The Best of the Girl Groups

Infobox Album
Name = The Best of the Girl Groups, Vol. 1
Type = Compilation
Artist = Various


Released = 1990
Recorded =
Genre = Girl group
Length =
Label = Rhino
Producer = Bill Inglot
Reviews = *(Vol.1) Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://wm07.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fnfpxqlgldje~T1 link]
*(Vol. 2)Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://wm07.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gnfpxqlgldje~T1 link]
Misc = Extra album cover 2 | Upper caption = The Best of the Girl Groups, Vol. 2 | Type = Compilation album |

"The Best of the Girl Groups" is a 2-volume compilation series released by Rhino Records in 1990. The collection, compiling 36 of the better known tracks by girl groups of the 1960s, shares spot #422 in"Rolling Stone Magazine's" list of "Greatest Albums of All Time". [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6626805/422_the_best_of_the_girl_groups_volumes_1_and_2 The Best of the Girl Groups: Volumes 1 and 2] Rolling Stone Magazine online. (November 1 2003). Accessed November 1 2007.] Music journalist Robert Christgau includes the compilation in his "core collection" for an essential rock library of music preceding 1980. [Christgau, Robert. (1990) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg80/rocklib.php Rock library before 1980] Excerpted from "Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s". Christgau official website. Accessed November 1 2007.] "Entertainment Weekly" described the first volume as "a veritable catalog of the era's romantic attitudes". [ [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,318242,00.html Recordings at a glance] EW.com. (September 28 1990). Accessed November 1 2007.] "The New York Times" recommends both volumes, in conjunction with Rhino's "Girl Group Greats", for listeners seeking "the biggest girl-group hits". [Staff. (November 25 2005). [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/25/arts/music/25spop.html The good, the rare and the nostalgic in boxed sets] "The New York Times". Accessed November 1 2007.]

ong selection

The compilation collects a broad range of the era's well-known hits, featuring seven #1 hit singles and an additional 14 top ten hits among its 36 tracks, but it includes lesser-known material as well, enough—according to All Music—to "keep the collection interesting for more serious fans of girl group pop". [allmusicguide |id=10:fnfpxqlgldje~T1|label=The Best of the Girl Groups, Vol. 1] The collection includes two representative tracks of Ellie Greenwich, a prolific charting songwriter whose own material solo and with The Raindrops was often overlooked.allmusicguide|id=33:hzfqxz8hldfe|label=You Don't Know] The included solo single "You Don't Know" was described by journalist Alan Betrock in his book "Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound" as "the kind of record that not only transcends and expands the boundaries that come to mind when someone says, 'Girl-group record,' but...also can stand alone, totally unique and unmatched by any other competition". "I Can't Let Go", a 1966 song by Evie Sands which did not chart, was critically described as "superb" though the song failed to capture popular interest until covered by The Hollies a year later. [allmusicguide |id=11:kpfrxq95ldke~T1|label+Evie Sands] "The One You Can't Have" is one of several "outstanding" singles by popular backing vocalists The Honeys that failed to achieve commercial success.allmusicguide |id=11:jpfwxqt5ldae|label=The Honeys] Cher's brush with the girl group genre is also represented, by the 1965 "Dream Baby", a "girl group classic" if not a charting single. [allmusicguide |id=10:0ifuxqw5ldde~T0|All I Really Want to Do]

Track listing

"The Best of the Girl Groups, Volume 1"

"The Best of the Girl Groups, Volume 2"

Personnel

Performance

*The Ad Libs – performer
**Hugh Harris
**Danny Austin
**Norman Donegan
**Mary Ann Thomas
**Dave Watt
**Michael Powers
*The Angels – performer
**Barb Allbut
**Phyllis "Jiggs" Allbut
**Peggy Santiglia
**Linda Jansen
*The Caravelles – performer
**Andrea Simpson
**Lois Wilkinson
*Cher – performer
*The Chiffons – performer
**Patricia Bennett
**Judy Craig
**Barbara Lee Jones
**Sylvia Peterson
*Claudine Clark – performer
*The Cookies – performer
**Margie Hendrix
**Dorothy Jones
**Ethel "Earl-Jean" McCrea
**Patricia Lyles
**Margaret Ross
*Skeeter Davis – performer
*The Dixie Cups – performer
**Barbara Anne Hawkins
**Rosa Lee Hawkins
**Joan Marie Johnson
**Dale Mickle
*The Essex – performer
**Rodney Taylor
**Rudolph Johnson
**Anita Humes
**Walter Vickers
**Billy Hill
*Betty Everett – performer
*The Exciters – performer
**Carol Johnson
**Skip McPhee
**Ronnie Pace
**Brenda Reid
**Lillian Walker
**Sylvia Wilbur
**Herb Rooney
*Ellie Greenwich – performer
*The Honeys – performer
**Ginger Blake
**Diane Rovell
**Marilyn Rovell
**Barbara Rovell
*The Jaynetts – performer
**Yvonne Bushnell
**Ethel Davis
**Ada Ray
**Johnnie Louise Richardson
**Mary Sue Wells
**Zelma Sanders
*The Jelly Beans – performer
**Charles Thomas
**Alma Brewer
**Elyse Herbert
**Maxine Herbert
**Diane Taylor
*Carole King – performer
*Little Eva – performer
*The Murmaids – performer
**Carol Fischer
**Terry Fischer
**Sally Gordon
*The Paris Sisters – performer
**Albeth Paris
**Priscilla Paris
*The Raindrops – performer
**Ellie Greenwich
**Jeff Barry
*Evie Sands – performer
*The Shangri-Las – performer
**Marge Ganser
**Mary Anne Ganser
**Betty Weiss
**Mary Weiss
*The Shirelles – performer
**Doris Coley
**Addie Harris
**Beverley Lee
**Shirley Owens
*Joanie Sommers – performer
*The Toys – performer
**June Montiero
**Barbara Parritt
**Barbara Harris
*Robin Ward – performer

Production

*Sevie Bates – design
*Irwin Chusid – liner notes
*Geoff Gans – art direction
*Bill Inglot – producer, transfers, digital preparation
*Michael Ochs – photography
*Ken Perry – transfers, digital preparation
*Gary Stewart – compilation

References