Various Artists: Growin' Up Too Fast: The Girl Group Anthology (Disc 1) CD Track Listing

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Various Artists Growin' Up Too Fast: The Girl Group Anthology (Disc 1) (1996)
Growin' Up Too Fast: The Girl Group Anthology - Disc 1 of 2\n1996 Mercury Records, Inc.\n\nOriginally Released June 18, 1996 \n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: A two-CD, 50-song collection of girl group hits and misses originally released on the MGM, Smash, Philips, Fontana, 20th Century Fox, and Mercury labels in the early and mid-'60s. It's nice to have some of these rarities easily available in state-of-the-art fidelity, but it's not one of the best girl group compilations around, in terms of either thematic coherence or consistent quality. The hits by the Shangri-Las, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, the Angels, and the Royalettes are good to great, but are better heard in the context of their own compilations. Much of the rest -- by obscure singers like Ginny Arnell, the Pixies Three, and Beverly Washburn -- is pleasant but rather forgettable. There are some really neat one-shots and lost classics here, though, like Diane Renay's Top Ten hit, "Navy Blue," and her flop follow-up, "Watch Out, Sally!," is one of the toughest white girl group records ever. Also cool are the Secrets' "The Boy Next Door" (an Angels sound-alike) and the two songs by Sadina, which are among the best unknown Wall-of-Sound-type productions ever. -- Richie Unterberger\n\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nFrom Mercury comes this collection commemorating the sound celebrated some years back by Grease. The spirit of a young, voluptuous, and conflicted Stockard Channing lives on in these discs, which celebrate the Shangri-Las, the Angels, Lesley Gore, Connie Francis, Dusty Springfield, the Honeybees, the Paris Sisters, and others. Listen to a song like Ginny Arnell's "Dumb Head" and you may come to understand how all this fussing about boyfriends ("The Boy Next Door," "Wonder Boy," "Hey, Big Boy," "I Want That Boy," "That's What Boys Are") actually represented feminism in its prenatal stage. Once you've proclaimed you're a "dumb head" with "a peanut for a brain"--well, it's time to examine your self-image and social status a bit and perhaps explore alternative lifestyles. What do you want to bet a disproportionate number of girl-group singers went on to publicly burn their bras in the years after these singles were recorded? --Steven Stolder\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nIts Imperfections Make It Perfect, October 12, 2003 \nBy Wayne Ferrier (Endicott, NY USA)\nThis is my all time favorite Oldies CD. The two songs by Ginny Arnell alone are worth the price of the set. This quality recording does not waste your money on songs everyone has heard too many times before. Nor is it a collection of obscure songs that ought to remain obscure-this is a collection of forgotten gems that deserve rediscovering. \n\nAnother great find in this collection are a couple of songs sung by Kenni Woods, a.k.a. Kendra Spotswood, a.k.a. Sandi Sheldon who recorded with The Four Buddies, The Pacettes, Jack & Jill, The Vonettes and The Fantastic Vantastics. Kendra's voice ranks right up there with the beautiful timbre of Karen Carpenter and Marilyn McCoo. \nNot everything on here is great but most of it is. And if it isn't that wonderful it was intentionally included to illustrate something. This set teaches as well as entertains. If you have any interest at all in the music of the early sixties you should give this album a listen, and if you are into the Girl Group era than this album is essential. \n\nHey Dianne, you were wrong. We did indeed grow up too fast, but a least we have memories. See you on Glenwood Avenue! \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nGirl Group Grandeur Grows Up Too Fast on 2CD Set, July 19, 2003 \nBy Anthony G Pizza "trivialtony" (FL)\nThis intriguing, inconsistent collection focuses on the "girl group" sound which dominated the early, pre-Beatle 1960s. Its images are of white boots, bouffant hairdos, New Yawk accents, singing melodramatic or nonsensical choruses in songs about chasing or crying after boys. Thanks to "Happy Days" and "Grease," this epitomizes how most see the era 40 years later.\n\nBut Mercury/Polygram Records focused here on its own label family (MGM, Phillips), rather than lease genre classics from the Chiffons, Crystals, or groups whose producers (Phil Spector, George Goldner) are feted in Don Charles' liner notes. But some names better known for later work (Quincy Jones, Bob Crewe, Nick Venet) are well-represented.\n\nIn the end, you get some sterling singles: the Angels' "My Boyfriend's Back," (no room for "Till"?) "Leader of the Pack," Leslie Gore's "Maybe I Know," Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You," the Royalettes' magical, original "It's Gonna Take A Miracle." \n\nBut you also get an inordinate amount of mid-chart and failed singles, most out of print for the better part of 30 years. You get four tunes from the Pixies Three, who imitate Spector's and the Orlons' hits of the era. You get mid-chart minor singles by the Paris Sisters (whose "I Love How You Love Me" is missed here), Diane Renay and Connie Francis, along with B-sides like Leslie Gore's "Wonder Boy." To say it all sounds campy now tells but half the story. It was campy then, too.\n\nCrewe, who produced the great strong of 60s Four Seasons' singles, states in Charles' liner notes, "Girl group music is a call back to times that were less troubled...there's a youthful frivolity here that's legitimate." Indeed, even amid the sugar frosted flakes dominating "Growing Up Too Fast," enough of these tough-talking or hopelessly devoted classics gather beloved rock and roll history from among its discards. Recommended, but check the more substantial Girl Group collection series on Rhino, featuring the Shirelles, Dixie Cups and other girl group standards. