Girl Talk
By Lesley Gore
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Track listing
Show track credits
- A1 Hey Now 2:14
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Sonny Gordonsongwriter
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- A2 Live and Learn 2:24
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songwriter
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songwriter
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songwriter
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- A3 Say Goodbye 2:14
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songwriter
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- A4 Look of Love 2:10
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songwriter
-
songwriter
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- A5 You've Come Back 2:12
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songwriter
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- A6 Maybe I Know 2:39
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songwriter
-
songwriter
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- B1 Sometimes I Wish I Were a Boy 1:59
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songwriter
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songwriter
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- B2 Little Girl Go Home 2:37
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songwriter
-
songwriter
-
songwriter
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- B3 I Died Inside 2:42
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songwriter
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- B4 Wonder Boy 2:13
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songwriter
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songwriter
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- B5 Movin' Away 3:02
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Len Pravermansongwriter
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- B6 It's Just About That Time 2:53
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songwriter
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- Total length: 29:19
Rate/Catalog
Catalog
Set listening
Review
To rate, slide your finger across the stars from left to right.
6 Issues
3 Reviews
It seems I am going against the flow with this one. It has been rated highly by most others here.
That could, in part at least, be because my Canadian reissue is missing two tracks, making it even shorter than intended. Why they are missing, whether they are in any way different, better or worse, than the 10 that survive, I have no idea. I DO know that there is no excuse for a 25 minute LP in 1967, especially when it was 5 minutes longer three years earlier.
Lesley could sing, that's not in question. In fact, on the last track here, "It's Just About That Time", she performs superbly. I'm upping the rating from my instinctive 1.5 to a dizzy 2.0 as a result. It's a more complex song too. More on that in a minute.
My main complaint here is that, even on original release in 1964, this LP must have sounded horribly dated.
In '61 or '62 it would have been another set of mediocre, cookie cutter songs written by professionals who thought they had the formula down pat. But they had mastered it in '59 or so and changed it not a bit.
Coming out in '64 as this originally did, it emerged into a world with "A Hard Day's Night" in it.
Now I'm not saying that Lesley and her people should have tried to make a Beatles record, or even put guitars in it (they didn't) but SOME acknowledgement that the bar had been raised in the songwriting stakes would have been nice.
I'm also not saying that I know what kind of record Lesley needed to make at this time and stage of her career. Maybe listen to Dusty Springfield, The Supremes? Tough, I know, but whatever it should have been, this wasn't it.
The sleeve notes (obviously written for this reissue since they refer to "This day of twanging guitars, psychedelic sounds and moaning voices") claim that "Lesley Gore is now (and remember, this is 1967!) America's Number One Female Singer (Their capitals).
Well, if she was (and, like I said, she CAN sing), she deserved better material, and quite a lot more of it.
That could, in part at least, be because my Canadian reissue is missing two tracks, making it even shorter than intended. Why they are missing, whether they are in any way different, better or worse, than the 10 that survive, I have no idea. I DO know that there is no excuse for a 25 minute LP in 1967, especially when it was 5 minutes longer three years earlier.
Lesley could sing, that's not in question. In fact, on the last track here, "It's Just About That Time", she performs superbly. I'm upping the rating from my instinctive 1.5 to a dizzy 2.0 as a result. It's a more complex song too. More on that in a minute.
My main complaint here is that, even on original release in 1964, this LP must have sounded horribly dated.
In '61 or '62 it would have been another set of mediocre, cookie cutter songs written by professionals who thought they had the formula down pat. But they had mastered it in '59 or so and changed it not a bit.
Coming out in '64 as this originally did, it emerged into a world with "A Hard Day's Night" in it.
Now I'm not saying that Lesley and her people should have tried to make a Beatles record, or even put guitars in it (they didn't) but SOME acknowledgement that the bar had been raised in the songwriting stakes would have been nice.
I'm also not saying that I know what kind of record Lesley needed to make at this time and stage of her career. Maybe listen to Dusty Springfield, The Supremes? Tough, I know, but whatever it should have been, this wasn't it.
The sleeve notes (obviously written for this reissue since they refer to "This day of twanging guitars, psychedelic sounds and moaning voices") claim that "Lesley Gore is now (and remember, this is 1967!) America's Number One Female Singer (Their capitals).
Well, if she was (and, like I said, she CAN sing), she deserved better material, and quite a lot more of it.
Published
SRW 16350 Vinyl LP (1967)
ADVERTISEMENT
Just 18 and already caught in a recording industry mill, Lesley Gore released two albums per year at the height of her early 1960s success. Quincy Jones and Klaus Ogermann lead the game again, making sure their young protégé pours her heart out in more teenage melodrama, unrequited love, first love, puppy love and school love. Ellie Greenwich and her husband Jeff Barry (later immortalized with "River Deep, Mountain High") wrote irresistible "Maybe I Know" which must have been one of the sunniest songs Gore ever recorded. As usual, upbeat dance numbers are joy while ballads are overproduced, though French cover "Little Girl, Go Home" is actually very pretty. Lesley Gore was a wonderful singer but her early 1960s albums sound very much alike.
Published
I was actually to this earlier today:-). I have six of her first seven lp's...the only one im missing is the obvious "I'll Cry If I Want To" with that being said I would have to consider this her most consistently terrific album that I have heard!(but "Sings Of Mixed Up Hearts" is better overall) I could easily rate it a 4.5. This has a consistent toe-tapping up-tempo R&B/Pop-rock circa 1964 sound.
All though "Hey Now" didn't crack the top 10 this album is practically bursting hit quality songs! I feel this is one of the more solid albums of 1964(which was a very big year in rock'n'roll annuals) I would strongly encourage buying this if you don't already own it.
All though "Hey Now" didn't crack the top 10 this album is practically bursting hit quality songs! I feel this is one of the more solid albums of 1964(which was a very big year in rock'n'roll annuals) I would strongly encourage buying this if you don't already own it.
Published
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Catalog
28 Feb 2024
27 Feb 2024
22 Feb 2024
19 Feb 2024
2 Feb 2024
31 Jan 2024
-
A1
Hey Now
-
A2
Live and Learn
-
A3
Say Goodbye
-
A4
Look of Love
-
A5
You've Come Back
-
A6
Maybe I Know
-
B1
Sometimes I Wish I Were a Boy
-
B2
Little Girl Go Home
-
B3
I Died Inside
-
B4
Wonder Boy
-
B5
Movin' Away
-
B6
It's Just About That Time
16 Jan 2024
15 Jan 2024
-
A1
Hey Now
-
A2
Live and Learn
-
A3
Say Goodbye
-
A4
Look of Love
-
A5
You've Come Back
-
A6
Maybe I Know
-
B1
Sometimes I Wish I Were a Boy
-
B2
Little Girl Go Home
-
B3
I Died Inside
-
B4
Wonder Boy
-
B5
Movin' Away
-
B6
It's Just About That Time
14 Jan 2024
4 Jan 2024
19 Dec 2023
17 Dec 2023
11 Dec 2023
10 Dec 2023
30 Nov 2023
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