45' rarities - The Mirage

01 - Mystery Lady (Page One POF 078) 1968

02 - Chicago Cottage

03 - Carolyn (Page One POF 111) 1969

04 - The World Goes On Around You

V.A. - Heimatliche Klaenge vol.36

Heimatliche Klaenge - Deutsche Schallplatten-Kleinlabels

Native Sounds - Small German Record-Labels

vol.36

Bellaphon 45' BL 10xx vol1

BL 1001 Jimmy Ward with Oety & his Real Rockers - Susie Twist / Teen Beat Slop

BL 1004 The Moon Riders - Moon dance / Moon riders

BL 1006 Casey Jones & his Engineers - Tall girl / Blue tears

BL 1007 The Starfighters - Lost John / Starfighter's Theme

BL 1009 Jimmy Ward & the Rockers - Wo ist mein Baby / Yes Clementine

BL 1011 The Spitfires - Dynamo / March Blues

BL 1013 Casey Jones & his Engineers - Don`t ha ha / Long gone train

BL 1016 The Moon Riders - Moon fever / Moon Beat

BL 1017 The Details - I cried all night / What shall I do

BL 1018 The Gardenias - Jerk / My girl

BL 1019 Wendy & The Gardenias - You don't love me no more / Mama didn't lie

BL 1020 The Kentuckys - Uncle Willy / 5 $ and Saturday night

V.A. - Heimatliche Klaenge vol.35

Heimatliche Klaenge - Deutsche Schallplatten-Kleinlabels

Native Sounds - Small German Record-Labels

vol.35

The Cousins german 45'

40116a Peppermint Twist

40116b Manhattan Spiritual

40142a Am Sontag wirst du 17 Jahre

40142b Marylin

40170a Bye Bye Lola

40170b Honolulu Love

40179a Hully Gully Boy

40179b Toodelo

40207a Das Alte Haus in New Orleans

40207b Immer ьberall

40228a Do Re Mi

40228b Wenn du Susanne liebst

14503a Der Junge aus der Villa Glьck

14503b Nur weil du es weisst

V.A. - Heimatliche Klaenge vol.34

Heimatliche Klдnge - Deutsche Schallplatten-Kleinlabels

Native Sounds - Small German Record-Labels

vol.34

The Team-Beats - 45'

01 - Susie DV 14113

02 - San Antonio Rose

03 - Sie liebt dich DV 14129

04 - It's Liverpool Time

05 - Rip It Up DV 14255

06 - Shake, Baby Shake

07 - Riverside Shake DV 14316

08 - Samoa Holiday

09 - Roll Over Beethoven MD 16033 Twist Slop Surf Shake

10 - Skinny Minnie ZS 10054 Twen Party

11 - U-La-La TWR 14062 Robby Danfield & The Team-Beats

12 - Mean Woman Blues

V.A. - Heimatliche Klaenge vol.33

Heimatliche Klaenge - Deutsche Schallplatten-Kleinlabels

Native Sounds - Small German Record-Labels

vol.33

The Team-Beats - 1963 Live im Club 99

01 - Time To Fall In Love

02 - Java Guitars

03 - Willow-Hop

04 - Mama Papa Twist

05 - Stay With Me Baby

06 - I'm Walkin'

07 - Jambalaya

08 - Gonna Get Back Home Somehow

09 - Let's Hava A Party

10 - Twistin' Away

11 - Hippy Hippy Shake

12 - Sie liebt Dich

13 - Pretend

V.A. - Heimatliche Klaenge vol.32

Heimatliche Klдnge - Deutsche Schallplatten-Kleinlabels

Native Sounds - Small German Record-Labels

vol.32

The Team-Beats - It's Liverpool Time LDV 17003 1964

01 - It's Liverpool Time

02 - Tell Me What I Say

03 - Red Sails In The Sunset

04 - Shake Baby Shake

05 - Rip It Up

06 - Roll Over Beethoven

07 - Skinny Minnie Shake

08 - Memphis Tennessee

09 - Riverside Shake

10 - Saints And Team-Beats

Stars On 45 - Best Of

The story of Starsound, who started the medley craze in 1981, began two years earlier in a disco in Montreal, where one of the resident DJs was Michel Gendreau. Into his club walked Michel Ali, who had with him a tape created from a bootleg white-label recording originating in Holland of a medley of Beatles songs called "Lets Do It in the 80s Great Hits" and credited to an unknown group named Passion. The record used excerpts from the original Beatles records as well as snippets from the Archies' "Sugar Sugar," Shocking Blue's "Venus," and the introduction to the Buggles' major hit "Video Killed the Radio Star." The bootleg was poor quality, the tape contained more noise than music, and it was badly produced, but Gendreau believed it was a good idea, although he was reluctant to play it at peak time. This was the very late '70s and disco had been king of the dancefloor for several years, with new tracks created by the Bee Gees, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, and a host of new producers with new groups and singers. The last thing the disco-going clientele wanted was a series of Beatles and other 1960s material.

