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BAND: The Little Girls
ALBUM: Thank Heaven For Valleypop: The Original and Previous Unreleased Versions Recorded 1980-1985
DURATION: 15 Songs (40 Minutes)
RELEASED DATE: 2009
While the UK had The Slits for post-punk, in the US, Los Angeles girl band The Go-Go’s were being formed in 1978 and were primed to go on to explosive success with the release of their album “Beauty and the Beat” in 1981, thanks to the popularity of their music video “Our Lips are Sealed”.
But also in Southern California, there was a band was formed by guitarist/vocalist Caron Maso and her sister Michele Maso from San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. While not an all-female band, the two were the faces of their band The Little Girls, while Kip Brown (lead guitar/vocals), Steve Sicular (guitar) and Jeff Fair (drums) comprised the band.
And in 1983, the girls would release their mini-LP “Thank Heaven!” (produced by Ramones and Mick Jagger producer, Ed Stasium) which had two hit songs “Earthquake Song” and “How to Pickup Girls”, which would get airplay on KROQ 106.7 and even would be featured on “Dick Clark’s American Bandstand” on a major US TV network.
The band would open for The Plimsouls, Billy Idol, The Pretenders, The Call, The Boomtown Rats and more.
While the band would last from 1983-1985, there are always people who remember their music (including myself) and one could find two special albums released in 2019. Released were “Thank Heaven For Valleypop: The Original and Previous Unreleased Versions Recorded 1980-1985” which features released and unreleased songs from their LP “Thank Heaven!” and the “Clear” album. Also, released was “Today…….and Yesterday” featuring their 2006 reunion recordings with rarities recorded from the 1980s.
For today, I’ll talk about “Thank Heaven For Valleypop: The Original and Previous Unreleased Versions Recorded 1980-1985”.
I discovered The Little Girls thanks to KROQ 106.7 DJ Richard Blade who would feature the band on the station back in the ’80s.
And while I was a big fan of the music of the The Go-Go’s, there was something different with The Little Girls. For one, while a rock band, these girls had harmonizing vocals that were catchy, cute and almost innocent-like and yes, some may find the group similar to The Go-Go’s, the music is quite different. Especially songs such as “Earthquake Song” which is about earthquake in Los Angeles and life in Los Angeles. While an unreleased song, “Left Without A Kiss” is a love song of the girls in love with a guy and wish they could kiss him.
The girl’s second single was “How to Pick Up Girls” and another song that played quite a bit on KROQ 106.7. Even their song “Any Way You Want It” received play on KROQ courtesy by Richard Blade.
And interesting enough the album has DJ’s Richard Blade talking about the Little Girls, but also features Dr. Demento (a DJ at the time for the progressive rock LA radio station KMET 94.7) announcing “Earthquake Song”. So, having these two tracks were pretty cool!
But as mentioned, you get “Any Way You Want It (“Buddy Holly Mix” from “1985” sessions), an unreleased live recording of “Michael Pinball”, the unreleased studio recording of “Left Without a Real Kiss” “The Earthquake Song” and an unreleased alternative mix of “Bandana”, “I Really Want to Be With You” and “Left Without a Real Kiss”.
As for songs from their LP’s that are on this album, for “Thank Heaven!”, “Earthquake Song”, “Left Without a Real Kiss”, “No time to Say a Goodbye”, “Bandana”, “How to Pickup Girls” and “Rich Girl” are included on this album.
“Any Way You Want It”, “I Really Want to Be With You”, “Not a Perfect World” were from their 1985 LP “Clear”, the only song not featured on this album is their “Crush on You” (DEMO).
The songs from these two LP’s would be released as a full album in 2007 titled “No More Vinyl”. But while this album does feature the same title tracks, instead of the original studio album/LP versions, you get unreleased studio recordings or alternate mixes.
But I absolutely love Caron and Michele Maso’s vocals and also the music of the band. It’s unfortunate that the band didn’t get signed into a major label as the changes of the music scene was going through changes. With the competition of rock music, Duran Duran, Men Without Hats, Police, Big Country, Culture Club, David Bowie, Tears for Fears, English Beat, U2, Madness, etc. were dominating the charts and the only way to get attention was music videos (with a good budget).
Needless to say, the fact that the band had a music video and were featured on “Dick Clark’s American Band Stand” was a major accomplishment and I for one had fun listening to these classic songs from the past once again!
If anything, I think those who loved listening to The Little Girls or even those who loved the The Go-Go’s, should definitely give The Little Girls “Thank Heaven For Valleypop: The Original and Previous Unreleased Versions Recorded 1980-1985” a try.
