The first LP ever issued on the End label was a natural product of the success of "Maybe," one of the great ballads to come out of the rock & roll boom and one of the most beloved R&B singles ever to emanate from the orbit of label owner
George Goldner. For the album, all
Goldner did was assemble the two sides of each of the existing six
Chantels singles, but it's still a pretty impressive body of music, a fact that makes it a tribute to producer
Richard Barrett. "Maybe" is the best song here, to be sure, with a career-making performance by
Arlene Smith, but the rest of the album is not to be ignored: "The Plea" (co-authored by
Smith and
Barrett), which offers shimmering backing vocals by the group and a memorably passionate lyric; the radiant "Come My Little Baby," with its exquisite chorus and a honking sax solo thick enough to cut with a knife; the bluesy "Congratulations," with its "lead" bass instrumental arrangement; the ethereal ballads "Prayee," "He's Gone," and "I Love You So" -- even
Richard Barrett's attempt to emulate "Maybe," "Every Night (I Pray)," is worth hearing as a refinement and expansion of the hit. [Note: This album was originally released as
We Are the Chantels, with an image of the five-member group on the cover; such were the racial sensitivities of the time, however, that it was withdrawn and reissued in 1959 with the same catalog number and the title
The Chantels, packaged in a more innocuous cover depicting two white teenagers standing next to a jukebox.]