Ali began working with sound engineer Paul Richer to create a cleaner version of "Let's Do It in the 80s Great Hits," and in order to satisfy Gendreau's fears about oldies, they added some recent hits, including "Funky Town" by Lipps, Inc. and "Working My Way Back to You" by the Detroit Spinners. By starting with current hits, then introducing the Beatles tracks, the dancefloor would not empty as was feared, but the dancing would continue as the 1960s hits were set to the same definable beat as the current hits. One of the 1960s hits used was "Venus" by Shocking Blue, the copyright of which was owned by a Dutch record company, Red Bullet Records, and when this was brought to the attention of its manager back in Holland, Freddy Haayen, who, although incensed that his track was part of the medley, realized the potential commercial viability of the medley idea and instead of contacting his lawyers, he contacted record producer Jaap Eggermont, formerly of the band Golden Earring, and asked him whether it would be possible to create a legal version. Eggermont knew enough about copyright to realize that it would be a futile exercise to approach the original rights holders, so he brought together a group of session singers to re-record the vocals as close as possible to the originals, using Bas Muys from the Dutch group Smyle as the voice of John Lennon, Hans Vermeulen from Sandy Coast as George Harrison, and Okkie Huysdens as Paul McCartney. The tracks that had been used on "Let's Do It in the 80s Great Hits" and the recut version — "Sugar Sugar," "Venus," "Funky Town," and "Video Killed the Radio Star" — were also retained, and a linking piece was written to introduce the song with the tag line "The Stars on 45 keep on turning in your mind," sung by Jody Pijper to a pumping disco beat that continued throughout the medley.



It was originally released on a 12" single only and ran for 16 minutes. When radio stations across Europe began editing it themselves for suitable daytime play, Eggermont took the "Stars on 45" introduction and added just the first verses of "Venus" and "Sugar Sugar" and a further three minutes of the Beatles medley, releasing a 7" single that swept the world and began a craze that lasted throughout the whole of the early '80s. Depending on the territory, the group was either known as Starsound (as in Europe) or Stars on 45 (in the U.S.A.), and the title of the single that finally went on general sale was the longest ever title to reach the charts, as the individual song publishers insisted on their track forming part of the title, which became officially &"Intro Venus/Sugar Sugar/No Reply/I'll Be Back/Drive My Car/Do You Want to Know a Secret/We Can Work It Out/I Should Have Known Better/You're Going to Lose That Girl/Stars on 45," although it was often shortened simply to "Stars on 45." The single was a great success, peaking at number two in the U.K. (with most of the sales on the 12" format) and going all the way to number one, sandwiched by two separate runs of Kim Carnes' biggest-selling hit of the year, "Bette Davis Eyes," in the U.S.A.



It was inevitable that this success would be followed by an expanded album project, and less than a month after the single had been released, a long-player was ready that included an expanded Beatles section with the songs "Ticket to Ride," "Eleanor Rigby," "And Your Bird Can Sing," "Get Back," "Eight Days a Week," "It Won't Be Long," "Day Tripper," "Good Day Sunshine," "Here Comes the Sun," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Taxman," "A Hard Day's Night," "Things We Said Today," "If I Fell," "Please Please Me," "From Me to You," and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and many of the 1960s oldies from the original bootleg, "Sherry" (Four Seasons), "Cathy's Clown" (Everly Brothers), "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (Neil Sedaka), "Only the Lonely" (Roy Orbison), "Silly Love Songs" (Wings), "Jimmy Mack" (Martha Reeves), "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again" (Fortunes), and "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" (Brian Hyland). Although the album stopped at number nine in the U.S.A., it did even better than the single in the U.K., going all the way to number one for five weeks in May and June and ended the year as the tenth best-selling album of 1981.



The next project, centered around the hits of ABBA, using the voice of Claudia Hoogendoorn as both the ABBA female singers Agnetha Fдltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. In the U.S.A., a second medley had already been released featuring more Beatles excerpts, but the novelty was already wearing off and despite the success of the first medley, the second one stalled at number 67. In Britain, however, the medley craze was just beginning and "Stars on 45, Vol. 2" followed the first volume to the runner-up position. A second album was released, titled the same as the single, and expanded with 17 excerpts of pop hits from the 1960s and 1970s, ranging from soul tracks ("Papa Was a Rolling Stone," "Dance to the Music," "Reach Out I'll Be There") to fun pop hits ("Sugar Baby Love," "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," "California Dreaming"). It also featured a Supremes medley and an assortment of instrumental intros including the "Star Wars Main Title Theme," "Kung Fu Fighting," "Layla," "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy," "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough," "Baker Street," and "The Eve of the War."



By the autumn of 1981, a bandwagon had well and truly been developed and many groups were releasing their own medleys of their former hits, including the Beach Boys, the Hollies, and even the Beatles themselves under the title "The Beatles Movie Medley" (using the original vocals this time). Lobo hit the charts with a Harry Belafonte Caribbean medley, Startrax covered the Bee Gees, Gidea Park did the Beach Boys, and the Four Seasons and Tight Fit hit with "Back to the 60s," a medley similar to the original bootleg that started it all. Even the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra got in on the act with "Hooked on Classics," a medley of famous classical pieces. Starsound themselves used Tony Sherman as a Stevie Wonder soundalike on "Stars on Stevie," Peter Vermeij as Mick Jagger on "The Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the World," Peter Douglas as Frank Sinatra on "Stars on Frankie," and even Patricia Paay, Yvonne Keeley, Sylvana van Veen, and Ingrid Ferdinandusse as the Andrews Sisters, although the latter two did not actually perform any of the singing.



A third album featuring the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder medleys was released in the spring of 1982, but by then it was all over and the album peaked at a miserable number 94 for just one week. The medley was being parodied by artists such as Chas & Dave with their selection of old-time music hall and London songs, "Stars Over 45," Ivor Biggun with "Bras on 45," and Weird Al Yankovic with his medley "Polkas on 45." The session musicians all went their separate ways and Starsound or Stars on 45 was left as just a memory of a craze of medleys that swept the world in 1981. The first two can still be heard at clubs, more than a quarter of a century later, particularly the cheesy type where a DJ needs a medley to liven up the dancefloor, and Starsound has managed to retain its credibility for longer than Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers, who revived the medley format eight years later to even greater but short-lived effect.

