It was ba few years back when Ace announced the launch of their Where It's At series with the release of Ray Topping's stompin' Let The Boogie Woogie Rock 'n' Roll compilation of black rockers from the vaults of Atlantic Records. Twenty-odd CD issues of Atlantic material have come and gone since then. Time for consumers of the girl -group sound to embark on another Ace adventure methinks. Or, to put it in the words of our friend Dave Godin, time for my co-compiler Malcolm Baumgart and I to give our penchants, obsessions and hang-ups their annual airing!Each of this series has been linked to its predecessor via one artist or group and it is future disco diva Tamiko (Jones) from Detroit who continues that tradition and returns from Volume 3 to open the new Where The Girls Are with a shower of castanets, courtesy of Motown's short-lived New York office. Atlantic bought in masters from far and wide and devotees of the Motor City sound should also get a kick from the Dorelles, a trio from Washington, DC clearly in thrall of Martha and her Vandellas.
The very roots of the girl-group sound are explored via early tracks by the Bobbettes from Harlem and legendary trio the Cookies, so adorable that Ray Charles poached them and redubbed them the Raeletts. Skip forward a decade for Brill Building songwriting goddess Ellie Greenwich in disguise as the Meantime and all-girl band (as opposed to group) Goldie & the Gingerbreads. The Donna Loren-like track by Carol Shaw was cut before she strapped on her guitar and joined the Gingerbreads. That group's good pal Doris Troy gets two bites, one cut in the Big Apple and the other in the great lady's adopted home London. Doris lived in England for some years and trained an army of local session-singers how to get the gospel sound. God love her.
Whether or not the Bert Berns-produced Heartbreakers feature a moonlighting Ronnie Bennett of the Ronettes on lead vocals is a rumour left unconfirmed in the accompanying booklet. But, hey, now you can listen to the tracks and decide for yourself and save a hundred bucks in the process! Berns is also represented via a brace of lush offerings from Philadelphia's finest, Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles, and a rarity by Tami Lynn from the Crescent City, whose selection was until now available only on a hideously rare French EP. Elitist? Nous?
Talking of genius producers, golden boy Bob Crewe gets a look-in with three wonderful Darlene Love-type tracks he cut with the Canadian singer Shirley Matthews, and Hollywood session-player Nino Tempo mans the controls for two solos by his glamorous sister April Stevens, one of them featuring that vital element of girl-group onomatopoeia, a car crash. Elsewhere, the Dyno Dynamic production team brings you Barbara Mason's backup gals the Tiffanys, Kenny Young handles the knobs for the Goodnight Kisses' is-it-Memorex-or-is-it-Spector? two sider and Wardell Quezergue auteurs for the enigmatic New Orleans singer Lydia Marcelle.
Completing the package are delicious girl group-style tracks by the Philly girl Carole Forrest, West Coast-based Darlene Paul, who comes across like a female Dion, and Reparata-clone Angela Martin. Could that really be the Delrons on backups?
Mick Patrick, from the Ace Records website
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