Where the Girls Are, Vol. 5

Performers include: The Pussycats, Doris Day, Aretha Franklin, Opals, Patty Michaels, Jan Tanzy, Becky & The Lollipops, Tracey Dey, Poppies, Orchids, Sandi Sheldon, Surfer Girls.
Contains 26 tracks.
As a trawl through the recesses of the Columbia vaults for obscure non-hit 1960s records in the girl group style, or at least bearing girl group influences, this is a mighty impressive labor of archivism. Only a few of these 26 tracks are by singers with major or modest reputations, those including obscurities by Aretha Franklin (a pre-stardom 1965 single, "Sweet Bitter Love"); the 1968 single "The Right to Cry" by her sister, Erma Franklin; Doris Day's "Let the Little Girl Limbo," not even released until 1997; and Laura Nyro's "Spanish Harlem," which isn't all that obscure, but what the hey, it fits, just about. There are also a couple of little-known outings by singers much better known as actresses, those being a 1967 single by Bernadette Peters and a 1968 cover of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's moody "Wasn't It You" by Peggy Lipton. The CD's also dotted with obscure songwriting efforts by the likes of Neil Diamond, Al Kooper, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry, Van McCoy, Brute Force of the Tokens, Bert Berns, and Curtis Mayfield. In keeping with the way these things often turn out, reading the stories behind these off-the-wall flops (well told in the liner notes) is more interesting than the music itself. But the music's OK, and sometimes more than OK. Cases in point include the Pussycats' Shangri-Las-like single "Dressed in Black"/"I Want Your Love"; Jan Tanzy's catchy "That New Boy in Town" (co-penned by Neil Diamond); the deep-voiced April Young's "Gonna Make Him My Baby," one of the closer Phil Spector imitations of the mid-'60s; and Sandi Sheldon's "Baby You're Mine," one of a large log of quality non-hits penned and produced by Van McCoy in his Brill Building days. Some of the later tracks on this anthology are more pop-soul than they are girl group-related, but it's no big deal; it's better to be more flexible than draw rigid stylistic boundaries, particularly if it helps a few tracks of specialized collector interest escape the vaults. ~ Richie Unterberger