Big Town Girls

October is a great month for all of those attached to what has been called the Girl Group Sound, that which captured the hearts of AM Radio listeners in the early 60s and culminated in the rousing success of the Supremes. There were, of course, other cultural heirs or heiresses as the case may be, such as Labelle, The Pointer Sisters, TLC, Destiny’s Child, Sister Sledge et al. The Girl Group Sound, however, had a mini-era all its own between Elvis Presley, Chapter One and Beatlemania. It could be speculated that the Kennedy assassination had strong cultural implications for the USA and it certainly paved the way for the British Invasion.

In 1963 there were great gems like "One Fine Day" by the Chiffons, "Heat Wave" by Martha and the Vandellas, "Da Doo Ron Ron" by the Crystals among many others. Phil Spector, Motown, Cameo-Parkway and the Brill Building writers all did their best to maintain the music. Obviously it was music sung by young women who had trouble adjusting to their hormones or sometimes not but there was more to it than that. It was music rooted in Black Culture with the call and response that came from work songs and spirituals, never better secularized and commercialized in songs like Heat Wave.

Sometimes the umbrella is much too broad for this nomenclature in that those who organize these compilations simply include anyone who was female that sang in the 60s, but that is easily forgivable. Those who have an addiction to this type of music go for it anyway.

Rhino Records via WEA Distribution will release a four CD box set entitled Girl Group Sounds, Lost & Found notable for two reasons, it includes performers who don’t belong here, e.g. Cilla Black and Connie Francis and it has some hard to find gems, one of which is Ms. Francis’ “Don’t Ever Leave Me” a uncharacteristic foray into the Brill Building sound for her written by Ellie Greenwich.

There is also the hitherto unavailable Shirley Matthews’ “Big Town Boy” written by Ed Rambeau. (Look for him in the music section of Column of Life website as well as his own.) It’s a big song with a big sound by Shirley and the Big Town Girls. With this release at least there is the opportunity to hear great female singers like Madeline Bell, Julie Driscoll, Syreeta Wright and Evie Sands whose “Anyway You Want Me” finally made it into an accessible import reissue, here there is her “Take Me For a Little While.”

Here’s the distributor blurb:

It’s the kiss that will be heard ‘round the world: Rhino salutes the fabulous girl group genre with what is – amazingly and historically – the first boxed set ever to do so! This supersized set collection luxuriates through almost five hours of the plethora of sounds, styles, and subjects that represent the beautiful, vibrant and influential music women were making in the early to mid-60s. A footnote to the pop and rock of the day no longer, the raw emotion and spirited savvy of girl group greatness finally gets its due. Compilation producer Sheryl Farber notes: ‘Fans have always known how rich and varied this music is – how the sound encompasses soul, garage, Bacharach-style pop, countrypolitan, the British take on the American girl group sound, and more.”

The Marketing points that follow include a campaign with a gay focus (Really?) in top 10 markets and Listening Parties on AOL, MSN/Windows, Media and Quicktime.