Maybe the single most haunting record the Shangri-Las ever made, though other than the girls' unison whispers of each part of the title
it's a kind of harrowing street poem recited by Mary Weiss . . .
The Shangri-Las, "Past, Present, and Future"
! No longer availableThey were two sets of sisters: the Ganser sisters were identical twins; Mary (the usual lead singer) and Betty Weiss were two years apart, with Betty
Weiss leaving the group when she married and gave birth in late 1964. "Past, Present and Future" was eventually covered by former ABBA singer
Agnetha Faltskog. The Shangri-Las let their street-smart image serve as a shield against unwanted advances from male musicians they toured with;
they broke up in 1968 after having seen precious little royalties from their hits, reunited in the mid-1970s and recorded an unreleased album, then
broke up again after refusing to surrender to demands they go disco. They reunited one more time as a trio (Mary Ann Ganser died of a heroin
overdose in 1970 at age 22) for a 1989 show hosted by radio legend Cousin Brucie and disbanded. Marge Ganser married happily but died of breast
cancer in 1996; the Weiss sisters are still alive, with Mary Weiss (the lone blonde among three brunettes, if you're scoring at home) coming out of
music retirement to record an album,
Dangerous Game, in 2007.
To this day Mary Weiss denies "Past, Present & Future" was about a rape victim, the supposition that kept the record from getting airplay when it
was issued in 1966. Before the collapse of their label Red Bird, the girls also recorded one of the earliest songs tied to the Vietnam War . . .
The Shangri-Las, "Long Live Our Love"
! No longer availableThose who like the group should probably hunt down
Myrmidons of Melodrama, an import that's probably the most defintive anthology
of their work.
Left to right on the cover image: Marge Ganser, Betty Weiss, Mary Ann Ganser, Mary Weiss.
