“Baby It’s You” by The Shirelles - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1962Album Chart of the Decade: 1960s

TJR says

Leads off with the smash-hit title-track which is perhaps a tad cheesy on the rhythm, but has terrific vocal harmonies and features more action for the “Telstar” organ; “set it to the max” says Luther! “Things I Want to Hear (Pretty Words)” reverts back to that lovely strings-laden pop formula that we’ve come to associate with Scepter’s Shirelles. “Big John (Ain’t You Gonna Marry Me)” steps it up with a tasty R n B groove. Album highlight “Voice of Experience” also appears on Side 1 – the politics of teen romance are what a Shirelles record is all about: “Now, don't you kiss him on your very first date (Listen to the voice of experience), Girl, now, don't you kiss him till you make him wait (Listen to the voice of experience)” And if those licks and tricks do not have their square roots in Barbara George’s “I Know” then I’m a freeform Jazz lover. Side 2 opener, “Soldier Boy”, is another winner, despite being built on a slightly cheesy dum-de-dum beat. Such are the mystical powers of the fabulous Shirelles vocals. It strikes me when “Twenty One” is playing that there have been more straight-ahead R n B rhythms on this Shirelles LP than any other; it’s a very refreshing album as it veers from style to style. That said, I could have done without the girls jumping on the Rock n Roll twist craze cliché via “Twisting in the USA”. This low-point is immediately put to rights with the final track, “Putty in Your Hands”, a sexy little R n B groover which, ironically, makes for a much better twist. It’s a fantastic end to yet another good Shirelles album; their most varied yet.

The Jukebox Rebel
28–Dec–2008

Tracklist
A1 [02:43] 6.9.png The Shirelles - Baby It’s You [single version] (Burt Bacharach, Mack David, Barney Williams) Pop
A2 [02:14] 5.5.png The Shirelles - Irresistible You (Al Kasha, Luther Dixon) Blues / Rhythm n Blues
A3 [02:42] 6.5.png The Shirelles - Things I Want To Hear (Pretty Words) (Fred Anisfield, Willie Denson) Pop
A4 [02:20] 7.1.png The Shirelles - Big John (Ain’t You Gonna Marry Me) (John Patton, Amiel Summers, Titus Turner) Blues / Rhythm n Blues
A5 [02:21] 5.7.png The Shirelles - The Same Old Story (Luther Dixon) Pop
A6 [02:20] 8.4.png The Shirelles - Voice Of Experience (Edward Snyder, John Patton) Blues / Rhythm n Blues
B1 [02:42] 7.3.png The Shirelles - Soldier Boy (Florence Greenberg, Luther Dixon) Pop Ballad
B2 [02:39] 6.6.png The Shirelles - A Thing Of The Past (Bob Brass, Irwin Levine) Pop
B3 [02:02] 6.7.png The Shirelles - Twenty One (Luther Dixon, Edgil A. Reed) Blues / Rhythm n Blues
B4 [02:32] 5.1.png The Shirelles - Make The Night A Little Longer (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) Pop Ballad
B5 [01:54] 4.9.png The Shirelles - Twisting In The USA (Kal Mann) Rock n Roll / Rockabilly
B6 [02:29] 8.2.png The Shirelles - Putty In Your Hands (John Patton, Kay Rogers) Blues / Rhythm n Blues

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