Detail of cover illustration by Raphael DeSoto from Fantastic Novels Magazine, January 1951
Yeah, I know - I wrote about the Ronettes last week. But I also found a used Ronettes CD called The Early Years recently, and it's so great! The Rhino Records reissue's title is The Early Years, but it's really The Ronettes Featuring Veronica, a collection of the Ronettes' pre-Spector singles that came out on Colpix in 1965. It collects all the existing recordings featuring the Ronettes (with Veronica [Ronnie] Bennett on lead vocals) from 1961 and 1962, when they were releasing singles on the Brill Building's in-house labels.
These recordings are much better than I would have expected based on the one song I knew from the record, "He Did It". That song starts The Ronettes Featuring Veronica, and one thing that is immediately, jarringly evident is that these early '60s recordings were recorded in "hi-fi" stereo. Ronnie's lead vocals are front and center, with Estelle and Nedra singing backups way off to one side and the entire rhythm track on the other side. Once I got used to the mix, though, I was impressed with some of the other perks that came to the early Ronettes by having access to the Brill Building resources. The arrangements and playing are top-notch, with nice touches like the great sax solo on "Good Girls" and the tinkling saloon piano on "Memory". The Ronettes also had access to the great songwriters working in the Brill Building at the time - the album has songs by Jackie DeShannon and Carole King, among others. A couple of the songs, like "I'm on the Wagon" and "Recipe for Love", cross over into novelty territory, but it's a pretty solid batch of songs overall.
The Ronettes themselves sound great as well. Estelle and Nedra's backing vocals struck me immediately because they go beyond just "backing up" - they are their own instruments in the arrangement, giving the songs a richness and depth - it's a technique that is obviously borrowed from doo-wop groups like the Teenagers. The high violin-like vocal in "Silhouettes" is haunting, and most of the songs have excellent middle-eight sections where Estelle and Nedra get to do something interesting. And, of course, there's Ronnie - she sounds very young and exuberant here, singing her little heart out on songs like "I'm Gonna Quit While I'm Ahead" and "I Want a Boy".
One thing that Ronnie does here that surprised me is adding little squeals, growls, and grunts to punctuate certain points in the song (often right before the bridge). I'd heard this kind of thing in some of the stranger "girl group" singles like Marsha Gee's "Peanut Duck" and the Tammys' famously insane "Egyptian Shumba" but I didn't know that it was something that more conventional girl groups did. The best example of Ronnie cutting loose is on "You Bet I Would", a Carole King song that oddly was only ever released as the b-side of the "Silhouettes" single. That released version has been lost, so an alternate take of the song from the same sessions is included on The Early Years reissue. It's easily my favorite song on the album, and Ronnie is WAY into her vocal, growling and squeaking throughout the song, but she really lets it out during the bridge while Estelle and Nedra sing a very normal-sounding wordless melody.
As much as I love the Spector-era Ronettes recordings, I'll admit that I like these early singles almost as much for their energy and innocence. The songs on The Ronettes Featuring Veronica make it clear that the Ronettes were destined for big things from their earliest recording sessions.
"You Bet I Would" by the Ronettes
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