The Everly Brothers - Beat And Soul & Rock And Soul (1965)

The Everly Brothers were not only among the most important and best early rock & roll stars, but also among the most influential rockers of any era. They set unmatched standards for close, two-part harmonies and infused early rock & roll with some of the best elements of country and pop music. Their legacy was and is felt enormously in all rock acts that employ harmonies as prime features, from the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and legions of country-rockers to modern-day roots rockers like Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe (who once recorded an EP of Everlys songs together). 

Don (born February 1, 1937) and Phil (born January 19, 1939) were professionals way before their teens, schooled by their accomplished guitarist father Ike, and singing with their family on radio broadcasts in Iowa. In the mid-'50s, they made a brief stab at conventional Nashville country with Columbia. When their single flopped, they were cast adrift for quite a while until they latched onto Cadence. Don invested their first single for the label, "Bye Bye Love," with a Bo Diddley beat that helped lift the song to number two in 1957. 

"Bye Bye Love" began a phenomenal three-year string of classic hit singles for Cadence, including "Wake Up Little Susie," "All I Have to Do Is Dream," "Bird Dog," "('Til) I Kissed You," and "When Will I Be Loved." The Everlys sang of young love with a heart-rending yearning and compelling melodies. The harmonies owed audible debts to Appalachian country music, but were imbued with a keen modern pop sensibility that made them more accessible without sacrificing any power or beauty. They were not as raw as the wild rockabilly men from Sun Records, but they could rock hard when they wanted. Even their midtempo numbers and ballads were executed with a force missing in the straight country and pop tunes of the era. The duo enjoyed a top-notch support team of producer Archie Bleyer, great Nashville session players like Chet Atkins, and the brilliant songwriting team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. Don, and occasionally Phil, wrote excellent songs of their own as well. 

In 1960, the Everlys left Cadence for a lucrative contract with the then-young Warner Bros. label (though it's not often noted, the Everlys would do a lot to establish Warners as a major force in the record business). It's sometimes been written that the duo never recaptured the magic of their Cadence recordings, but actually Phil and Don peaked both commercially and artistically with their first Warners releases. "Cathy's Clown," their first Warners single, was one of their greatest songs and a number one hit. Their first two Warners LPs, employing a fuller and brasher production than their Cadence work, were not just among their best work, but two of the best rock albums of the early '60s. The hits kept coming for a couple of years, some great ("Walk Right Back," "Temptation"), some displaying a distressing, increasing tendency toward soft pop and maudlin sentiments ("Ebony Eyes," "That's Old Fashioned"). 

Don and Phil's personal lives came under a lot of stress in the early '60s: they enlisted into the Marine Corps Reserves (together), and studied acting for six months but never made a motion picture. More seriously, Don developed an addiction to speed and almost died of an overdose in late 1962. By that time, their career as chart titans in the U.S. had ended; "That's Old Fashioned" (1962) was their last Top Ten hit. Their albums became careless, erratic affairs, which was all the more frustrating because many of their flop singles of the time were fine, even near-classic efforts that demonstrated they could still deliver the goods. 

Virtually alone among first-generation rock & roll superstars, the Everlys stuck with no-nonsense rock & roll and remained determined to keep their sound contemporary, rather than drifting toward soft pop or country like so many others. Although their mid-'60s recordings were largely ignored in America, they contained some of their finest work, including a ferocious Top 40 single in 1964 ("Gone, Gone, Gone"). They remained big stars overseas -- in 1965, "Price of Love" went to number two in the U.K. at the height of the British Invasion. They incorporated jangling Beatle/Byrdesque guitars into some of their songs and recorded a fine album with the Hollies (who were probably more blatantly influenced by the Everlys than any other British band of the time). In the late '60s, they helped pioneer country-rock with the 1968 album Roots, their most sophisticated and unified full-length statement. None of this revived their career as hitmakers, though they could always command huge audiences on international tours and hosted a network TV variety show in 1970. 

The decades of enforced professional togetherness finally took their toll on the pair in the early '70s, which saw a few dispirited albums and, finally, an acrimonious breakup in 1973. They spent the next decade performing solo, which only proved -- as is so often the case in close-knit artistic partnerships -- how much each brother needed the other to sound his best. In 1983, enough water had flowed under the bridge for the two to resume performing and recording together. The tours, with a backup band led by guitarist Albert Lee, proved they could still sing well. The records (both live and studio) were fair efforts that, in the final estimation, were not in nearly the same league as their '50s and '60s classics, although Paul McCartney penned a small hit single for them ("On the Wings of a Nightingale"). One of the more successful and dignified reunions in the rock annals, the Everlys continued to perform live, although they didn't release albums together after the late '80s.

Beat And Soul 1965

For the second album in a row, the Everlys presented an entire LP of rock & roll covers (and one original), most of which had originally been hits in the 1950s -- "Love Is Strange," "Money," "Hi Heel Sneakers," "My Babe," "The Girl Can't Help It," "Lonely Avenue," and so on. While the performances are pretty good -- and the vocals perennially better than good -- it also seemed to be an indication that the pair were unwilling or unable to write or procure a decent supply of new material. Because of the overfamiliarity of most of the songs, it has to rate as one of the brothers' less interesting efforts, regardless of the high level of execution. Nevertheless, "Love Is Strange" almost made the Top Ten in the U.K., and the sole original, "Man With Money," was a quality effort that was covered by several British groups including, unexpectedly, the Who (though their version was not released until the 1990s).