Country Joe & The Fish - The First Three EPs

If you mention the name Country Joe & the Fish to Americans born in 1955 or earlier, chances are that they'll know the band you're talking about, at least to the degree that they know their most widely played and quoted song, "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag." The problem is, that particular song captured only the smallest sliver of who Country Joe & the Fish were or what they were about. One of the original and most popular of the San Francisco Bay Area psychedelic bands, they were also probably the most enigmatic, in terms of who they actually were, and had the longest and strangest gestation into becoming a rock band. And Joe McDonald may have written the most in-your-face antiwar, anti-military song to come out of the 1960s, but he was also one of the very few musicians on the San Francisco scene who'd served in uniform.

MORE: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fpfixqr5ldje~T1

Country Joe & The Fish - The First Three EPs

Sequel (UK) 1987

Before making their leap into the "big time" and signing with the nationally distributed Vanguard Records in 1967, Country Joe McDonald and his group the Fish had already created a pair of self-produced and otherwise low-budget EPs as so-called "talking" issues of McDonald's own Rag Baby publication. The periodical itself was a Bay Area adaptation of the folkie's music intensive magazine Broadside. Collectors Items: The First Three EPs compiles those highly sought-after 7"s of vinyl onto CD — the contents of which earned Country Joe & the Fish (CJ&F) their initial flashes of national exposure — albeit limited to the underground "head shops" that stocked Rag Baby. The disc opens with a primordial incarnation of the Fish — consisting of McDonald (vocals/guitar) and his close musical associate Barry Melton (vocals/guitars) — augmented by Carl Shrager (washboard), Bill Steel (bass), and Mike Bearslee (vocals/guitar). Their decidedly D.I.Y. instrumentation and delivery is a clear indicator of the folkie roots that were strikingly similar to that of other burgeoning combos in the Bay Area. The original A-side boasted two CJ&F tunes: "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" and "Superbird." Here, modern listeners are treated to a version of "I Feel Like..." listed as "Take 1" — replete with the apropos effects of machine guns and round-upon-round of rapid fire mortars — while the alternate "Take 2" contains the infamous "F-U-C-K" Woodstock chant. On the B-side was a folk singer/songwriter named Peter Krug whose contributions were equally as apocalyptic as CJ&F's. Krug's "Fire in the City" was also covered by jazz vocalist Jon Hendricks and a then virtually unknown backup unit who had just changed their name from the Warlocks to the Grateful Dead. The number is coupled with the blatantly anti-combat "Johnny's Gone to War." The second EP debuts the electric incarnation of CJ&F, solidifying the existence of Rag Baby as well as the combo's amplified psychedelic rock leanings. Side A is composed of "(Thing Called) Love" and "Bass Strings" — two relatively short numbers at under four minutes apiece. Allowing themselves the freedom to stretch out in a style and delivery more akin to their public performances, "Section 43" clocks in at nearly seven minutes. All three of these tunes would be reworked on CJ&F's second long-player Electric Music for the Mind and Body (1967). The final EP was cut by McDonald backed by Groonta and is a mix of the acoustic "Kiss My Ass"/"Tricky Dicky" and electric "Free Some Day." The disc was recorded for the express purpose of being sold for $1.50 at the infamous "Free the Army" political and musical review that included appearances by such notables as Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland. The show toured underground coffeehouses in 1971 and McDonald cut this disc in support of — and for sale at — these performances.

1. Country Joe & the Fish - I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag [Take 1] (2:43)

2. Country Joe & the Fish - I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag [Take 2] (3:44)

3. Country Joe & the Fish - Superbird (3:37)

4. Country Joe & the Fish - (Thing Called) Love (2:37)

5. Country Joe & the Fish - Bass Strings (4:00)

6. Country Joe & the Fish - Section 43 (6:48)

7. Peter Krug - Fire in the City (4:47)

8. Peter Krug - Johnny's Gone to the War (2:01)

9. Country Joe McDonald/Grootna - Kiss My Ass (3:02)

10. Country Joe McDonald/Grootna - Tricky Dicky (3:57)

11. Country Joe McDonald/Grootna - Free Some Day (5:31)

Country Joe & The Fish - Together (1968)

Together, Country Joe & the Fish's third album, was the group's most consistent, most democratic, and their best-selling record. Unlike their first two albums, which were dominated by Country Joe McDonald's voice and compositions, Together featured the rest of the band — guitarists Barry Melton and David Cohen, bassist Bruce Barthol, and drummer Chicken Hirsh — almost as prominently as McDonald.

 That's usually a formula for disaster, but in this case it gave the album more variety and depth: McDonald tended to favor droning mantras like the album-closing "An Untitled Protest," which worked better when contrasted with the likes of Melton's catchy anti-New York diatribe, "The Streets of Your Town," and the group-written "Rock and Soul Music." Songs like the latter cast the group as a soul revue, true, and they couldn't quite pull that off, but Together had the charming quality of unpredictability; you never knew what was coming next. Unfortunately, what came next in the band's career was a split. Barthol was out by September 1968, Cohen and Hirsh followed in January 1969. Thereafter, McDonald and Melton fronted various Fish aggregations, but it was never the same, even when this lineup regrouped for Reunion in 1977.

