1960s Girl Groups: An Album a Day
Featuring The Supremes, The Shangri-Las, The Marvelettes, and others
My friend Ken and I decided to listen to an album every day this year. Each week is themed. At the end of each week, we rank what we listened to. To be clear, we aren’t ranking every album that fits the theme. We are only ranking what we chose to listen to during the last seven days.
This week’s theme is “1960s girl groups,” meaning albums released in the 1960s by girl groups. Obviously. We focused specifically on vocal groups, meaning groups built around a lead singer and multiple back-up singers.
#7 Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes (1961)
While this album’s title track deserves its classic status, the rest of Please Mr. Postman kind of feels like Motown is still figuring things out. And they probably were. The label was only founded a few years prior to the release of this record. While the album would benefit from a remix, some things are beyond saving. In fact, I think the synth solo on “All The Love I’ve Got” is the worst musical performance I’ve heard this year.
#6 Where Did Our Love Go by The Supremes (1964)
If Motown was still finding their footing in 1961, then by 1964 they were a well-oiled machine. Number one hits “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” and “Come See About Me” are not only foundational to the Motown sound but pop masterpieces.
Still, I found an album of Diana Ross vocals a bit disappointing. It’s not that she’s a bad singer. Her crystal clear tone suits the hits on this record well. But she’s not as dynamic as some of the other singers we’ll encounter on this list.
#5 Heat Wave by Martha and the Vandellas (1963)
Even if you’ve never listened to anything by The Vandellas, you’ve probably heard every song on Heat Wave. It’s mostly made up of songs that were popular at the time, like “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “Then He Kissed Me.” That’s a problem for Martha Reeves and her group. I prefer other renditions of those songs to the versions they recorded here.
The one Holland-Dozier-Holland original on the record, the title track, is fantastic, though. That said, I still think that anyone who prefers “(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave” to “Dancing in the Street” is crazy.
#4 Leader of the Pack by The Shangri-Las (1965)
Whether they were released on Motown or Scepter, girl groups of this era were recording stylistically similar music. The Shangri-Las are the outliers. Whereas most big girl groups were defined by nice vocal harmonies with a hint of soul, The Shangri-Las are defined by grit, their greatest records unfolding like short films.
If you are familiar with one song by the Queens group, it’s likely “Leader of the Pack,” a song I describe in my book as “the teenage tragedy songs to end all teenage tragedy songs.” And that song is a good introduction to The Shangri-Las’ audio melodramas. But “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” and “Remember (Walkin’ In the Sand)” are just as good.
If everything on Leader of the Pack were as good as those originals, it would rank higher on this list. But The Shangri-Las suffer from the same problem as The Vandellas. The rest of their record is fleshed out with inferior covers. If you want to listen to “Maybe,” you turn to The Chantells. If you want “Shout,” you look to The Isley Brothers. You don’t turn to The Shangri-Las.
Still, they remain quietly influential. You can hear them in proto-punk legends the New York Dolls quoting “Give Him a Great Big Kiss.” You can hear them in Jim Steinman’s 9-minute rock epics. You can even hear them in the attitude of Amy Winehouse’s voice.
#3 Chapel of Love by The Dixie Cups (1964)
1960s girl groups are largely defined by their singles. In fact, on nearly all of these records the stream disparity between the singles and album cuts are astonishingly large. “(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave,” for example, has been streamed 124 million times on Spotify. The next closest on that record, “Quicksand,” has not even cracked 2 million streams.
The Dixie Cups suffered a similar fate. “Chapel of Love” and “Iko Iko” have been streamed tens of millions of times more than anything else from their debut album. What’s unique is that The Dixie Cups’ album cuts are much stronger than nearly anyone else on this list. “I’m Gonna Get You Yet” and “Gee Baby Gee” deserve as much love as their smashes.
