Don_Krider's Full Review: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: T...
The Shangri-Las were all teenagers when they stormed the U. S. pop charts in 1964 with back-to-back Top 5 hit singles, "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" and "Leader Of The Pack."
During the next two years, the all-American girls from Queens, New York, charted with a total of 11 Hot 100 hits in Billboard magazine, including six Top 40 singles. Their songs have been covered by Aerosmith (with Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las singing backup vocals), The Ronettes, Blondie, The Carpenters, Twisted Sister and Louise Goffin. A very young Billy "Uptown Girl" Joel even played piano in their backup band and some of their early recordings.
David Johansen, one-time leader of the cross-dressing New York Dolls of the early 1970's, has cited The Shangri-Las as one of his greatest influences. That's one reason Johansen brought George "Shadow" Morton, the producer of The Shangri-Las, to produce The New York Dolls' "Too Much Too Soon" album.
Morton went on to produce other acts: among those recordings are Janis Ian's "Society's Child," Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," The Rascals, Mott The Hoople and The Vanilla Fudge, among others.
Even The Raspberries copied the band: on their "On The Beach," written by Eric Carmen in 1973, The Raspberries incorporated the sounds of seagulls and ocean waves ala The Shangri-Las' "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" into the tune.
This album:
Part of the Mercury Records "20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection," "The Best Of The Shangri-Las" features all 11 of the group's chart hits among its 12 tracks on a single CD. The sound is crisp (you'll hear every seagull's squawk, every surf wave hitting the shore and every motorcycle crash included in their songs) and clean, beating the heck out of the sound on my old vinyl LPs.
The 8-page CD booklet features a three-page biography of the band by Dave Thompson and four photos of the band in black-and-white. The back cover of the jewel box features a color photo of the girls looking like they just stepped off the go-go-girls platform on TV's "Shindig" (sleeveless white tops on each girl, with each girl wearing a different color of slacks and non-matching shoes --- pretty much mod 1960's psychedelia as a look).
The tracks:
`Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)," "Leader Of The Pack," "Give Him A Great Big Kiss," "Maybe," "Out In The Streets," "Give Us Your Blessings," "Right Now And Not Later," "I Can Never Go Home Again Anymore," "Long Live Our Love," "He Cried" and "Past, Present And Future."
The Shangri-Las:
The Shangri-Las were two sets of sisters, all aged between 15 and 17 in 1964. The lead vocalist was Mary Weiss, with her sister, Betty, joining sisters Marge and Mary Ann Ganser on backing vocals. Betty Weiss left the group by 1966 and The Shangri-Las continued on as a trio for a time.
The girls had harmonized like teenagers sometimes do while attending Andrew Jackson High School in Queens. George Morton, better known as "Shadow," hired the girls for demonstration record work on songs he was writing.
Adopting the Phil Spector "Wall Of Sound" approach to music (Spector was the record producer behind The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", among other hits), Morton created teenage melodramas in song for the girls to perform.
Realizing the girls had that magical "something" singing his songs, Morton got the girls a recording contract as The Shangri-Las. The group was signed to the Red Bird Records label, which was owned by Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber. In the British Invasion Summer Of 1964, tiny Red Bird Records somehow managed to squeeze its young act onto the U. S. pop charts.
The Shangri-Las went straight to # 5 with "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)," written by Morton. If you haven't heard The Shangri-Las original, maybe you've heard one of the hit covers of the tune by Louise Goffin (Carole King's daughter, she scored a # 43 chart hit with the song in 1979) or by Aerosmith (with Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las singing backing vocals to Steve Tyler's lead vocal, Aerosmith's version hit # 67 in 1980).
With "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" still in the Billboard Hot 100 during an 11-week chart run, The Shangri-Las entered the Billboard magazine charts in the Fall of 1964 with "Leader Of The Pack," the ultimate tale of teen angst if you ask me ("...my folks were always putting him down...").
