The 24 tracks on this nearly career-spanning anthology -- the great majority taken from between the late 1950s and early '70s -- collect many of
Darlene Love's most notable recordings. It has not only some of her efforts as a solo artist, but also a few she did as part of
the Blossoms, as well as numerous cuts on which her contributions as a session vocalist are prominent. The reason it's "nearly" career-spanning, however, with "many" rather than "most" of her notable recordings, is that it's missing the most crucial
Love tracks of all -- those being the ones she sang on, as featured artist or session vocalist (particularly with
the Crystals), with
Phil Spector as a producer. Due to that very important factor, this can't actually be called a
Darlene Love best-of, and to its credit
Ace avoids using that phrase in its title. If you can swallow that disappointment, however (and at least
Love's
Spector recordings have been collected elsewhere), this is an interesting overview of her other (and usually less celebrated) efforts, including many hard-to-find singles and a few previously unissued cuts. Yet a problem that can't go unmentioned is that while
Love has a first-rate impassioned, distinctive pop-soul voice and almost always sings her heart out, the average quality of the material simply isn't on the level of her vocal talents. Though personal differences between her and
Spector apparently kept their collaborations from being extensive, he nonetheless was the one figure to give her the material and production she deserved; there's nothing here on the order of, for example,
the Crystals'
"He's a Rebel" (a song here represented by an inferior 1971 single credited to
Moose & the Pelicans) or her small 1963 solo hit
"Wait Till My Bobby Gets Home." Adjusting your expectations accordingly, there are some average-to-slightly-above average songs here (some written by top songwriters like
Van McCoy,
Barry Mann,
Cynthia Weil,
Gerry Goffin,
Carole King,
David Gates, and
Lee Hazlewood) with very above-average vocals. There are also some pretty forgettable tunes, as well as some almost novelty-like items on which
Love and others provided singing for tracks by performers who were essentially instrumental artists (
Dick Dale,
Hal Blaine,
Barney Kessel, and
Duane Eddy). One of the best songs here, interestingly, is one that was previously unreleased: a 1963 demo of
"Let Him Walk Away," produced by
Jack Nitzsche and co-written by
Nitzsche with
Jackie DeShannon, that credibly approximates the ambience of her
Spector recordings. The extensive liner notes feature track-by-track annotation and quotes from
Love herself. ~ Richie Unterberger
