Customer Reviews

Early Girls Volume 1: Popsicles And Icicles

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Leave it to one of England's premier re-issue labels to put together a compilation that rivals Rhino's excellent "The Girl Groups" series. While a few of these songs fall outside the strict definition of girl groups (1961-1965), this is a super collection and at 28 tracks you won't find a more generous single disc compilation.

There are a few late Fifties hits: 13-year-old Dodie Stevens' "Pink Shoe Laces," Gale Storm's "Dark Moon," and the Aquatones' "You." The rest are early-Sixties classics and also-rans.

You get the Exciters' version of "Do-Wah-Diddy" (later a No. 1 for Manfred Mann), Betty Everett's "You're No Good" (which Linda Ronstadt took to No. 1 in 1975) and the Cookies' lead singer Earl-Jean's minor hit "I'm Into Something Good" (which would become Herman's Hermits' first U.S. hit).

There are seven songs that overlap with the Rhino series, but that's a minor complaint. Where Rhino gave you the Angels' oft-anthologized "My Boyfriend's Back," here you get their earlier 1961 hit "'Til." While the Rhino series included three Shirelles' songs, it did not include their classic "Dedicated to the One I Love" found here.

This Ace release also includes several artists not on the Rhino series: "The Name Game" by Shirley Ellis, "I Wish I were a Princess" by Little Peggy March, "I've Told Every Little Star" by Linda Scott, and Rosie & The Originals' "Angel Baby."

Don't think of this as a competing series with Rhino, but a companion series. And just like Rhino, you get crisp, clean sound and extensive liner notes on each of the songs and the artists. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Ace, England's premier reissue label blasts into the girl group compilation genre with this first in a series. "Popsicles and Icicles" gathers up a massive 28 tracks of girl- and girl-oriented group tunes from the pre-British invasion era. While including many familiar hits to keep the casual collector humming along, the wealth of this collection is also found in the number of seldom-found gems. "I'm Into Something Good", the pre-Herman Hermits Earl Jean domestic version, Janie Grant's "Triangle", Toni Fisher's "West Of The Wall" and Reparata and the Delrons' "Whenever A Teenager Cries" in stereo(!) give this collection a variety not found in the many other repetitive girl group compilations floating around.

As one would expect from Ace, these vintage recordings have been taken from the best available sources, sometimes British tapes that have survived better than those available domestically. Most cuts are in mono but there are several (2,3,7-9,12,15,17,28) appearing in stereo. The 16-page liner notes booklet gives lots of interesting backround on the included performers. As often done, Ace has set the highest standard for yet another genre of compilations.

Old gems from the fifties and sixties

This impressive collection of recordings by female singers, laid down between 1957 and 1963, is the first of three volumes. Few of the ladies featured here had a lot of hits. Skeeter Davis, successful for several years on the country charts, is represented here by I can't stay mad at you, but is best remembered for End of the world.

The set begins with Do wah diddy, a minor American hit for the Exciters which later became a number one hit in Britain and America via Manfred Mann's version. Betty Everett's version of You're no good helped launch her career, but the song became much more successful when covered by the Swinging blue jeans in Britain and (later) Linda Ronstadt in America. Completing an unlucky trio is Earl Jean, who had a top forty American hit with I'm into something good, only to see Herman's hermits cover the song and make it their own. There is nothing wrong with any of the original versions of these songs, leaving us to wonder why they did not have more success.

There are big hits here - It might as well rain until September (Carole King) and I love how you love me (Paris Sisters) were huge hits in both Britain and America. Other huge American hits include The name game (Shirley Ellis, best known in Britain for the clapping song), Dark moon (Bonnie Guitar) and Dedicated to the one I love (Shirelles, best remembered everywhere for Will you love me tomorrow).

There are many other great songs, mostly sung by long-forgotten one-hit wonders. Anybody interested in female singers of the era and looking for less obvious material should check this out.

In 1995 Ace Records released the first in a series of three discs entitled "Early Girls". As with just about every other Ace disc I have ever purchased this is a top quality compilation. There are great big hits everyone has heard of as well as some lesser known tracks just waiting to be rediscovered. Likewise you will find familiar artists and some you have probably never heard of.
Perhaps the biggest hit among the 28 songs on this disc is 1963's "Easier Said Than Done" by the Essex featuring the great lead voice of Anita Humes. Other chartbusters include "The Name Game" from Shirley Ellis and the Murmaids gigantic hit "Popsicles and Icicles" written by one David Gates who would eventually go one to write a bunch of hits for his own group. Has anyone heard of Bread? Among some of the hit records you might not be as familiar with are the 1956 hit "Eddie My Love" by the Teen Queens and the great Linda Scott with "I've Told Every Little Star". Other tunes you are sure to enjoy are Robin Ward's "Wonderful Summer" and the Aquatones memorable recording of "You". Then there are the real hard-to-find tunes like Carole King's "It Might As Well Rain Until September" and Little Peggy March with "I Wish I Were A Princess." My vote for biggest discovery on this disc was Betty Everett's 1964 recording of "You're No Good" which of course was made famous a decade later by Linda Ronstadt.
As we have come to expect Ace has included an extremely informative 16 page booklet. And the remastering job is absolutely top drawer. Give this one a try and don't be surprised if you go back for more---Volume 2 or 3 that is.