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nAwesome!!!, January 14, 2003 \nBy Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com (...in Middle America)\nThis 2-CD set full of girl group classics and oddities is, quite simply, one of the best and most enjoyable girl group comps out there. A sweet cross-slice of a particular brand of American teen culture... If you don't have it in you to spring the big bucks for the all those fetishistic European imports, but still want something that'll make you crank the volume and turn up the treble, this is about as good a collection as you could ask for. Plus it's got Ginny Arnell's super-dooper backlash anthem, "Dumb Head", a deliciously sexist novelty tune which is worth the price of admission alone. Highly recommended. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nShould have been 5 stars, February 3, 2002 \nBy Zub "Zubenelgenubi" (North Plainfield, NJ)\nWhile there have been lots of girl-group collections that have come and gone in the CD reissue market, it is unusual to see one of the major labels take on this type of product. Here, Polygram, with its monstrous family of labels' vaults to extract from, has put together a two-disc, 50-track collection of girl-group sounds unlike many of the others seen in the market. Only half of the included tracks actually made it into the top 100. The other half represents minor charting sides, failed singles and b-sides. Even with the hits, making the mix more interesting is the inclusion of lesser hits by the big-name artists - Lesley Gore's "Look Of Love", the Angels' "Wow Wow Wee" and Diane Renay's "Kiss Me Sailor" - to name a few. Even more welcome is the appearance of hits seldom, if ever, found elsewhere represented by the likes of the Secrets' "The Boy Next Door", the Pixies Three's "Cold Cold Winter" and "442 Glenwood Avenue" and two of the most underappreciated soul sides - the Teddy Randazzo-produced (of Little Anthony and the Imperials "Goin' Out Of My Head" fame) Royalettes' "I Want To Meet Him" and "It's Gonna Take A Miracle". With all this going for it, this collection should have been a spectacular accomplishment. Frustratingly, the producers opted to go with the mono versions of all the tracks inexplicably except for two, yet many of these tracks exist in good stereo versions. Beyond that disappointment, this is a superb piece and should be the target of anyone interested in the music of the era. A 32-page booklet accompanies the discs with lots of pics and backround on the artists and tracks included. In spite of the misdirected descision to forego stereo versions here and the repertoire being limited to the albeit diverse but Polygram family-only sides, this collection represents a phenomenal tour through the girl-group genre so much a part of the music of the early 60s. Definitely high on the list of essential pieces for fans of the genre. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nGood News / Bad News, August 2, 1998 \nBy A Customer\nFirst the bad news: I was disappointed that only two tracks out of the fifty are in true stereo. I have never heard of about half of these songs so I don't know whether some of these were ever recorded/released in true stereo. However, I know for a fact that many of these songs were released in stereo. Example, all five Leslie Gore songs on the CD set are in mono. This is inexcusable. Leslie Gore re-issues have easily been available in stereo for over thirty years. The same goes for many others songs on this CD set. If stereo is not important to you, then of course this is not bad news.\n\nGood news: There is some rare stuff on this CD set that you would have trouble finding anywhere else. "Please Don't Talk To The Lifeguard" by Diane Ray is very rare and it is one of the two songs in true stereo. I have never heard this song re-issued domestically since it was released in 1963. This is a favorite of mine. I have only heard it re-issued on a ! couple of imports that sounded horrible. However, the sound quality here for this song is good enough to have come from the master tape. Also, "442 Glenwood Avenue" (mono) is also a rare find, as are the other Pixies Three songs. I will assume many of the other songs are rare since I have never heard them before. The only other song in true stereo is "Can't He Take A Hint?" \n\n\nHalf.com Album Notes\nProducers include: Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer (disc 1, tracks 1, 20; disc 2, tracks 8, 25); Shadow Morton (disc 1, tracks 2, 15, 25; disc 2, tracks 1, 14, 23); Danny Davis (disc 1, track 3); Bob Crewe (disc 1, tracks 4, 22; disc 2, tracks 12, 24); Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Russ Titelman (disc 1, track 5); Jerry Kennedy (disc 1, track 6; disc 2, track 7); Quincy Jones (disc 1, tracks 8, 16, 23; disc 2, tracks 10, 22); Teddy Randazzo (disc 1, track 9; disc 2, track 18); Johnny Madara, David White (disc 1, tracks 10, 12-13, 18, 24; disc 2, tracks 4, 16-17, 19); Jim Vienneau, Danny Davis (disc 1, track 11); Johnny Franz (disc 1, track 14; disc 2, track 2); Mike Curb (disc 1, track 21); Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich (disc 2, track 5); Gerry Goffin, Carole King (disc 2, track 9); Nick Venet (disc 2, track 11); Van McCoy (disc 2, track 13); Al Kasha (disc 2, track 20); Pam Sawyer, Lori Burton (disc 2, track 21).\n\nCompilation producer: Bas Hartong.\nIncludes liner notes by Don Charles.\nDigitally remastered by Gary Mayo (PolyGram Studios).\n\nIndustry Reviews\n7 (out of 10) - ...a perfect reminder that, for a while, the secret, dark-eyed diaries of teenage girls the world over came to life immaculately in song.\nNME (09/21/1996)\n\n4 Stars - Excellent - Three decades after...they were recorded, they sound simulatneously of their time yet equally timeless....awesomely potent.\nQ (10/01/1996)\n\n3 Stars - Good - ...GROWIN' UP is a sort of NUGGETS of girl groups, documenting the forgotten fringe of a cultural moment...\nRolling Stone (09/19/1996)
This misc cd contains 25 tracks and runs 62min 3sec.
Freedb: 620e8919
Buy: from Amazon.com

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