1. The Everly Brothers - Love Is Strange (2:53)

2. The Everly Brothers - Money (2:32)

3. The Everly Brothers - What Am I Living For (3:05)

4. The Everly Brothers - High Heel Sneakers (3:16)

5. The Everly Brothers - C.C. Rider (2:12)

6. The Everly Brothers - Lonely Avenue (2:34)

7. The Everly Brothers - Man With Money (2:20)

8. The Everly Brothers - People Get Ready (2:05)

9. The Everly Brothers - My Babe (2:39)

10. The Everly Brothers - Walking The Dog (2:39)

11. The Everly Brothers - I Almost Lost My Mind (2:37)

12. The Everly Brothers - The Girl Can't Help It (2:13)

Rock 'N Soul 1965

Rock n' Soul features a whole LP of oldies covers with guitar-heavy '60s arrangements, including such standards as "That'll Be the Day," "Kansas City," "Hound Dog," "Lonely Weekends," "I Got a Woman," and the then-recent "Dancin' in the Streets." It's decently played and sung, but not among the Everlys' most creative work, or even among their most interesting material of the mid-'60s. It's also not quite as good as the similar album they would release later in 1965, Beat & Soul. The version of "Love Hurts," incidentally, is a different, more rock-oriented version than the ballad arrangement they had recorded a few years previously.

13. The Everly Brothers - That'll Be the Day (2:22)

14. The Everly Brothers - So Fine (1:59)

15. The Everly Brothers - Maybelline (1:52)

16. The Everly Brothers - Dancing In The Street (2:37)

17. The Everly Brothers - Kansas City (2:25)

18. The Everly Brothers - I Got A Woman (2:10)

19. The Everly Brothers - Love Hurts (1:59)

20. The Everly Brothers - Slippin' And Slidin' (1:57)

21. The Everly Brothers - Lonely Weekends (2:03)

22. The Everly Brothers - Hound Dog (1:57)

23. The Everly Brothers - I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town (2:54)

24. Everly Brothers - Susie Q (2:08))

The Driving Stupid - Horror asparagus stories (1966)

REQUEST

Driving Stupid (1966) Horror Asparagus Stories. Американские гаражники, справедливо относимые к адептам зачаточного прото-панка. Агрессивная подача, примитивные трехаккордные песни и откровенно эпатажные хулиганские тексты (достаточно обратить внимание на первый трек - My Mother Was A Big Fat Pig или на I'm Gonna Bash Your Brains) - что это, если не классические характерные черты панка? Несмотря на то, что это середина 60-х и среди песен есть и натуральный блюз The Reality Of (Air) Fried Borsk, и баллада How Do You Tell A Stranger, и кантри Happytime Springface And Flowers, и даже чтение стихов под акустическую версию Greensleeves (что получилось очень похоже на American Prayer), основные ассоциации при прослушивании альбома - с панком. 

***

The Driving Stupid released just one single, "The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk"/"Horror Asparagus Stories," which came out on the KR label and flopped in 1966. The band eventually attracted a notoriety way out of proportion to their accomplishments, however, when both songs were anthologized on the '60s garage rock compilation Pebbles Vol. 3 about 15 years later. The tracks are considered to be the apogee of stupid psychedelic garage rock, with their over-the-top juvenile absurd comedy. Some listeners would subscribe to the "it's-so-stupid-it's-brilliant" school; many would find the single unbearably amateurish and dumb. But of such things reputations are made, if only cult ones.

The Driving Stupid were formed on the East Coast by college students, three of them longtime friends from New Jersey. As more of a lark than a serious endeavor, in the summer of 1966 they drove from New Jersey to Hollywood in an effort to crack the big time, stopping off in Albuquerque, New Mexico to record some demos. They did manage to land a deal and record an album's worth of material in Hollywood, but the album didn't come out at the time, after the commercial death of the 45. This unreleased material, like the single, combined sloppy garage band rock with self-consciously silly lyrics, like a garage group providing the soundtrack for a Z-grade horror-science fiction film.

Most of the Driving Stupid left Hollywood at the end of the summer of 1966 to return to college. The single, plus 17 unreleased tracks from their 1966 adventures, were issued in 2002 by Sundazed on Horror Asparagus Stories. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi

1. Driving Stupid - My Mother Was A Big Fat Pig (2:47)

2. Driving Stupid - Rid The Lobsters (2:22)

3. Driving Stupid - Fast City? (2:10)

4. Driving Stupid - The Reality Of (Air) (1:52)

5. Driving Stupid - We've Come To Take The Earth Away (2:53)

6. Driving Stupid - Green Things Have Entered My Skin,Gladys (2:26)

7. Driving Stupid - I'm Gonna Bash Your Brains (2:30)

8. Driving Stupid - Water My Doing Here? (2:26)

9. Driving Stupid - Girl's Got A Turtle (3:05)

10. Driving Stupid - How Do You Tell A Stranger (2:52)

11. Driving Stupid - Happytime Springface And Flowers (1:39)

12. Driving Stupid - Greensleeves (3:30)

13. Driving Stupid - Fast City (Version 2) (2:17)

14. Driving Stupid - I'm going To Bash Your Brains In (Version 2) (2:41)

15. Driving Stupid - We've Come To Take The Earth Away (Version 2) (2:55)

16. Driving Stupid - The Reality Of (Air) (Version 2) (1:51)

17. Driving Stupid - Ride The Lobsters (Version 2) (2:13)

18. Driving Stupid - Green Things Have Entered My Skin, Gladys (Version 2) (2:20)

19. Driving Stupid - Horro Aspargus Stories (2:34)

The excavation of an entire album's worth of unreleased material by the Driving Stupid must have excited some die-hard garage-heads, though the result proved to be somewhat less thrilling than might have been imagined. The exact sources of each specific track are undocumented, but they're taken from their 1966 demos in New Mexico and the unreleased album they did in Hollywood the same year. Both sides of the "Horror Asparagus Stories"/"The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk" single are included as well, naturally. But the reality of the Driving Stupid is that this particular brand of horror/science fiction/comedy rock isn't too funny or clever. Imagine a bunch of teenagers who barely know their way around their instruments, fueled by a steady diet of surf rock, Mad magazine, and monster and outer-space films, half-improvising songs in their suburban basement. That's what this sounds like, and though some might interpret that as a high recommendation, it's not. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention these guys weren't, though those who get enormous kicks out of kitsch might enjoy songs about postmen putting spiders in mailboxes and the like, backed by the most rudimentary of riffs and over-excited sung-spoken vocals. They did actually try to get "serious" on a couple of occasions with the romantic ballad "How Do You Tell a Stranger?" and the deliberately Lovin' Spoonful-like "Happytime Springface and Flowers," and not memorably so. For those enamored of the "Horror Asparagus Stories"/"The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk" single (which admittedly did include their best songs), rawer versions of each of those songs are here, along with an interview with lead guitarist Roger Kelley that does much to reveal the mysterious story of the group. ~ Richie Unterberger

