On Broadway: Hit Songs and Rarities From the Brill Building Era [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
More than 50 tracks of classic New York pop from the early 1960's, all written by the great husband wife teams of the Brill Building. A superb mixture of hits and obscurities with almost 50% of the tracks making their CD debut. American pop music at its post Rock 'N' Roll pre British invasion finest.

Tracks:

On Broadway - The Cookies
Hey, Girl - Freddie Scott
Up On The Roof - Little Eva
The Raindrops - The Raindrops
It Might As Well Rain Until September - Carole King
Be My Baby - The Essex
Da Doo Ron Ron - The Raindrops
I'm Into Something Good - Earl-Jean
Crying In The Rain - Carole King
Good Buddies - The James Boys
I Gotta Drive - The Matadors
Johnny Surfboard - Barry Mann
Mama, Your Little Boy Fell - Paul Petersen
Telephone (Won't You Ring) - Shelley Fabares
Painting The Town With Teardrops - Vinnie Monte
Mary's Little Lamb - James Darren
Dickie Went And Did It - The Delicates
The Beggar That Became A King - Johnny Jack
They Should Have Given You The Oscar - James Darren
You Bet I Would - The Ronettes
One More Tear - The Raindrops
Hey Everybody - Henry Alston
Hula Hoopin' - Idalia Boyd
Baby, Baby (I Still Love You) (Alternate Vers.) - The Cinderellas
Let's Get Together - The Raindrops

Tracks:

Hanky Panky - Tommy James And The Shondells
The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget - The Raindrops
Keep Your Hands Off My Baby - Little Eva
Don't Say Nothing Bad (About My Baby) - The Cookies
Some Kind Of Wonderful - Idalia Boyd
Uptown - Little Eva
It Started All Over Again - Carole King
Tell Me What She Said - The Playmates
Johnny Loves Me - Shelley Fabares
Keep Your Love Locked (Deep In Your Heart) - Paul Petersen
Graduation Time - Barry Mann
See That Girl - Vince Edwards
The Show Must Go On - The Reveres
You Can't Compare With My Baby - Vinnie Monte
Our Love It Grows - Myrna March
How Come - Birdie Green
What Do I See In The Girl - Freddie Scott
I Want You For My Sweetheart - Bobby Sheen
You're My Inspiration - Freddie Scott
Where Does Love Go - Freddie Scott
Heaven Is Being With You - The Palisades
Please Don't Wake Me - The Cinderellas
So Many Lonely People - Henry Alston
Make The Night A Little Longer - The Palisades
On Broadway - Freddie Scott

Album Description

More than 50 tracks of classic New York pop from the early 1960's, all written by the great husband wife teams of the Brill Building. A superb mixture of hits and obscurities with almost 50% of the tracks making their CD debut. American pop music at its post Rock 'N' Roll pre British invasion finest.

Customer Reviews:

Great concept - execution not so.......2001-11-16

This two-disc compilation from Westside Records in the U.K. brings together songs written primarily by the three husband-and-wife songwriting teams of the Brill Building-era. These three pairs of writers - Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil - accounted for a good portion of the music being played on the am radio in the 60s. Some of these writers' tunes are early rock/pop classics - "Soul and Inspiration", " Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "Chapel of Love" - to name just a few. While there are lots of familiar titles here, many are versions by artists other than those who had the hit versions. You do find some original artist versions such as the Raindrops' "The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget", Freddie Scott's "Hey, Girl", Little Eva's "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" but these are few and far between. There are some titles that were hits in their own right but not the major hit version such as Earl-Jean's pre-Hermans Hermits "I'm Into Something Good". Of interest are a few versions of songs that could have made it but were trumped by another group such as the Raindrops' "Do Wah Diddy", pulled when Manfred Mann's version ran up the charts. Most of the titles however are either filler covers of the hit versions or, while sometimes interesting in their own right, songs by the original artists that never made a commercial impact. Cross-licensing is the difficulty here but other compilations have brought together a much more diverse collection of hit tunes so this is somewhat of a disappointment. Sound quality is reasonably good overall with a few tracks acknowledged as having been taken from vinyl. Most are in mono with 2,4,6,7,14,16,19,20 on disc 1 and 2,9,10,20,25 on disc 2 in stereo. The liner notes are substantial - a 20-page booklet with lots of interesting backround on the tracks included and the writing teams themselves. Good start but could have been much better with a more balanced selection of songs from these phenomenal hitwriters from the golden age of rock and roll.

A Great Introduction to the Magic of the Brill Building.......2001-09-15

Initially disappointed that this collection leaves out such classics as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," "We've Got to Get Out of This Place," "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin," and the Ronettes' version of "Be My Baby," etc., I'm satisfied this collection gives a great sampling of the range of songs and talents involved in that era--with 50 tracks on two discs, there are plenty of nuggets. It's an excellent introduction to The Raindrops (Jeff Barry and Elaine Greenwich)--who have an almost garage band/protopunk energy. Given the lack of choices, it's an excellent start on the Brill artists, although it may move you to try to collect other songs and artists from those years. Again, it's oddly selective (no Lieber-Stoller material), but still strong. If you saw A&E's "Biography" on the Brill writers and get these two discs, you'll have a good sense of an amazing time in pop music.

Music:

Music

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