Jackie DeShannon
was one of the most interesting figures to come out of the Los Angeles
pop
scene of the 1960s -- she had a superb voice, she was a truly gifted songwriter, she had a keen ear for talent (she helped to discover both
Randy Newman
and
the Byrds
), and her instincts in the recording studio were all but faultless. If she wasn't a top-shelf star, she was a truly exceptional talent, and this two-fer release from
Beat Goes On Records
features two early
albums, 1964's
Don't Turn Your Back on Me
and 1965's
This Is Jackie DeShannon
; compared to what most of her peers were doing at the time, the results are both consistently strong and impressively sophisticated.
Jack Nitzsche
handled the arrangements for
, and the two were a perfect match in the studio; the supple strength of
DeShannon
's vocals was an ideal complement for the textures of
Nitzsche
's backgrounds, and they assembled an exceptional collection of songs, including the stellar
"When You Walk in the Room"
"Needles and Pins,"
not to mention a pair of affecting tunes
Jackie
wrote with
.
is a slightly glossier set, and opens with one of her biggest hits,
"What the World Needs Now Is Love,"
featuring
Burt Bacharach
Hal David
's trademark subtle-but-dramatic production. The album sounds more mature and emotionally measured than
, but if anything
's vocal chops had actually improved, and the album's high points rank with her finest work. This package gives you 25 great performances from one of the most distinctive female artists of the 1960s, all remastered and sounding wonderful, and if that isn't enough for you, maybe the front cover shot of
from
might persuade you. ~ Mark Deming