60s GIRL GROUP NORTHERN SOUL JELLY BEANS GOOD/GAME ORIG

	£		147
	$		195

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60s GIRL GROUP NORTHERN SOUL/R&B/MOD

OUTSTANDING TWO-SIDER

ORIGINAL MULTI-COLOURED ISSUE

THE JELLY BEANS

"I'M HIP TO YOU"

HEAR HERE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5lrulZC9c

b/w

"YOU DON'T MEAN ME NO GOOD"

HEAR HERE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZhtoBGj5yA

(US: Eskee ESKEE 10,001, 1965)

Vinyl

Record conditon: Excellent + (plays Excellent ++++)

Labels condition: Spotless

Charles Thomas

Elyse Herbert   Alma Brewer

Maxine Herbert (lead)

Considering the fact that The Jelly Beans only had three singles released in just over two years, they have still gone down in history as one of the best of the girl group genre. It should be obvious from a glance at the above publicity photo, that they weren't really a girl group at all. Like The Orlons, they had one male face in the line-up, but they do fit admirably into the same pigeon hole as The Shirelles, The Chiffons, The Crystals, The Ronettes, The Dixie Cups, and hundreds of other similar groups of the period.

The group were formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1962. An earlier photograph (pictured below) shows the group's first line up, when they were a quintet (the added member was Diane Taylor. I don't know exactly when

 five became four, but most pictures from their brief 'hit' period show them as a quartet. That 'hit' came with their first single, which was recorded for the new Red Bird label, set up by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. "I Wanna Love Him So Bad" was written by Jeff Barry and his then wife, Ellie Greenwich (who died in August of last year). It was typical of the teen angst song that emanated from New York's Brill Building, and sat perfectly alongside other Barry-Greenwich composition, such as "Be My Baby", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Leader Of The Pack", and "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" (some of them penned with Phil Spector). The single was soon following The Dixie Cups' "Chapel Of Love" (another Barry-Greenwich/Red Bird title) high up the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #9 in the summer of 1964. The follow up, "Baby Be Mine", was another Barry-Greenwich composition, and while it could only peak at #51, a whole album of similar material was recorded. It was provisionly titled "Baby Be Mine", but not long after the sessions, Charles Thomas quit the group, and Red Bird consequently shelved the LP. For vinyl buffs, six of the unreleased tracks appeared on a 1987 Charly compilation called "The Red Bird Story, Volume 2", and included The Jelly Beans' alternative version of "Chapel Of Love", and a nice girly dancer called "Here She Comes". Best of all these unreleased tracks is "Ain't Love A Funny Thing", which was left in it's unedited state, complete with false start and studio banter. Possibly a bit miffed by the non-appearance of their album, the three remaining group members (Alma Brewer, and the two Herbert sisters, Elyse and Maxine) left Red Bird. They recorded just one more single, and then called it a day.

That final single is the one on offer here, and promised a brand new start on a newly-formed New York label. It was called Eskee, and wasn't a poorly-funded venture by any means. The Amy-Mala-Bell group was brought in to distribute the new label, and it took a whole page out in Billboard magazine to promote The Jelly Beans release. Nevertheless, the Eskee operation was doomed from the off. It took it's name from Escalator Productions, who had offices on East 64th Street, New York. However, instead of billing the single on offer as 'An Escalator Production', the typesetters mis-spelled it as 'An Esculator Production'. Perhaps it was just opening nerves, but the label folded after just five releases (two by The Brotherly Lovers, and one apiece from Beau Hannon, Mark Hopkins, and The Jelly Beans). The Hopkins single was given the number 10,003 - which serious collectors will recognise as also being that of The Ad Libs' "New York In The Dark". Whether The Ad Libs single was ever pressed on Eskee is very doubtful, and A.G.P. must be considered as it's only definitely released source.

The Jelly Beans' single also has an interesting history. It can be obtained in demo format, as well as ordinary issue copies, like this one. It was also put out with a plain blue design, which is supposedly scarcer, but nowhere near as pretty. You can see this plain design on one of the sound links. "You Don't Mean Me No Good" was booted in the early 70s, on a plain black Crossover/Eskee design, and with the same track on both sides. It then became the second release on Dave Godin's Right On! label in 1975, this time honoured with it's superb flip. It was also given a British release in 1980, by Inferno, this time paired with "Come Back" by The Fantastic Puzzles.

Both titles have sound links to whet your appetite.

This one is currently priced by both Manship and Brown/Koppel at £150.

The vinyl has just the lightest of previous play signs, and the sound quality is as good as new.

Both labels are immaculate.

The edges are completely chip-free.