Always Heavenly: The Paris Sisters Anthology

The Paris Sisters were around for nearly a decade prior to "I Love How You Love Me," the 1961 Phil Spector-produced single that gave them their first (and only) Billboard Top Ten hit while also forever tagging them as a girl group. The trio certainly was a girl group by all commonly accepted definitions of the term -- they were produced by Spector, one of the chief architects of the sound, and they specialized in ornate, feminine harmonies -- but they always felt a bit like a throwback to pre-rock & roll pop, more Andrews Sisters than the Supremes. Ace's 2016 collection Always Heavenly: The Paris Sisters Anthology doesn't dispel this notion but that's not because its 25 tracks find space for sides recorded prior to "I Love How You Love Me." Its selling point is how it extends into the late '60s, collecting tracks the group recorded for Reprise, Sidewalk, Capitol, and MGM, cuts that show how the trio always retained its sweet, anodyne chemistry no matter the setting. They don't seem to change with the times: the world seems to change around them. This placid malleability turns this thorough career anthology into a bit of a pop curio, evidence of how the mainstream could remain the same despite all the turmoil of the '60s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine