"Various Artists - The Girls' Scene"
(Decca Records 844 897-2 - CD-1997)

01. Oo Chang-A-Lang
02. Jenny Let Him Go
03. Only You Can Do It
04. Two Lovers
05. The Boy From Chelsea
06. You Just Gotta Know My Mind
07. Hey Boy
08. When Love Is True
09. Save The Last Dance For Me
10. When The Lovelight Starts Shining Thru' His Eyes
11. My Friend Bobby
12. Sugar Baby
13. I'll Give It Five

14. What A Guy
15. Give Me Rhythm And Blues
16. Till You Say You'll Be Mine
17. Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind
18. Is This What I Get For Loving You
19. Nobody's Home To Go Home To
20. Rain On My Face
21. You
22. And The Trouble With Me Is You
23. Shang A Doo Lang
24. Try To Understand
25. Soldier Boy

Bands
01. The Orchids
02. Antoinette
03. The Vernons Girls
04. Louise Cordet
05. Truly Smith
06. Dana Gillespie
07. Barry St. John
08. Susan Hampshire
09. Jean Martin
10. Beryl Marsden
11. Pamela Blue
12. Jackie Frisco
13. Janice Nichols
14. Bobbie Miller
15. The Mysteries
16. Olivia Newton-John
17. Vashti
18. Marianne Faithful
19. Billie Davis
20. Shape & Sizes
21. Lorraine Child
22. Linda Flavell
23. Adrienne Poster
24. Lulu
25. Exceptions

All the photos are taken from the booklet.

Top left/bottom: Billie Davis, Linda Flavell, Louise Cordet, The Vernon Girls, Susan Hampshire, Billie Davis, Lulu, Shape & Sizes, Marianne Faithful, The Vernon Girls, Adrienne Poster

Dana's releases

Executive producer: Dorian Wathen. Compilation: Ian Chapman. Package design: Phil Smee at Waldo's Design & Dream Emporium.

This is my third compilation of "girly" pop from the 60's. This Decca originals are, as Rhino does, tremendous compiled with fancy photos and words about the girls attended on the CD. You will also find a liner note on each artists. Really good!

This is the word of John Reed (January 1999):

"If one record kickstarted the 60's revolution in Britain, it was this opening shot from a plucky teenage from Scotland by the the name of Lulu. Before, girls were seen and, yes, heard but in the UK, at least, our female pop stars were polite, to say at least. From the Beverly Sisters to Helen Shapiro, these lovely ladies seemed more at home discussing soft furnishings than guitar licks or Bo Diddley B-sides and it showed. So Lulus 1964 hit, "Shout", was a watershed. Suddenly, here was a teen- ager going hell-for-leather (or mohair, both Mods and Rockers appreciated her energy!), ploughing through an earthy call-and-response anthem coined by a black American trio. It wasn't tea and scones, misses, oh no. In one fell swoop, the British R&B scene had a female icon, so Decca went and reshaped the young singer into (you guessed it) another cod-supper club balladeer! Thankfully, another revolutin was happening on the other side of the Atlantic: the girl group phenomenon. With the Brill Building songwriting hothouse in New York on the one hand and Phil Spector wall-of-sound on the other, the USA was swooning to acts like The Ronettes, The Crystals, The Chiffons, and a cast of millions in matching sequined dresses, concrete-hard hairsprayed hair and voices to melt the spine.

The former gave us the songs of Goffin & King, Ellie Greenwich et al; the latter an inconographic template that is still vivid today (witness Ronnie Spectors cult status, with a new record on Creation). As usual, the Brits added their own twist to the American dream, adding a peculiarly naive flavour to the risque lyrics or toning down productions excepting Dana Gillespie, of course, who opens the proceedings here! Speaking of which, many future female stars trod the boards of Decca in the 60's (Elkie Brooks, for example), before finding fame in the 70's.

But this set isn't about stellar appeal. Its about a golden era in British pop, during which girl singers went from being Shirley Bassey soundalikes to copying the likes of Janis Joplin."

Enjoy The Ride!
-- John Reed - January 1999

Dana Gillespie
"She was dressing all in black at the age of 13, had her own flat in her parents' basement at 15, first boyfriend was David Bowie, was also one-time British Junior Water-Skiing Champion - South Kensington's Dana Gillespie was hardly your average teenager. In '65, she swapped her skies for a micro- phone after being discovered singing at the Marquee club in London by arch-folkie Donovan. Three 45's cut for Pye between '65 and '67 included songs written by Carter & Lewis and The Hollies, whilst Donovan himself had written "You Just Gotta Know My Mind" in '65. Recorded in the U.S. by Karen Verros that same year, Dana's storming version didn't appear until late '68, by which time she had switched to Decca. After a high-profile, Bowie-associated period during the early 70's, Dana switched to serious blues. In 1997, her revamped band opened for Bob Dylan's UK tour".