"Leader Of The Pack" rose to # 1 and spent 12 weeks in the Hot 100. Morton wrote the tune with Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. Greenwich and Barry (who had been placed in charge of Red Bird Records by Stoller and Leiber) were well-known songwriters themselves, composing songs recorded by Manfred Mann ("Do Wah Diddy Diddy"), The Beach Boys ("I Can Hear Music"), Ike & Tina Turner ("River Deep, Mountain High") and The Ronettes ("Be My Baby," "Baby I Love You").
Worldwide stardom:
"Leader Of The Pack" also hit # 1 in Australia.
In England, "Leader Of The Pack" reached # 11 in 1964. It re-charted in England in 1972, reaching #3, and again in 1976, reaching # 7, making The Shangri-Las the only female American group to hit the British Top 20 with the same song three different times.
The tune was so popular that at the end of 1964 a group called The Detergents actually did a successful spoof called "Leader Of The Laundromat" that peaked at # 19 on the charts! Even The Carpenters and Twisted Sister did covers of the tune many years later.
The Shangri-Las also conquered U. S. television, appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Shindig," "Hullabaloo," "Shivaree" and "The Soupy Sales Show," among others.
#1 New R&B Vocal Group of 1964?:
Cash Box magazine, Billboard's main competitor at the time in tracking record sales and airplay, named The Shangri-Las as the "# 1 New Vocal Group Of 1964" in the rhythm and blues category (I know, why was a white female group named the best new R&B group of 1964?).
In early 1965, the group's first, and only, album to hit the charts, also titled "Leader Of The Pack," peaked at # 109 in the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. To boost their career, The Shangri-Las hit the road, sharing concert stages with some of the biggest acts of the 1960s, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.
In March, 1965, The Shangri-Las went to England, doing 22 shows in 15 days. British censors wouldn't allow the group to sing "Leader Of The Pack" on the British music series "Ready, Steady, Go" (the series is now owned by Dave Clark of The Dave Clark Five, trivia buffs) since they considered it "too violent."
The hit singles kept coming, for a while.
Entering the charts just after Christmas of 1964 and remaining on the charts into 1965 was that rarity of rarities, a double-sided hit single, "Give Him A Great Big Kiss" (which hit # 18), and its flipside (in the days before CDs, records had two sides which we aging classic rockers dutifully flipped over to play on ancient machines called "record players" --- trying to shake an Austin Powers' moment here), "Maybe," (which peaked at # 91).
Revlon hired the girls as spokeswomen for their Natural Wonder Make-Up in 1965 ("Give Him A Great Big Kiss" was kind of perfect for a cosmetics promotion). In that capacity, they helped promote a "Swingstakes" contest for Revlon (the prize was a trip to see The Dave Clark Five in England).
Additional hits followed in 1965: "Out In The Streets" (later covered by Blondie) peaked at only # 53 that Spring, but the band returned to the Top 40 with "Give Us Your Blessings" that summer, which peaked at # 29.
Their fifth chart hit of 1965, "Right Now And Not Later," eeked its way to # 99 in October.
Returning to the Top 10:
A month after that poor chart showing, however, The Shangri-Las returned to the Top 10 with "I Can Never Go Home Anymore," which peaked at # 6.
In 1966, The Shangri-Las scored their final Top 40 hit with "Long Live Our Love," which peaked at # 33. Their next two singles became their final Hot 100 entries that year as well: "He Cried" (# 65 on the charts) and "Past, Present And Future" (# 59; Pete Townshend of The Who once said this was a personal favorite of his).
The Shangri-Las record label, Red Bird, folded in 1966, with Mercury Records picking up the act's recording contract. Unfortunately, Mercury Records was unable to get the girls back on the charts after signing them, and the group was no more by 1968, though they did start performing together for a while in the 1970s.
A reunion gig in 1977 at CBGBs in New York City was attended by Debbie Harry of Blondie and Bette Midler (the latter wearing a "Shangri-Las Fan Club" button), according to Rolling Stone magazine. Midler used to sing "Leader Of The Pack" in her live performances.
Other groups, singing the same songs, continue to bill themselves as The Shangri-Las to this day, even using the original band's bio as their own and talking on stage about "our hits." Thing is, if you see an act billed this way today, it has none of the original members in it (but the trademark to the name "The Shangri-Las" is owned by the promoters of this other group).