1. Country Joe & The Fish - Rock And Soul Music (6:51)

2. Country Joe & The Fish - Susan (3:28)

3. Country Joe & The Fish - Mojo Navigator (2:24)

4. Country Joe & The Fish - Bright Suburban Mr. & Mrs. Clean Machine (2:19)

5. Country Joe & The Fish - Good Guys/Bad Guys Cheer and The Streets Of Your Town (3:39)

6. Country Joe & The Fish - The Fish Moan (0:27)

7. Country Joe & The Fish - The Harlem Song (4:22)

8. Country Joe & The Fish - Waltzing In The Moonlight (2:14)

9. Country Joe & The Fish - Away Bounce My Bubbles (2:25)

10. Country Joe & The Fish - Cetacean (3:38)

11. Country Joe & The Fish - An Untitled Protest (2:46)

Country Joe & the Fish - I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die (1967)

The Fish's second album is quite similar to their first in its organ-heavy psychedelia with Eastern-influenced melodic lines, but markedly inferior to the debut, and much more of a period piece. There's more spaciness and less comic energy here, and while the bandmembers were undoubtedly serious in their explorations, some of these songs are simply silly in their cosmic naпvetй. To be crueler, there is no other album that exemplifies so strongly the kind of San Francisco psychedelia that Frank Zappa skewered on his classic We're Only in It for the Money.

The weeping, minor-key melodies, liquid guitar lines, and earnestly self-absorbed quests to explore the inner psyche — it's almost as if they put themselves up as a dartboard for the Mothers to savage. For all that, the best songs are good; "Who Am I" and "Thursday" are touching psychedelic ballads. But more notably, the title cut — whose brash energy is atypical of the album — was a classic antiwar satire that became one of the decade's most famous protest songs, and the group's most famous track.

1. Country Joe & the Fish - The Fish Cheer & I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag (3:44)

2. Country Joe & the Fish - Who Am I (4:05)

3. Country Joe & the Fish - Pat's Song (5:25)

4. Country Joe & the Fish - Rock Coast Blues (3:57)

5. Country Joe & the Fish - Magoo (4:43)

6. Country Joe & the Fish - Janis (2:36)

7. Country Joe & the Fish - Thought Dream (6:39)

8. Country Joe & the Fish - Thursday (3:19)

9. Country Joe & the Fish - Easter Jam (4:29)

10. Country Joe & the Fish - Colors for Susan (5:59)

V.A. - Stora Popboxen (Svensk Pop 1964 - 1969) vol. 1-3

01 Ejdetjдrns Boosies - Bye Bye Girl

02 The Kays - What If Johnny Says No

03 The Shanes - Let Me Show You Who I Am

04 The Shamrocks - A Mountain Of Silver

05 The Hoods - Every Time I Turn My Back

06 Kringlorna - Why Is Love So Blind

07 The Hep Stars - Farmer John

08 Cherry Stones - Muddy Hands

09 The Mascots - A Sad Boy

10 T-Boones - At The Club

11 Tages - Don't turn Your Back

12 The Shakemakers - Searchin' For Shake

13 The Shanes - I Don't Want Your Love

14 Moonjacks - Come On

15 The Beathovens - About The Sun

16 The Hep Stars - Cadillac

17 The Madmen - Alfred E Goes Surfin'

18 The Howlers - Now It's Over

19 Downbeat Crowd - The Snake

20 The Shamrocks - La La La

21 Scarlet Ribbons - Three Roses

22 '14' - Wondering

23 Merrymen With Boz - Serachin'

24 The Pools - Darling Corey

25 The Mascots - Words Enough To Tell You

26 The Nameloosers - Land Of A 1000 Dances

27 Tages - So Many Girls

28 The Best - Back Door Man

29 Ola & The Janglers - Love Was On Your Mind

30 Steampacket II - You Just Gotta Know My Mind

201 The Hep Stars - Sunny Girl

202 T-Boones - What A Feeling

203 The Beathovens - Summer Sun

204 The Acts - I Guess So

205 Hootenanny Singers - No Time

206 The Madmen - Rambler

207 The Namelosers - Do-Ao

208 Shivers - No No No

209 The Rouges - Cheat And Lie

210 Lee Kings - On My Way

211 The Hep Stars - Wedding

212 The Fools - Baby, I Want To Know

213 Steampacket II - Take Her Anytime

214 '14' - Little Down-Hearted Arthur

215 The Sleepstones - It's The Same Old Thing

216 Fabulous Four - Rotten Rats

217 The Mascots - The Girl That You Are

218 Science Poption - You've Got Me High

219 Ola & The Janglers - Alex Is The Man

220 Tages - Miss Mac Baren

221 Gents - Honour Bright

222 The Caretakers - All You Got To Do

223 The Shanes - Chris-Craft No. 9

224 Sound Ltd Set - Sunside World

225 MAK Les Soeurs - Sunshine

226 Moderations - Hard To Forget

227 Lay Abouts - So Long Fanny

228 Science Poption - Lady Of Leisure

229 Tages - Every Raindrop Means A lot

230 Bread - Motortown Beat

301 Steampacket - Viva L'Amour

302 The Shakers - All I Want Is My Baby

303 The Shanes - Hey There, Sunbeams

304 Mades - Sing With Me

305 Slam Creepers' - Open The Door To Your Heart

306 Science Poption - I Set A Fire

307 Bella And Me - Whatever Happened To The 7-Day Week

308 Tom & Mick - Somebody's Taken Maria Away

309 Ola & The Janglers - Juliet

310 Mikeal And Michael - Lovin' Enemy

311 Tages - Treat Her Like A Lady

312 The Hounds - Old Man In New York

313 Lee Kings - Coming From The Ground

314 The New Generation - Two Faces Have I

315 Darling - Smiling

316 The Jackpots - Lincoln City

317 Lea Riders Group - Dom Kallar Oss Mods

318 Tintacs - Love Bring The Night And The Day

319 Attractions - Let Love Come Between Us

320 John Julian & Curt-Gorans - Misery Is Such A Mystery

321 Slam Creepers' - It's Saturday

322 Annaabee-Nox - Anna Be Nice

323 Bamboo - Everybody's Gone Home

324 Tages - Fantasy Island

325 Les Fleurs - Souls

326 Ragges - If I Had Something

327 Ola & The Janglers - Let's Dance

328 The Jackpots - Jack In The Box

329 Pete Proud - Ba-Ba-Da-Da-Oooh

 

http://comps.ugly-things.com/compsproject/comptitle2.php?&scompid=969&lifilter=&lispeed=