Thanks a lot for remarkablewilly

The Rattles - Say Yeah

The Rattles - Say Yeah

01 Baby Baby

02 Mona

03 Heart Of Stone

04 I Wanna Fly

05 Mustang Blues

06 Wherever You Are

07 Doin`Alright

08 Slow Motion

09 Heart On A String

10 Even It Up

11 Broken Heart For Sale

12 Soul Saving Army

13 The Story

14 Will She Be Good To Me

15 Back On My Feet Again

The Rattles - Hot Wheels

REPOST

Personnel:

- Annette Humpe - vocals (1)
- Achim Reichel - vocals, guitar
- Herbert Hildebrandt - bass, vocals
- Henner Hoier - keyboards, vocals
- Reinhard "Dicky" Tarrach - drums 

01 - The Witch

02 - Welcome Home

03 - Be Good To Me

04 - Johnny-Johnny

05 - Kingdom Of Love

06 - Let's Act Together

07 - C'mon And Sing

08 - Hot Wheels

09 - What A Night

10 - Little Miss Wunderbar

11 - Angel

12 - Russian Roulette & American Poker

Tales Of Justine - Petals From A Sunflower (1967-69)

Tales of Justine's main claim to fame might be as a late-'60s British rock group produced by Tim Rice (then an A&R man for EMI) prior to his career as an immensely successful co-writer of musicals with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Their one single, 1967's "Albert"/"Monday Morning," was toward the twee end of British psychedelic pop. Somewhat more representative of Tales of Justine, though still on the precious side of the genre, were numerous unreleased tracks they recorded between August 1967 and January 1969. In some respects these recalled the more ambitious (and overblown) productions of the Hollies in their psychedelic phase, though Tales of Justine were yet more precious in their approach. Bandmember and singer/songwriter David Daltrey was featured in the early Rice-Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and later formed the group Carillion, a support act in a tour during David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust phase. The group's single, and numerous unreleased tracks from 1967-1969, were compiled on the 1,000-copy limited-edition Tenth Planet LP Petals from a Sunflower in 1997.

1 - Albert (A Pet Sunflower) (2:47)

2 - Monday Morning (3:19)

3 - Sunday School (3:20)

4 - Evil Woman (3:29)

5 - Obsolete Incident (2:36)

6 - Music To Watch Us By (3:02)

7 - Sitting On A Blunestone (2:36)

8 - So Happy (3:07)

9 - Morpheus (3:58)

10- Aurora (2:50)

11 - Something Special (2:39)

12 - Pathway (3:37)

13 - Saturn (3:15)

14 - Jupiter (2:13)

15 - So Much Love To Give You (3:25)

Tales of Justine only had one single, 1967's "Albert (A Pet Sunflower)"/"Monday Morning," both sides of which are included on this release. But with the addition of 13 tracks recorded between August 1967 and January 1969 that were unreleased at the time, there's enough for a full album with this LP, pressed in a limited edition of 1000 copies. Entirely written by David Daltrey (except one song he co-wrote with Paul Myerson), it's very much in the school of flowery British pop that, ahem, flowered in the period just post-Sgt. Pepper's. Even by the gaudy standards of the style, it's inclined toward storybookish lyrics and precious melodies, quite possibly taken to excess on "Obsolete Incident," which manages to fit in references to whitewashed coal, chocolate flowers, a clock that runs backwards, and sunburned toast just in the first 40 seconds. Orchestration gets loaded into the mix on the five tracks recorded in December 1968, perhaps looking forward to the kind of musicals on which producer Tim Rice and arranger Andrew Lloyd Webber would collaborate in the near future. If you're the kind of listener who just loves, say, the Hollies in their most psychedelic period around the time of Butterfly, you may well find this to your liking, though it's on the candy-coated side even in comparison with the Hollies' sweetest pop-psychedelia. A harder side surfaces on "Evil Woman," with its pungent psychedelic organ. basic mod rock, and freak-out instrumental break, but that's an atypical effort in the context of this collection.

The Moon - Without Earth & The Moon (1968 - 1969)

Moon was a short-lived, late-'60s psych-pop supergroup, notable for featuring ex-Beach Boy David Marks on lead guitar. Twenty-year-old Marks had already enjoyed quite a career. At 14, circa 1962, he joined the Beach Boys as a rhythm guitarist (the Wilsons were his neighbors in Hawthorne, CA) when Al Jardine left their lineup to attend dental school. Marks appeared on the first four Beach Boys albums and several hit singles, including "Surfin' U.S.A." and "Surfer Girl." When Jardine returned, Marks, just 16, became the leader of Dave & the Marksmen, who had localized hits with "Cruisin'," "I Wanna Cry," and "I Could Make You Mine." Marks then formed the Band Without a Name, who recorded two singles for Tower and Sidewalk and were the house band at two Sunset Strip clubs, circa 1965-1966. After leaving this group, Marks formed Moon with organ/pianist/vocalist Matthew Moore, who penned most of the band's songs. Moore's previous group, Matthew Moore Plus Four, had recorded for GNP Crescendo, and he had also recorded solo material for White Whale and Capitol. The other Moon members were bassist David P. Jackson (ex-Hearts & Flowers, who had two LPs on Capitol in the late '60s) and drummer Larry Brown (ex-Davie Allan & the Arrows and a veteran of countless film soundtracks and those Sidewalk/Tower releases that were produced by Mike Curb). The members of Moon literally moved into Continental Recorders in Hollywood, where they recorded two albums -- 1968's Moon Without Earth and 1969's Moon -- for Imperial. Today, Marks admits these were produced under the influence of LSD, and sound "like a cross between the Bee Gees, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix." The group's membership also included bassist Andy Bennett, with session drummer Jim Keltner occasionally filling in. 