The real Shangri-Las last reunited in 1989 (Mary Weiss, Marge Ganser and Betty Weiss from the original foursome) for a concert at Palisades Park. The trademark to the group's name is owned by others, so they really have no control over who performs under the name now, though they probably aren't happy about the situation.
There are now but two Shangri-Las:
Mary Anne Ganser died of encephalitis in 1971. Her sister, Marge, died of breast cancer in 1996.
Billy Joel:
In an interview with Goldmine magazine, there was a debate over which of The Shangri-Las hits Billy Joel played keyboards on (in the days of uncredited studio musicians).
Joel remembered the tune he played on as being the demo for "Leader Of The Pack." Morton, admitting he "might be wrong," remembered the tune as "Remember (Walking In The Sand)." Either way, it's pretty cool to have Billy Joel on one of your recordings, I think.
The CD's best tunes:
"Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)":
With its slow, dirge-like keyboard intro, Mary Weiss' lead vocal captures the heartache of a lonely teenager remembering a lost romance:
"Seems like the other day / my baby went away / he went away 'cross the sea / it's been two years or so / since I saw my baby go / and then this letter came for me / it said that we were through / he found somebody new / oh, lemme think, lemme think, what can I do? / oh no, oh no, oh no..."
Then the tempo increases as the Mary experiences a flashback within the tune, with the other girls singing "remember" over-and-over again as seagulls squawk and ocean waves hit the beach:
"(Remember) walkin' in the sand / (remember) walking hand in hand / (remember) the night was so exciting / (remember) his smile was so inviting / (remember) then he touched my cheek / (remember) with his fingertips / (remember) softly, softly we met with a kiss..."
"Leader Of The Pack":
The ultimate teen romance-and-death tune (J. Frank Wilson's "Last Kiss" ranks right up there in this category in my book), "Leader Of The Pack" is a pretty darn cool tune.
As a piano note hangs in the air, the lead singer's girlfriends "rap," if you will, with her about her boyfriend: "By the way, where'd you meet him?"
Mary Weiss then tells the girls about her sad situation (with the other girls responding in unison to her comments throughout the song), as the guitars, bass, drum and keyboards heat up to add a sense urgency to the tune's melody:
"I met him at the candy store / he turned around and smiled at me / you get the picture? (yes, we see) / that's when I fell for the leader of the pack / my folks were always putting him down (down, down) / they said that he came from the wrong side of town (what do you mean they say he came from the wrong side of town?) / they told me he was bad / but I know he was sad / that's why I fell for the leader of the pack..."
As the story progresses, the girl's parents tell her to "find someone new," so the girl breaks her boyfriend's heart. The boyfriend then speeds off on his motorcycle, with the girl yelling "look out, look out!" as his motorcycle roars down a rain-soaked street --- the sound of a motorcycle engine revving up and screeching tires leading up to a loud crash follow.
One can only imagine what videos The Shangri-Las would be making these days to promote the tune if they were a new act recording today.
The tune as performed by The Shangri-Las is absolutely impossible to forget.
"Give Him A Great Big Kiss":
Uptempo, Merseybeat-style rocker, this Morton-written tune had girls around the United States misspelling the word "love" in 1965. It opens with the spoken words, "When I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V."
Then Mary Weiss sings about this great guy (as the girls sing "da-da-da-da" in the background while the drummer pounds out a near-foot stomp rhythm on the chorus, complete with the sound of a "kiss" after the line "give him a great big kiss"):
"...and when I see him in the street / my heart takes a leap and skips a beat / gonna walk right up to him / give him a great big kiss / tell him that I love him / tell him that I care / tell him that I'll always be there..."
"Right Now And Not Later":
There's a bit of Motown magic, with a hint of The Supremes in the sound (think "Stop In The Name Of Love"), on the r&b-tinged "Right Now And Not Later" (written by Ronald Mosely, Robert Bateman and Kenny Hollon). Bateman and Mosely also produced the tune.
