hiss and pop. It also provides all eleven hit singles they had between 1964's Remember (Walkin' In The Sand), # 5 Billboard Pop Hot 100 that summer, and mid-1966's Past, Present And Future, # 59 Hot 100, along with six B-sides.

The liner notes contain a complete discography of the contents along with four pages of background information written in 1996 by Don Charles, and some wonderful photographs of the group, including one showing Liz Weiss, the sister of lead singer Mary Weiss, who did not always appear with the group, either on record or in person.

These two students at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, New York were joined by twins Mary Ann and Marge Ganser, and were singing semi-professionally when discovered by disc-jockey Babalu [Bob Lewis] who brought them to the attention of producer George "Shadow" Morton. And, for two glorious years, they combined to put out records which can only be described as theatrical in their intensity, easily rivaling Phil Spector's Wall of Sound.

When the Red Bird label folded its tent in 1966, the group also disbanded. Sadly, the Ganser twins are no longer with us, Mary Ann having died of encephalitis in 1971 and Marge from breast cancer in 1996 at age 48.

A marvelously complete collection by one of the so-called "Girl Groups" which you will enjoy from beginning to end.

If you only know the Shangri-las from "Remember, Walking in the Sand" or "Leader of the Pack" (neither of which I'm crazy about) trust me: There are a lot more -- and better -- gems to discover. Just take "Past, Present and Future," a truly astounding recording that Who guitarist Pete Townshend called one of the best singles of all time. (Listen, and hear why.) Or how about "Out in the Streets," covered by Blondie, or the hilarious "Give Them a Great Big Kiss," recorded umpteeth times by the New York Dolls and their guitarist, Johnny Thunders (who sometimes imitated lead singer Mary Weiss when he sang). Most of the Shangri-las' songs were written by the best Brill Building songwriters in the business, and my favorites include "Heaven Only Knows," "The Train from Kansas City," "Right Now and Not Later" (which used producers from Motown, and sounds it), "Long Live Our Love," the folkish -- and underrated -- "Footsteps on the Roof," "Love You More Than Yesterday" and many more.

But it's not just the songs. I've always felt Mary Weiss had one of the best voices in rock -- a haunting and expressive half-whine with the unmistakable stamp of Queens. (Her back-up singers have that New Yawk sound as well.) According to the liner notes, Weiss, who was still a teenager when she made these recordings, would get so wrapped up in these little melodramas that she'd burst into tears. Mary Weiss, wherever you are, you're the greatest. And this CD rules too.

If Myrmidons is better, than why the four stars?
1. Because it still sounds better than all the rest, EXCEPT FOR MYRMIDONS which
clearly sounds the best.
2. Myrmidons lacks the Mercury stuff (both sides of two singles)
Which would be sufficient reason if you are a completist. But one
of the four tracks, one of the b-sides, is among the dozen essential
tracks. and this is the place to get it. So any non-completist who
really loves these guys (like me) has to have it anyway.

But my real reason for writing is something else. Please see my review.
in the Myrmidons entry.

THE GREATEST GIRL GROUP COLLECTION FULL OF TEENAGE ANGST AND GIRLY FU