[bigred]Tonight's The Night/The Shirelles Sing To Trumpets And Strings[/bigred]
[lilred]July 28, 2008[/lilred]



Product Description
The Shirelles were the door openers for the girl group sound of the early 60s. Their strongest sides stand alongside the best of anything that splendid genre has to offer.

This is the first in a series of Ace releases that will restore to catalogue the original Scepter and Pricewise vinyl albums of the Shirelles, in the same running order as issued plus bonus non-album flipsides.

This one pairs their first two albums, which include the Top 40 hits: classics such as `Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow', `Mama Said' and `Dedicated To The One I Love'... amongst others.

Despite the number of Shirelles CD reissues that precede it, around half of these tracks are making their CD debut here.

Exquisitely remastered - and in stereo where stereo tapes still exist - this CD and future releases in the series will provide the definitive Shirelles collection for anyone who wants something more than the umpteenth rehash of their Greatest Hits.

Tonight's The Night
1. Tonight's The Night
2. Johnny On My Mind
3. Lower The Flame
4. Will You Love Me Tomorrow
5. Doin' The Ronde
6. You Don't Want My Love
7. Dedicated To The One I Love
8. Boys
9. The Dance Is Over
10. Oh, What A Waste Of Love
11. Unlucky
12. Tonight At The Prom

The Shirelles Sing To Trumpets And Strings
13. Mama Said
14. What A Sweet Thing That Was
15. It's Mine
16. I Saw A Tear
17. I Don't Want To Cry
18. Rainbow Valley
19. My Willow Tree
20. The First One
21. What's Mine Is Yours
22. Without A Word Of Complaint
23. I'll Do The Same Thing Too
24. Blue Holiday

Bonus Tracks
25. Look-A-Here, Baby (Non-Album Track)
26. Please Be My Boyfriend (Non-Album Track)
27. A Teardrop And A Lollipop (Non-Album Track)

Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001B0G61K/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001B0G61K/?tag=imwan-21

Great news! Sundazed series is long OOP.

[bigred]Baby It's You/The Shirelles And King Curtis Give A Twist Party[/bigred]
[lilred]November 24, 2008[/lilred]



Product Description
The second in Ace's series of reissues of original Scepter Shirelles albums pairs the girls' third and fourth sets and adds three bonus tracks that are appropriate to their original vinyl releases.

As before, this set is mastered from the original Scepter production tapes, and in stereo where it was originally issued in stereo.

These albums were among the most successful from the girls' lengthy tenure with Scepter - featuring five Hot 100 hits and a US chart-topper in the perennial favorite, Soldier Boy.

Several tracks featuring the tenor sax (and voice) of King Curtis will give this set extra appeal to fans of R&B instrumentals - Curtis was a friend of the Shirelles and was often be found in their backing band at live shows.

The Shirelles have just celebrated 50 years in the music business by having a boulevard named after them in their native Passaic, New Jersey. Ace is happy to join in the celebration by way of this series, which presents the albums of the first great girl group just as they should be heard.

Baby It's You
1. Baby It's You
2. Things I Want To Hear (Pretty Words)
3. Big John
4. The Same Old Story
5. Voice Of Experience
6. Irresistible You
7. Soldier Boy
8. A Thing Of The Past
9. Twenty One
10. Make The Night A Little Longer
11. Twistin' USA
12. Putty In Your Hands

The Shirelles And King Curtis Give A Twist Party
13. Mama, Here Comes The Bride
14. Take The Last Train Home (Instrumental) - King Curtis
15. Welcome Home Baby
16. I Got A Woman - King Curtis
17. I Still Want You - King Curtis & The Shirelles
18. Take The Last Train Home (Vocal) - King Curtis
19. Love Is A Swinging Thing
20. Ooh Poo Pah Doo
21. New Orleans - King Curtis
22. Mister Twister
23. Potato Chips - King Curtis

Bonus Tracks
24. I Saw A Tear (Single Version)
25. Baby It's You (Mono Single Version)
26. Hurry Home To Me (Soldier Boy) - Valli

Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001HID5WY/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001HID5WY/?tag=imwan-21

Wow, they're still around! I wonder if they'll play London!

I recently purchased the first Ace Shirelles 2lps-on1cd reissue of their 1st and 2nd lps and was disappointed that the 2nd lp "Sings To Trumpets and Strings" is in mono as are the Sundazed label packages. Is there any info on the stereo content of this 2nd Shirelles package?

Also on the last song of this new package "Hurry Home To Me (Soldier Boy)" it mentions Frankie Valli involvement but I couldn't find any. Can anyone tell me where in the song is his involvement? Or perhaps instead, is the title just a dedication to him?

I don't believe there's any Frankie Valli involvement, but rather, the answer record "Hurry Home To Me (Soldier Boy)" was released by Scepter credited to the artist "Valli", with the Shirelles' original record of "Soldier Boy" sort of "sampled", in an era way before "sampling". Hence, the single is credited to "Valli and the Shirelles". Hope this helps. If anyone has any more info, please do share! (If not, I'm sure the liner notes will clear this one up, given Ace's high standards!)

