The Best of the Girl Groups

The Best of the Girl Groups is a 2-volume compilation series released by Rhino Records in 1990. The collection, compiling 36 of the better known tracks by girl groups of the 1960s, is listed at #421 in Rolling Stone's list of "Greatest Albums of All Time". Music journalist Robert Christgau includes the compilation in his "core collection" for an essential rock library of music preceding 1980. Entertainment Weekly described the first volume as "a veritable catalog of the era's romantic attitudes". The New York Times recommends both volumes, in conjunction with Rhino's Girl Group Greats, for listeners seeking "the biggest girl-group hits".

Song selection
The compilation collects a broad range of the era's well-known hits, featuring seven #1 hit singles and an additional 14 top ten hits among its 36 tracks, but it includes lesser-known material as well, enough—according to AllMusic—to "keep the collection interesting for more serious fans of girl group pop". The collection includes two representative tracks of Ellie Greenwich, a prolific charting songwriter whose own material both solo and with The Raindrops was often overlooked. The included solo single "You Don't Know" was described by journalist Alan Betrock in his book Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound as "the kind of record that not only transcends and expands the boundaries that come to mind when someone says, 'Girl-group record,' but...also can stand alone, totally unique and unmatched by any other competition". "I Can't Let Go", a 1965 song by Evie Sands which did not chart, was critically described as "superb" though the song failed to capture popular interest until covered by The Hollies a year later. "The One You Can't Have" is one of several "outstanding" singles by popular backing vocalists The Honeys that failed to achieve commercial success. Cher's brush with the girl group genre is also represented, by the 1965 "Dream Baby", a "girl group classic" if not a charting single.

Performance

 * The Ad Libs – performer
 * Hugh Harris
 * Danny Austin
 * Norman Donegan
 * Mary Ann Thomas
 * Dave Watt
 * Michael Powers
 * The Angels – performer
 * Barb Allbut
 * Phyllis "Jiggs" Allbut
 * Peggy Santiglia
 * Linda Jansen
 * The Caravelles – performer
 * Andrea Simpson
 * Lois Wilkinson
 * Cher – performer
 * The Chiffons – performer
 * Patricia Bennett
 * Judy Craig
 * Barbara Lee Jones
 * Sylvia Peterson
 * Claudine Clark – performer
 * The Cookies – performer
 * Margie Hendrix
 * Dorothy Jones
 * Ethel "Earl-Jean" McCrea
 * Patricia Lyles
 * Margaret Ross
 * Skeeter Davis – performer
 * The Dixie Cups – performer
 * Barbara Anne Hawkins
 * Rosa Lee Hawkins
 * Joan Marie Johnson
 * Dale Mickle
 * The Essex – performer
 * Rodney Taylor
 * Rudolph Johnson
 * Anita Humes
 * Walter Vickers
 * Billy Hill
 * Betty Everett – performer
 * The Exciters – performer
 * Carol Johnson
 * Skip McPhee
 * Ronnie Pace
 * Brenda Reid
 * Lillian Walker
 * Sylvia Wilbur
 * Herb Rooney
 * Ellie Greenwich – performer
 * The Honeys – performer
 * Ginger Blake
 * Diane Rovell
 * Marilyn Rovell
 * Barbara Rovell
 * The Jaynetts – performer
 * Yvonne Bushnell
 * Ethel Davis
 * Ada Ray
 * Johnnie Louise Richardson
 * Mary Sue Wells
 * Zelma Sanders
 * The Jelly Beans – performer
 * Charles Thomas
 * Alma Brewer
 * Elyse Herbert
 * Maxine Herbert
 * Diane Taylor
 * Carole King – performer
 * Little Eva – performer
 * The Murmaids – performer
 * Carol Fischer
 * Terry Fischer
 * Sally Gordon
 * The Paris Sisters – performer
 * Albeth Paris
 * Priscilla Paris
 * The Raindrops – performer
 * Ellie Greenwich
 * Jeff Barry
 * Evie Sands – performer
 * The Shangri-Las – performer
 * Marge Ganser
 * Mary Anne Ganser
 * Betty Weiss
 * Mary Weiss
 * The Shirelles – performer
 * Doris Coley
 * Addie Harris
 * Beverley Lee
 * Shirley Owens
 * Joanie Sommers – performer
 * The Toys – performer
 * June Montiero
 * Barbara Parritt
 * Barbara Harris
 * Robin Ward – performer

Production

 * Sevie Bates – design
 * Irwin Chusid – liner notes
 * Geoff Gans – art direction
 * Bill Inglot – producer, transfers, digital preparation
 * Michael Ochs – photography
 * Ken Perry – transfers, digital preparation
 * Gary Stewart – compilation