Myrmidons of Melodrama [CD]

Included among the tracks are the group's best known hits ("(Remember) Walkin' in the Sand" "Leader of the Pack" "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" "I Can Never Go Home Anymore"), lower-charting singles (a cover of the Chantels' "Maybe," "Out in the Streets," "Give Us Your Blessing," "Right Now and Not Later," "Long Live Our Love," "He Cried," "Past, Present and Future") and superbly selected B-sides and album tracks.

Highlights include Barry & Greenwich's love torn "The Train From Kansas City" (featuring one of their best-ever lines, "I'll be back in the time it takes to break a heart," rendered by Weiss with a wrench of the heart that lingers long after the song ends), Morton's truly bizarre spoken-jazz "Sophisticated Boom Boom" (covered by ex-Box Top Alex Chilton in his solo live set), Ike Turner's fabulous "I'm Blue," and Harry Nilsson's "Paradise."

Morton's production often used sound-effects (like the train of "Train From Kansas City" and seagulls of "(Remember) Walkin' in the Sand"), though at times his arrangements sounded more like Phil Spector's work with The Crystals ("The Dum Dum Ditty," complete with castanets), or even Motown ("Right Now and Not Later," with running bassline, organ, horns and vibraphone). The variety among these tracks is all the more impressive for the short period of time in which they were created.

The songs, filled with over-the-top melodrama, could still be quite chilling. From teens driven to a grisly death by their parents disapproval ("Give Us Your Blessings") to the fractured present of an apparent rape victim ("Past, Present and Future"), the Shangri-Las lived up to this disc's title, "Myrmidons of Melodrama." RPM digs deeply into the vault to extend this collection beyond the group's well-known Red Bird releases. Also included are an alternate version of "Give Him a Great Big Kiss," along with a pre-Red Bird single ("Wishing Well"), and a quartet of radio spots featuring Mary Weiss discussing everything from good taste and dating courtesy to Revlon.

What's missing (and only because they physically wouldn't fit on the CD) are the group's other pre-Red Bird single ("Simon Says"/"Simon Speaks") and their two latter-day singles for Mercury ("Sweet Sounds of Summer" and three other sides). Unfortunately, the only way to accumulate everything is to get this disc (RPM 136), the revised version (confusingly issued in 2002 with the same title, but a slightly different track selection (including, apparently, additional true stereo mixes), a different cover, and a new stock number: RPM 506), and Polygram's "The Best of the Shangri-Las."

With its stellar track selection and detailed, well-illustrated, humorous liner notes, this disc (or the revised RPM 506 version) is the first one to buy, whether you're just interested in digging past the well-known hits, or you're starting on the road to fanatical completist. RPM's slogan says it all: "By collectors, for collectors." 'Nuff said.

This CD offers a mega 33 tracks, practically everything the Shangs recorded (except for the live version of `Twist and Shout', but trust me, you'll live) and even includes several absolute obscurities such as `Paradise', `Wishing Well' and `Hate To Say I Told You So', all of which are fab. All the regular Shangri-Las favourites are here including `The Leader Of The Pack', `Give him A Great Big Kiss', `Give Us Your Blessings', `Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)' and the list goes on. I particularly like the numbers where the girls really let loose their primal wailing like on "He Cried", "Dressed In Black" and "Out In The Streets". Their brand of effect laden tragi-pop is without equal, there's so many great songs on here it's pointless trying to list them all and work out what makes them so great.

The liner notes are comprehensive and as an added bonus you also get four radio ads that lead-La Mary Weiss recorded in the sixties, and she offers "good taste" tips no teen would want to be without. But the burning question is : how do you dance to this? Answer: Close, very, very close.