ALBUM: Ronnie Spector, ‘English Heart’
For just about any other artist who hails from New York City, an album title like English Heart might raise a few eyebrows — New York pride, street cred, and all that. But for Ronnie Spector, whose roots run as deep across the pond as they do here in the colonies, it begs the question of why it’s taken her this long to create an audio “love letter” the motherland and the many British artists that came up with her during the mid 1960s.
After all, the Ronettes were not only tour mates but great friends with the Beatles — the girl group, minus Spector, opened for the Fabs on their final US tour in 1966. (Rumor has it that Estelle Bennett, Spector’s sister, dated George Harrison.) The Rolling Stones not only supported the Ronettes on their first UK tour in ’64, they were fixtures at the Bennett homestead where Ronnie and Estelle’s mother kept them fed. (The girls supposedly dated Keith and Mick, respectively.) All juicy details aside, comments mirrored in various autobiographies and accounts over the past 50 years from the girls and the boys emphasize the massive influence they had on each other — musically and personally.
Ronnie Spector recently admitted to the BBC that she had no idea that Keith Richards and Andrew Loog Oldham, the Stones’ producer and manager, were busy penning English Heart‘s first single, “I’d Much Rather Be With the Girls,” during their touring days (though Spector did a gender swap on the title for her version, an obvious allusion to her fellow Ronettes). Her cover of the Stones’ rarity is a fitting first single, as it places Spector back in her Ronettes days, but also bridges the gap over to London in the swingin’ ’60s, preparing the listener for what’s to come.
Produced by Scott Jacoby, whose resume includes albums for artists like Coldplay, Vampire Weekend, and Sia, English Heart‘s 11 tracks read like a cohesive greatest hits collection in the best of ways — after all, aren’t all the tracks (aside from a few deep cuts like the single, Sandie Shaw’s “Girl Don’t Come,” and Lulu’s “Oh Me Oh My”) greatest hits in their purest form? His contemporary style, which strips down many arrangements to their bare bones, lends itself well to Spector’s innate currency. Throughout her career, whether it’s been lending her voice to Eddie Money or reimagining hits from Amy Winehouse onstage, she’s never solely relied on her Ronettes hits to keep her afloat.
Everyone from the Bee Gees to Gerry and the Pacemakers makes an appearance here, as do a few of Spector’s kinfolk. Keeping tradition alive — her cousin, Nedra Talley, rounded out the original Ronettes lineup — niece Toyin and cousin Cindy Mizelle join in on backing vocals on “I’d Much Rather Be With the Girls,” an apropos ensemble if there ever was one for that poignant track. Spector’s own voice is still boasting that shimmering vibratro of yesteryear, if a few notes lower than in her Ronettes days (which is a pretty big win, all things considered).
It’s a blessing to the listener that on tracks like the Kinks’ “So Tired of Waiting” and the gorgeously understated, largely acoustic rendition of the Pacemakers’ “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying,” Spector’s vocal is front and center, the band allowing her to lead the way. A personal favorite, however, is Spector’s reading of the Dave Clark Five’s “Because” with its sunshine-pop organ and smacking drum beat, one of a few more grandiose numbers.
Most heart rending is a handful of tunes that conjure scenes from Spector’s infamous past as the wife-slash-prisoner of ex-husband Phil Spector — an inescapable part of her story that she bravely confronts both on this album and during her live shows. The Fortune’s “You’ve Got Your Troubles,” which bears a drum-machine rhythm and, most obviously, the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” elicit an emotional response from both the listener and Spector herself. “You can hear me almost in tears in the studio,” she says about the latter, “thinking about how I felt being locked up in my own house, not being allowed to perform…all the hell I went through in the early Seventies. Like, how could this loser ever win?”
And that’s why English Heart is more than just a tribute to Spector’s contemporaries and friends; the depth she brings to every track shapes the collection into something different, reinterpreting each song into an original the way that only Ronnie Spector can. Ably tackling such beloved classics is a tall order for any artist, but her fearlessness to conquer this catalog is all in a day’s work for someone who’s not only staked her claim to the title of the “Bad Girl of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” but also emerged as a survivor, innovator, and originator. She does far more than do her contemporaries’ work justice; she gives it new life for a new generation in a new era.
Next, let’s see Ray Davies tackle “Walking in the Rain.”
English Heart is out now on iTunes and Amazon. See Ronnie Spector on tour through July.
