Over a career spanning five decades, Doc Pomus – born Jerome Solon Felder in 1925 – penned some of the most memorable songs of all time: “Viva Las Vegas.” “Save the Last Dance for Me.” “Lonely Avenue.” “Can’t Get Used to Losing You.” “Sweets for My Sweet.” “This Magic Moment.” “Hushabye.” With hits performed by the likes of Ray Charles, The Drifters, Andy Williams, Dolly Parton, Bobby Darin, and, of course, Elvis Presley, Pomus’ songs transcended genre and era. Bob Dylan dedicated his 2022 book The Philosophy of Modern Song to Pomus,…
When A Girl’s In Love: Ace Goes “Where The Girls Are”
Nine volumes in, and Ace’s Where the Girls Are series is still turning up hidden-gems from the girl group era! As is often the case with this series, the names behind-the-scenes are often more familiar than those headlining the record. Where the Girls Are Volume 9 , released earlier this year, features 25 more tracks from America in the 1960s – the golden age of girl groups and “girl pop” – in their original mono versions. Future Philly soul architect Leon Huff penned The Sweet Three’s effervescent “That’s the Way It Is (When…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 13
It may be Friday the 13th, but today’s choice releases are hardly scary, with box sets, archival releases, new music from veteran artists, and much, much more! Aretha Franklin, The Atlantic Albums Collection (Atlantic/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 19-CD box set brings together 16 of the Queen of Soul’s Atlantic albums as previously released on CD including the deluxe 2-CD Live at Fillmore East, the 2-CD Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul and Oh Me Oh My: Aretha Live in Philly 1972. There are no…
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River Deep Mountain High: Ace Returns to the Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich Songbook
With Sweet Things, Ace Records has picked a most apt title for its third volume of music from the Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry songbook (Ace CDCHD 1434). Though Greenwich and Barry were united as husband and wife for just the short period of 1962-1965, and only worked together for a short time after that, a year hasn’t gone by since when their enduring songs haven’t been recorded and re-recorded. The collection’s 24 titles span 1963-1978 and blend hits and rarities from the duo with tracks penned by Greenwich and Barry individually…
Release Round-Up: Week of April 28
Dusty Springfield, Faithful (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Faithful assembles for the first time on one CD all of the masters produced by Jeff Barry (“Chapel of Love,” “Leader of the Pack,” “Sugar, Sugar”) for Dusty Springfield in 1971. From his home base at New York’s Century Sound, Barry produced thirteen songs for Dusty – twelve intended for album release and one for a non-LP single. Four songs were released on two 45s, but when Dusty departed Atlantic Records, the remaining tracks were left on the shelf, and thought…
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Leaders of the Pack: Ace Celebrates Legendary Songwriters Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry
The union of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry was a brief one. Married in 1962, the same year that they began a songwriting partnership, they were divorced in 1965. Their professional partnership only continued for a short time thereafter. And to this day, the team of Greenwich and Barry is spoken of in the same breath as two other successful Brill Building husband-and-wife teams, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (married 1961, still going strong!) and Gerry Goffin and Carole King (married 1959, divorced 1968). The reason is simple: their songs remain some of…
