One of
the pioneering girl groups of the ‘60s, The Shirelles (originally Shirley
Alston nee Owens, Doris Coley, Micki Harris and Beverly Lee) were the mainstay
act at New York-based Scepter Records for a number of years, scoring hits with
such classic songs as “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (considered the first No. 1
single by a girl group), ““Dedicated to the One I Love,” “Baby It’s You” and
“Soldier Boy” (another No. 1 single).
In 1966,
Coley left, and two years later, the group’s tenure with Scepter ended with
duelling lawsuits. But the group “soldiered” on; working with producer Randy
Irwin and arranger George Andrews, the trio of Alston, Harris and Lee recorded
for Blue Rock, Bell and United Artists over a three-year period before signing
with RCA Records in 1971. Their initial
release for RCA was the album Happy And In Love, which included a few tracks
(e.g.a version of The Royalettes’ hit “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle”) previously
released during the group’s short stays at Bell and United Artists. The balance
of the LP included a version of the Guess Who’s “No Sugar Tonight” and a medley
of Jr. Walker’s “Gotta Hold On to This Feeling” and Eddie Floyd’s re-gendered
“I’ve Never Found a Girl” (as “I’ve Never Found a Boy”).
In 1972, RCA issued a self-titled follow-up LP
which consisted almost entirely of contemporaneous covers of songs like Bill
Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” a Marvin Gaye medley (“Mercy Mercy Me,” “Inner
City Blues” and “What’s Going On,” arranged by Motown’s David Van De Pitte, who
had worked on the original versions with Gaye), Al Green’s “Let’s Stay
Together” and three Carole King compositions, “Brother Brother,” “Walk On In”
and “It’s Going To Take Some Time.”
Both
Happy and in Love and Shirelles are making their worldwide CD debut with this
release, which also includes three non-album RCA singles as bonus tracks and
liner notes by renowned UK writer David Cole with interview quotes from Shirley
Alston. Remastered at Battery Studios in New York--another soulful
collaboration between Real Gone Music and SoulMusic Records!
Happy
and in Love
1. No Sugar Tonight
2. Boy You´re Too Young
3. Go Away and Find Yourself
4. There´s Nothing in This World
5. Gotta Hold On This Feeling/I´ve Never Found
a Boy
6. Take Me
7. Dedicated to the One I Love
8. It´s Gonna Take A Miracle
9. We Got a Lot Of Lovin to Do
10.
Strange I Still Love You
Shirelles
11.
Brother Brother
12.
Sunday Dreaming
13.
Ain’t No Sunshine
14. It’s
Going to Take Some Time
15. How
Can You Mend a Broken Heart
16.
Let’s Stay Together
17. Walk
On In
18. Deep
in the Night (from the Broadway Musical Inner City)
19.
Drowning in the Sea of Love
20. Hung
On Yourself
21.
Mercy Mercy Me/Inner City Blues/What’s Going On
Bonus
Tracks
22.
Let’s Give Each Other Love
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