After Moon dissolved, Marks began working as a studio musician with Denny Brooks, Delaney & Bonnie, and others. Marks, Moore, and Jackson later worked together -- alongside members of Colours and the East Side Kids -- on Buzz Clifford's See Your Way Clear album. In August 1997, Marks re-joined the Beach Boys, who were unable to tour due to Carl Wilson's cancer. Marks also joined Mike Love's Beach Boys, but was forced to leave due to his own battle with Hepatitis C. He founded the non-profit Artists Against Hepatitis foundation and became the national spokesman for the Hep C Hope Foundation. More recently, he still finds time to tour with Beach Party!, made up of former members of the Beach Boys' touring band. Moore, meanwhile, joined Joe Cocker's 1970 Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour, which was captured on vinyl and film for posterity's sake (Cocker performed Moore's "Space Captain"). Moore then went on to have a successful career as a session vocalist and keyboardist, recorded solo albums, and even had his own label, New Decade. David P. Jackson went on to become the bassist with Dillard & Clark. Larry Brown played with Gunhill Road, Tony Allwine, and was the official voice for Mickey Mouse.

01. "Mothers and fathers" 2:06

02. "Pleasure" 3:20

03. "I should be dreaming" 2:34

04. "Brother Lou's love colony" 3:58

05. "Got to be on my way" 2:01

06. "Someday girl" 2:42

07. "Papers" 1:00

08. "Faces" 2:07

09. "Never mind" 1:51

10. "Give me more" 2:49

11. "She's on my mind" 2:22

12. "Walking around" 1:57

13. "Pirate" 2:55

14. "Lebanon" 1:45

15. "Transporting machine" 1:41

16. "Mary Jane" 2:16

17. "Softly 17" 3:01

18. "Not to know" 2:43

19. "The good side" 2:59

20. "Life is a season" 2:22

21. "John Automaton" 2:18

22. "Come out tonight" 2:48

23. "Mr. Duffy" 2:56

Bonus:

24. "Pirate song" 2:38

25. "Not to know(mono 45 mix)" 2:42

26. "Face in the crowd (Matthew Moore Plus 4)" 2:05

27. "White silk glove (Matthew Moore plus 4)" 2:15

28. "Come on home(Matthew Moore plus4)" 2:59

Moon were a sort of second-tier supergroup in the late 1960s, led by pianist and songwriter Matthew Moore, drummer and producer Larry Brown (late of the Bel-Aires and Davie Allan & the Arrows), and ex-Beach Boy David Marks on guitar, with Andy "Drew" Bennett on bass (Bennett was replaced by the time of the group's second album by David Dawson, formerly of Hearts & Flowers). For all that pedigree, though, Moon received little support from their label, Imperial Records, and the group's two albums, 1968's Without Earth and 1969's Moon, went virtually unheard when they were released. Fans of period pop psychedelia found the albums irresistible, however, and the group has enjoyed a kind of low-key cult status ever since, leading to Rev-Ola's reissue of both albums on one CD, along with a handful of bonus tracks that include a couple of mono 45 mixes and three tracks from Moore's pre-Moon band, Matthew Moore Plus 4. Sounding a bit like a low rent version of the Zombies or the Left Banke, it is easy to see why fans of baroque-'60s pop are so enamored of Moon, but like many bands from the era who fell under the influence of the Beatles, the absence of strong songs and melodies all too often renders the heavily phased and string-laden arrangements forgettable as soon as the next track begins. Not that the group doesn't get close to |pop-psych heaven here with songs like "Someday Girl," the goofy, sitar-laced "Brother Lou's Love Colony," or the ultra-Beatlesque "Give Me More" (all from Without Earth), it's just that the swirl of the arrangements can't hide the fact that none of these songs are particularly front line. The songs from the second album, Moon, fare better, as Brown (both albums were recorded at his Continental Sounds studio) cuts back a bit on the orchestration and Moore simply delivers better material, like the haunting, beautiful "Lebanon" or the intriguing "Life Is a Season," which has Moore singing lines like "comprehension wields the sword that kills the fear" with agile, melodic ease. Also worth mentioning is the reincarnation revenge song "Pirate," which has a plot line so bizarre that it can't help but be memorable. When all is said and done, one wishes Moon had gotten a crack at a third album, since they were clearly inching toward the kind of uniqueness that might have allowed them to rise above their influences.

The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee-Pretty Ballerina

This New York group pioneered "baroque & roll" in the '60s with its mix of pop/rock and grand, quasi-classical arrangements and melodies. Featuring teenage prodigy Michael Brown as keyboardist and chief songwriter, the group scored two quick hits with "Walk Away Renee" (number five) and "Pretty Ballerina" (number 15). Chamber-like string arrangements, Steve Martin's soaring, near-falsetto lead vocals, and tight harmonies that borrowed from British Invasion bands like the Beatles and the Zombies were also key elements of the Left Banke sound. Though their two hits are their only well-remembered efforts, their debut album (Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina) was a strong, near-classic work that matched the quality of their hit singles in songwriting and production. 

The Left Banke's internal dynamic wasn't nearly as harmonious as their sound, and their history goes some way toward explaining their short career. Initially, the group made some recordings that were produced by Brown's father, Harry Lookofsky. When these recordings failed to interest companies in signing the band, the Left Banke broke up, Brown moving to California with the group's original drummer. A backing track for "Walk Away Renee" had already been completed, and the other members overdubbed vocals in Brown's absence. The song was released on Smash and became a hit, and the musicians reunited to tour and continue recording. 

