472. The Jelly Beans “You Don’t Mean Me No Good” (Eskee, 1965): NYNT Soul Clap 500

I recognize that a sugary Brill Building girl group Northern Soul offering is an anomaly on this list. But here it is! Making a statement and standing out and offering textural variation and a short escape from my general raw heaviness! While the glossy orchestral veneer stands in direct opposition my usual aesthetics, I love how the relentless handclaps overpower the mix from the first beat, the weird backing vocals, and particularly the way the amazing lead singer phrases as she breezes through the chord changes against the backing vocals in the chorus. “You Don’t Mean Me No Good” sounds like no other record in the way it juxtaposes soulful warmth and spooky emptiness! And it feels so good! The Jellybeans had soul! Jersey City’s The Jelly Beans were a newly formed high school 4/5 girl group (with one guy) when Leiber and Stoller signed them to their iconic Red Bird Records in 1963. The band saw instant success when their debut single “I Want To Love Him So Bad” shot up into the U.S. Top 10, but after its followup release, “Baby Be Mine,” only charted at number fifty-one, they found themselves without a label. Three of the members, Elyse, Maxine, and Alma, soldiered on for one last dance on the short-lived Eskee label, 1965’s "I'm Hip To You," backed with "You Don't Mean Me No Good." Despite the brevity of The Jelly Beans spark, their highly compiled and anthologized material continues to live on. The Jelly Beans were uber-photogenic and stylish to boot! Check out more of their pics on the Doo Wop Blog http://doo-wop.blogg.org/jelly-beans-...