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The Shirelles - Anthology 1959-1964 (1964)

Track listing:
  1. Dedicated To The One I Love 2:07
  2. Tonight's The Night 2:03
  3. Will You Love Me Tomorrow 2:44
  4. Boys 2:11
  5. Mama Said 2:12
  6. A Thing Of The Past 2:38
  7. What A Sweet Thing That Was 2:30
  8. Big John 2:30
  9. Baby It's You 2:41
  10. Soldier Boy 2:42
  11. Stop The Music 2:15
  12. Everybody Loves A Lover 2:44
  13. Foolish Little Girl 2:21
  14. Don't Say Goodnight And Mean Goodbye 2:43
  15. Sha-La-La 2:32
  16. Maybe Tonight 3:06

Notes

In the course of eight years, Rhino came out with two separate but very similar Shirelles anthologies. The first was 1986's Anthology: 1959-1964, followed by The Very Best of the Shirelles in 1994. Both are 16-song CDs, and many of the essential hits that were included on Very Best were also found on this CD, including "Tonight's the Night," "Dedicated to the One I Love," "Mama Said," and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (as well as "Boys," "A Thing of the Past," "Soldier Boy," and "Big John"). The main reason Very Best Of has a slight edge over this disc is because of its inclusion of the 1958 doo wop classic "I Met Him on a Sunday (Ronde-Ronde)," which is missing from Anthology. Both CDs, however, are full of gems that would greatly influence countless girl groups. These songs were undeniably seminal, and the late-1950s/early-1960s harmonies of the Shirelles would directly or indirectly influence everyone from the Supremes, the Marvelettes, the Shangri-Las, and Martha & the Vandellas in the 1960s to LaBelle, First Choice, the Three Degrees, and the Pointer Sisters in the 1970s. How many groups who influenced the Go-Gos and Blondie also had an impact on En Vogue? The importance of the Shirelles hits found on this CD cannot be overstated.