The best of the lesser-known "wall of sound" productions from ace producer Phil Spector in the early 1960s. Many people think it's Veronica singing, and indeed it does sound most like the Ronettes, although it's not quite as awe-inspiring as their strongest track "Baby I Love You". I do love the rising strings in the background on the way into the chorus. Lyrically, it's in the "He's A Rebel" vein.
available on CD - Phil Spector's Flips And Rarities
19 Jul 04 ·kwan_dk: Indeed a great song and a terriffic production. The only problem is that it's supposedly not produced by Spector, but by a young aspiring songwriter/producer named Jerry Riopelle who was assigned to Philles Records at the time. Riopelle himself has acknowledged this and other evidence seems to indicate he's right.
As for Veronica singin lead, it has been established that the girl in question was a singer called Charlotte O'Hara, as far as I recall...
Another awsome but forgotten vocal group from 60's California that deserves a proper re-issue!The Collage were a vocal quartet(2 boys & 2 girls)with a very cool sound.Not enough to set them apart from the pack,but very groovy out of their context.The sound is as good as re-discovered groups like Free Design, or Millenium.In fact,Curt Boettcher wrote one of the songs on the LP,as well as Roger Nichols!
This song has a kind of"love awareness" message that seems just as relevant in today's troubled world: "...Look at a baby,what do you see?What do you see,lookin' at a baby?/I can see the world the way that I would like the world to be!..."This song,as the opener on the LP,has a lot of power, with that great 8th note stomp and a big,boomy,bass line with harpsichord.The arrangements are by the great Perry Botkin Jr.,and he gives the whole record a nice swirling,magical quality.And the rest of the album is just as impressive, and should be worth the high price for any lover of the genre.
19 Jul 04 ·kwan_dk: Great song! I was lucky enough to find their album for 1 (!) dollar at a garage sale and loved that great opening track... 09 Feb 05 ·rum: I heard a version of this track on that excellent rhino handmade 'Hallucinations' compilation. It was by the Collectors. I'm not sure whether it was the original or not, but it's really good. I remember looking at a picture of the band and thinking that if these 'collectors' started peering over into my baby's pram, I'd be wheeling him away to the nearest bobby. Ah such was the carefree innocence of the 60s that shabby young men could spend balmy afternoons in the park staring at young children. 12 Feb 06 ·maya: I love this album! I may post some recs once I've listened to it a few times more...and since the year has a question mark, it's from 1967! they've got such a soft, sweet sound, that it's hard to resist. 17 Apr 07 ·artlongjr: This song and band are great, no doubt. They were Canadian and later evolved into Chilliwack (who I haven't heard). I have their first LP which contains this song, and is excellent, it's a classic of West Coast psychedelia. I had a chance to hear their second
album from a friend of mine who works in a record store, it's terrific! I think I heard that the name "Collectors" was given to them by a manager or record executive...but please, overlook the dorkiness of the name! This song is getting around, I now have it on two comps.