The Hep Stars – It’s Been A Long Long Time (1968)

 

The chances are that, had ABBA never come along making Benny Andersson (and his three partners in the group) into an international pop/rock star, no one outside of Sweden would ever have heard of the Hep Stars. They were the hottest rock band of the mid-to late '60s in Sweden, however, considered by some to be that country's answer to the Beatles. The Hep Stars also charted 20 singles in their own country and had hits in the Netherlands, as well as building a following in Germany -- and their CDs are exported around the world as a result of the ABBA connection. It also turns out that they were a pretty good band, too.

Andersson's interest in the keyboard manifested itself at age six, when he got his first accordion, and he began playing with his father and grandfather. At 10, he got his first piano and started lessons, but these didn't continue, and he basically became a self-taught musician.

He was playing in a band in 1964 when he chanced to be heard by Svenne Hedlund, a member of the Hep Stars, who had been formed in 1963 and already recorded one single, but had also just lost their organist, Hasse Ostlund. Anderson joined the band in October of 1964 -- the lineup also featured Janne Frisk on guitar and vocals, Hedlund on lead vocals, Lelle Hegland on bass, and Christer Pettersson on drums. Soon after Andersson joined, the Hep Stars recorded four songs: Geoff Goddard's "Tribute to Buddy Holly," which had been a hit in England for Mike Berry in the early '60s; the Premiers' then-current hit "Farmer John," and "Cadillac" (not the Bo Diddley song), that helped transform their careers.

By the middle of 1965, after getting a break on Swedish television, "Tribute to Buddy Holly," "Farmer John," and "Cadillac" had each topped the Swedish radio charts. "Cadillac," "Farmer John," and a cover of Shel Talmy's "Bald Headed Woman" also reached number one on the sales charts, while "Tribute to Buddy Holly" got to number five, all in less than a year.

"Cadillac" was a good representative of the group's sound during this period, a piece of lusty, bluesy garage rock. dominated by an agonized lead vocal, somewhere between Gene Vincent at his most quiet and menacing and David Aguilar of the Chocolate Watchband doing his best anguished teen emoting, and some very prominent organ riffs by Andersson. The group sounded sort of like a Swedish Paul Revere & the Raiders with a little more lyricism than that comparison implies. Their version of "Farmer John" was a pale imitation of the Premiers' original, but it satisfied home-grown audiences. "Bald Headed Woman" was convincingly bluesy and threatening, and "Tribute to Buddy Holly" was a less dramatic rendition of the song than Mike Berry's version. They had a decent if slightly smooth garage band style, Andersson's organ and Frisk's guitar paired up very nicely on the breaks on numbers like "Should I," while Andersson's electric harpsichord was the dominant instrument on the folk-like "Young and Beautiful."

Their initial string of hits resulted in the release of two LPs in 1965, We and Our Cadillac, and The Hep Stars on Stage. Additionally, Benny Andersson began writing songs that year -- up to that point, the band had done nothing but covers of songs by American and British composers (they did rocking versions of "What'd I Say" and other rock & roll standards on stage), but "No Response," Andersson's debut as a songwriter, made it to number two on the charts. A year later, his "Sunny Girl" got to number one, and his "Wedding," released that same year, also topped the charts. For the next three years, his originals would compete with outside material for space on the A-sides of single releases by the band.

The group scored 20 hits in the Swedish Top Ten thru the summer of 1969, among them nine songs that topped the charts. They also released five more albums: The Hep Stars (1966), Jul Med Hep Stars (Christmas with the Hep Stars) (1967), Songs We Sang (1968), and Hep Stars Pa Svenska (1969). As those titles indicate, as the '60s progressed, the band began cutting their songs more and more often in Swedish, including covers of modern folk songs such as Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds" (done as "Mot Okant Land").

Shortly after hitting number one with "Wedding" in May of 1966, the Hep Stars were invited to a party by another popular Swedish group, the Hootenanny Singers. It was there that Andersson first met Bjorn Ulvaeus, who was a member of the other group. They began writing songs together later that year, with "It Isn't Easy to Say" -- that song, along with the Ulvaeus composition "No Time," showed up on the Hep Stars' self-titled third album, issued in December of that same year. At that time, their popularity was such that the album's sales broke all records, making it the first album by a Swedish band to reach the Top 20 album and singles charts.

