1960s Vinyl 48 Items

"The events of May ’68 are seen as a turning point in France’s social history - pictures of the barricades are still potent images. Lines were drawn politically, culturally, socially, and pop music was not exempt.

“Paris In The Spring” is a collection of the new music, put together by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, that emerged from France between 1968 and the mid-70s, an extraordinary blend of several previously independent strains – French chanson and yé-yé, American jazz and funk, British chamber pop – shot through with the era’s underlying mixture of optimism, uncertainty and darkness. This is the first collection of its kind, released on the 50th anniversary of the Paris uprising.

Serge Gainsbourg – a jazz pianist with a chanson past and a pop present – was in a position to play a key role in soundtracking France in flux over the next five years. His “Histoire de Melody Nelson”, with its heavily atmospheric arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier, was the acme of this new, unsettling French sound. “Paris In The Spring” includes other equally dazzling Vannier arrangements (for Léonie) and Gainsbourg compositions (for Jane Birkin and Mireille Darc).

Prior to 1968, 60s French pop had been dominated by yé-yé, the country’s unique brand of upbeat pop, a world of primary colours, mini-jupes and discothèques (a French invention, after all). Its stars either faded fast after May ’68 or adapted to the new era: Jacques Dutronc (‘Le Métaphore’) and France Gall (‘Chanson Pour Que Tu M’aimes un Peu’) discovered a moody side they had previously kept hidden, while Françoise Hardy released the Brazilian-influenced, after-hours classic “La Question”, from which we have picked ‘Viens’.

New bands like Triangle emerged, influenced by Soft Machine and Gong who became regulars on the Paris club scene. French library music from Janko Nilovic and film soundtracks (François De Roubaix, Karl-Heinz Schäfer) reflected the era’s edginess. All are represented on “Paris In The Spring”, making it a continental cousin to Stanley and Wiggs’s hugely popular 2017 Ace compilation “English Weather”..
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Although for many, David Bowie’s story begins with ‘Space Oddity’ in 1969, Bowie had been releasing singles from 1964. Firstly on Vocalion and then after an interlude through Parlophone and Pye with Deram from 1966. These engaging and curious tracks represent a work in progress of an artist on the cusp of genius. This limited 7” singles boxset has been manufactured exclusively for RSD 2023.

Black Friday Record Store Day 2022 Reissue. Color: Black. Limitation: 2000.

...This compilation gathers some of The Springfield’s greatest hits, along with lesser-known, but equally important number, ranging from their version of the Zulu classic “Wimoweh Mambo,” the Israeli settler song “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena” (previously a hit for The Weavers), their take of the hobo anthem “Greenback Dollar” (a hit for The Kingston Trio), and the tale of a thief inspired by romance, “Allentown Jail,” which had been a hit for Jo Stafford a decade before. This is the sound of Dusty Springfield in a folk group setting, on the cusp of greater success.

The movie directed by Baz Luhrmann is just out, so why don’t you pick up on this ? Included on this set are Elvis’ greatest hits from the period 1955-62, among them all of his King singles that reached number one on the U.S. pop charts between 1956 and 1962. Among other smash hits, this release includes both sides of the single “Hound Dog”/“Don’t Be Cruel” (the most successful Elvis single release, with 11 weeks on the charts), Elvis’ second RCA single, “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You,” and the classic rocker “Heartbreak Hotel” (which peaked at number one and remained on the charts for eight weeks after extensive television exposure following its release).

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra co-invented the incomparable „Pop Goes Classic Sound“. This album celebrated the 60's!

Record Store Day 2022 Drop 1 Release.

Amália Rodrigues, international star, nicknamed 'the Queen of Fado', has maintained a special relationship with France and Paris in particular. From the end of the 1950s, she found success there and became a popular artist, filling Parisian halls.

Brute Force is the pseudonym of Stephen Friedland, an American singer and songwriter. In 1964, while in New York City as a young adult, he met the producers Hugo and Luigi, who co-wrote the Elvis Presley hit ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’. They introduced Friedland to the Tokens, known for their hit ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’. Not only was Friedland hired as a songwriter for the Tokens’ music publishing company, he also became the group’s keyboardist.

Side A is Brute Force’s version of his song “Nobody Knows What’s Going On My Mind But Me’, better known as a hit for the Chiffons.

