Day 136: The Shirelles – Baby It’s You

I was midway through writing my review for the day when I googled the singer of the band and saw that he has an upcoming trial for the thing that you’d expect a ‘70s rocker to go on trial for, so that’s scrapped. Changing course, today’s new album will be Baby It’s You by the Shirelles.

Album cover courtesy of Scepter Records

The Shirelles were a girl group formed by  Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Beverly Lee and Micki Harris. They first got together to perform at their high school talent show in 1957, but hey quickly realised they could go further than just their school performance, so they auditioned for their friend’s mother who owned a record label and they got signed. A few years later, their single "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making them the first Black girl group to achieve that. The pioneering girl group released thirteen albums and got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Released in 1962, Baby It’s You is the group’s fourth album, and it’s a perfectly good record of doo-wop inspired pop. It’s another one of those albums that feel like they’re made for laying on your stomach, kicking your feet and twirling your hair, with songs like “Soldier Boy” and “Make the Night a Little Longer” being peak ‘60s teenage yearner pop. It’s all very cute. As was the done thing at the time, the sound was more innocent than the lyrics with some obvious allusions to more mature topics peppered in, but the songs still just sound mainly sweet.

I thought I only knew the titular track, and even then I was more acquainted with the Beatles cover of it, but there was a few songs in there that I’d definitely heard before. My favourite was probably the slightly more rock and roll-sounding “Irresistible You”. I also liked “Voice of Experience” because of the almost comical effect of singing a cautionary tale of kissing men too fast and then singing “listen to the voice of experience” very low, sounding like a chorus of the ghosts of promiscuous ladies past.

It’s cute, I like it, it’s a 7/10. From a pop-history point of view it’s kind of a must for me to listen to it, with how they much inspired groups that came after them – the Beatles were especially fond, with their first record having two Shirelles covers – but even without that, it’s a fun listen.