Their string of hits continued with a Swedish version of "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," "Don't" (a cover of the Elvis Presley song), and Andersson's "Consolation." Everything seemed to be going extraordinarily well for the Hep Stars, but that all changed in 1967 when the band made a mistake astonishingly similar to one that the Beatles made that same year -- they decided to make a movie; additionally, the movie was to be financed by the band, and it had no script, which sounds a lot like The Magical Mystery Tour.
In contrast to the Beatles, who were earning enough money from record sales that they could've made two or three Magical Mystery Tours and not been seriously hurt, however, the Hep Stars were stricken financially by the project, which was never completed. The one bright spot in the entire debacle was the song "Balaika," which they found while shooting in Africa, and which reached number one.
The group kept working, oblivious to the hole they'd put themselves in until they were hit with a bill for back taxes that drove them into bankruptcy. They soldiered on, the members working off their debts, and in the summer of 1968, there was a lineup change when Svenne Hedlund's fiancee Charlotte "Lotta" Walker joined as lead singer. The hits kept coming, though from 1968 onward the Hep Stars were no longer recording much rock music, preferring a softer MOR and folk-based style.
It was this change that led to the group's split. Andersson and Svenne and Lotta Hedlund wanted to keep moving in an MOR direction, while the rest of the band preferred going back into the rock 'n roll music with which they'd started out. Andersson, Hedlund, and Walker exited the line-up following the band's 1969 summer tour. The seeds that would spawn ABBA were already planted by that time -- Andersson met Anni-Frid Lyngstad during the Hep Stars' final weeks of performing, and their engagement, and his involvement with her music as producer of her new single (co-written by Andersson and Ulvaeus), followed soon after the Hep Stars split.
In more recent years, the Hep Stars have appeared as a reunited band (sans Andersson), and have made a serious effort at recording as well as performing in Sweden, where their music is still remembered by older audiences from the '60s. ABBA's success has seen to their reissue on CD, as well as to the international availability of their music.~ Bruce Eder

1. Hep stars - enter the young (2:48)

2. Hep Stars - hope (2:19)

3. Hep Stars - 5 am (2:45)

4. Hep Stars - it's time for a change (2:36)

5. Hep Stars - changing away from you (3:00)

6. Hep Stars - it's been a long long time (3:01)

7. Hep Stars - musty dusty (3:16)

8. Hep Stars - spinning, spinning, spinning (2:10)

9. Hep Stars - there is love (2:34)

10. Hep stars - would you like to go (2:33)

11. Hep Stars - it's now a winter's day (3:10)

12. Hep Stars - another time (3:14)

The Hep Stars - We And Our Cadillac (1965)

The debut LP by the Hep Stars is mostly made up of guileless and style-less rock & roll.

The Hep Stars were like a lot of English bands of the period, rippling through the harder rock & roll numbers with thumping efficiency or aping the originals on songs like Carl Mann's "Rockin' Love" without any real feel for or comfort with the words. Parts of this album resemble English releases of the period, in the sense that the group is covering Phil Spector, Carl Mann, and Shel Talmy numbers in an earnest manner, but they lack the originality to pull off anything more than going through the motions. The best song here is the Swedish Top Ten single "Cadillac," a hot, bluesy organ-dominated number that might have passed for a Gene Vincent or Marty Wilde song. Otherwise, the group works best with melodic numbers that allow them music to hook their work around -- "Be My Baby" as a guitar-driven piece is passable, and it and the organ-dominated version of "And Then She Kissed Me" come off best; plus, they throw themselves into Neil Sedaka's "Oh! Carol" with compelling passion. "Bald Headed Woman" comes off surprisingly well also, mostly because it's similar in character to "Cadillac." "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" is pretty poor, apart from Benny Andersson's elegant piano playing, and little of the rest works better. The bonus tracks on the 1996 EMI reissue are mostly superior to the original LP's, apart from their debut single (a piece of pathetic Euro-pop/rock called "Kana Kapila"), "I Got a Woman," "Tribute to Buddy Holly," "Summertime Blues," and "Farmer John" are all worth hearing. ~ by Bruce Ede

1. Hep Stars - Cadillac (2:41)

2. Hep Stars - Be My Baby (2:59)

3. Hep Stars - That's When Your Heartaches B (3:57)

4. Hep Stars - Send Me Some Lovin' (2:56)

5. Hep Stars - Young And Beutiful (2:34)

6. Hep Stars - Rockin' Love (2:55)

7. Hep Stars - No Response (1:39)

8. Hep Stars - I'll Never Quite Get Over You (3:18)

9. Hep Stars - Sweet Little Sixteen (1:03)

10. Hep Stars - Oh! Carol (2:17)

11. Hep Stars - Then She Kissed Me (3:06)

12. Hep Stars - Bald Headed Woman (2:10)

13. Hep Stars - Kana Kapila (1:43)

14. Hep Stars - I Got A Woman (2:07)

15. Hep Stars - A Tribute To Buddy Holly (2:52)

16. Hep Stars - Bird Dog (1:58)

17. Hep Stars - If You Need Me (2:23)

18. Hep Stars - Summertime Blues (1:54)

19. Hep Stars - Farmer John (1:55)

20. Hep Stars - Donna (2:17)

The Astronauts - Surfin' With The Astronauts & Everything Is A-OK ! (1963;1964)

Surfin' with the Astronauts 1963

Considering that, by their own admission, the Astronauts had not only never played surf music, but had never heard of surf music before they were signed to record this album -- which was done in two days during May of 1963 -- the results are not only very good, but astounding. The long-player, which also marked only the group's second time in the recording studio (and the first for this version of the band), does what any good surf music album should do, imparting a sense of forward momentum and never letting up. From the opening cut, "Baja," the band acquits itself well on the instrumentals and decently on the vocal numbers, which include "Susie-Q," "Surfin' USA," and "Baby Let's Play House." No one was going to forget the Beach Boys, Dale Hawkins, or Elvis Presley over the renditions here, although in fairness, neither are they terrible -- just uninteresting if you know the originals. With one original here (the group-composed "Kuk"), the Astronauts were very much slaves to outside writers, but the band and its producer had a good sense of where to look for material. The result is an album that stands with the best of the surf albums of the period, even if it's not otherwise exceptional on its own terms. ~ by Bruce Eder