In 1967, Friedland recorded as Brute Force with the album “I, Brute Force, Confections of Love”, which was produced by John Simon, later renowned for his work with the Band. In late 1968, Brute Force recorded his song ‘King of Fuh’ which is the story of a mythical king who ruled the kingdom of Fuh. The music and lyrics begin innocuously until they get to these lines: “I said the Fuh King—he went to wherever he wanted to go/Mighty mighty Fuh King/All hail the Fuh King.”

After the song was recorded, a friend of Friedland, Tommy Dawes of the Cyrkle, forwarded it to his manager, Nat Weiss, who knew Beatles manager Brian Epstein. According to Friedland, George Harrison was very receptive to the song and said so in a phone call. But EMI, Apple’s distributor, refused even to press the record, much less distribute it. Eventually, Apple privately issued the single for UK release, planning to stock mail order outlets and selected record shops. The distribution plan never really caught on and the record quickly disappeared.

Connoisseurs of 1960s she-pop have been very well served by Ace Records, particularly those with a predilection for American and British artists. But good music, of course, is not exclusive to the English-speaking world, as those familiar with our collections devoted to the female vocalists of Italy will be aware (not to mention similar projects focusing on Japan, France, Sweden, Hungary and Spain). In a country renowned for its song festivals, most notably the prestigious event held annually in Sanremo, highly orchestrated ballads have always been especially popular in Italy. For this celebratory single, however, we present exemplary uptempo decks by Brunetta and Rita Pavone.

Brunetta was one of the first Italian singers to record rock’n’roll. Among her early releases were the appropriately titled “The Explosive Brunetta” and “Ciclone Brunetta” EPs and the frantic ‘Precipito’, which she performed with wild abandon in the film Urlatori Alla Sbarra. New stars Mina and Adriano Celentano also appeared in the movie, so she was in very good company. Fast forward a few lower-profile years, she released the record for which she would become best remembered. Backed by the Balubas combo, she performed the somewhat non-PC ‘Baluba Shake’ at the Pesaro Song Festival in 1966, scooping top prize. These days, the track is an underground dancefloor favourite, original copies of which change hands for a pretty penny.

If you went down the wrong alleyway, took a shortcut through the park or crossed the wrong open space after dark in the UK in the 1970s, you stood a fair chance of being accosted by someone with a big mouth, low morals and some gurning mates to impress, usually reeking of fags and cheap booze and always ready to put the boot in. And, before you could say, “sickening violence”, a short but chaotic scuffle would ensue and a winner eventually emerge, battle scarred and bruised. The boot boy was the worst kind of hooligan. There wasn’t anything you could do or say to appease him. You had the same chance as a fly caught up in a spider’s web. Zero. Your best bet was to run. His intent was always to give you, and vicariously the rest of the world, a good kicking. Thugs, long-haired louts, short-haired louts; the anti-hippy. Birds, booze, bovver and football on their criminal minds. So fasten your braces for a white knuckle-duster ride. 14 bovver rock bruisers for all of you peace-loving losers. Somebody’s going to get their head kicked in tonight... Put the boot in.

Few debut singles have made such an impact, or left such a mark, as the Zombies’ 1964 She’s Not There. Hard to believe that the group had only been together a year when they came to record this timeless classic. Long after its release, many fans believe the Zombies’ album recorded at Abbey Road worthy of comparison to Sgt. Pepper… Released in April 1968, Odessey & Oracle was largely ignored on its release – though today original copies sell for £500. Odessey & Oracle is widely hailed as one of the key albums of the late 60s - and was ranked No.80 in the Rolling Stone poll for the Greatest Albums Of All Time.

From a basement in New Jersey, Tommy Falcone remade himself into a DIY Phil Spector. From 1962 to 1970, he founded and ran Cleopatra Records, discovered and mentored young Garden State talent, wrote songs and produced wild studio effects, and quit his day job to promote it all himself. Trained as an accordionist, Falcone had a whirlwind imagination and an omnivorous approach to genre, expressed through acts like the Centuries, the Tabbys, Johnny Silvio, the Inmates, Bernadette Carroll, the Hallmarks, Vickie & the Van Dykes, the Shandillons, Eugene Viscione, the Shoestring, and more. Cleopatra became a time-capsule of every 1960s pop style imaginable—garage rock, psychedelia, surf, girl groups, soul, novelties, exotica, even a crooner—a kaleidoscope of sound in search of the ever-elusive hit record.

