I picked up a later issue of the Chantels ‘We Are The Chantels’ (LP 301) yesterday. Released on END records this issue see’s the track listing re-organised into a slightly different order and more significantly has a different front cover. There is no date on the release but online sources seem to date it at 1962.
This cover shows two, white ‘teens’ selecting tunes from a juke box.
The original release has an image of the group organised in height order wearing light pink, matching dresses with a red say belt and white gloves. I ma keen to discover why this cover was not re-used. An online source describes the group and wearing “southern plantation dresses”. It is difficult to ascertain how accurate a description that is as these dresses seem to be in a style common of the late 1950s. The use of this description seems quite uncomfortable – I need to find out how accurate this is.
I have just received an email from the record store where I purchased the above record. Apparently, the change was due to the image of a group of young black women. This is a disturbing piece of information to receive. If this was the case then the feminist reclamation of such groups has utterly ignored issue beyond gender. I have asked if they have anymore information regarding the alteration and perhaps others.
The Soul Detroit online forum also has discussed this issue. There appears to be two possible theories:
- the image was changed to appeal to the south – fearing there would be issues regarding a group of young black women
- That the dresses the group are wearing were seen as antebellum plantation outfits.
http://soulfuldetroit.com/showthread.php?15181-The-Chantels-Original-album-vs-repressing
voxas 