The London American Label Year By Year: 1963 - CD

Various: The London American Label Year By Year: 1963 version on CD in Standard edition. This particular edition was published in United Kingdom in publishing company Ace on 5. April 2011.

Someone should write a book about the London American brand. Wait, someone already has - David M. McKee. Actually, he's already written two: The London American Legend - A History Of The Label, Volumes 1 and 2 (Athena Press 2004). Check them out. The US was the first country where the London label appeared. It was the flagship of Decca's US operations in the UK as early as 1934. In 1949, the first batch of these American recordings were made available in the UK on the new London American imprint. In 2009, Ace launched the "London American Label Year By Year" series, which, with this volume devoted to 1963, numbers five volumes. 1963 was a very good year for Phil Spector, whose recordings on the Philles label appeared on London American in the UK. Until recently, Philles recordings were unavailable for compilations such as this, but with the producer currently out of circulation, his catalogue has very recently become available under licence. Every cloud, what do you say? Let's face it, this particular edition wouldn't be an accurate representation of 1963 without the Ronettes, Crystals, Darlene Love and Bob B Soxx & the Blue Jeans, who are all present and correct. Yay! The inclusion of Darlene Love's "A Fine Fine Boy" here means that the original version from the Forty-Five is legally available on CD for the first time. (All other digital releases include a reissue, the result of irreparable damage to the original master). Spector owes much of his success to Ellie Greenwich and her husband Jeff Barry, with whom he worked almost exclusively throughout 1963. The trio contributed to "A Fine Fine Boy," "Then He Kissed Me," "Be My Baby" from that year, and many others. Greenwich and Barry also penned bathos specialist Ray Peterson's posthumous album "Give Us Your Blessing" and the Raindrops' "What A Guy" included here. (Ellie and Jeff were the Raindrops, but you knew that.) The year 1963 was also the best year for girl groups and singers in general, reflected here through the Sherrys, Little Eva, Marcie Blane, Robin Ward, Shirley Ellis and Ruby & the Romantics, not forgetting '50s R&B star LaVern Baker and South African ex-president Miriam Makeba. There's a lot more on this CD than Phil Spector, girl groups and the Brill Building songwriters, but that's me for you. In all, this collection contains A-sides to 28 of the 178 singles released on the London-based American label in 1963. With the series expanding in two directions, we're not sure whether the next volume will focus on 1964 or 1958, both of which were very good years for American music. Watch this space to find out. Either way, it's going to be a winner. (By Mick Patrick / acerecords. co. uk)

Album spans genres Rock, Pop, Blues, Rhythm & Blues and Rock & Roll.