Unfortunately, the group, which showed such tremendous promise, was quickly torn asunder by dissension. Due to the nature of their music (which often employed session musicians), the Left Banke's sound was difficult to reproduce on the road, and one could sympathize with Brown's wishes to become a Brian Wilson-like figure, concentrating on writing and recording while the rest of the musicians took to the road. A variety of guitarists, as both session musicians and ostensible group members, flitted in and out of the lineup; Rick Brand, credited as the guitarist on the first LP, actually plays on only one of the album's songs. Adding fuel to the fire, Brown's bandmates wanted to oust Brown's father as the act's manager. In early 1967, Brown went as far as to record a Left Banke single without them, using vocalist Bert Sommer. 

That single ("And Suddenly") flopped, and for a brief time in September 1967 the original members were recording together again. After just one single ("Desiree"), though, Brown left for good. Most of the group's second and final album, The Left Banke Too, was recorded without him. While it still sported baroque arrangements and contained some fine moments, Brown's presence was sorely missed, and the record pales in comparison to their debut. Brown went on to form a Left Banke-styled group, Montage, which released a fine and underappreciated album in the late '60s. He later teamed up to form Stories with vocalist Ian Lloyd. 

There were some confusing son-of-Left Banke recordings over the next few years, although the band really came to a halt in 1969, after the second album. Brown, Martin, and unknown musicians made a few recordings in late 1969; then, oddly, the original group re-formed for a fine early-1971 single on Buddah ("Love Songs in the Night" b/w "Two by Two"), although the record itself was credited to Steve Martin. And the original group, minus its key visionary Michael Brown, made an album's worth of ill-advised reunion recordings in 1978.

Track list;

01 - Pretty ballerina. 2:39

02 - She may call you up tonight. 2:18

03 - Barterers and their wives. 2:55

04 - I've got something on my mind. 2:50

05 - Let go of you girl. 2:55

06 - Evening gown. 1:46

07 - Walk away Renee. 2:45

08 - What do you know. 3:00

09 - Shadows breaking over my head. 2:34

10 - I haven't got the nerve. 2:15

11 - Lazy day. 2:26

The Left Banke's debut was a terrific if largely unrecognized effort of classy baroque pop, featuring entirely original material. The two hit title tracks were standouts, but nearly every other cut was in the same league, the glowing arrangements intertwining with their beautiful harmonies, at times rocking fairly hard. Every song was reissued on the There's Gonna Be a Storm anthology, making it unnecessary to locate a pricey copy of the original vinyl. [AMG]

The Searchers & The Rattles - The Searchers meet The Rattles

The Searchers meet The Rattles 

(recorded at The Star-Club Hamburg)

Tracklist:

Side One - The Searchers

1 Sweet Nothin's

2 Shaking All Over

3 Sweet Little Sixteen

4 Don't You Know

5 Maybelline

6 I'ts All Been A Dream

(track 6 is NOT from the star-club,this is b-side of PYE 45'

Sweets For My Sweet/It's All Been A Dream Pye 7N 15533)

Side Two - The Rattles

1 The Stomp

2 Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

3 Bye Bye Johnny

4 Twist And Shout

5 Dream Baby

6 Hello

Bye Bye Johnny from The Rattles - one of the best version - play it loud!

The Searchers - Hear! Hear!

The Searchers - Hear! Hear!

(recorded at The Star-Club Hamburg)

Tracklist:

Side one

1 Sweets For My Swwet

2 Ain't That Just Like Me

3 Listen To Me

4 I Can Tell

5 Sick And Tired

6 Mashed Potatoes

Side Two

1 I Sure Know A Lot About Love

2 Rosalie

3 Led In The Game

4 Hey Joe

5 Hully Gully

6 What'd I say

The Rattles - Painted Warrior (1990)

Es ging nicht mehr
Die zweite Platte stand von Anfang an unter keinem guten Stern. Annette Humpe und Jim Rakete stiegen mit Beginn der Aufnahmen bei der Plattenfirma aus. Dann kam kurz danach die Nachricht ins Studio, dass eine meiner Solo-Singles in die Charts gegangen war.

Im ersten Überschwang der Gefühle posaunte ich die Neuigkeit sofort in die Runde – und blickte in leere Gesichter. Die anderen Jungs konnten sich darüber nicht so recht freuen. Was ich verstehe. Die wollten ja die Rattles wieder flott kriegen und da machte der REICHEL parallel mit seinen Solo-Sachen rum. Das musste nicht zwangsläufig allen gefallen. Ich merkte daran, dass ich mich entscheiden musste. Auf zwei Hochzeiten tanzen, ging halt nicht.

Auf die Namensrechte verzichtet
Schlussendlich bin ich bei den Rattles ausgestiegen, um meinen eigenen Kram weiter zu machen. Ich habe den Anderen als Abschiedsgeschenk die Rechte an dem Namen überlassen, die ich mir mal anno dunnemals gesichert hatte. Für mich war dieser Schritt wichtig. Ich wollte ein nach vorn ausgerichtetes Projekt in Angriff nehmen und das war und ist für mich eben ACHIM REICHEL. 

http://www.achimreichel.de/

01 - Painted Warrior

02 - Heartbreaker

03 - Long Live Rock'n'Roll

04 - Game of Love

05 - Hot Summer Nights

06 - Keep on Running

07 - New Suzie Q

08 - One Love Two Hearts

09 - Blind Date

10 - Heaven and Hell

11 - One Night in Paris

12 - Power of Vision

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rattles

Normie Rowe & The Playboys - Shakin' All Over - 30 Of The Best (1965-1973)

Normie Rowe AM (born Norman John Rowe on 1 February 1947) was the preeminent male solo star of Australian pop music in the 1960s. Known for his bright, edgy tenor voice and dynamic stage presence, many of Rowe's most successful recordings were produced by Pat Aulton, house producer for the Sunshine Records, Spin Records and Festival Records labels. Backed by his band The Playboys, Rowe released a string of Australian pop hits on the Sunshine Records label that kept him at the top of Australian charts and made him the most popular solo performer of the mid-1960s. Rowe's double-sided hit "Que Sera Sera" / "Shakin' All Over" was one of the most successful Australian singles of the 1960s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normie_Rowe

Normie Rowe is one of those perennially popular figures on the Australia music scene--given that his career has carried him from covering rock 'n roll standards like "Shakin' All Over" to playing Valjean in the Australian cast of Les Miserables, he might be most easily compared to Tommy Steele or Joe Brown in England, except that his music has crossed several rock genres, even brushing up against psychedelia during the late 1960's. 