I bought this one in 1996 because I was looking for some of the "one hits" recorded thereon. If you were listening to Top 100, not just Top Ten or Top 40 in the early '60's, you know there were lots of releases that should have been better rated than they were. This CD has many of them. Some were relased by other artists later and became the hits they should have been. Insofar as the one hits, listen to "Triangle" by Janie Grant. Indicative of the times, it would seem corny today;however, Grant wss one of the most beautiful girls of the day, and her voice was not that bad. Another landmark was "West of the Wall" by Miss Toni Fisher, having to do with the then recently erected Berlin Wall. It caught the mood of the times as did Ivo Robic's "Morgen" which you'll have to find elsewhere. If you are a veteran of those times or just an aficienado, this is for you.

Some of my alltime favorite songs from the pre-Beatles era found their way onto this cd, so I had to buy it: "The Name Game" by Shirley Ellis, "Easier Said than Done" by the Essex, "It Might as Well Rain Until September" by Carol King, "I Wish I Were a Princess" by Little Peggy March (how many song titles can you name use the subjunctive mood correctly?).... This is a fantastic selection, and the choices sound clear and sharp--well-done.

Loved this CD! The tunes brought back so many good memories for me. I'd recommend it to anyone who grew up in the late 50s and early 60s!

As I mentioned in a review of a two-volume set of, for lack of a better term, girl doo wop some of the songs which overlap in this five volume series, I have, of late, been running back over some rock material that formed my coming of age listening music (on that ubiquitous, and very personal, iPod, oops, battery-driven transistor radio that kept those snooping parents out in the dark, clueless, about what I was listening to, and that was just fine, agreed), and that of my generation, the generation of '68. Naturally one had to pay homage to the blues influences from the likes of Muddy Waters, Big Mama Thornton, and Big Joe Turner. And, of course, the rockabilly influences from Elvis, Carl Perkins, Wanda Jackson, and Jerry Lee Lewis on. Additionally, I have spent some time on the male side of the doo wop be-bop Saturday night led by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers on Why Do Fools Fall In Love? (good question, right). I noted there that I had not done much with the female side of the doo wop night, the great "girl" groups that had their heyday in the late 1950s and early 1960s before the British invasion, among other things, changed our tastes in popular music. I would expand that observation here to include girls' voices generally. As there, I make some amends for that omission here.

As I also noted in that earlier review one problem with the girl groups, and now girl vocals for a guy, me, a serious rock guy, me, was that the lyrics to many of the girl group songs, frankly, did not "speak to me." After all how much empathy could a young ragamuffin of boy brought up on the wrong side of the tracks like this writer have for a girl who breaks a guy's heart after leading him on, yes, leading him on, just because her big bruiser of a boyfriend is coming back and she needs some excuse to brush the heartbroken lad off in the Angels' My Boyfriend's Back. Or some lucky guy, some lucky Sunday guy, maybe, who breathlessly catches the eye of the singer in the Shirelles' Met Him On Sunday from a guy who, dateless Saturday night, was hunched over some misbegotten book, some study book, on Sunday feeling all dejected. And how about this, some two, or maybe, three-timing gal who berated her ever-loving boyfriend because she needs a good talking to, or worst, a now socially incorrect "beating" in Joanie Sommers' Johnny Get Angry.

And reviewing the material in this volume gave me the same flash-back feeling I felt listening to girl doo wop sounds. I will give examples of that for this volume, and this approach will drive the reviews of all five of these volumes in the series. Ya, for starters what is a girl-shy boy to make of a song that when some big-voiced woman is telling one and all that her man is no good just because he was catting on her around in Betty Everett's Your No Good; or some girl all chained up by a guy (not S&M stuff but worst, in a way, chains of mixed-up love) in Chains by The Cookies; or get all weepy about the trauma of a girl who is boy-less all summer by a girl-less guy for all seasons in It Might As Well Rain Until September by Carole King.

