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Various Artists - The Red Bird Story

Track listing:
Volume 1
  1. Bossa Nova Baby - Tippie & The Clovers 2:06
  2. My Heart Said (The Bossa Nova) - Tippie & The Clovers 2:44
  3. Big Bad World - Cathy Saint 2:36
  4. Mr. Heartbreak - Cathy Saint 2:39
  5. Everybody Come Clap Your Hands - Moody & The Deltas 2:46
  6. He Ain't No Angel - Leola & The Lovejoys 2:50
  7. I Won't Be Me Any More - Vic Conna 2:48
  8. Go Now - Bessie Banks 2:43
  9. It Sounds Like My Baby - Bessie Banks 3:08
  10. The Boy From New York City - Ad Libs 3:04
  11. Searchin' - Alvin Robinson 2:43
  12. Somthin' You Got - Alvin Robinson 2:34
  13. Chapel Of Love - Dixie Cups 2:46
  14. I Want To Love Him So Bad - Jelly Beans 2:45
  15. I Know He Loves Me - Chi Chi Mccauley 1:59
  16. Top Down Time - Rock Aways 2:08
  17. Keep It Up - Soul Brothers 2:19
  18. I Got A Dream - Soul Brothers 3:00
  19. People Say - Dixie Cups 2:34
  20. How Can I Get Over Yo - Alvin Robinson 3:04
  21. I'm Gonna Put Some Hurt On You - Alvin Robinson 1:48
  22. Remember (Walkin' In The Sand) - Shangri-Las 2:19
  23. Goodnight Baby - Butterflies 2:36
  24. Down Home Girl - Alvin Robinson 3:04
  25. Let The Good Times Roll - Alvin Robinson 2:25
Volume 2
  1. Bottom Of My Soul - Alvin Robinson 2:40
  2. Fever - Alvin Robinson 3:18
  3. Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget - The Jelly Beans 2:18
  4. Baby Be Mine The Jelly Beans - Baby Be Mine The Jelly Beans 3:00
  5. Ask Anybody - Ad Libs 2:19
  6. He Ain't No Angel - Ad Libs 2:33
  7. Welcome To My Heart - The Bouquets 2:09
  8. Having A Party - Ronnie Mitchell 2:27
  9. Bad As They Come - Sam Hawkins 2:35
  10. Hold On Baby - Sam Hawkins 2:49
  11. The Dum Dum Ditty - The Goodies 2:26
  12. Sophisticated Boom Boom - The Goodies 2:02
  13. Standing By - Dee Dee Warwick 2:32
  14. Don't Think My Baby's Coming Back - Dee Dee Warwick 2:49
  15. Leader Of The Pack - Shangri-Las 2:51
  16. What Is Love - Shangri-Las 2:25
  17. Take Me For A Little While - Evie Sands 2:32
  18. Run Home To Your Mama - Evie Sands 2:29
  19. I Know It's Alright - Sam Hawkins 2:49
  20. Amy - Barry Mann 2:02
  21. Gee, Baby Gee - The Butterflies 2:39
  22. I Wonder - The Butterflies 3:02
  23. Little Bell - Dixie Cups 2:46
  24. Another Boy Like Mine - Dixie Cups 2:51
  25. Give Him A Great Big Kiss - Shangri-Las 2:05
Volume 4
  1. Hey Little Girl - Jimmie Cross 2:21
  2. I Can Never Go Home Anymore - Shangri-Las 3:15
  3. Sophisticated Boom Boom - Shangri-Las 2:10
  4. Long Live Our Love - Shangri-Las 2:53
  5. He Cried - Shangri-Las 3:08
  6. Dressed In Black - Shangri-Las 2:56
  7. It Will Only Make Me Love You More - Ral Donner 2:33
  8. He Will Break Your Heart - Kane & Abel 2:31
  9. Past, Present And Future - Shangri-Las 2:43
  10. Paradise - Shangri-Las 3:14
  11. Love You More Than Yesterday - Shangri-Las 2:39
  12. Mary Weiss Speaks - Mary Weiss 5:21
  13. Let The Music Play - Didi Noel 2:04
  14. It Was A Lie - Bobby Moore & The Fourmosts 2:30
  15. Dressed In Black - Shadow Morton 2:54
  16. Chapel Of Love (Session Take) - The Jelly Beans 4:12
  17. Here She Comes (Session Take) - The Jelly Beans 2:35
  18. Ain't Love A Funny Thing (Session Take) - The Jelly Beans 2:32
  19. Whisper Sweet Things (Session Take) - The Jelly Beans 2:45
  20. Goodnight Baby (Session Take) - The Jelly Beans 3:06
  21. Do Wah Diddy (Session Take) - The Jelly Beans 2:38

Notes


Red Bird was a great label in the mid-'60s, releasing some excellent soul/pop hybrids and some of the greatest girl group records of all time, especially those by the Shangri-Las and the Dixie Cups. This four-CD, 96-track compilation is a frustratingly mixed attempt to enshrine its legacy. There are lots of great sides here: all the Shangri-Las and Dixie Cups hits, many of their rarities, one-shots by the Ad Libs, Jelly Beans, Butterflies, and Tradewinds, and cool rarities by Bessie Banks, Dee Dee Warwick, Evie Sands, Ellie Greenwich, the Soul Brothers, Cathy Saint, Linda Jones, and Andy Kim. But the programming is unnervingly jumpy and haphazard, the liner notes surprisingly fuzzy (no information whatsoever is given about many of the lesser-known artists), and, in the absence of master tapes, some of the cuts were obviously taken from records. And for all its length, it's not even a complete collection of Red Bird's output; some songs that were excluded had even surfaced on previous Charly vinyl anthologies. There's still a lot of great music here, but the execution could have been a lot better.