Rowe was a part-time singer who never intended to become a full-time entertainer until he was fired from his day job because of the length of his hair. A white soul-style singer in the manner of Fred Heath, aka Johnny Kidd of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, emerged as a popular figure in Australia fronting a band called the Thunderbirds, who managed to compete effectively with the English bands that dominated the island-nation's charts during the mid-1960's. He became popular on local television in the mid-1960's, and in 1965, with his group the Playboys, he hit the charts for the first time with a version of "It Ain't Necessarily So." Later that year, Normie Rowe and the Playboys were responsible for the biggest Australian rock 'n roll hit of 1965, a version of "Que Sera Sera" done in the style of "Louie, Louie" and the manner of "Hang On Sloopy." The whole record was knocked off on the fly, in a quick session that even resulted in a whistled cue ending up on the finished track, but it outsold every other homegrown piece of rock 'n roll released that year. 

In the wake of the success of "Que Sera Sera," he left Australia for England. The Playboys, known in England as the Australian Playboys and featuring Kevin Peacock in their line-up with Rowe, released an extraordinary 45 r.p.m. single in 1967 on the Immediate label--"Black Sheep RIP" b/w "Sad" was a classic and bold piece of psychedelic pop featuring some memorable guitar behind Rowe's singing, but like most Immediate singles it never sold, and is a seriously collectable record. Rowe later toured Canada and America before returning home, where he was drafted and served in Vietnam. Rowe's career never regained the prominence and momentum that he'd had in the mid-1960's. Like a lot of other early '60s rockers, he moved to the cabaret circuit and gradually regained some of his popularity. He later emerged as an all-around entertainer and singer, most notably taking the part of Jean Valjean in the Ausatralian cast of Les Miserables. In recent years, he has also taken up an anti-drug crusade, partly because of his daughter's life-threatening experiences with heroin. Rowe remains a fondly remembered icon from early Australian rock 'n roll, and a much-loved musical figure. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

****

Normie and his original band, The Playboys played a one time only show at Melbourne's oldest house of Rock 'n' Roll, The Moorabin Town Hall.

Normie said "It was wonderful to join the fellas again for a stint on the stage. The entity was like pulling on a comfortable old pair of Ugg boots. It's such a shame that we couldn't have Phil with us"

Phil Blackmore, founding member and keyboard player of the band, passed away some years ago when he succumbed to a brain tumor. He will be sorely missed.

The Playboys line-up was, Bass - Neil McArthur, Lead Guitar - Billy Billings, Rhythm Guitar - John Cartwright, Drums - Graham Trottman, and replacing Phil on Keyboards will be Steve Kelson. Also behind Normie on vocal backing was Marcie Jones who knocked 'em dead in her own set a little earlier, and Preston Town Hall ol' timers Peter Gaston and Hughie Fry.

(Pictured above): 

Graham 'Trotta' Trottman, John Cartwright, Phil Blackmore, Neil McArthur, & Billy Billings

Plastic Penny - Currency (1969)

Plastic Penny were an unremarkable late-'60s British group who made the U.K. Top Ten in early 1968 with "Everything I Am," a labored ballad augmented by strings, that wasn't even one of their best songs. Much of their material was psychedelic pop with hints of encroaching prog-rock, sometimes recalling the Who a bit, elsewhere going into more fey story-songs. Their guitarist, Mick Grabham, would play with Procol Harum for a few years in the 1970s.

http://www.alexgitlin.com/plap.html

Plastic Penny's second album offers various shades of British psychedelic pop that aren't near either the top or bottom of the class. It left the impression of a group who were good musicians, but not ones who had exceptional material or a markedly identifiable style. Beatlesque psychedelic pop that was lighter than the Beatles was the main ingredient, perhaps with elements of the Bee Gees and the poppiest facet of the Who as well, though there was more organ involved in Plastic Penny's arrangements than there was in those of any of these other groups. Sometimes the keyboard-driven sound had shades of Procol Harum and Traffic. It's respectable listening, but not a record to win commendations for originality; "Give Me Money" in particular is a shameless imitation of the Who and the Move in their circa 1967 power pop days, albeit a pretty good one. The inclusion of a couple instrumentals (the closing "Sour Suite," lasting eight minutes, and "Currency") with a heavier, more improvised-sounding organ-grounded approach, as well as mediocre covers of "Hound Dog" and "MacArthur Park," raises the suspicion that the group really didn't have enough material ready to make an album, even though those instrumentals aren't bad. Serious Elton John fans, however, will be interested in collecting this record for the presence of an early Elton John-Bernie Taupin composition, "Turn to Me," that Elton John never recorded. The way Plastic Penny do it, it sounds like an early Badfinger track. The CD reissue on Repertoire adds two bonus tracks.

