Donna Loren - The Very Best Of Donna Loren (2001/2018)

True, this 19-song CD doesn't look at all like an authorized release. It's also true that 17 of the songs are on the official Beach Blanket Bingo: The Very Best of Donna Loren CD compilation, which has a couple of tracks ("Play Little Music Box Play" and "I Believe") that somehow didn't make it onto this anthology. Still, it does have nine cuts that aren't on Beach Blanket Bingo: The Very Best of Donna Loren, and if you hang out at specialist record stores, you'll probably be just as apt to find this CD as the other one. You might find it the preferable option, too, as there's more material and the sound's good (though one suspects it's not mastered from the original tapes), even if there's nothing in the way of liner notes except track listings and songwriting credits. As for the music, while Loren was a far better singer than most women (or men) playing bit parts in '60s teen beach movies, it's least-common-denominator '60s pop/rock. The production ambition is there, variously echoing the girl group sound, surf music, and late-period teen idol pop. What's missing? Really special songs, and a distinctive attitude on part of either the singer or her composers and producers. As for the tracks here not on the more high-profile, authorized Loren best-of, none are exceptional, and some are off-puttingly trivial ("I'm in Love with the Ticket Taker at the Bijou Movie," "On the Good Ship Lollipop"). But a few are, relatively speaking, among her better efforts, including the frivolous surf romp "Muscle Bustle" (co-written by Brian Wilson), the girl group tune "Johnny's Got Somethin'," and the more mature cuts "It's Such a Shame" and "As Long as I'm Holding You," which sound as though they date from later in the '60s than the rest of the package.