She 1965

Super Deluxe Edition features recreations of the 1st 16 singles of the Beach Boys Catalog (1962-65), including accurate reproductions of the original sleeves and labels.

The great incontrovertible truth of Brazilian vocalists in the '60s is that the more global success they enjoyed, the weaker and more insubstantial their voices. (As a test, simply compare and contrast the chart-topper Astrud Gilberto with the chart-absent Elis Regina.) Wanda de Sah was quite popular, which says most of what you need to know about her vocal prowess, both on the material she recorded with Brasil '65 as well as her solo career. But as with Astrud Gilberto, vocal weakness is hardly a barrier to entry. When given complementary musicians and arrangements - which were as common as coffee in Brazilian music circles - a thin, wispy voice could be made to sound positively radiant. DRG's 2008 pairing of Brasil '65 and Softly!, the two albums de Sah appeared on during 1965, reflects her peak year as an artist….

This 36-song double-CD set covers most of the group's released songs from Decca, minus one song ("I Can't Make It") that they lost the rights to, and augmented with a handful of solo tracks by Steve Marriott and songs by Jimmy Winston's band…

Fans of French pop of the 1960s need to get this collection, no questions asked. Sylvie Vartan may not have the hipster cred that Françoise Hardy or France Gall each have, possibly because she never crossed over to the U.K. and U.S. like Hardy did or never worked with Serge Gainsbourg like Gall. She also suffers a little by having a long career that lasted through the '70s and '80s, and fell prey to many of the cheesier aspects of those decades. Irresistiblement: Sylvie Vartan 1965-1968 shows that Vartan was equal, if not superior, to any French singer of the '60s.