The Raindrops

Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich are best known as songwriters but as for their output dubbed the Raindrops exhibits, they were fine performers too. Collectables' The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget rounds up ten of the group's light-hearted girl group tunes including the wonderful title track, which was their only hit. The duos' frothy production, Barry's goofy bass vocals, and Greenwich's impassioned leads make for fun and breezy listening as they run through songs written for them that were made hits by others ("Da Doo Ron Ron," "Not Too Young to Get Married," in the recent past, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" in the near future) and some that should have been hits for them, like "What a Guy" and "That Boy John." The only problem with the disc is that the entire Raindrops' discography fits on one disc (Sequel released such a package in 1995 called, unsurprisingly, The Complete Raindrops, and Collectables itself released a disc that had all but three of the group's songs in 1999). If you are interested enough in the band to want to buy this disc, you'll probably want all of their work and should track down the Sequel disc if you can. Of course, if all you want is their one semi-hit plus some first-rate girl group- styled rock & roll, The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget will fit the bill just fine. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide