Darlene Love - So Much Love: A Darlene Love Anthology 1958-1998
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Free Music Notes for So Much Love: A Darlene Love Anthology 1958-1998
Free Music Review: Attention "Girl Group Sound" Fans And Collectors
Hit: 5 Stars
In tandem with their volume titled You Heard It Here First! which provides the initial versions of 26 songs that would later be made famous by other artists, Ace Records of London released this Darlene Love compilation which is certain to become an instant hit with those who zero in on any and all CDs chronicling aspects of the "Girl Group Sound." Of course, Darlene Love fans in general will gobble it up as well.
The 23-page booklet contains track-by-track comments written in 2008 by Mick Patrick, incorporating many thoughts and comments by Darlene herself. Also included are vintage record and poster reproductions and photos of Darlene at various stages of her career. These include one of her first group, formed while still in high school, called The Wailers. a mixed male-female quarter called The Echoes, another all-female quartet known as The Playgirls from 1959, really The Blossoms, who also recorded under several other names (e.g. Bobb B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans).
The booklet also describes the professional relationship between Darlene and the control-freak Phil Spector and how a strong-minded Darlene remained in control of her own career.
The music, of course, speaks for itself, and while you don't get her three Philles hits produced by Spector, what is here is worth every nickel. Of the 24 tracks, only 3, 4, 17 and 18 were previously unissued. On the reverse, as is usually the case with Ace, you get full label details and year of issue. Also, while most never managed to crack any charts, you will quickly hear why The Blossoms were in demand as back-up vocalists for the likes of Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & The Papas, Dionne Warwick, Paul Anka and Duane Eddy.
In fact, they were The Rebelettes on four of Eddy's hits - (Dance With The) Guitar Man, Lonely Boy, Lonely Guitar, Your Baby's Gone Surfin' and Boss Guitar, heard here at track 9. She also sang lead on two of The Crystal's biggest hits - He's A Rebel and He's Sure The Boy I Love. But of course, those were not available either thanks to Spector.
If there is one negative associated with this release, it's the text on the first 10 pages of the insert - a gray font on a green background which makes it hard to read for us old guys and gals. Don't do that again Ace.
Free Music Review: Worth Every Penny!!!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
While I've only become a fan of Darlene's music this year, this compilation has definitely deepend my love for her voice even more. True, for me it all started with the Philles recordings (which are not featured here) but if you read her autobiography (which I did!) you will realize that Philles was neither her very first, nor her very last stop on the mucial circuit. This compilation gives you one of those rare insights into her musical resume, and I highly recommend it to everybody who loves Darlene, The Blossoms, Girl Groups, or just good music in general. I mean, there aren't many places where you'll get to hear rare tracks like "Touchdown" and "Cherish What Is Dear To You (While It's Near To You)" from The Blossoms'rare 1972 album "Shockwave," or Darlene's live interpretation of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come."
All in all, this healthy rarities compilation gives the audience a rare but wonderful look into Darlene's career outside of Philles. And, it proved, to me anyway, that Darlene was in fact more than capable of making a wonderful record WITHOUT the helf of Phil Spector. I highly recommend this album, my favorites being the tracks "That's When The Tears Start," "All Alone On Christmas" (from "Home Alone 2), "Too Lat To Say You're Sorry," "So Much Love," and "Good, Good Lovin'".
Free Music Review: Fresh and awakening view
Hit: 5 Stars
If you haven't heard Darlene Love over the years from her pre-Spector and aftermath of-you are in for a treat.This cd exposes her profound ability to sound like a trumpeting soul singer with no equal.Her work with the "Blossoms" is terrific and lively,soulful and rich.
She takes mediocre and good material and makes them better than they are. My favorite is the last cut"A change is gonna come". The liner notes are great and illustrate the road-block Phil Spector put on her career.
Darlene Wright was so named Darlene "LOVE" by the wall of sound master himself.
This is a glimpse into a world of Love that is surely deserved a spot in pop history.
Free Music Review: A great CD
Hit: 5 Stars
Fun, happy, and classic music. This CD is great to listen to beginning to end. The last track is the show stopper. A live recording of "A Change Gon Come". Its worth the price of the CD just to have that song in your library. Darlene burns the place down and keeps singing Sam Cooke's classic song.Free Music Review: Long overdue
Hit: 4 Stars
Darlene Love is probably not as well known as she should despite her familiar and instantly recognizable voice, but she was widely used by Phil Spector during his legendary hit making era, along with the rest of her group The Blossoms. She sang lead on some of the biggest hits by the Crystals, and also beside Bobby Sheen in Bob B Soxx and the Blue Jeans, but had few releases under her own name (a stage name incidentally given to her by Phil Spector, as she was born Darlene Wright). She is probably best known for Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), extracted from the album A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector [Digitally Remastered By Phil Spector], on which she was the most used contributor, but this now legendary album, coinciding with the Kennedy assassination, did not sell well at the time, and was probably responsible for the start of Spector's gradual withdrawal from the music industry.
As freelance session singers, the Blossoms did not benefit from royalties from the Spector hits and were not under contract to him. They needed to make a living, but he was very unhappy about the girls singing for other labels and they were obliged to use a number of pseudonyms to hide their identities.
This collection contains nothing produced by Phil Spector, collected elsewhere, but concentrates both on their earlier and later work as the Blossoms on a number of labels, and the recordings they did make in various guises during the Spector era, with label billing crediting names such as Al Casey and the K-C-Ettes, Dick Dale and the Del Tones, the Wildcats, Moose and the Pelicans or Duane Eddy and the Rebelettes. Sometimes, as on TV Commercials by Barney Kessel, they had no billing at all. Although they made records on their own, the Blossoms were essentially session singers, backing artists on their records, on the TV show Shindig! and on the road with singers such as Jackie DeShannon or Elvis Presley, so were not too concerned over billing, though often it was the Blossoms' contribution that was the selling point of the song, especially on the novelty items such as Boss Guitar, and many of the singles on here were big hits. Three of the sixties Blossoms recordings here are previously unreleased and include a beautiful 1963 demo made for Jack Nitzsche on a song he wrote with Jackie DeShannon, Let Him Walk Away.
Darlene Love continued to be highly successful after the sixties, in Broadway musicals, Hollywood films and on record, and there are seven examples here, made between 1971 and 1997, not least a great, deliberately Spector-esque Christmas song from the film Home Alone 2 in 1993, written by Steve Van Zandt, with what sounds like the entire E Street Band on it.
Long overdue, this collection perfectly complements the Spector recordings and brings into catalogue a selection of forgotten jewels.
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