Younger Girl: Complete Kapp & Musicor Recordings

The Critters, known for “Younger Girl” and “Mr. Dieingly Sad’ were perfectly in tune with the new, mid sixties style that would come to be known as Sunshine Pop. This disc shows the group to be good songwriters and excellent harmonists. Interestingly, they were not the creation of a label to jump on some new trend, but were in every way a garage band, except that they did pop rather than rock. Like many of the harder rocking garage bands they formed in high school (in Plainfield, New Jersey) and played school hops and rented halls owned by local civic groups. The band evolved out of the Vibratones, fronted by Jimmy Ryan(lead guitar). Don Ciccone, who had his own band joined them when their rhythm guitarist left; they especially wanted him because he could write songs, He would soon inspire Ryan to do the same.The band got a big local following and even a one single deal with local label Musicor; the single’s A and B sides, “Georgiana” and “I Want to Give” are included here. These are interesting for showing the band in its early days, the first song with a bouncy early sixties sound and the latter with Everly Brothers style harmonies. It was opening for Jay & the Americans that led them to Kama Sutra in 1965, via a friend of Jay’s who got them on the audition list. They were signed to Kama Sutra Productions with their records to be made by Kapp because Kama Sutra wasn’t yet a label. Soon the new label would launch and the band would break out almost immediately with the Lovin’ Spoonful.By this time the band had none of the Vibratones’ members and the name was very fifties sounding. A friend suggested the Critters, a perfect name for this time (the Beatles, Byrds, Turtles, Monkees). The classic Critters lineup was Jimmy Ryan (lead guitar, vocals), Don Ciccone (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), Kenny Gorka (bass), Chris Darway (keyboards) and Jack Decker (drums). All of them were 19 or 20 in 1966. They were lucky all around. They weren’t ripped off by their manager, production company or label, something that happened all too often back then. They were put in the hands of capable producer Artie Ripp, a co-founder of Kama Sutra. He recognized their songwriting talent and let them record nine of their own songs on their album instead of the usual practice of doing covers.Their first single, the Jackie DeShannon song, “Children and Flowers” was a solid regional hit.That was followed by the John Sebastian song, “Younger Girl” from the first Lovin’ Spoonful album. It’s not surprising that a major talent like Sebastian would have more potential hit songs on an album than the group could possibly release and with the Kama Sutra connection the Critters were naturals to make it a hit. Ripp came up with a unique, airy backup that required studio musicians rather than band members to perform, but it worked well supporting Don and Jimmy’s vocals. It reached #42 nationally, hampered by a competing version by L.A.’ s Hondells (“Little Honda”) that was given preferential airplay on the West Coast. In my Midwestern city it went top ten. It is definitive of the Critter’s soft tenor vocal sound.It was followed in the fall with “Mr. Dieingly Sad”, a song that made Top 20 (#17) and with its gentle samba rhythm, smooth vocal and backup, this time by the band, it became the group’s signature tune. It was written by Don about a beautiful girl he had met (and later married and had two children). A series of less successful singles followed including “Bad Misunderstanding” an untypical song for the band written by the Brill Building team of Peter Anders and Vinnie Poncia, who had once recorded as the Tradewinds (“New York’s a Lonely Town”), It does seem that Ripp didn’t trust them enough with their own compositions for singles. “Don’t Let the Rain Fall Down On Me” did better in 1967.But already the band was being broken up - not by the usual ego trips and band tensions - but by the Vietnam War. Though three members, including Ryan and Ciccone started their freshman year at Villanova, they left college to pursue a career in music. That was a mistake, as it left them vulnerable to the draft. Back then, if about to be drafted and not wanting to move to Canada, one volunteered to join one of the more elite services. Ciccone went into the Air Force just as “Younger Girl” was going up the charts. He was followed by drummer Jack Decker. Keyboardist Chris Darway quit to go to art school.This disc is a complete survey of the classic group (a group with mostly new members put out two albums on the Project 3 label). First is the 12-track album reproduced exactly followed by their later single As and Bs and a few rarities. Their sound is really a blend of folk-rock and pop with an acoustic lead guitar rather than electric. When they do a more rocking number like “Everything But Time”, “Best Love You’ll Ever Have”, or the excellent “Blow My Mind”, it’s the electric bass that gives the song some power along with the tempo; it’s more influenced by Bob Dylan around this time than anyone else. “It Just Won’t Be That Way” is also a more raucous number but the vocals are like a Southern California car and surf group like the Hondells or Ronny & the Daytonas. They are, of course, best at the mellow songs like “Gone For a While”, “Come Back On a Rainy Day” or “Don’t Let the Rain Fall Down On Me”.The real oddity here is “No One But You” a single released by “the mysterious Prancer label” attributed to them but a song they all say they had nothing to do with. Its B-side was an old demo of theirs, “I’m Telling Everyone”. The A-side doesn’t list composers on the single’s label. The group singing it has lots of echo and sounds more like the Vogues than the Critters. Prancer was distributed by Roulette Records.It was included for completeness sake. The CD was put out by Now Sounds, a division of major British reissue label Cherry Red. These people do excellent remastering using original masters. The booklet is like those which many of the best oldies labels do. It’s 14 pages with lots of unique photos submitted by band members. Like other top oldies labels they interviewed original band members resulting in interesting details you’d never get in a more formal article. The group is well represented by this CD and captures a particular time in the mid sixties.

