I like to keep a themed genre when I put a party mix together. I believe keeping a bunch of similarly styled songs allows the tunes to more easily become “background music”, which I like since I like my party guests to enjoy each other’s company- we’re not gathering to just listen to music.
I want to put together a “jangly guitar pop” mix for the next party.
Now, when I say “jangly guitar pop”, I’m not intending to just play the Byrds all night. There is plenty going into the mix that you might argue would not truly be called “jangly guitar pop”. Don’t worry about that. We’re using “jangly guitar pop” as a foundation, so suggest anything that would flow well in a “jangly guitar pop” mix even if it is not actually “jangly guitar pop”.
Here’s the problem: I’m lacking in female vocals.
Please suggest “jangly guitar pop” with female vocals.
Some examples of stuff already in the mix:
Zombies
Hollies
Late-60s Kinks
Big Star
Gram Parsons
Beach Boys
Beatles
Byrds
Richard Thompson
and lots and lots of other male vocals
Don’t really have much for female vocals except:
Sandy Denny / Fairport
The Mamas and the Papas
Laura Nyro
I’m trying to keep it in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
Any suggestions?
Is the anything good on the Stone Poneys’ albums? I only know “Different Drum” but I love their version of that song.
I should have mentioned the Bangles in the OP since they are the obvious and probably most appropriate answer to “jangly guitar pop with female vocals”. Part of the reason I’m trying to keep things in the late 60’s early 70’s is a completely pointless and irrational feeling of “But, but, but . . . everything else in the mix is late 60’s early 70’s, so I gotta keep it that way, I just gotta!” Otherwise I could, in addition to the Bangles, also add 10,000 Maniacs / John and Mary, some B52s, Mary’s Danish etc.
But the other reason I want to keep it in the late 60’s early 70’s is that I don’t want the production values to change too much.
I’m an ass for not thinking of Dusty Springfield on my own. Dusty in Memphis is one of my favorite albums. O.K. she’s in.
I can also add Velvet Underground with Nico on vocals.
I’ll have to educate myself on Bobbie Gentry and Jackie DeShannon, I’m completely ignorant there. Any help?
Yeah, I think I can fit some Nancy Sinatra into the mix.
It’s too bad you’re focusing on that era, since the New Pornographers, a modern band from Canada, pretty much exemplify “jangly guitar pop” featuring the lovely female vocals of Neko Case. Admittedly, they have guy singers for the majority of their songs, but Neko is featured on a few great tracks on each album. If you’re a downloader, I recommend “All For Swinging You Around,” “The Laws Have Changed,” and “Letter From an Occupant” to get a taste of their jangliness.
I think The Pretenders did some stuff along those lines. I don’t know if they were like that early on though. I haven’t heard as much of them as I should.
Don’t worry, I’m not focusing on it for life- just for this particular mix. The change in production values going from the Hollies to the New Pornographers, would just be a little to jarring.
Jefferson Airplane - While Grace Slick didn’t handle all the vocals, her voice is on their hits, from “White Rabbit” to “Somebody to Love” to “Lather” and “Volunteers.”
Janis Joplin - Her blues belting made her famous but she sang jiggly rock as well. My favorite in that style is “Move Over.” If you like that then you can pick and choose from any of her work.
Linda LaFlamme was only in Its a Beautiful Day for their first album, but she shared vocals with husband David on their classic “White Bird.”
Leslie Gore is known today mostly for her early teen pop singles. I like her later work best, when she matured into some of the great sounds of the 60s with “Maybe I Know” and her last big hit “California Nights.”
Of course, if you want to get into girl groups and Motown, that adds dozens of possibilities.
Check out “After Hours” by The Velvet Underground. This one is post-Nico, sung by Maureen Tucker, another member of the band. It’s got a nice acoustic jangle to it, and the vocal is very sweet and innocent. A nice finish to their self-titled album.
I’d check out the stuff Sandie Shaw did with The Smiths. But my favorite in this genre - you’ll have to fast-forward to the 80s and check out Kirsty MacColl. One of the most talented singer-songwriters I’ve ever heard - gone far, far too soon.
Altered Images is another 80s band that fits the OP.
Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet have a terrific album of covers Under the Covers, Vol. 1 that includes Different Drum and The Primitives did a latterday blend of guitar power pop that is wonderful and Tranvision Vamp would provide further airy variety.
Other British singers that might fit include Lulu, Petula Clark, Sandie Shaw, Cilla Black - although a lot of what they were doing were ballads and lacked much guitar.
Veering a little into prog, there’s Sonja Kristina of Curved Air (don’t know if they had any success in the US but but Back Street Luv was a medium hit here…) She started in the musical Hair (the London production); there might be a couple of songs there you fancy.
One suggestion you may not get from other folks is *Inside the Shadow[/] by a band callled Anonymous. They were a very very obscure band who put out an album in the mid-70s, and pressed something like 500 copies, and now changes hands for hundreds of dollars–it’s legendary. But fear not, it was reissued recently on CD. It’s an amazing mix of Byrds-like jaangle, Airplane-vibes and female vocals.
You can read about it here:
If you want to buy it, there are copies on Ebay for cheap, e.g.:
As staTed above, Sandie Shaw, specifically “Always Something There To Remind Me”, “Girl Don’t Come”, “Long Live Love” “Till The Night Begins To Die” “Message Understood”, etc. please avoid “Puppet on a String” which inexplicably won Eurovision!