Also  : http://dm-musicstations.blogspot.com/2009/05/plastic-penny-two-sides-of-penny-1968.html

Jane Birkin&Serge Gainsbourg - Je t'aime...moi non plus (1969)

The heavy-breathing vocalist on one of the most infamous chart-toppers in British history, Jane Birkin enjoyed a long film and recording career. Born in London in 1946, she followed in her mother's footsteps and began acting at the Kensington Academy in London. While still a teenager, she made her stage debut in Graham Greene's 1964 production Carving a Statue. One year later, she was offered a part in Passion Flower Hotel, a musical produced by James Bond series composer John Barry, and she married him soon after. Birkin's first film, The Knack...And How to Get It, followed in 1965, while a brief nude role in 1966's controversial Blow-Up made her semi-famous. 

Her marriage with Barry soon broke up, however, and a trip to France introduced her to Gallic pop star Serge Gainsbourg. The two eventually married, and Birkin lent her talents to Gainsbourg's 1969 recording of the erotic pop song "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus." Originally released by Fontana Records in Britain, the single was soon dropped by the label; reissued on the Major Minor imprint, it hit number one in England late that year despite a radio ban. The collaborative LP Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus soon followed, though Birkin spent much of the early '70s working in films. She appeared in much exploitation fare, including Sex Power, Romance of a Horse Thief, and Don Juan 73, the latter featuring her as the same-sex lover of Brigitte Bardot. With help from Gainsbourg, she recorded 1975's Lolita Go Home and 1978's Ex Fan des Sixties, gaining hits in France, if not in England. 

Her marriage to Gainsbourg dissolved in 1980 (their daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, became a singer herself, and made a bit of controversy recording the single "Lemon Incest" with her father), and Birkin later married French director Jacques Doillon. She continued performing, acting, and making music, mostly directed to a French audience, until 2006 when she released Fictions. The album included both a Tom Waits and a Neil Young cover along with new material from songwriters Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy, the Magic Numbers, Beth Gibbons, and Rufus Wainwright. The self-penned Enfants d'Hiver arrived in 2008.

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Serge Gainsbourg was the dirty old man of popular music; a French singer/songwriter and provocateur notorious for his voracious appetite for alcohol, cigarettes, and women, his scandalous, taboo-shattering output made him a legend in Europe but only a cult figure in America, where his lone hit "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus" stalled on the pop charts -- fittingly enough -- at number 69. 

Born Lucien Ginzberg in Paris on April 2, 1928, his parents were Russian Jews who fled to France following the events of the 1917 Bolshevik uprising. After studying art and teaching, he turned to painting before working as a bar pianist on the local cabaret circuit. Soon he was tapped to join the cast of the musical Milord L'Arsoille, where he reluctantly assumed a singing role; self-conscious about his rather homely appearance, Gainsbourg initially wanted only to carve out a niche as a composer and producer, not as a performer. 

Still, he made his recording debut in 1958 with the album Du Chant a la Une; while strong efforts like 1961's L'Etonnant Serge Gainsbourg and 1964's Gainsbourg Confidentiel followed, his jazz-inflected solo work performed poorly on the charts, although compositions for vocalists ranging from Petula Clark to Juliette Greco to Dionne Warwick proved much more successful. In the late '60s, he befriended the actress Brigitte Bardot, and later became her lover; with Bardot as his muse, Gainsbourg's lushly arranged music suddenly became erotic and delirious, and together, they performed a series of duets -- including "Bonnie and Clyde," "Harley Davidson," and "Comic Strip" -- celebrating pop culture icons. 

Gainsbourg's affair with Bardot was brief, but its effects were irrevocable: after he became involved with constant companion Jane Birkin, they recorded the 1969 duet "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus," a song he originally penned for Bardot complete with steamy lyrics and explicit heavy breathing. Although banned in many corners of the globe, it reached the top of the charts throughout Europe, and grew in stature to become an underground classic later covered by performers ranging from Donna Summer to Ray Conniff. 

Gainsbourg returned in 1971 with Histoire de Melody Nelson, a dark, complex song cycle which signalled his increasing alienation from modern culture: drugs, disease, suicide and misanthropy became thematic fixtures of his work, which grew more esoteric, inflammatory, and outrageous with each passing release. Although Gainsbourg never again reached the commercial success of his late-'60s peak, he remained an imposing and controversial figure throughout Europe, where he was both vilified and celebrated for his shocking behavior, which included burning 500 francs on a live television broadcast and recording a reggae version of the sacred "La Marseillaise." 

Gainsbourg also created a furor with the single "Lemon Incest," a duet with his daughter, the actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. In addition, he posed in drag for the cover of 1984's Love on the Beat, a collection of songs about male hustlers, and made sexual advances towards Whitney Houston on a live TV broadcast. Along with his pop music oeuvre, Gainsbourg scored a number of films, and also directed and appeared in a handful of features, most notably 1976's Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus, which starred Birkin and Andy Warhol mainstay Joe Dallesandro. He died on March 2, 1991.

The Tremeloes - May Morning (1970)

It's not every day that a three-decade-old, previously unheard soundtrack surfaces -- especially one written by one of the most successful pop/rock bands in England. That alone would make May Morning a reasonably important release, but equally to the point, it's a great record -- one of the group's very best, in fact, and essential listening not just for fans of the Trems, but also for anyone who liked the very late-'60s sounds of the Beatles, Badfinger et al. And that comes from someone who has never seen the movie for which the songs were written. The Tremeloes were supposedly just a little past their creative peak by the time they recorded this album -- they were riding a number two hit in England at the time, but their fortunes were about to turn, a fact that no one could have guessed when they cut the soundtrack for Ugo Liberatore's movie May Morning in Rome in the summer of 1970. May Morning is a cheerful, often bracing, always tuneful mix of upbeat pop/rock, bluesy songs, exquisite instrumentals, and soft, acoustic-textured balladry that rates right alongside their best work of the 1960s. Oddly enough, it's sort of the equivalent for the Tremeloes (which was principally a vocal-oriented band) to what Obscured by Clouds and More (both psychedelic soundtracks) were to Pink Floyd (which was, immediately post-Syd Barrett, principally an instrumental band). There are some enjoyable instrumental tracks here, including "Turn on With Thee," on which the group surprises us with some reasonably inventive playing (though one suspects they just didn't have time to write lyrics). Rick West's digital dexterity on the guitar and other instruments gets a workout (with and without amplification) on "Beer Duel" and "Hard Time," as well as the bluesy reprise of the title track and the sitar-dominated second reprise that follows. And bassist Len "Chip" Hawkes generates a full palette of experimental sounds on the Mellotron that, according to annotators Geoff Leonard and Pete Walker, he'd recently purchased from Idle Race alumnus Jeff Lynne (and which had been used by the Beatles on "Strawberry Fields Forever"). The money was well spent, even if the results weren't as impressive as that earlier effort. The group even takes a brief plunge back to its distant, 1950s rock & roll roots with "Bunch of Rapes," which is driven by a Bo Diddley-beat. In all, this might be the most solid long-player the band ever cut -- another irony, since it wasn't released until 15 years after the end of the LP era, so that it could become their best non-compilation CD.

