1960s Vinyl 26 Items

The archetype for the '60s-era girl group was etched indelibly into stone, like a commandment: three pretty girls with matching outfits and bouffant hairdos would sing, with musical backing supplied by a bunch of guys standing in the shadows. The Quatro sisters shattered that archetype forever with the Pleasure Seekers, an all-girl teenage rock & roll group who played all the instruments themselves and were fully capable of wiping the stage with any male band that crossed their path. Pressed on violet vinyl!

Experience the hip sounds of 1960s France with “Toujours Chic!”, the latest in our series of groovy Gallic girl-pop. The collection is available on 24-track CD and 12-track LP formats.

Star of the show is series debutante Laura Ulmer, who graces the cover of the CD version and contributes three pure pop tracks in the France Gall mode. Fabienne, Zouzou, Charlotte Walters, Stone, are all also new to the series.
This LP version, features a gorgeous cover photo of Françoise Hardy, is pressed on 180g lavender vinyl and comes with a fully illustrated inner bag.

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.

For those who prefer to own their music on vinyl, here is an eclectic and gorgeously packaged selection of American girl group artefacts from the 60s.

The album opens with ‘Whirlwind’ by producer Gary Paxton protégées the Rev-Lons, the trio’s final recording but also their best, and closes with ‘He’s All Right With Me’ by the Mirettes ( the Ikettes incognito). Other highlights include the Supremes-style ‘Cupid’s Got A Hold On Me’ by the Belles; the Sweethearts’ recording of ‘Beauty Is Just Skin Deep’, a song originally intended for the Ikettes; and ‘Summertime Is Surfin’ Time’ by the Surf Bunnies – three more terrific instances of the West Coast girl group sound. But not all the tracks here emanate from that part of the USA – viz ‘Mr Everything’ by New York-based Little Eva Harris and little-heard examples from the Pets, Tren-Teens and Lovettes, all from New Jersey.

Felice Taylor – here with her unissued-at-the-time ‘Sing Me A Love Song’ – graces the eye-popping jacket, which houses a colourful inner sleeve featuring a 3,000-word track commentary and an array of illustrations. Compilation and notes by Mick Patrick.

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’.

“‘Please Stay’, by The Cryin’ Shames, was the last song by producer Joe Meek to enter the UK Top 40, peaking at No. 26. Released on 18 February 1966, the song should have reached the top, but its progress was held back by the fact that the Decca record label had not pressed enough copies to meet demand. The collaboration should have been long and successful for both of them, but the Cryin’ Shames story is cursed with bad luck and, sadly, within a year of the success of ‘Please Stay’ the band broke up and Joe Meek died. This compilation brings together a first part of the material collected by Cherry Red on the double CD ‘The Tea Chest Tapes’ . The group began as The Bumblies, formed in Liverpool in 1963 by bassist George Robinson and singer Joey Kneen who had previously been in a band called The Calderstones, that included Tom Evans, who later went on to form the group Badfinger. The Bumblies’ name was taken from a television series of the same name featuring Michael Bentine. The rest of the line-up included Charlie Crane (vocals, harmonica), John Bennett (guitar), Phil Roberts (keyboards) and Charlie Gallagher (drums). Charlie Crane would be known in addition as ‘Carl’ or ‘Paul’ to avoid confusion with the other Charlie in the group. Joe Meek didn’t like the band’s choice of name so they changed it to The Cryin’ Shames. Ritchie Routledge replaced Bennett (guitar) after the recording of their debut single ‘Please Stay’. Derek Cleary (bass/guitar) replaced Robinson in time to play on their second single ‘Nobody Waved Goodbye’. After the original Cryin’ Shames fell apart, Routledge and Crane formed a group known as Paul And Ritchie And The Crying Shames with new members Brian Norris (bass), Mike Espie (guitar), Pete Byrne (organ) and Paul Commerford (drums). They released one single, ‘September In The Rain’. The group (as The Bumblies) auditioned for Joe Meek in late October or early November 1965 - the exact date cannot be ascertained because Meek’s tapes contain very little information, and only one or two of the more than seven hundred tapes actually bear a recording date...” (liner notes extracted from the Cherry Red’s booklet made by Mr. Craig Newton)

The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all time, selling over 100 million records worldwide. Touring their 1980 release ‘ Keepin ’ the Summer Alive’, the band was in top shape, playing a long list of classics with new material sprinkled in. And boy oh boy, do they have a load of hits: ‘Wouldn't It Be Nice’, ‘ Surfin ' U.S.A.’, ‘Good Vibrations’, ‘God Only Knows’, are not even half of the hits on this record.