Search - Girl Group Sound-25 All-Tim :: Girl Group Sound: 25 All Time G.H. From Red Bird

Best Red Bird/Blue Cat comp

Zub | Forks Twp., PA | 11/11/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Varese Vintage has put together an outstanding compilation of girl group sounds garnered from the vaults of George Golner's Red Bird/Blue Cat/Daisy/Tiger family of labels. With the songwriting and producing strength of the Brill Building team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich behind many of the Red Bird tunes, mid-60s playlists were full of stuff coming out of this indie label. Several of these tracks have become signature songs of the era - read "Chapel Of Love" and "Remember Walking In The Sand" among others. This compilation gathers up many of the biggest hits from Red Bird and throws in several rarities and b-sides to keep the mix interesting. Among these are Roddie Joy's "Come Back Baby" and Bessie Banks' pre-Moody Blues "Go Now". Best of all, many of these tracks appear in true stereo whereas most of them have only been previously available in muffled mono. The sonic improvement is astounding in many cases. Tracks 1,2,4,5,7,11,13,15,17,18,21 and 25 are in stereo with the remainder in mono. An eight-page booklet featuring a backround history of the label with several pics accompanies the disc. While many of the songs on this disc have appeared previously on a multi-disc set from Charly records of the U.K., the sound quality there was marginal. This production gives all new life to many of these songs and is well worth purchasing for the sonic experience alone. Taragon Records also has a disc of Red Bird/Blue Cat recordings and since there is a lot of duplication, that CD is a worthwhile purchase if you are not interested in the lesser hits of Red Bird. The sound quality is likewise, superb and it contains a few non-girl group sides not on the Varese piece. Also, on the Varese disc are two bonus tracks, and if you like these kinds of surprises, read no further. For those who want to know, these tracks are the Jelly Beans' version of "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and the Raindrops' (Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich) "Another Boy Like Mine"."

Excellent comp, but back to mono!

Thomas Bumbera | Maplewood, NJ USA | 05/29/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Both the well-known and little-heard efforts of the Greenwich-Barry collaborations are here and it's a must-own for 60s girl group collectors. Unlike the other reviewers, I didn't at all care for the stereo mixes; most of these tracks were never meant to be heard in this fashion. The immediacy and impact of the mono mixes is far superior to my ears, so I've docked the review one star for messing with perfection!"

Fix the track list!!

Mike | Youngstown, Ohio United States | 09/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"C'mon Amazon! Only the first four tracks have the artists credited properly. Everything from that point on is FUBAR. How about fixing it?"