1. The Astronauts - Baja (2:28)

2. The Astronauts - Surfin' U.S.A. (2:15)

3. The Astronauts - Miserlou (2:05)

4. The Astronauts - Surfer's Stomp (2:39)

5. The Astronauts - Susie-Q (2:07)

6. The Astronauts - Pipeline (2:05)

7. The Astronauts - Kuk (2:07)

8. The Astronauts - Banzai Pipeline (2:15)

9. The Astronauts - Movin' (2:00)

10. The Astronauts - Baby Let's Play House (2:30)

11. The Astronauts - Let's Go Trippin' (2:03)

12. The Astronauts - Batman (2:10)

13. The Astronauts - Bo Diddley (2:25)

14. The Astronauts - If I Had A Hammer (2:54)

15. The Astronauts - It's So Easy (2:03)

16. The Astronauts - Dream Lover (2:30)

17. The Astronauts - Wine, Wine Wine (2:07)

18. The Astronauts - Money (4:51)

19. The Astronauts - Big Boss Man (2:39)

20. The Astronauts - Stormy Monday Blues (3:53)

21. The Astronauts - Shortin' Bread (2:14)

22. The Astronauts - I Need You (2:26)

23. The Astronauts - What I'd Say (6:21)

V.A. - Heimatliche Klaenge vol.31

Heimatliche Klдnge - Deutsche Schallplatten-Kleinlabels

Native Sounds - Small German Record-Labels

vol.31

german cover versions 4

01 Frederic & The Rangers - Segel im Wind (from acetat unreleased)

02 Osten Warnerbring - Dandy

03 Kai Markus - So suess wie eine Praline

04 Buddy Caine - Trдnen im Gesicht

05 Bill & Buster - Hol dir den Sonnenschein

06 Marius Mьller Westernhagen - Geb' Bayern zurueck an die Bayern (publication was banned)

07 Loving Hearts - Das kannst du mit mir nicht machen

08 Bernhard Frank - Was ist mit Dir gescheh'n

09 Marc White - Reden ist Silber

10 Benny Quick - Pretty Woman

11 Olaf King - Stell dein Bett auf die Strasse

12 Peter Wolf - Magic Woman

13 Lord Ulli - Die schwarze Lady

14 Hans Blum - Es begann

15 Rob de Neys - Ich nehm dich so wie du bist

16 Hazy Osterwald Sextett - Twist im Blut

17 Theo Schumann Combo - Satisfaction

18 Regine & die Modern Sounds - My Boy Lollipop

19 Spencer Davis - Der Wassermann

20 Hajo - Weine nur (The Rattles)

21 Marius Mьller Westernhagen - Wenn ich mal alt bin

22 Sandie Shaw - An jenem Tag

23 Ray Textor & The Strangers - Mein Traum der Liebe

The Knickerbockers - A Rave Up With (1995)

In early 1966, the Knickerbockers hit the Top 20 with "Lies," the best and most accurate early Beatle imitation ever recorded; the lead vocals were a dead ringer for John Lennon and the whole production could have fit in snugly on the second side of A Hard Day's Night.

 Actually a frat rock band from New Jersey who didn't write much of their own material, they never made anything else as successful. A couple decent follow-ups -- "One Track Mind" and the similarly mock-British Invasion "High on Love" -- were small hits, but their albums were even blander than many of the era's other one-shot artists. Their three noteworthy singles were all featured in Rhino's Nuggets series. Drummer and singer Jimmy Walker briefly replaced Bill Medley in the Righteous Brothers. ~ Richie Unterberger

History

 Formation

The band was formed in 1962 in Bergenfield, New Jersey by brothers Beau Charles (guitar & vocals) and John Charles (bass & vocals) (birth names: Robert and John Carlos Cecchino respectively) with fluctuating personnel until 1964, when they met Buddy Randell (vocals & sax) (birth name: William Crandall). Buddy was previously of the Rockin' Saints and the Royal Teens, who had a hit with "Short Shorts" in 1958. They took their name from Knickerbocker Road, which ran through the town next to their hometown.

The classic line-up consisted of Randell, the Charles brothers and drummer Jimmy Walker (previously the drummer with the Massena-based Atco Records act The Castle Kings in New York). They were spotted by producer and singer-songwriter Jerry Fuller playing the University Twist Palace in Albany, New York, and he subsequently signed them to Los Angeles-based Challenge Records.

 Initial success

Throughout The Knickerbockers three years of recordings, the group tirelessly pursued current trends; the vocals on "Jerk Town," for example, are heavily derivative of the Four Seasons. (Furthermore, the song's lyrics refer to "hot rods," like so many other popular songs of the day). Finally, The Knickerbockers had a Top 20 hit in early 1966 with "Lies." Somewhat ironically, the song is most famous today for being blatantly derivative of contemporary songs by The Beatles, down to the imitation of John Lennon on the lead vocal and the Paul McCartney-style vocal whoops before the guitar solo and later in the song. Allmusic remarks that the song is "justly regarded as the most accurate early-Beatles imitation." [1] Some listeners, unaware of its true source, mistake it for being a "lost" Beatles track.

The follow-up to the smash "Lies" was "One Track Mind", and it was nearly a hit as well. Unfortunately, the band's label, Challenge Records, couldn't handle the distribution, and the single only reached number 45. The Knickerbockers soldiered on, appearing in the movie Out of Sight (1966) and as regulars on Dick Clark's ABC-TV program, Where the Action Is (1965–1967).

