L. Kent Wolgamott: Singer turns out stunning comeback

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Back in March, I hightailed it across downtown Austin to get from the Stax Records showcase at Antone’s to Red 7 before the smallish club filled to capacity for the Norton Records showcase. That meant I was at the show a couple of hours earlier than necessary. But there was no way I was going to miss Mary Weiss.

The lead singer of the great ’60s girl group The Shangri-Las, Weiss was playing just her second show since 1989, a coming out party of sorts to promote “Dangerous Game,” her first new album since 1965 that was just released on Norton.

Joining North Carolina garage rockers Reigning Sound on the stage, Weiss was understandably a little unsure and jittery, complaining about the very bright light shining in her face and, at one point, forgetting a lyric and claiming it was a “senior moment.” But it didn’t take long for her to hit her stride, and she delivered a set that was full of new songs but included three Shangri-Las classics: “Train from Kansas City,” the spooky “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and, as the encore, the brilliant “Give Him a Great Big Kiss.”

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Singer Mary Weiss in Babylon, N.Y., on June 18. (AP)

Singer Mary Weiss in Babylon, N.Y., on June 18. (AP)

I knew then that I had to get the record. But the disc didn’t show up in Lincoln right away, and I didn’t get around to ordering it from Norton. Last week, I stopped at Homer’s and, lo and behold, there was “Dangerous Game,” displayed on a shelf as one of Bill Burton’s employee picks.

I snapped up the disc and instantly remembered why I knew I wanted to get it after the show.

Put simply, “Dangerous Game” is one of the best records of the year and, while clearly rooted in the early ’60s, is a fully contemporary disc. Recorded with Reigning Sound along with keyboardist Dave Amels, “Dangerous Game” features nine songs written by Greg Cartwright, the RS guitarist and co-producer of the album, who communicated with Weiss by computer as he was working on the songs.

There’s a song co-written by Andy Shernoff of the Dictators and Billy Miller, who runs Norton and co-produced the record, and the Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich classic “Heaven Only Knows.”

But none of that would have mattered had Weiss not been up to the task presented to her. Weiss, now 58, has a voice deeper than it was when singing her teen tragedies in the ’60s — she was 14 when the Shangri-Las broke through and just 18 when the girl group’s run came to a rather rapid end.

But Weiss is still a fabulous singer, able to communicate the emotion and story of a song with great feeling. That, as original Shangri-Las producer Shadow Morton points out in his liner notes, is a gift, nothing more, nothing less.

And it’s a gift to those who love rock ’n’ roll that Weiss is back.

Weiss, her older sister Betty and twin sisters Mary Ann and Margie Ganser were Catholic schoolgirls in Queens who were singing at school dances when Morton started working with them, hooking them up with Brill Building writers Barry and Greenwich. They recorded “Remember (Walking in the Sand),” and it raced to No. 5 on the charts.

Then, in 1964, came “Leader of the Pack,” the motorcycle anthem that kicked off the Shangri-Las’ run of death-oriented tunes. But they were also as bouncy and entertaining as any of their girl group contemporaries, with songs like “Give Him a Great Big Kiss,” an ode to boys who wear shades and are “good bad. But he’s not evil.”

Perhaps because of the death songs and their attraction to bad boys, the Shangri-Las have been labeled a “tough” girl group, something that continues to baffle Weiss.

What is sure is that she could really sing then and now.

After touring for four years, the Shangri-Las took one last shot on Mercury Records in 1968, then disappeared amidst legal issues that resulted in decades of litigation, largely keeping Weiss on the musical sidelines.

Even though they’d long disappeared, the Shangri-Las were far from forgotten. Embraced by the New York punk movement of the ’70s, they were featured on the CBGB’s jukebox and had songs covered by the New York Dolls, Blondie and even Aerosmith.

But Weiss was working for an architect and a commercial furniture dealership, marrying, divorcing and remarrying and staying out of the record business. Then, two years ago, Rhino Records included a pair of Shangri-Las songs on its brilliant girl-group boxed set, “One Kiss Can Lead to Another,” and Miller and Weiss met at a party for its release.

The result of that meeting is “Dangerous Game,” a record that has deservedly received rave reviews. The production here is stripped down, rather than the lush sound Morton created for the Shangri-Las. But Weiss still sells the songs with all her heart, whether singing a nostalgic ballad like “Stitch in Time,” skewering contemporary radio on “Cry About The Radio,” rocking on songs like “Tell Me What You Want Me to Do” or heading into pure romantic pop perfection with “My Heart is Beating.”

I’ve been listening to “Dangerous Game” a couple of times a day for about a week, and it continues to grow on me. It makes me even happier that I got into Red 7 before they cut off the line and caught Weiss’ comeback show. She’s still great, and the girl group sound, where the new record is rooted, continues to be ultra cool.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.