The Classic Collection

Album Review

Four-CD, 80-song box set of Clark's '60s material contains all of her big U.S. and U.K. hits, numerous singles that were only hits in other countries (usually France), and a bunch of interesting covers, B-sides, and LP tracks, some quite rare. If you're enough of a fan to want more than what you'll find on the usual thorough hits anthology, but not enough of a fan to want everything she ever did, this is perfect. It's got all of the classics, serviceable (although not terribly extensive) liner notes, and a host of interesting items that aren't well-known. These include a 1963 version of "Please Please Me" (sung in French) that was most likely one of the very first Lennon-McCartney covers; a French-sung cover of "Nobody I Know," the Lennon-McCartney tune never done by the Beatles, although Peter & Gordon had a hit with it; the original versions of "I Will Follow Him" (in English and French), covered for a chart-topper by Little Peggy March in the U.S.; yet another French-sung British Invasion cover, of the Kinks' "Well Respected Man," that was a hit in Canada; and "You're the One" (covered for a hit by the Vogues in the States). Best of all is the mid-'60s B-side "Heart" (covered by the Remains in America), a Clark original that's her hardest-rocking cut, and proof that she could muster the energy to sing rock & roll convincingly on occasion.