Decline

Though the band had a strong songwriter in Beau Charles, the group was hampered by their label's ineptness, and drummer Walker left in late 1967 to replace Bill Medley in The Righteous Brothers. Walker would also record three solo singles for Columbia Records in 1968–1969, before retiring to Wyoming for much of the 1970s. Buddy Randell was the next to depart. The Charles brothers kept the band going by adding new members Richie Walker (vocals), Ron Mercier (drums) and Barry McCoy (keyboards) and moving the act to San Francisco. Randell rejoined The Knickerbockers on drums in 1968, leaving again in 1970 (McCoy departed to join Gary Puckett and The Union Gap). Buddy later recorded singles for Uni records ("Randi, Randi"/"Be My Baby" 1970) and under aliases such as Steel Wool ("No Sugar Tonight" White Whale 1969) and Blowtorch ("I Want Sugar all the Time" Paramount Records 1971). Beau Charles was also active outside of the group, too, waxing "Sharon Stay in Birmingham" for White Whale Records under the alias of Columbus Jones in 1969. (Both of the White Whale and Uni Records singles were produced or co-produced by George Tobin, who later went on to produce and manage 1980s teenage singer, Tiffany).

Other projects and reformation

Beau and John Charles, along with singer Ritchie Costanza and drummer Eric Swanson, were signed to Motown records in 1971, where their name was subsequently changed to Lodi.[disambiguation needed] They recorded an album (released in 1972) and one single ("Happiness" / "I Hope I See it In My Lifetime") on the Mowest subsidiary, before splitting up.

The Charles brothers and Randell then briefly backed up Playboy Records artist Brenda Patterson in 1973–1974, most notably appearing on an episode of The Midnight Special. Beau Charles remained the most visible member of the band throughout the 1970s, appearing in an episode of Harry-O as a lounge singer, and performing on various film and television soundtracks.

Since then, The Knickerbockers have reformed twice. The first time was in 1983 in Los Angeles, with everyone except Buddy Randell (he was singing with the faith-based band Jerusalem Rivers at the time). They recorded demos with producer Jerry Fuller, but split up soon afterward. The band reformed one more time, performing for a month in Delray Beach, Florida, in 1990, before disbanding again.

Beau and John Charles have been involved with The Knickerbockers' CD releases on Sundazed Records. Buddy Randell died in 1998.

The band's two most popular singles are on the box set Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era, and there are numerous re-issues and rarity sets. A compilation album by the band is The Fabulous Knickerbockers, released on Sundazed Records.

 Discography

] Singles

•"All I Need is You" / "Bite Bite Barracuda" (Challenge 59268) 1964

•"Jerktown" / "Room for One More" (Challenge 59293) 1965

•"Lies / "The Coming Generation" (Challenge 59321) 1965 U.S. #20

•"One Track Mind" / "I Must Be Doing Something Right" (Challenge 59326) 1966 U.S. #46

•"High on Love" / "Stick With Me" (Challenge 59332) 1966 U.S. #94

•"Chapel in the Fields" / "Just One Girl" (Challenge 59335) 1966

•"Love is a Bird" / "Rumors, Gossip, Words Untrue" (Challenge 59341) 1966

•"Please Don't Love Him" / "Can You Help Me" (Challenge 59348) 1966

•"What Does That Make You?" / "Sweet Green Fields" (Challenge 59359) 1967

•"Come and Get It" / "Wishful Thinking" (Challenge 59366) 1967

•"I Can Do It Better" / "You'll Never Walk Alone" (Challenge 59380) 1967

•"A Matter of Fact" / "They Ran For Their Lives" (Challenge 59384) 1968

•"Happiness" / "Hope I See it In My Lifetime" (as LODI) (MoWest 5003) 1971

•"All I Need is You" / "Jerktown" (reissue) (Sundazed #unknown) 1989

•"Gotta Stop This Dreaming" / "I Want a Girl for Christmas" (Sundazed SEP 186) 2006

 EPs

•"Lies" / "The Coming Generation" / "One Track Mind" / "I Must Be Doing Something Right" (London 10178) 1966

 Albums

•Lloyd Thaxton Presents.... (Challenge 1264) 1965

•Jerk & Twine (Challenge 621) 1966

•LiesS (Challenge 622) 1966 U.S.

•Lodi (MoWest MW 101L) 1972

•The Great Lost Knickerbockers Album! (Sundazed) 1989

******

1. The Knickerbockers - Lies (Are Breaking My Heart) (2:43)

2. The Knickerbockers - One Track Mind (2:21)

3. The Knickerbockers - I Can Do It Better (2:21)

4. The Knickerbockers - Just One Girl (2:06)

5. The Knickerbockers - I Must Be Doing Something Right (2:39)

6. The Knickerbockers - Chuck Berry Medley: Johnny B. Goode

-Roll Over Beethoven-Sweet Little Sixteen-Johnny B. Goode (3:02)

7. The Knickerbockers - High On Love (3:03)

8. The Knickerbockers - Stick With Me (2:33)

9. The Knickerbockers - Love Is A Bird (2:35)

10. The Knickerbockers - I Love (2:57)

11. The Knickerbockers - They Ran For Their Lives (2:08)

12. The Knickerbockers - My Feet Are Off The Ground (2:16)

13. The Knickerbockers - She Said Goodbye (2:53)

14. The Knickerbockers - You're Bad (2:22)

15. The Knickerbockers - What Does That Make You (2:36)

16. The Knickerbockers - Rumors, Gossip, Words Untrue (2:40)

17. The Knickerbockers - Comin' Generation (3:14)

18. The Knickerbockers - Can't You See I'm Tryin' (2:23)

19. The Knickerbockers - Sweet Green Fields (2:42)

20. The Knickerbockers - Give A Little Bit (2:17)

21. The Knickerbockers - Guaranteed Satisfaction