Little Helen

The West Coast productions by Bobby Sanders were generally of a very high standard indeed. The Younghearts, Cool Sounds and McKinley Travis all benefitted from his well crafted melodic songwriting, and his careful and empathetic productions. The best female vocalist he worked with was undoubtedly Little Helen. The rather hypnotic easy swaying “More And More” featured on all three of Helen’s 45s, but rather more effective to my ears were the ballads she cut, especially The Richest Girl. This is very much a southern soul styled piece, with some very good male background vocals (Sanders himself?), strong rhythm and horns, over which Helen is firm and resolute with a nice tough tone and fine phrasing. “What About Me Boy” is almost as good as this. Helen is a bit more restrained and the arraignment a little more uptown but it still packs a solid punch.

 

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