Good sound as they recorded

Music from a simpler time. Mr. Dieingly Sad is one of my all time favorite songs, which is why I purchased this CD.

I bought this CD in the hope of hearing more of Don Ciccone's singing. That didn't happen. Instead i discovered the exelent song writing and singing of Jim Ryan, since most of the tracks are writen and sung by him. "Gone for Awhile" is one of the best with Ryan on leads and Ciccone on harmony. "Children and Flowers" is another song where Ryan's lead stands out. And finally the song arrangements, acoustic guitar playing and voice harmonies makes this a no miss for fans of 60s Sunshine Pop.So "RUSH" and buy this CD, before it goes out of print.Ggonz

I have owned the anthology since the nineties it is in stereo. this is a better sounding mono remaster. they didn't chart much. but they had enough good material to prove what I always knew they were much more than mr dieingly sad.

Product as advertised

totally thrilled about the critters, When I could not get the greatest hits ot the critters someone at amazon suggested ' younger girl of the critters which has included younger girl and delighingly sad too. good jom g hawke

Well, I grew up in Westfield and Kenny Gorka (bass) was a good friend - so that says it all. This CD brought me back to those wonderful days in the 60's. Great CD! Songs as crisp as when recorded. RIP Kenny. We miss you!

It's the best album of the band. There is a really groovy 60s vide into it. It takes you back to the 60s.

