1. The Chantels - Look In My Eyes
One of my all time favourite girl group tracks. The harmonies and melodies come together in such a beautiful way, making it just perfect for a slow dance.
2. Darlene Love - Today I Met The Boy I'm Going To Marry
I couldn’t create a playlist like this without including at least one Phil Spector track, and this one’s a classic. Spector was the originator of the Wall of Sound and a pioneer of the girl group. Darlene Love who lends her vocals to this song also sang lead on another Spector produced track called 'He's a Rebel' but it was released as being recorded by The Crystals who couldn't make the original recording. They took the recognition for the track Love recorded and all because Spector wanted to rush release the single!
3. The Fantastic Vantastics - Gee What A Boy
Not strictly a girl group as the vocals were in fact courtesy of Sandi Sheldon (a woman) AND Van McCoy (a man) but you'd never tell there was a guy on there.
4. Noreen Corcoran - Dreamin' Of You
Noreen was first and foremost an actress with her music career taking a bit of a back seat. But I do know that this one, along with three other tracks, was a little bit special as they were all recorded at Phil Spectors favourite studio, Gold Star in LA using some of his session musicians. There were a lot of producers around at the time who were trying to cut records that copied the Wall of Sound. Sadly the studio burned down in the 80s, I would've loved to have visited it when it was still there.
5. The Bobbettes - My Dearest
I can’t tell you much about this group so I’ll let the track do the talking, but what I do know is it’s another great slow dance number.
Top five 60s girl groups songs to break up to:
This is a slightly more psychedelic take on the girl group sound. I remember picking up the re-release of their 'More Of' album years ago when I worked at EMI and instantly falling in love with their sound and look. They backed up Jimi Hendrix on 'Electric Ladyland' and were friends with bands like Traffic and The Soft Machine. There's a great clip of them performing this track on Youtube, Jeanette stands stock still while the other two dance on the spot (scroll down to see).
2. The Angels - Get Away From Me
Such a great track. I don't think this is the same group called The Angels who recorded the hit record 'My Boyfriends Back' but I might be wrong, either way its one of the greatest girl group tracks and loaded with attitude.
3. Valerie Masters - He Didn't Fool Me
Valerie, like Noreen Corcoran was an actress as well as a singer and this track was one of a few she recorded at the start of her career. It’s the work of English producer Joe Meek who created his own unique sound this side of the pond while Spector did his thing in the States. Sadly she never recorded an album but she did record nine singles in total, five of which I'm still trying to find…
4. The Whyte Boots - Nightmare
This is a pretty dark track lyrically, it’s about a bunch of girls who beat another girl to death simply because they suspect her of stealing one of their boyfriends. The song was originally offered to the queens of the dark girl group record, The Shangri-Las but they turned it down, perhaps it was a step too far.
5. Jenny and the Rascals - You Told Me A Lie
Jenny And The Rascals were heavily influenced by a male group called Them which may be why the vocal on this record is kind of raw and bluesy. The Beatles manager Brian Epstein wanted Jenny to come to England to form a sort of female Beatles but she turned him down and stayed playing with the rest of the group in her native Holland.
Words: Ruth Donegan, Houdini's Picnic.
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PS - on Ruth's tip off, we had a look at the video of The Cake performing You Can Have Him. It's pretty cool, check it out right here:
