Bluebells

Even the most despondent soul will not be able to resist the Bluebells' charms on The Singles Collection. Containing more than an hour of uplifting, buoyant, and toe-tapping jangle pop, The Singles Collection is an irresistible career retrospective from a band that should've sold as many records as the Beatles. Unfortunately, the Bluebells were trapped in the wrong decade. The influence of '80s college-radio favorites such as Aztec Camera and the Pale Fountains is easily detected in the Bluebells' marriage of new wave and folk, but the golden harmonies of "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and "Cath" recall '60s fixtures like the Everly Brothers and Every Mother's Son. "All I Ever Said" captures the lovestruck innocence of the early Beatles. On "Patriot's Game" and "Aim in Life," the Bluebells explore serious matters such as the futility of war and the loneliness of old age with warmth and intelligence; although they're not as hummable as most of the tracks on The Singles Collection, they inject emotional weight in the group's discography. However, there's nothing wrong with catchy, rousing pop music, and the Bluebells cook a king's feast on The Singles Collection. One listen is all it takes to be spellbound by the shimmering hooks of songs such as "Forever More" and "Happy Birthday (Turn Gold)."

The legendary Bluebells return with In The 21st Century, the first album from the trio in over two decades. The new LP features 12 brand new songs including upcoming singles "Gone Tomorrow", "Blue Train" & "Ballad of the Bells", housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve designed by Robert Hodgens and JIm Lambie, with photography from Brian Sweeney.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s the music charts were positively crammed with girl groups of a very different kind. These all consisted of three or four close-harmony singers, usually dressed in matching outfits, with high heels and even higher beehive hairdos. The songs they sang were largely pop rather than R&B or what would come to be called soul. They chronicled the ups and downs of teen romance as it existed in that era. There were jealous boys and jealous girls and rivalry aplenty, not to mention supportive friends and disapproving parents and teachers. Of course, there was also True Love among the 100 songs assembled here.