Customer Reviews

Shindig: Groovy Gals [VHS]

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

 

 

Let's start with the negatives. This vid is too damn short. A half-an hour doesn't do justice to the title Groovy Gals. Where are the Marvellettes? Where is Brenda Holloway? Second, because the acts are taken from different shows, Groovy Gals has no flow and a chopped quality that is only made worse by shoddy editing. Third, host Jimmy O'Neill is really irritating and useless on these tapes. Why not edit him out and give us more acts? On the positive side, this tape has more rock royalty than you could shake a gold record at! The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, just nails The Shoop Shoop Song with her gospel-spiced vocals, and mention must be made of The Blossoms, led by the legendary and highly-underated Darlene Love. They back up Franklin and a number of acts and look like they're really having fun with I Like It Like That. Speaking of rock royalty, my personal faves, The Supremes, glide through Baby Love with the style and sophistication that made them Princesses of Pop. Ross has big hair and, with Flo and Mary, does the slick, subtle choreography that tattooed them as Motown acts. A rare treat is Ketty Lester torching out Love Letters. Wow! Watch her make the word "sign" an eight-syllable word in song, and enounciate each word. But the wildest was the last: The Acid Queen, Tina Turner, electrifies with Ooh-Poo-Pah-Do. Tina in a tasteful cocktail dress and nice pumps is jarring enough, but when she lets out the clutch and revs the song up (Backed by The Blossoms who are clearly enjoying themselves) you will be hard pressed to tear your eyes away. Other acts include The Toys looking bored and jaded as they sit in a fake garden setting in Lover's Concerto; Leslie Gore romping through Judy's Turn To Cry with Shindig's lame go-go dancers; Fontella Bass with her one hit, Rescue Me; Great rare Shangri-La's footage of Give Him A Great Big Kiss (such naughty shimmies!); Jackie DeShannon's tender version of Burt Bacharach's What The World Needs Now and Petula Clark showing too much Brit restraint with her monster hit Downtown. Yes, the filming is b+w and strange at times, but if you love the time period or the music this one is a necessary document for collectors and fans. Enjoy!

"Shindig" might have been less famous and short-lived unlike much famous "Ed Sullivan Show", but could offer much variety of artists. And of course, singing girls are not forgotten.

As another reviewer gave us a complete list of artists you can see on this video, I will not repeat it, but I think I am allowed to add several other things. First, the video' title is a little misleading; there are 11 acts by talented girl singers and groups, but some of them should be found in another volume of this series. (Why must The Supremes be here when Rhino Company got another volume called "Motown" ?) Or, I think Ketty Lester singing "Love Letters" is closer to jazz vocal even though her footage might be rare. Well, but I don't complain, because her song is certainly great.

So, let me tell you several of my favorite acts; Tina is always fantastic (she appears in another volume of the series, check it out), but more delightful is Aretha Franklin singing "Shoop Shoop Song," which Cher also sang in the soundtrack of "The Mermaids," which is, incidentally, Christina Ricci"s debut film. The Blossoms, regular band of Shindig, again sings "I Like it Like That," classic Chris Kenner song with Darlene Love (later regular of "Lethal Weapon" series), and Leslie Gore "Judy's Turn to Cry," sings her follow-up song to her superhit "It's My Party." But why Judy? Oh, listen to "It's My Party" first, please. I happen to have seen her act live in Japan around 1990 when she came with Del Shannon and Johnny Tillotson, and I remebered that time... sorry, I digressed. A little disappointment is Patula Clark's "Downtown," which you heard on the soundtrack of "Girl, Interrupted" because this is clearly lip-sync. A pity.

But the greatest treasure to me is Shangri-Las's "Give Him a Great Big Kiss." Do you believe they do this song LIVE here? And with the dialogue section in the middle of the song? And the lead singer actually doing the gesture of looking up when she says "I gotta look up!!!" But they do all, and this part only compensates for anything. It is interesting to note that, though you might be looking the picture of the group when they were threesome, the live act shows full four members. This means the program was shot in 1965 before member Marge Ganser left the group. Another interesting thing is the fact that the group consists two sets of sisters from New York -- Mary Ann & Margie Ganser, and Mary & Betty Weiss -- and the former set was a twin. Look closer, you may notice it.

This video is definitely up to par with the other videos in this collection. The first half alone makes it worth having. As usual, Jimmy O'Neill does a spectacular job as host, and the first-half acts, which include Leslie Gore, Aretha Franklin, Ketty Lester, and The Toys, make for a truly enjoyable video.

Songs Include :
Ketty Lester - "Love Letters"
Aretha Franklin - "Shoop Shoop Song"
Leslie Gore - "Judy's Turn To Cry"
Toys - "Lover's Concerto"
Fontella Bass - "Rescue Me"
The Supremes - "Baby Love"
Shangri-Las - "Give Him A Great Big Kiss"
Petula Clark - "Downtown"
The Blossoms - "I Like It Like That"
Tina Turner - "Ooh Poo Pah Do"
Jackie DeShannon - "What The World Needs Now"

All I got to say is watch Aretha sing The Shoop Shoop song to death! Better still, watch Darlene Love react to her.....WOW! All good, Tina in rare form also. Waiting for this to hit DVD format.

If one were doing a SHINDIG compilation featuring themost popular Gal singers of the mid 60's I don't understand how they could omit PATTY DUKE. She did two appearances on the short-lived albeit very popular SHINDIG TV program and introduced two Hit records, "Don't Just Stand There" and "Say Something Funny". She was, without a doubt, the most Popular young female Teen Star of that time. Perhaps she couldn't warble to the same vocal level of Pet Clark or Aretha Franklin, but herabsence here is clearly an oversight.If this show is ever repackaged in DVD format, one would hope that Patty Duke's two appearances on this showwould not be over-looked.

Given that there are now DVDs of The Ed Sullivan Show,Hullabaloo and Music Scene,how about putting Shindig out on DVD?
International audiences that cannot buy NTSC videos will snap up DVDs of these shows,as will the US audience due to the better picture and sound.
These videos have some great 60's acts on them and deserve DVD release.