The Ronettes - "Paradise"

 

I was surprised to learn recently that The Ronettes only released one studio album, 1964’s Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes, during the 10 years the group was together. The group primarily released singles, and many tracks appeared on compilation albums throughout the years. 

Unable to duplicate the success of “Be My Baby,” producer Phil Spector became discouraged with the group’s potential and was distracted by other acts signed to his Philles label, his own insecurities and changing music fads.

So here I present what could have been a follow-up Ronettes album for 1965.

SIDE A

1. Is This What I Get for Loving You?

2. Paradise

3. I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine

4. (Baby, Let’s Be) Lovers

5. Oh, I Love You

6. Everything Under the Sun

7. Keep on Dancing

SIDE B

1. Born to be Together

2. Soldier Baby (of Mine)

3. I’m a Woman in Love

4. Blues for Baby

5. Here I Sit

6. Girls Can Tell

The Ronettes released two singles in 1965: “Born to Be Together” b/w “Blues for Baby” and “Is This What I Get for Loving You?” b/w “Oh, I Love You.” Besides those four songs, eight other tracks were recorded by the group in 1964 and 1965. They sat in the vault for years before appearing on the Phil Spector Wall of Sound compilation LP series in the 1970s and 1980s.

With these 12 tracks, I also included the song “(Baby, Let's Be) Lovers,” which appeared on the 1981 compilation The Ronettes Sing Their Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (somewhat comical since “Lovers” had not only never been released previously, but was never a hit song).

Overall, the result is a nice package of girl-group tracks produced with the Wall of Sound. For a cover, I took a black and white portrait of the group from the time period, colorized it and then added minimal graphics.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the album.