Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Music - Gruesome Mastering, May 27, 2004
Lesley Gore may have been the finest pure singer among the female vocalists of the early sixties. Her string of seven consecutive Top 40 releases in 1963 and 1964 (including four Top 10s and a Number 1) with four more following through 1967 indicate that she was certainly one of the most popular. Lesley was only 16 years of age when her first single, It's My Party, topped the charts. Her music matured with her, from the rather bubble-gummy sound of the aforementioned It's My Party and its successful follow-on, Judy's Turn to Cry, through the seminal feminist anthem You Don't Own Me and on to the rich and beautiful California Nights.This CD contains all eleven of her Top 40 offerings plus a bonus track (Hey Now). All are original recordings. However, it must be noted that the recordings have been remastered, and therein lies the problem with this disk. The remastering job is sloppy to say the least. The instrumental track is too strong, frequently interfering with and occasionally completely overpowering the vocals. The background vocals and harmonies are so subdued that they frequently just disappear. Lesley's double-tracked leads sound just fine except as noted above, and they carry the disk to respectability. However, if you have a little time and a little more money to invest, there are much better sounding collections available. Recommended, but only as a last resort.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lesley Gore as the undisputed Queen of Sixties Adolescent Angst, August 28, 2005
I saw Lesley Gore described as a "one-hit wonder," which certainly struck a wrong chord with me. While she hit #1 with her very first release "It's My Party" in 1963, she was had a lot more hits even if none of them made it all the way to the top. Her follow-up song, "Judy's Turn To Cry" made it to #5 and so did "She's a Fool." In 1964 "You Don't Own Me," the proto-feminist anthem that is arguably her best song, made it to #2. That same year "Maybe I Know" made it to #14 and "That's the Way the Boys Are" to #12. Even in the wake of the British Invasion ("I Want to Hold Your Hand" was #1 when "You Don't Own Me" was right behind it) she made it back to the Top 20 in 1967 with "Sunshine, Lollipops & Rainbows" and "California Nights."
You should not be surprised that she was this successful because Lesley Gore was one of the dominant female singers associated with the "girl group" sound in the early 1960s, who had Quincy Jones producing most of her early sessions and doing double-track vocals of songs written by Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry, and Marvin Hamlisch. The result is that Gore was as commercially successful a female solo singer as there was on the face of the planet during this period. Obviously we are not talking about the lady singing soul, but while other practitioners of the angst of adolescent yearning would come and go (e.g., Shelley Faberas and "Johnny Angel"), Gore personified the idea for several profitable years. The problem was that "It's My Party" and "Judy's Turn to Cry" started Gore out with the image of a whinny teenybopper and when you consider her entire catalogue those songs do not define the mainstream of her work which goes in the other direction as this hits collection amply proves.
There are only a dozen tracks on "20th Century Masters: The Best of Lesley Gore," and there are several Lesley Gore hit collections that have all of these songs and the proverbial much, much more. Consequently, they would be better buys, ergo the four-star rating. But in terms of limiting yourself to just a dozen Lesley Gore this list is perfect. That is because whoever picked the non-hits did a great job by selecting "The Look of Love," "Hey Now," and "My Town, My Guy and Me." ("I Don't Want to be a Loser" charted at #37 and "Hey Now" was at #76, so I guess I operationally define a hit as Top 40). This is a very good Lesley Gore hit collection given the limited number of tracks, but there are better out there to be found, so take that into account when deciding if this is the one you want to get it.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anything by Lesley is excellent..., June 11, 2003
By A Customer
But I would like to put in a word for the Bear 5-C.D. set. This is where we all discovered there was much more to Lesley than hit singles. With Quincy Jones she recorded dozens and dozens of unique, riveting, insinuating songs with fabulous orchestrations and soaring vocals the hits only hinted at. She also did standard pop, jazz and a lot else that's surprising and along the way alternate versions of the hits no one ever heard. The impression one can get from the double-tracked hits is there is a small voice at work here, but in the Bear set you come to realize, nope, it's a big voice. It was just small in the context of the hits. Lesley was and is utterly unique and well worth discovering even at this late date.
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