VA - There's No Stopping Us Now - The Female Mod's Forgotten Story (2025)

‘There’s No Stopping Us Now: The Female Mods’ Forgotten Story’ – a title that pays homage to one of The Supremes’ many infectious floorfillers – is a celebration of the inspirational women singers and groups who provided a brilliant and timeless soundtrack to an exciting moment in British pop culture. Bringing together the queens of Motown and Stax, classy chanteuses from around the world, and some homegrown dancefloor divas, these 98 songs on four discs were not only a key component of the enduring Mod scene, but many of the performers, musicians, songwriters and producers were the audible and visible representation of a way of life that publicist Pete Meaden described as “clean living under difficult circumstances”.

The origins of the male Mod style are well documented but female Mods were too often relegated to a supporting role, which makes the work of these singers, and musicians, plus the actresses, artists, designers, media figures, models and writers of the time all the more pioneering.

Of course, female singers had been successful prior to the Mod era (among those included here, the great Dinah Washington made her recording debut in ’44) but to add some context, in 2023 – some sixty years after the original flowering of Mod – nine of the 16 UK No. 1 singles were performed by or featured female artists. That compares to none of the 17 chart toppers in 1963.

The inspiration for this new collection came from the book Ready Steady Girls: The Female Mods’ Forgotten Story, first published in 2016 as a (quickly sold out) compendium of first-hand accounts by girls and young women drawn to the Mod way of life in the first half of the ’60s, or the revival at the end of the following decade.

In 2024 that book is being made available once again, and we have the opportunity to create a fitting musical companion piece to that volume’s striking and original words and images.

This stylishly packaged four disc set features female artists who went on to become household names (including a surprising number who found fame as actors), some one-hit wonders, a few acts who only found their audience years later, and a selection of deeper cuts that should get nodding approval from the Mod cognoscenti of either sex. The extensive sleeve notes provide a track-by-track commentary, with informative details of the singer and the song.

98 original Soul and Beat tracks by influential and pioneering female singers and groups
The cream of the ’60s Mod scene on a new 98 song 4CD set
Inspired by the book Ready Steady Girls: The Female Mods’ Forgotten Story
A stylishly packaged collection with track-by-track sleeve notes

Tracklist
Disc: 1
1 Respect - Aretha Franklin
2 Big Boss Man - Erma Franklin
3 You'd Better Stop - Doris Troy
4 Can I Get a Witness - Dusty Springfield
5 Nowhere to Run - Martha & The Vandellas
6 Soulville - Dinah Washington
7 Something Good (Is Going to Happen to You) - Carla Thomas
8 My Momma Told Me - Inez and Charlie Foxx
9 Stronger - Thelma Jones
10 I'm So Glad (I Found Love in You) - Etta James
11 I've Got a Claim On You - Betty Everett
12 If You See What I Mean - P.P. Arnold
13 Whatcha Gonna Do - Billie Davis & the LeRoys
14 Do-wah-diddy Diddy - The Exciters
15 It's Not Like You - Lydia Marcelle
16 When I'm Gone - Brenda Holloway
17 One Step at a Time - Maxine Brown
18 Think It Over Baby - Mary Love
19 I Put a Spell On You - Nina Simone
20 You Can Have Him - The Cake
21 California Nights - Lesley Gore
22 Love Makes the World Go Round - Sharon Tandy
23 What's Easy for Two Is So Hard for One - Mary Wells
24 These Things Will Keep Me Loving You - The Velvelettes
25 Stop! In the Name of Love - The Supremes

Disc: 2
1 Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid - Ketty Lester
2 Fever - Helen Shapiro
3 Another Night - Dionne Warwick
4 I've Been Wrong Before - Cilla Black with George Martin's Orchestra
5 I Know You Love Me Not - Julie Driscoll
6 Where Does That Leave Me? - Nancy Wilson
7 That's How Heartaches Are Made - Baby Washington
8 Baby I'm Yours - Barbara Lewis
9 My Best Friend's Man - Dee Dee Sharp
10 You Can Have Him - Timi Yuro
11 You Forgot How to Love - Patti LeBelle & the Blue Belles
12 Little Man - Sonny & Cher
13 Keep an Eye Out for Love - Ernestine Anderson
14 The More I See You - Joy Marshall
15 I'm Not Sayin' - Nico
16 I've Got Nothing But Time - Julie Felix
17 You'll Lose a Good Thing - Barbara Lynn
18 A Little More Love - Kim Weston
19 Make Me Yours - Bettye Swann
20 Come On and See Me - Tammi Terrell
21 New Lover - Jackie Ross
22 A Lover's Concerto - The Toys
23 Too Much of a Good Thing - The Shirelles
24 You're the One - Kathy Kirby

Disc: 3
1 You Don't Own Me - Lesley Gore
2 Goin' Out of My Head - Dominic West
3 (You Don't Know) How Glad I Am - Kiki Dee
4 Look at Them - Gillian Hills
5 All Over the World - Francoise Hardy
6 Beautiful Dreams - Twiggy
7 That's the Way - The Honeycombs
8 Thou Shalt Not Steal - Dick & Dee Dee
9 Baby It Hurts - Glenda Collins
10 Pay You Back With Interest - Dana Gillespie
11 Two Lovers - Louise Cordet
12 Girl Don't Come - Sandie Shaw
13 I Know a Place - Petula Clark
14 Can't Hear You No More - Lulu
15 Call On Me - Susan Maughan
16 New York - The Caravelles
17 Can't Get You Out of My Mind - Julie Grant
18 Right Now and Not Later - The Shangri-Las
19 People Say - The Dixie Cups
20 Sweet and Tender Romance - The McKinleys
21 I've Got a Feeling - The Orchids
22 He Doesn't Love Me - The Breakaways
23 The Girls Are at It Again - Polly Perkins
24 Christine - Miss X

Disc: 4
1 One Fine Day - The Chiffons
2 Baby I Love You - The Ronettes
3 Keep Your Hands Off My Baby - Little Eva
4 I Wonder - The Crystals
5 Keep On Searchin' - Candy and The Kisses
6 The Boy from New York City - The Ad-Libs
7 Good Time Tonight - The Soul Sisters
8 What'd I Say - Brenda Lee
9 Please Please - Goldie and The Gingerbreads
10 Sweet William - Millie
11 Troubles - Derrick and Patsy
12 Bread - Norma Tanega
13 Break-a-way - Irma Thomas
14 My Love - The Shondells
15 Evil One - The Sapphires
16 I Really Got Carried Away - Madeline Bell
17 Something's Got a Hold On Me - Elkie Brooks
18 Don't You Pass Me By - Cleo Laine
19 Baby I Love You - Aretha Franklin
20 I Don't Wanna Fuss - Sugar Pie Desanto
21 Recovery - Fontella Bass
22 Worth Every Tear I Cry - Dee Dee Warwick
23 A Touch of Venus - Sandy Wynns
24 Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead - The Marvelettes
25 There's No Stopping Us Now - The Supremes