Various Artists - Hearts for Sale! Girl Group Sounds USA 1961 - 1967

Various Artists - Hearts for Sale! Girl Group Sounds USA 1961 - 1967

ACE Records

Hearts For Sale is the fifth and latest in Ace's series of 12-inch vinyl albums spotlighting the US girl group sound of the 1960s. The collection opens with Street Dance by Bonnie Jean, a little-known must-have for collectors of the genre, with Darlene Love and the Blossoms clearly audible on background vocals. Issued on Lew Bedell’s Doré label, this exciting faux- live deck in the style of Shirley Ellis’ The Nitty Gritty was written by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner, a hip team known for supplying songs for the soundtracks of B movies such as Muscle Beach Party and Thunder Alley.

The Hollywood-based Doré imprint is also the source of You Really Never Know Till It’s Over by the Vel-Vetts (which shares a backing track with the Superbs’ I Was Born When You Kissed Me), One Way Street by the Swans, a soulful update of the Teddy Bears’ To Know Him Is To Love Him by the Darlings and – featuring lead vocals by Sheilah Page, a former member of groups such as the Bermudas, Becky and the Lollipops, the Majorettes, Joanne & the Triangles and Beverly and the Motor Scooters – He’s Groovy by the Front Page & Her.

Other highlights include the Sweethearts’ Supremes- influenced No More Tears, the sophisticated slowie Lonely Girl by the Lovettes (that’s them on the front sleeve), My Heart Tells Me So by the Del-Phis (an early incarnation of Martha and the Vandellas) and the Fran-Cettes’ terrific recording of Heart For Sale. As with the earlier volumes in the series, the album comes with a fully-illustrated inner bag featuring a 2,500-word track commentary by compiler Mick Patrick.

Tracklisting:

1. Street Dance – Bonnie Jean
2. That's No Way To Spend My Time - The Pen Etts
3. Boy Trouble - The Rev-lons
4. I Can Tell (I'm Losing Your Love) – Lena Calhoun & The Emotions
5. You Really Never Know Till It's Over – The Vel-vetts
6. Heart For Sale - The Fran-cettes
7. One Way Street - The Swans
8. No More Tears - The Sweethearts
9. To Know Him Is To Love Him - The Darlings
10. Boy You Move Me - Joan Moody
11. Lonely Girl - The Lovettes
12. My Heart Tells Me So (Aka I Know It's You) – The Del-phis
13. Surfers Memories - The Fashions
14. He's Groovy - The Front Page & Her