En débutant leur premier album avec une reprise de John Sebastian ("Younger Girl", qui donne son titre à l'album), les Critters ne trompent pas sur la marchandise qu'ils vont nous refiler sur les autres titres. Qui sont, par contre, des compositions personnelles. On peut légitimement penser à Lovin' Spoonful, donc, à l'écoute de ce premier album, mais sans le côté folk de ces derniers. Comme les Critters ne sont pas avares en harmonies vocales, on pourra également citer sans ciller les Beach boys. Et le fait que leurs compositions sont délicatement ouvragées, finement nuancées et habilement construites et voilà donc qu'on peut aussi parler de The Left Banke. Le fait est encore que les Critters pratiquent une pop ensoleillée et paresseuse (ça va ensemble) et on peut donc sans broncher parler ici de sunshine pop. Le fait est toujours que toutes les compositions sont au minimum bonnes, parfois même très bonnes, voire excellentes quand ils ne nous refourguent pas carrément des perles ("Gone For Awhile", sublime, ou la très belle "Mr. Dieingly Sad" ou encore la très Spector/Ronettes "Children And Flowers", mais chacun choisira ses préférées selon ses propres... critères). Bref, rien à jeter sur cet album et le CD a le bon goût de l'enrichir de 13 morceaux supplémentaires, 45 tours et autres bricoles de la même époque, qui complètent idéalement le disque original puisque du même tonneau. Soit plus d'une heure de musique à l'arrivée. C'est sorti en 1966, sorte d'âge d'or de la pop, le psychédélisme naissant est encore timidement pratiqué, les murs d'amplis ne sont pas bloqués sur 11 et les velléités progressives et autres tentations classiques sont bien loin d'être une réalité ou une tendance. Non, les Critters pratiquent une pop bien estampillée, fièrement, même, 1966. Les morceaux sont expédiées en 2 minutes 30. Quand le titre est très bon, on a invariablement envie de le remettre tant il s'est passé tant de petites choses en si peu de temps. Quand le titre est moins réussi, la compo un peu moins bonne, ça permet de vite passer à autres chose. Et, à ce sujet, même sur les compositions moins réussies, les Critters parviennent toujours à relancer le truc d'une manière ou d'une autre. On est là, on écoute, on trouve que ouais, celle-là, elle est un peu moins bien, et bing, un break inattendu, un pont surprenant ou un solo inhabituel réveille la curiosité. Alors c'est léger, comme ça, ça coule tout seul, c'est joli tout plein mais, attention, c'est en fait souvent réellement bien foutu et bien écrit. Pour les amateurs de pop sixties, c'est vraiment une bonne adresse, à compléter avec un autre CD qui regroupe le deuxième et le troisième album. Pas des génies, les Critters (ça se saurait, quand-même) mais dans le genre groupe de série B, ils font carrément bien le job et même un peu plus. Ce ne serait donc que justice qu'ils soient un peu plus reconnus de nos jours.

Soft harmonic pop music appears in every decade, usually with an only slightly updated feel to it (flower power edge, glam-rock edge, punk edge, black edge, dance edge etc). The 1960s produced a bumper crop of purveyors of this genre, on both sides of the Atlantic. Some were very successful (Mamas and Papas, The Tremeloes, The Four Seasons, The Turtles and of course the era's biggest acts - Beatles, Beach Boys et al did a lot of things that could fall into this bag) Some were less consistently successful commercially (The Association, Vanity Fayre, Scott McKenzie, Spiral Staircase, The Ivy League, Twice as Much.....) and sadly, The Critters are numbered among this latter category.It was always my opinion that John Sebastian (who wrote it) didn't realise the full potential of "Younger Girl" in his version. This left the way clear for a slick harmony group with a good arrangement to grab it and make it a hit (similar to how Episode 6 took Paul McCartney's "Here There and Everywhere" - fairly anaemic in the Beatles version - and made it special). There were other covers of "Younger Girl" too - my favourite is by The Hondells, a similar treatment to the Critters version, but fuller and better mixed. That is not at all to denigrate the Critters' version, which is deservedly a treasured and classic hit of the 1960s - right up there with the Turtles "Happy Together" as a towering example of what the artwork on this CD calls "Sunshine pop".As other reviewers have said here, the standout tracks on this CD are "Younger Girl" and "Mr Deingly Sad" (MDS). As an avid radio listener in that era I have no recollection of hearing MDS on the pirate radio stations in the UK, which is very odd indeed because it's such a great package. It has a strong melody line, the production of the track and the arrangement are all spot on and it's lyrically inventive without being overly wacky (for that era). It was their biggest hit in the US, but never did a thing in the UK which I now realise was our (large) loss - it would definitely make my top 40 songs of the 1960s list now.Although those two songs are the draw here, there is a lot else to enjoy on this CD - though I have to agree that none hit such heights of excellence as the two tracks discussed above and a few are clearly make weights or covers that don't do much for me. However, if you want a big old dose of 60s harmony band and some echoes of flower power pop, play the CD through - you will be entertained and find much to like.The Critters may never have fully scaled the heights of stardom, but the two "hit" tracks discussed here will continue to have a life and popularity for some years to come and should be a source of pride to all involved.

Three outstanding songs - younger girl, flowers and outstanding song mr dieingly sad

thanks very much