måndag 29 september 2014

The Angels - My Boyfriend's Back (Klassisk R&B US 1963)


250:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Litet japanskt bolag "Olday Records" som släpper främst tidig R&B och blues i mycket små upplagor.)

The Angels are an American girl group, best known for their 1963 No. 1 hit single, "My Boyfriend's Back".

My Boyfriend's Back is the second album issued by American girl group The Angels in 1963. It was heavily weighted upon the success of the title track "My Boyfriend's Back" which was a number one hit; composed by the team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer. Peggy Santiglia was by this time, the lead singer of The Angels but included on the album is the group's first hit "Till" which was originally recorded in 1961 with the group's previous lead singer, Linda Jansen. It is unspecified if the track was re-recorded with Santiglia on lead or not. There is also cover version of The Chiffons' "He's So Fine" as The Chiffons had covered "My Boyfriend's Back" and a reading of "Someday My Prince Will Come" from the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The album sold fairly well and charted at No. 33 US, the group's most successful effort.

The group originated in New Jersey as The Starlets which consisted of sisters, Barbara "Bibs" and Phyllis "Jiggs" Allbut, Bernadette Carroll, and Linda Malzone. They had some minor local hits and wound up doing back-up work in the studio. When Linda Malzone left, Linda Jankowski (later Jansen) became the new lead singer. Their manager, Tom DeCillis, turned his focus to Bernadette Carroll and dropped the rest of the group. Carroll would find solo success in 1963 with her Laurie single "Party Girl." After a failed attempt at record deal with producer Gerry Granahan, the Allbut sisters turned their focus to education. Phyllis Allbut was in teacher's college at the time and Barbara Allbut was accepted into the Juilliard School for her abilities as a musical arranger. Soon Granahan, who had previously rejected the group, suddenly saw hit potential in the song they had performed for him in their audition, a version of "Till," and wanted them to record it in the studio. "Til" became their first single under their new name, The Angels, and also their first hit (#14 US) released by Granahan's Caprice label in 1961. The song was followed up with a less-successful single, "Cry Baby Cry." The Angels had one album on Caprice, titled ...And The Angels Sing in 1962.



Jansen left the group in late 1962 to go solo and was replaced by Peggy Santiglia, formerly of The Delicates (with Denise Ferri and Arleen Lanzotti). Santiglia had sung jingles for WINS Radio, appeared on Broadway, and had songwriting experience. In 1963, the trio signed to Mercury Records' subsidiary label Smash Records and began working with the Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer songwriting team, who wrote "My Boyfriend's Back". The Angels' performance (with Santiglia on lead) was originally intended as a demo for The Shirelles' consideration, but the music publishers chose instead to release it as it stood. The song was a major hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, but no follow-up of comparable success was released. "My Boyfriend's Back" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The follow-up was the lower-charting "I Adore Him" (#25 US). The B-side "Thank You And Goodnight" was also favorable and charted at #84 US. During their Smash career, The Angels maintained a steady string of moderately successful singles which included "Wow Wow Wee (He's The Boy For Me)" (#41 US). Their album My Boyfriend's Back made the top forty, charting at #33[4] but their next, A Halo to You, didn't chart at all. The group left Smash in 1964 and signed with Congress Records.

The group became The Halos, following a dispute over the ownership of the name "The Angels." Peggy Santiglia took a leave of absence from the group in 1965 and was replaced by Toni Mason. (Contrary to rumors, Mason says she was not a recording member of Angie & The Chicklettes). The group released several more singles, none of which charted. Mason left the group in 1967 and was replaced by Debra Swisher (previously of The Pixies Three), who had recently recorded and released her own version of "Thank You And Goodnight" on the ABC-Paramount Records subsidiary, Boom Records. This lineup resumed using the name "The Angels" and released a handful of singles on RCA Records. Former Starlet Bernadette Carroll was back in the group and became the new lead. They appeared on "The Dean Martin Show" before disbanding in 1968. Santiglia and Phyllis and Barbara Allbut regrouped in the early 1970s and released a new single on Polydor Records.

Phyllis Allbut and Santiglia still perform as The Angels, joined occasionally by Barbara Allbut.

01. "My Boyfriend's Back"
02. "Someday My Prince Will Come"
03. "Has Anybody Seen My Boyfriend"
04. "Till"
05. "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes"
06. "Why Don't the Boy Leave Me Alone"
07. "He's So Fine"
08. "Thank You and Goodnight"
09. "The Hurdy-Gurdy Man"
10. "World Without Love"
11. "(Love Me) Now"
12. "The Guy with the Black Eye"

Bonus Track:
13. "Till" (Caprice Label Version)