According to the annoncement preceding the track listing, the set will be in stereo (with the mono single version of "Baby It's You" as one of the bonus tracks).

Eddie: I really don't mean to be picky but those notes you referred to also say "as before" (referring back to the first package) and that in the previous package the 2nd lp was entirely in mono without any advance notice. The notes also say that there will be stereo where available which may mean "now" available. Perhaps stereo tapes for the 2nd lp were lost over the years. I hope you get what I am trying to say.

Now, all of my price guides that feature the Shirelles lps all state that these were originally only released in mono which makes me wonder why we would ever expect these to now appear in stereo? This is okay, I guess, but I would think that Ace would not let us expect stereo if its not going to be there. In other words, just tell us that these albums will be in mono and be up front with it.

Does anyone know if the four Sundazed reissues are in mono?

It's possible that The Shirelles 2nd album was not issued in stereo or that the stereo masters for the set were lost. And I do agree with you that if an album is reissued in mono, there should be an advance notice. I've got the 'Baby It's You' CD from Sundazed and it's in stereo (except for the title track which is the mono single version). Since this new set has the mono single mix 'Baby It's You' offered as a bonus track, that should indicate that this release (at least the 'Baby It's You' album) should be in stereo.

I've got only one of The Shirelles reissues on Sundazed; 'Baby It's You' which is in stereo (except for the title track which is the mono single version of the song).

As for the Sundazed reissues - I have 2 of them - Foolish Little Girl and Sing To Trumpets and Strings - and they are both entirely in mono.

[bigred]Foolish Little Girl/It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World[/bigred]
[lilred]May 25, 2009[/lilred]



Product Description
Our Shirelles 2-On-1 series continues with the girls' 5th and 6th albums, both originally released in 1963 on Scepter Records.

Six US Hot 100 hits feature across these two original albums - including two songs that the girls sang in Stanley Kubrick's comedy masterpiece, It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (their only appearance on the cinema screen).

The prolific nature of Scepter's release schedule does not impact upon the quality of the recordings that the Shirelles made in their golden years. This package feature compositions by some of the best writers of the era, among them Ellie Greenwich, Ed Townsend, Van McCoy, Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio, and Sam Cooke.

As has been the case with our other volumes in this series, Ace has used the original Scepter album masters to create this CD, using real stereo where available and straight ahead mono where stereo masters no longer exist.

The inevitable plethora of label shots and associated ephemera are once again on hand to enhance the quality of presentation of this prestige series - which puts these albums out in the UK, as they were originally issued in the USA almost half a century ago, for the first time.

Foolish Little Girl
1. Foolish Little Girl
2. Hard Times
3. Abra Ka Dabra
4. What's The Matter Baby
5. I Didn't Mean To Hurt You
6. Ooh-Poo-Pa-Doo
7. Don't Say Goodnight And Mean Goodbye
8. Not For All The Money In The World
9. Only Time Will Tell
10. I Don't Think So
11. Talk Is Cheap
12. The Twitch

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
13. It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
14. The Music Goes Round And Around
15. Jive Is The Thing
16. Love On The Moon
17. You Satisfy My Soul
18. 20th Century Rock 'N' Roll
19. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
20. Everybody's Goin' Mad
21. Boys
22. Around The World
23. 31 Flavors

Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0025YLLUC/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0025YLLUC/?tag=imwan-21

[bigred]Swing The Most/Hear And Now[/bigred]
[lilred]September 28, 2009[/lilred]



Product Description
The penultimate pairing in Ace's series of 2-On-1 reissues of the original Scepter albums of the Shirelles brings together two highly acclaimed, and very rare, albums that came out on Scepter's budget label, Pricewise, during a time that the group was in litigation with the company and refused to record any new songs.

Swing The Most
1. What A Sweet Thing That Was
2. Oh No, Not My Baby
3. Get Rid Of Him
4. His Lips Get In The Way
5. That Boy Is Messin' Up My Mind
6. Why Does Every Boy Remind Me Of You
7. Foolish Little Girl
8. A Girl Is Not A Girl
9. Please Go Away
10. I Might Like It
11. What Does A Girl Do
12. Lonesome Native Girl

Hear And Now
13. Happy Birthday
14. Tonight You're Gonna Fall In Love With Me
15. Maybe Tonight
16. Make The Night A Little Longer
17. Doomsday
18. Sha-La-La
19. Don't Say Goodnight And Mean Goodbye
20. Lost Love
21. Only Time Will Tell
22. Hard Times
23. The Gospel Truth
24. Not For All The Money In The World

Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002KWLUWI/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002KWLUWI/?tag=imwan-21

That's five in all plus the Sundaze ones for mono goodness, okay, they all go to the top of the list.