By Various Artists, 2005

Girl groups have enchanted humankind since the era of the ancient Greeks, when legend has it the Sirens attempted to lure wayfarers Odysseus and Jason to their fates; Persephone's chanteuses would eventually even lose a battle of the bands to the Muses. A couple millennia later, female singers would become a dominant force in the pop and rock of the `60s, the era anthologized on this four-disc, 120-track collection from Rhino. If the "group" tag is something of a misnomer (many of the acts here are solo artists), the vibrant female pop spirit of the times gets showcased in rare fashion by a collection that eschews the obvious to revel in showcasing rarities and surprises at every turn: the bittersweet, life-is-over-when "I'm 28" musings of a two-decades-pre-"Mickey" Toni Basil; a healthy sampling of gems by the Cookies and their various alter-egos, including the Palisades' fervent ode to uber-necking, "Make the Night Just a Little Bit Longer"; the Shangri-Las' mini-epic, "Out in the Streets"; hit songwriter Ellie Greenwich's solo turn on the haunting "You Don't Know." An impressive collection with an inclusive bent, its tracks range across the classic r&b of the Marvelettes, Chiffons and Irma Thomas, country-crossovers Skeeter Davis and Wanda Jackson, the blue-eyed soul of Jackie DeShannon and Dusty Springfield and wounded white-girl pop of Lesley Gore and Connie Francis.

It's all contained in one of Rhino's most elaborately designed packages yet: each disc comes in a mock compact; its extensive liner notes and track info printed as a mini-diary; all housed in a smart replica of a vintage hat box--a treasure-packed delight for lovers of the genre and curious novices alike. -- Jerry McCulley

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