« When I think of “Girl Group” records, I hone in on the early 1960s groups like The Ronettes, The Angels, Martha and the Vandellas, The Supremes and the Shangri-Las. I keep forgetting the “sister” acts from the 1940s and 50s like the McGuire Sisters, The King Sisters, The Lennon Sisters and (back as early as 1931) the Boswell Sisters. This neat three CD, 80-track set from the French reissue label Fremeaux and Associates puts it all together in one nice package with really clean sound (stereo in the later years).
Because of European rights issues, the recordings stop at 1962, so you want hear the later hits by the Supremes, but what I like is that you get to hear British “Girl groups” who recorded in the UK and were never played in the US, and some are really “gems”. And, even US artists, are represented by songs that were not hits and you may be hearing for the first time. Take, for example, the Ronettes. The two tracks here are “ I’m on The Wagon” and “Silhouettes”.. Neither is from the Philles label. The first was released on Colpix, the second (a cover of the hit by the Rays) on the small May label. There are two by the Supremes (neither “hits”) with Florence Ballard taking the lead (and Diana Ross and Mary Wilson plus Barbara Martin – who left the group when they slimmed down to a trio – on backing vocals). The early years (1940s and 1950 included groups new to me (and I collect records from the 1900s on) like The Peters Sisters, The Paulette Sisters and The Queens.
Some of the Fremeaux sets have most of liner notes in French. For this collection 10 of the 20 pages have useful notes in English. And, there is full discographic info too.
I still love my Rhino “Girl Group” box (in an imitation hat box!), but this one will make a nice companion to it. If you are a fan of “girl groups” – whether sisters or not – I think you’ll like this. I sure did! »
By Steve RAMM - "Anything Phonographic"
