Reparata & The Delrons: Best Of Reparata & The Delrons on CD
Best Of Reparata & The Delrons
Conventional CD, playable with all CD players and computer drives, but also with most SACD or multiplayers.
- Label:
- Ace
- Item number:
- 2322580
- UPC/EAN:
- 0029667013321
- Release date:
- 5.9.2005
At last, a REPARATA & THE DELRONS CD worthy of the group's great reputation among connoisseurs! Not before time, because these exotically monikered New York dolls are one of the most respected acts of the 1960s girl group era. Stateside, they're remembered for Whenever A Teenager Cries, their hit record of 1965; yet here in Britain, 1968's Captain Of Your Ship is the song with which they will forever be associated. To genre buffs, with the extraordinary I'm Nobody's Baby Now, Reparata and her cohorts came close to beating the Shangri-Las and the Ronettes at their own game, while It's Waiting There For You and the manic Panic would be the northern soul aficionado's cuts of choice. To cap it all, the group's lead singer, Mary Aiese, had one of the most charismatic voices of the era an angst-ridden Brooklyn whine rivalled by few.
That name helps, too once heard, never forgotten. So where did it come from? Mary: "Reparata is Latin. It means to make reparation. Originally we were known as simply the Del-Rons after the Del Satins, the Del Vikings and groups like that. When our second record was about to come out, our managers decided that they wanted a name that was a little more flamboyant, more flashy, like Martha & the Vandellas, or something. I happened to be lead singer, so they asked me my middle name. It's Catherine. Well, Catherine & the Delrons just wasn't exciting enough. I told them that my confirmation name was Reparata. Perfect! So we became Reparata & the Delrons. I had taken the name from the choir mistress at the Good Shepherd elementary school Sister Mary Reparata, my favourite nun. At confirmation, you take the name of a saint, or some religious event; and I was that fond of this nun that I took her name. Little did I realize that it would come in so useful in the years to come. I started out in the Good Shepherd choir. That was my first training. We sang a lot of Gregorian chant, and the different masses. The songs, the harmonies, the Latin . . . it was just beautiful." Like Arlene Smith and the Chantels before them, the group's Catholic upbringing coloured their distinctive sound. Indeed, Mary and her pals were discovered performing a cappella at a Knights of St Columbus hop.
Taking the broad sweep approach, "The Best Of Reparata & The Delrons" covers the group's career from their debut 45, Leave Us Alone a hideously rare anthem of teenage rebellion released on Laurie Records in 1964, through to the bizarre wedding-song, Shoes a freak mini-hit on Polydor from a decade later, taking in along the way the best of their recordings for the World Artists, RCA, Mala and Kapp labels. 30 tracks in all: generous, or what? Half of them are in stereo, too.
All of the group's platters were produced by their managers, Steve and Bill Jerome, a talented and entrepreneurial Brooklyn-based brother act, whose stable of artists also included bands such as the Left Banke. John Abbott, a brilliant yet unsung arranger, was on hand for almost all of the girls' sessions. Michael Brown of the Left Banke wrote their (Do You) Remember When and played harpsichord or piano on several of their discs. His father, renowned session violinist Harold Lookovsky (aka Hash Brown), was Reparata & the Delrons' regular orchestra leader. Elsewhere, a veritable who's who of 1960s songwriters provided the group with material: Kenny Young delivered three numbers on the CD, including the outrageous Saturday Night Didn't Happen a fave rave among girl-psych fans; and Chip Taylor two, including the group's chart hit Tommy. The names of Ellie Greenwich and her husband Jeff Barry crop up several times too (it's said that Ellie leaving Jeff was what inspired him to compose the magnum opus I'm Nobody's Baby Now); and Lou Stallman and Layng Martine created I Can Hear The Rain another gorgeous Wall of Sound-style gem. Reparata herself co-wrote several B-sides, including Boys And Girls. Once heard, why this particular song was chosen as opener will become instantly obvious.
Mary "Reparata" Aiese sings lead on every track here, although the Delrons' line-up was in constant flux. The convoluted story is fully explained in the booklet, which is also loaded with some fantastic previously unseen photographs.
Disk 1 von 1 (CD)
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1 Boys and girls
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2 Captain of your ship
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3 Whenever a teenager cries
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4 Tommy
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5 The kind of trouble that I love
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6 It's waiting there for you
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7 Panic
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8 Look in my diary
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9 Do wah diddy
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10 I have a boyfriend
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11 I'm nobody's baby now
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12 Take a look around you
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13 Mama's little girl
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14 I can hear the rain
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15 The boy I love
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16 In my diary
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17 He's my guy (and I love him so)
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18 Bye bye baby
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19 I found my place
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20 Loneliest girl in town
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21 I can tell
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22 (Do you) remember when
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23 Leave us alone
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24 He's the greatest
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25 He don't want you
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26 Weather forecast
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27 (We're gonna) hold the night
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28 Saturday night didn't happen
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29 Why do lovers break each other's heart?
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30 Shoes