And how could a young ragamuffin get catch a break listening to some girl spreading the glad tidings about her new found love in the girls' lav Monday morning in I'm Into Something Good by Earl-Jean; or, the same kind of message, except maybe at the local pizza parlor, in I've Told Every Little Star by Linda Scott. And it goes on and on. Christ, even guys wearing pink shoe laces and looking like some goof have their devotees (but what about no song poor boy, plaid flannel-shirted, black chino-ed, with cuffs, Thom McAn-shoed guy, no way right) in Pink Shoe Laces by Dodie Stevens. And the love eternal love-style songs were worst, for example, a giggling, gaffing girl all plushed up by her boy in I Love How You Love Me by The Paris Sisters. Jesus, that could have been me.

And is there a place for such a lad even in the love's trials and tribulations-type songs like when the moon took a holiday from looking out for lovers in Dark Moon by Bonnie Guitar; or when it didn't in You by The Aquatones and was absolutely beaming in the incredible paean to everlasting love, 'Til by The Angels. Hell, even no account, long gone, no stamps, no stationary, no pen, no time to write Eddie has someone pining over him pining big time in Eddie My Love by The Teen Queens. And Eddie was nothing but long gone and never coming back. But the one that gets me, gets me big time, is a total song homage by some sweet girl just because he is her guy in Dedicated To The One I Love by The Shirelles. Lordy, lord.

So you get the idea, this stuff could not "speak to me." Now you understand, right? Except, surprise, surprise foolish, behind the eight- ball, know-nothing youthful guy had it all wrong and should have been listening, and listening like crazy, to these lyrics because, brothers and sisters, they held the key to what was what about what was on girls' minds back in the day, and maybe now a little too, and if I could have decoded this I would have had, well, the beginning of knowledge, girl knowledge. Damn. But that is one of the virtues, and maybe the only virtue of age. Ya, and also get this- you had better get your do-lang, do-lang, your shoop, shoop, and your best be-bop, be-bop into that good night voice out and sing along to the lyrics here. This, fellow baby-boomers, was our teen angst, teen alienation, teen love youth and now this stuff sounds great. And from girls even.

The music is great! Like the symphonic classics, this music and melodies are ageless. Where is Volume 2.

Early Girls Volume 1: Popsicles And Icicles has quite a few excellent numbers by songbirds and the girl groups that were so prevalent in the early 1960s. There are a few tracks from the late 1950s, too. This CD has a wide range of artists and it makes a fine start for this CD series. If you like classic music from the late 1950s/early 1960s performed by some of the very best female singers ever, this is the CD for you! The quality of the sound is excellent and I like the artwork very much.

The Exciters get things going on the right track with their rendition of "Do Wah Diddy Diddy." "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" sounds great in their capable hands; they sing and harmonize to perfection--and beyond! Great! Listen also for a particularly fine treatment of "You're No Good" by the great Betty Everett. Although Betty doesn't get the recognition she deserves these days, just one listen proves she was great. Betty's excellent diction and her uncanny sense of timing make her version of "You're No Good" absolutely wonderful. In addition, Shirley Ellis does "The Name Game" without ever faltering--and she's quite the masterful champ at that! I also like Carole King's "Chains;" "Chains" was always one of my very favorite songs from this genre of music and Carole does this tune great justice. "Chains" also benefits from the guitars, drums and percussion; the backup singers harmonizing also make the number very strong.

Skeeter Davis does her usual excellent job on "I Can't Stay Mad At You;" Skeeter always threw herself into everything she sang and this will show you how she gave blood to make this number shine! Her voice is very pretty as well; she never skips a beat! Little Peggy March also makes good on her hit, "I Wish I Were A Princess;" what a charmer! Linda Scott also sings "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star" faultlessly; and I'm impressed.

Dodie Stevens had a huge hit with "Pink Shoelaces;" this early sounding rock and roll ballad showcases Dodie squarely front and center--right where she belonged! The Hearts do "Dear Baby" with a lot of energy even if this isn't the happiest of numbers; and I really like "Popsicles And Icicles" by The Murmaids. "Popsicles and Icicles" couldn't have been done any better; The Murmaids perform this with an excellent musical arrangement and they harmonize faultlessly.

The Paris Sisters do a sublime job on "I Love How You Love Me;" this is another of my very favorite tunes from this era and The Paris Sisters never let go of a superfluous note! The Paris Sisters really had it all; and the graceful musical arrangement fits in perfectly with their singing. Kathy Young's "Great Pretender" is perfect for slow dancing even today; and "Eddie, My Love" by The Teen Queens is another major hit from back in the day. "Eddie, My Love" has great singing and the drums along with that percussion help to make a wonderful musical arrangement.

The Shirelles outdo even themselves on "Dedicated To The One I Love;" that guitar work does wonders for this ballad. The CD also ends strong with The Essex performing "Easier Said Than Done." I love "Easier Said Than Done;" The Essex never skip a beat and it them handling complex tempo and key changes like champs!

Early Girls Volume 1: Popsicles And Icicles lacks very little; and it's exciting that this is just the first CD in a series that any collector of this type of music would love to have. I highly recommend this album.