It shows what The Shangri-Las were capable of with better material --- it's an outstanding pop performance, featuring a heavy bass line and covered with a lovely string arrangement, but the tune is largely unknown these days to most music fans.
It's one of those female empowerment songs that was very unusual for the 1960s with the girl laying down the law to her boyfriend:
"Listen to me baby and listen real good / you know you're not treating as good as you should / everytime I call you're not here by my side / you have some excuse and I want to know why / right now and not later..."
"I Can Never Go Home Again":
With a very slow movement in the string-laden orchestration, the song is mostly spoken word, with Mary Weiss' sweet voice sounding like a confessional to a preacher or a secret pleading to a friend. It's more than a novelty song about tragedy this time out.
Morton's (he also produced) "I Can Never Go Home Again" is many parts as a song, with near Brian Wilson perfection pulling the song's many elements together. It actually succeeds in pulling the heart strings in its tale of a lonely young girl who runs away from home for a boy who eventually leaves her, despite her mom's pleading that she not leave home:
"...I packed my clothes and left home that night / though she begged me to stay / I was sure I was right / and you know something funny? / I forgot that boy right away / instead I remember being tucked in bed and hearing my mama say / 'Hush, little baby, don't you cry' / ... / do you ever get that feeling and wanna kiss and hug her? / do it now - tell her you love her / don't do to your mom what I did to mine / she grew so lonely in the end / angels picked her for a friend / and I can never go home anymore / and that's called 'sad'..."
"Long Live Our Love":
With a bright melody that reminds me of The Royal Guardsmen's "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" (I am not kidding), The Shangri-Las sing "Long Live Our Love," an anthemic (written by Jerome Jackson and Sidney Barnes) little tune that opens with a reciting of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" before going into the actual tune about lovers seperated by war.
Since it came out as 500,000 U. S. soldiers were sent by President Johnson to fight in the Vietnam conflict, it's Top 40 showing on the charts is interesting to note. It's bright and cheery, with Mary Weiss begging "Lord, please don't let anything happen to him" in a brief pause in the song (as the other girls sing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" slowly in the background).
The song hits home with me since my Dad was a chief petty officer in the U. S. Navy during the war, so I know the prayers my mom said waiting for my father's return from overseas each time he shipped out (I even remember making a reel-to-reel tape that the Red Cross made for us to send my Dad while he was overseas so he could hear our voices; he sent us a tape in return so we could hear his voice (the tapes were very short in duration, as I recall, perhaps only a few minutes, but wonderous to hear --- in the days before the internet's e-mails and i-mails made communicating with soldiers a bit easier than it was back then, it was a lot quicker than stamped mail).
Mary Weiss sings her heart out, cheerily most of the time like a wife putting on a smiling face while you know her heart's breaking inside dreading the worst, on the tune's lyrics:
"...something's come between us / and it's not another girl / a lot of people need you / there is trouble in the world / it's the fighting that has come between us / and it's taken you far, far away / but don't wonder if I'll be faithful / you're in my heart both night and day / so, darling, I send this letter to you, while you are fighting overseas / and, someday, if we are lucky, God will send you back to me..."
It would take a cold, cold heart not to be moved by The Shangri-Las' lead singer's plea for a safe return of her soldier.
Recommendation:
The Shangri-Las turned in some great, memorable songs during their career that continue to influence many of today's top acts. Mary Weiss possesses a sweet, smooth vocal style that is to be appreciated in her lead vocals (even her "spoken word rap" is nice to listen to). The rest of the group's backing vocals are outstanding as well.
The songcraft is to be admired, too. The productions are far more complex than is obvious on first listen, yet The Shangri-Las pull the performances off to perfection.
The collection will appeal to fans of Petula Clark, Lesley Gore, The Supremes and, I believe, of classic rock in general. Enjoy the music!
On the web:
Complete lyrics to "Long Live Our Love": http://lyrics.blueaudio.com/song/010127
Outstanding Shangri-Las biography by John J. Grecco (lots of photos): http://www.redbirdent.com/slas1
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