Name: Twist Uptown
Brand: The Crystals

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

LP-SUND-5408

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2012-08-14

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Redeye

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

090771540812

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1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

The Crystals

Genre US

60s & 70s

Label US

Sundazed

The Crystals' first LP Twist Uptown, originally released in the summer of 1962, occupies an important position in Phil Spector's remarkable body of work. As the first full album produced by Spector and the first LP to be released on his legendary Philles label, it's a crucial cornerstone in the building of the fabled Wall of Sound. Beyond its historic significance, though, Twist Uptown retains a timeless resonance, thanks to Spector's seminal studio wizardry and the Crystals' sweet-but-streetwise vocal magic. The New York-based Crystals, all of whom were still in their teens at the time, were handpicked by Spector as the first act signed to Philles, and the first performers to receive the full-on Wall of Sound studio treatment. The quintet quickly scored major successes with their Spector-produced singles "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" and "Uptown." The latter, penned by Brill building stalwarts Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, also made history for introducing a new level of gritty social realism to pop. Indeed, Twist Uptown perfectly embodies the combination of yearning innocence and worldlier emotions that would come to define Spector's greatest work. In addition to the aforementioned classics and the minor hit "Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby," the album features such lesser-known girl-group gems as "I Love You Eddie," "Please Hurt Me," "What A Nice Way to Turn Seventeen" and the one-of-a-kind oddity "Frankenstein Twist," along with an early version "On Broadway," actually recorded before the Drifters' reworked hit version, and an upbeat take on the Carla Thomas chestnut "Gee Whiz." 

Twist Uptown

Music US