Got some vinyl this week - vinyl! It's those flat spinning, groovy, plastic things. It used to be all vinyl or cassette tapes before CDs - this one originally was on Philles but now out on Sundazed, out of New York. Anyway, I love this one already, "Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica." From 1964, it's their only studio album or back when even AM radio was cool - it still had Dodger baseball but was right wing wacko free. This one has 10 songs - most of them co-written by Phil Spector and several of the Brill Building geniuses - and five of them are among the greatest songs of all time. When you hear Ronnie croon, "C'mon, baby..." on "(The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up," you'll be ready to dive into the speaker and search out her '64 self. All just over two minutes long - these pop gems not only demonstrate that Spector knew what a hit song should sound like (before he went gun gonzo) but the Ronettes could sing even better than they looked. There's reasons why "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You" still live long and prosper on oldies radio, "Walkin' In The Rain" won a Grammy in '65 and the group opened for the Beatles and the Stones opened for them.
