Red Bird Story, Vol. 2

A pretty interesting double LP of Red Bird non-hits and rarities, although the diversity of material (and somewhat half-assed sequencing) means that it's more apt to be enjoyed by scholars rather than general listeners. There are three excellent 1966 Shangri-Las tracks; Cathy Saint's "Big Bad World," one of the better non-hit girl group singles; cult soul singer Linda Jones' "Fugitive From Love"; Ellie Greenwich's fabulous dramatic wall-of-sound ballad, "You Don't Know"; and rare solo outings by Jeff Barry, Barry Mann, and Shadow Morton, who usually confined their activities to songwriting and production. Most of side four is taken up with previously unreleased extracts from a Jelly Beans session. Much, but not nearly all, of this is on the Charly box set The Red Bird Story, so collectors may want to keep an eye out for it. ~ Richie Unterberger