Who do we become when we live our dreams? It’s all here — the high hairdos, the dreams and schemes, the tender camp, the wedding bell fantasias and chaste tragedies. Sister acts, studio receptionists, classmates, angelic voices of the 1960s, some legendary, many hidden in the basement of expired rainbows.

Though not a household name, Bernadette Carroll is one of the more successful teen vocalists of the girl group era. She charted as a member of the Angels, as a solo act, and as a for-hire backup singer, performing on at least two #1 hits, selling over a million copies of each. You’ve heard her voice, whether you know it or not.

Gatefold Cover. The Elvis recordings collected here have now retained their appeal for over half a century. As Eighties chart-topper and confirmed Presley fan Huey Lewis says, ‘The best way to appreciate his greatness is just to go back and play some of the old records. Time has a way of being very unkind to old records, but Elvis’ keep getting better and better.’

The 12-track Colored Vinyl LP format opens with Brunetta’s prized dancefloor-filler ‘Baluba Shake’ and closes with ‘Pà Diglielo A Mà’, a dramatic ballad by big-voiced Nada. The prolific Mina - queen bee of Italy’s female singers - gets two tracks: folk rock nugget ‘No’ and ‘Se Telefonando’, a sophisto-pop epic courtesy of maestro Ennio Morricone.

Other highlights include the sitar-embellished ‘Il Mio Posto Qual’È’ by Ornella Vanoni, a convincing cover of ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ by beat girl Caterina Caselli, the pounding ‘Il Geghegè’ by petite dynamo Rita Pavone and breathy-voiced actress Catherine Spaak’s bossa-imbued ‘La Notte È Fatta Per Rubare’.

Toi et Moi, a Japanese lounge pop group formed in 1968 by Emiko Shiratori, a former Schoolmates member, and Sumio Akutagawa, an aspiring vocalist. Their third album is now available again on Shm-cd and analog LP! The band is known for popular songs such as "Aru Hi Totsuzen," "Sora Yo," and "Dare Mo Inai Umi.”

Toi et Moi, a Japanese lounge pop group formed in 1968 by Emiko Shiratori, a former Schoolmates member, and Sumio Akutagawa, an aspiring vocalist. Their second album is now available again on Shm-cd and analog LP! The band is known for popular songs such as "Aru Hi Totsuzen," "Sora Yo," and "Dare Mo Inai Umi.”

Toi et Moi, a Japanese lounge pop group formed in 1968 by Emiko Shiratori, a former Schoolmates member, and Sumio Akutagawa, an aspiring vocalist. Their first album is now available again on Shm-cd and analog LP! The band is known for popular songs such as "Aru Hi Totsuzen," "Sora Yo," and "Dare Mo Inai Umi.”

It was standard practice in the 1960s for British beat groups to pepper their repertoires with American R&B songs. Formed by five music-loving schools from Blackpool, the Missfits were no exception. Although they group released no records during their time together, for two brief years they were the toast of Blackpool clubland. They played at the same veues as local bands such as the Rockin’ Vickers, including some gigs at the famous Oasis Club in Manchester and at the short-lived Blackpool branch of the Twisted Wheel.

In February 1964, they won a recording test in a talent competition and travelled to London that summer to commit some of their favourite songs to tape. The tape reel was soon forgotten and thought lost but Janet had thankfully kept it safe, enabling the appearance of the four tracks on this 60s-style vinyl EP. Drummer Janet Baily provides lead vocals on their version of John Lee Hooker’s ‘Dimples’, and bass player Pauline Moran sang lead on Bo Diddley’s ‘You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover’, Chuck Berry’s ‘I’m Talking About You’ and Ray Charles’ ‘What’d I Say’, with guitarists Andrea Hine, Carola Daish and Liz Hall joining in on backing vocals.

A tidal wave of Minny-beat surf and garage from all incarnations of the carnivorous Vaqueros! Like Twin City neapolitan ice cream, surf instros, Linda Anderson vocal surf-rock cuts, and John Grizzard's grizzly garage cuts add three splendid flavors all in one sonic carton!