Crystals. C or D?

People only start these theads as Kate-bait, don't they? Because I will be forced to get online and declare my love again and again and again. He's A Rebel = seminal (har har har!) girl group song without which you would not have Leader Of The Pack or "Chico's Girl" any of those "I love bad boys" songs or nothing else. Pure classic, on so many levels. "Society thinks he = bad, but he is not a rebel to me" has been my downfall on so many levels, leading me to every band I've ever been in and every relationship I've ever been in. Everything I have ever been I learned from that song, etc. etc. etc.

Oh yes, and songs like the previously discussed "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)". And Da Doo Ron Ron. And Then He Kissed Me. How can I get enough? What A Nice Way To Turn 17 was the reason for a whole relationship "Oh, G, I love you so..."

Classic for the songwriting, Carole King and Spector/Barry/Greenwhich. Bizarrely futuristic in the way that they swapped singers without a batted eyelid. Shall we have arguments about which was the best line-up? Or just accept them as the gorgeously generic product which Spector intended?

I'm going to go and listen to my best of the Crystals CD as soon as I stop shooting my mouth off online. Don't anybody start a taking sides: crystals vs. ronettes thread or my head would surely pop.

subtext question: was Carole King a masochist or what?

and first off, just to give credit where it's due (and be a fucking trainspotter), Carole King didn't write all that much for the Crystals - aside from "He Hit Me", it was mostly Ellie Greenwich who wrote for them, if I recall correctly.

It's The Ronettes & The Shangri La's who seem to get the most props, but The Crystals were pretty solid. "He's A Rebel" (written by Gene Pitney!) and "Uptown" are high points for me... "All Grown Up" fucking rocks for the gleeful & timeless "Got my hair piled high" line - I love the perfectly insular logic of it: high-piled hair works as a signifier of "all grown up" only to teenage girls, and as a signifier of "teenage girl" to everybody else.

Also "He's Sure The Boy I Love" has that "why do I like this creep?" vibe that's so cool about Girl Group stuff (the whole "he's good bad but he's not evil" thing The Shangri La's did so well).

So yeah, let's hear it for The everlovin' Crystals.

they beat beat richard hell to it

So many of these songs just LONG for tongue-slip reinterpretations... "I love you Eddie... but so does Freddie..,." beat "Johnny Are You Queer" to the charts by how many years?

HE'S SURE THE BOY I LOVE!!!

This is the DDB anthem. "he doesn't hang diamonds round my neck, all he gives me is unemployment checks" = immediate inspiration for "i'm barefoot pregnant, talking jive, washing dishes for teh MC5, it's been two years since we had sex, I'm just sitting here waiting for unemployment checks..."

Anyhow, it's fantastic! Really good 70s power pop. Trust me.

We played the Crystals aka Blossoms version at Slow Fizz on Saturday night, of course.

There's No Other Like My Baby is transcendent, absolutely gorgeous (one of Johnny Marr's all-time faves I just read somewhere)

Yes! Just came to post the same thing. The harmonies are this are so gorgeous. Goosebumps!

Free La La Brooks show tonight: http://folkartmuseum.org/programs/block-party-64/?ID=8912

This was lots of fun

cool

Maybe I should report a little more.

Ha ha. Guessing she sang the hits and still sounded great.