1960s 28 Items

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.

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.

"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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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.

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!

Yellow vinyl!

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.”

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.

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.