The Cookies are one of the better second-tier girl groups of the '60s, featuring the crystal-clear vocals of Earl-Jean McRea and songs penned by
Carole King and
Gerry Goffin.
Chains is a brief budget collection that contains their two Top 20 hits, "Chains" and "Don't Say Nothin' Bad About My Baby," as well as eight others. These include great songs like "Will Power," "Girls Grow Up Faster Than Boys," and "I Want a Boy for My Birthday," decent if inessential covers of
the Shirelles' "Foolish Little Boy" and
the Drifters' "On Broadway," and Earl-Jean's original version of the song
Herman's Hermits hit with, "I'm into Something Good." While it is a nice group of tunes, one can't help but wish Collectables had reissued the out of print Sequel collection
The Complete Cookies, which has the 12 songs the group recorded plus all four Earl-Jean songs too. Why do a job halfway when you could do it all the way right? It wouldn't be a "Priceless Collection" then, but you have to assume that people who might want to pick up a
Cookies collection would have the interest in dropping a couple of extra bucks to get the complete package. Until that happens, if you missed out on the Sequelcollection you'll have to make do with this incomplete collection.