Claudine Clark: Ask the Girl Who Knows - The Best of (1958-1969) ... plus

Long overdue, this fab collection of the mysterious and energetically voiced Ms Clark’s best recordings kicks off with an alternate take of her only chart hit 'Party Lights', and features tracks released under the names Joy Dawn and Sherry Pye. Then there’s the previously unreleased and often speculated upon 'Buttered Popcorn' (yes, it is the pre-hit Supremes track), an as near as dammit Supremes cover in 'Goodbye Mama' and another unissued track, 'A Sometimes Thing'. All of this makes this set a dream come true for girl group fans, as it collects Claudine’s best work from 1958-1969 into one tight, 24-track hour of doo-wop, soul balladry, dance tunes and great and pure fun music. Claudine’s status as a one hit wonder does her a disservice and by track three, aural evidence soon backs up that statement. Clark was born in Macon, Georgia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania raised, and she recorded for the city’s great labels like Chancellor, Jamie, Swan and Fayette. So it’s no real surprise that she was often given (and in fact gave herself, as she had a hand in writing a significant number of her own releases) a similar sound to that great hit-making Philly girl of the early '60s, Dee Dee Sharp. The versions of 'Party Lights' and (its original A-side) 'Disappointed' are previously unissued longer alternate takes, 'Easy to Love' is great slow drag soul and '(The Strength) to Be Strong' is in an extraordinary waltz tempo epic (unsurprisingly it was a Dave Godin favourite). The 1969 title track is closer to Claudine’s Georgia roots, with her sounding wonderfully soulful with a distaff take on a song Otis could have easily recorded. Add in the extremely odd 'Walking Through a Cemetery', the great 'Telephone Game', both sides of her 1958 release on Herald and a handful of tracks plucked from her Party Lights album and the whole package is a winner. I added a few bonus tracks, including the original version of 'Party Lights', and the rest of the tracks from her album which were omitted here. http://www.acerecords.co.uk/

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