The Very Best of Jackie DeShannon

Jackie DeShannon was one of the rare people (especially for the '60s) who could not only sing and score hits, but write them too — and for a woman that was almost unheard of. Both "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" and "When You Walk in the Room" scored not only for her but other artists, while she herself had a big hit with "Needles and Pins" by Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono, which, in a different version by the Searchers, heralded the start of the first jangle pop movement. Excellent as her covers are — her "What the World Needs Now" is a classic — it's her original work that's most illuminating, whether it's the idyllic "Brighton Hill" or the glowingly hippie-ish "Holly Would" and "Love Will Find a Way"; part of the fun is dating the songs by their lyrics. But that would dismiss her singing ability, which was superb, lending gravitas to "The Weight" and bringing a curiously mannered rasp (which works) to "When You Walk in the Room" over a budget-priced Spector-wannabe arrangement. And while the album's somewhat skimpy, with ten tracks coming in at less than 30 minutes, there's no denying the pop history that runs all through it.