Ronettes, The
Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica

THE REVIEW

"Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica," from 1964, is the first and only true album of the all-female vocal trio, The Ronettes. A sort of girlband from over fifty years ago. Nothing to do with what "girlband" represents today in the collective imagination, also because this work is the result of the schizoid genius of Phil Spector's production.

The trio consisted of the two sisters, Ronnie Spector (born Veronica Yvette Bennett) and Estelle Bennett, plus their cousin Nedra Talley. But the "leading" figure was undoubtedly Veronica, wife of the famous producer from '68 to '74, main voice of the trio, and charismatic character known by most as the first true bad girl of rock 'n' roll.
 
Let's say right away that it is not exactly an effeminate "Pet Sounds" (which, among other things, would come out only two years later). It is neither so perfect and refined, nor so faithfully pop. But, belonging to the same era and more or less the same musical trend, sometimes the similarities become tangible. In short, not a "Pet Sounds," but a pleasant pop record, logically with a retro aftertaste and contaminated by marked rock 'n' roll shades, which was booming at the time.
It contains many of the trio’s major hits, such as "Baby, I Love You"; "Walking in the Rain"; a cover of Ray Charles’ "What'd I Say?", which also appears in Spector's own box set; but above all the very famous "Be My Baby".
This latter is surely the most representative of the entire, and rather short, existence of the Ronettes, as well as an inspiration for Brian Wilson and company in their "Don't Worry Baby", which according to Wilson himself - who at the time called the Ronettes’ single "the greatest pop record ever" - represented the "male response" precisely to "Be My Baby".

An excellent pop work then, epochal, but that probably doesn't stand the famous test of time, despite maintaining its beauty intact and in some moments continues to be still an alluring piece even though over forty years have passed since its release.

What to say? A step that marked an era. Seminal for pop. Perhaps not obligatory, but highly recommended for those who want to delve into Spector's production, his "Wall of Sound," and especially the phenomenon of the Ronettes - recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - gradually immersing themselves in what was the reality of that era. An era that produced everything that pop and rock music represent today.