1 May Morning (1:57)

2 All Pull Together (1:44) 

3 Till the Sun Goes Down (3:18)

4 Turn on With Thee (3:16)

5 I Can't Even Breathe Down Here (1:05)

6 May Morning [Reprise 1] (1:39)

7 Anything (5:26)

8 Think of What You Said (2:22)

9 Beer Duel (0:56)

10 Hard Time (3:08) 

11 I'll Take You Home (2:32)

12 Bunch of Rapes (1:04)

13 May Morning [Reprise 2] (2:40)

14 I You Know (4:24)

Nirvana - The Story of Simon Simopath & All of Us (1967;1968)

Patrick Campbell-Lyons - Guitar, Vocals

Alex Spyropoulos - Keyboards

Michael Coe - French Horn

Ray Singer - Guitar, Vocals

Brian Henderson - Bass

Sylvia Schuster - Cello

Peter Kester - Drums

David Preston - Drums

"It must have been a rude surprise for Kurt Cobain and company to be hit with a lawsuit over the name of their band once they became internationally successful. In the finish, however, the result was relatively amicable, with the original Nirvana getting together long enough to record a version of Cobain's 'Lithium' for a 1996 collection of previously unreleased material.

Nirvana appeared in 1967, starting as a six-piece led by Patrick Campbell-Lyons from Ireland, and Alex Spyropoulos from Greece. They were quickly signed to the fledgling Island label, which had formed out of Chris Blackwell's street-level R&B and rocksteady label operations, when Blackwell recognized a need to hook into the exploding psychedelic genre of the time. The first LP to emerge was the science-fiction concept album, The Story of Simon Simopath, which yielded their second single, 'Pentecost Hotel' (their first and third singles appeared on the follow-up, All of Us.)

The band's early performances yielded something of an audience, but this did not translate into explosive sales in England or America, though the band achieved some success in Europe. Winnowing down to the core duo of Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos, Nirvana continued to release singles from All of Us, with the title track going on to be selected as the theme song for The Touchables, while 'Rainbow Chaser,' an almost-hit, came to be considered a classic psychedelic outing.

Life at Island Records did not go so well, unfortunately, with Chris Blackwell refusing to release their third album, Black Flower, so the duo picked up and moved on to Pye Records, home of the Kinks. Black Flower was bought back from Island and worked over, finally being released as Dedicated to Markos III. The result was disastrous. The constantly beleaguered Pye (which would eventually founder) managed to shift only a few hundred units, while the U.S. label to which the album was licensed promptly went under with no more than a few promotional copies having been sent out. Dedicated to Markos III eventually received another release in 1987, restored to the original title of Black Flower, with the 1993 Edsel CD release including a re-recorded version of 'Pentecost Hotel' and a newly recorded track titled 'Shine.'

With the release of Dedicated to Markos III, Spyropoulos quit to pursue other musical work. Nirvana had become very much Campbell-Lyons' venue by this point, and Spyropoulos had had enough of feeling constrained. Campbell-Lyons then signed to Philips' new progressive label, Vertigo, recording and releasing Local Anaesthetic, a heavily jazz-influenced album featuring only two cuts: 'Modus Operandi,' and the somewhat less epic 'Home.' The album was quick to disappear from view, as was Songs of Love and Praise, which featured several re-recorded cuts, including both 'Rainbow Chaser' and 'Pentecost Hotel.'

Campbell-Lyons came out from behind the Nirvana name for an attempt at a solo album, Me & My Friend, which came and went swiftly in 1973. In 1980, he reunited with Spyropoulos to write a musical, Blood, which has yet to surface. The duo have sporadically performed and recorded as Nirvana, which led to Bam Caruso's 1987 reissue of Black Flower, as well as renewed interest in the group. Most of the original albums have been reissued by either Edsel or Repertoire (Songs of Love and Praise is the sole exception), a collection of demos and outtakes, entitled Secret Theatre, has been released, and a new album, Orange and Blue, featuring material previously unrecorded by the band, was issued in 1996.

From all indications, it would appear that Nirvana, having come together again in the '90s, intends to be around for some time longer."

1. Wings of Love 3:20

2. Lonely Boy 2:31

3. We Can Help You 1:57

4. Satellite Jockey 2:35

5. In the Courtyard of the Stars 2:36

6. You're Just the One 2:07

7. Pentecost Hotel 3:06

8. I Never Found a Love Like This 2:50

9. Take This Hand 2:17

10. 1999 2:09

11. Rainbow Chaser 2:38

12. Tiny Goddess 4:03

13. The Touchables (All of Us) 2:59

14. Melanie Blue 2:40

15. Trapeze 2:49

16. The Show Must Go On 2:40

17. Girl in the Park 2:41

18. Miami Masquerade 2:48

19. Frankie the Great 2:29

20. You Can Try It 3:18

21. Everybody Loves the Clown 2:00

22. St. John's Wood Affair 4:18