Honey LTD - Come Down - L.I.V.E [!][!][!]

Another amazing video of the lovely ladies has surfaced - this time of "Come Down", sung live o... shhh, well just watch!!!!! Enough said!

Grégory - LSD, Chaussures et Moutons

Grégory Ken, or Monsieur Jean-Pierre Trochu to give his full alias had a long and varied career in the world of music. First as a guitarist in the group Claude et ses Tribuns, then for acts such as Annie Cordy and France Gall. However not content with being behind the scenes, he embarked upon a solo career circa '66 with his premier and most sought after EP, LSD et Système D - one of the most swingly awesome odes to the drug. Not content with one dedication to cultural phenomena, he also debuted with another ode to the heroes of the modern age - Gadgets! Writing with his partner Joe Galigan, he released at least two further EP's before the decade closed, Je Fais La La La, and Un Trou Dans Ma Chaussure, a cover of the group Traffic's Hole In My Shoe. With Un Trou... Mr Ken broke out to experiment with more eastern sounds, while Je Fais... concentrated on more established freakbeatisms - all with great results! After these he embarked upon a career in musicals, initally with a role in the French production of Hair plus Jesus Christ Superstar and Mayflower. He is also notable for creating the character of Ziggy in one of the first rock operas, Starmania. After that he a pop duo in 1981 by the name of Chargrin D'Amour. Finally he branched out into the commercial jingle genre from 1991 - till his death from cancer in 1996. This collection I've compiled includes his first 3 EP's - and breakdown like this ::

LSD et Système D (1966)
LSD et Système D
Les Héros Modernes (Gadgets)
Les Grands Chemins
Pars

Je Fais La La La EP (1967)
Je Fais La La La
Il Faudra Bien M'y Faire
Les Trucs Anglais
Les Moutons

Un Trou Dans Ma Chassure EP (1967)
Un Trou Dans Ma Chassure
De Toute Les Couleurs
Ne T'en Fais Pas
Plus Un Mot De Toi

Please preview the songs in the links within the songs titles, and dowload some pill popping tunes below!

TAKE A TRIP WITH GREGORY HERE!

Zümrüt - Turkey's Cover Girl

The music of Turkey has long been home to a diverse array of influences, both homegrown in regional terms and externally, including Persian, Balkan, Byzantine and both popular and classical western music. The resulting mix has produced a vast array of genres over the decades, but the one concerning this post, is the one by the name of Aranjman, or literally "Arrangement". This genre was a dominant force in the Turkish music in the 60's, 70's and early 80's before it fell temporally out of favour and is basically the interpreation of foreign pop songs (mainly French, English, Spanish and Italian) into Turkish by homegrown artists, albeit sometime with traditional flair. Fecri Ebcioğlu's version of French singer Bob Azza's C'est écrit Dance le Ciel in 1961 is generally regarded as the first instance of this, and was so popular that a craze was born and so subsequently many artists joined the frame with their own slants on their westernly neighbours hits. The main propenent of these was blonde beauty Ajda Pekkan, who continued to have a long and popular career - but the focus this month is on a lass who goes by the name of Zümrüt. Recording a slew of singles and an album in the late 60's and early 70's she is the more poppier of the recording artists, and whose covering reportoire includes The Beatles, Sandie Shaw, Ray Charles, Sylvie Vartan, and US girl group The Toys. So not too bad a starting point eh! I've managed to collate most of her output from various Turkish forums, but improved the sound quality to make the listening experience a bit more pleasant! The full rundown goes as follows ::

1. Zümrüt - Anya Manya Kumpanya
2. Zümrüt - Aşk Sönmesin (Long Live Love)
3. Zümrüt - Aşk ve Sen (Rain and Tears)
4. Zümrüt - Bir Sevenin Şarkısı (A Lover's Concerto)
5. Zümrüt - Bir Zamanlar (Those Were The Days)
6. Zümrüt - Bu Benim Şarkım (This Is My Song)
7. Zümrüt - Bu Hikaye Boyle Bitsi
8. Zümrüt - Dönüş (Aranjuez D'amour)
9. Zümrüt - Ne Zormuş Unutmak (A Hard Day's Night)
10. Zümrüt - Samanyolu
11. Zümrüt - Sen Olmadan (Where Do I Begin?)
12. Zümrüt - Seni Gidi Çapkın (If I Were a Rich Man)
13. Zümrüt - Sevgim (My Love Is Warmer Than The Sunshine My Love Is Warmer Than The Sunshine)
14. Zümrüt - Şeytan Tüyü (Caro Mozart)
15. Zümrüt - Son Dans (The Last Waltz)
16. Zümrüt - Yanimdaki Golgen

Interestingly enough her strongest song, Anya Manya Kumpanya, is an original by acclamied and sadly the very recently departed Turkish composer Selm Andak. The fusion of the Turkish and Latin rhythms work very nicely indeed! Cover wise her take on Sandie Shaw's Long Live Love is very worthy, but close enough to the original that it sounds like it uses the same backing track! A Hard Day's Night gets more of a makeover, and stands up pretty well too. Ok, so discover the jewel that is Zümrüt below!

Preview Anya Manya Kumpanya
Preview Ne Zormuş Unutmak (A Hard Day's Night)
Preview Aşk Sönmesin (Long Live Love)

Dive into Zümrüt's Emeralds
(Part 1)!
(Part 2)!

The Go Go World of Lada Edmund

Perhaps one of the most legendary of go-go girls was a dancer known to the masses as Lada Edmund Jr., where many a viewer in mid-sixties America tuned in every week to watch her perform the "frug" amongst others, sometimes and sometimes not doing so whilst in a bird cage. Music show Hullaballoo was her home, and where she made her name. However, Lada first came to prominence at the young age of 13 when she starred on Broadway in the role of Penelope Ann in Bye Bye Birdie. As a result she scored a record deal with Chancellor records, releasing the cut Foxy/The Answer in 1961. Foxy was also recorded by labelmate claudine Clark for her album, Party Lights. Giver her tender age, Lada gives a surprsingly raucaus and forward performance. Later in 1962 came her second record, now recording under her new alias of Lada Edmund Jr., with the release I Want A Man/This Time, this time on the Roulette label. And again a record that sounds quite charged for its time. Written by. After a gap of 4 years, Lada's third single was released on the . Now an established dancer on Hullaballo she adopts a softer tone of voice of this release. Lada was also given the chance to perform I Know Somthing on the show, as you can see below in the clip! Next came what is now considered a classic Northern soul staple, The LaRue. Backed with Soul a Go Go it was released in 1966 on Decca, and after a listen, theres is no wonder why it is held in such high regard. The last release came the following, the brilliant Trouble, a release which combines intense production, snappy lyrics and Lada's trademark flirtatious lilt to great effect. You can find all of these records apart from Soul a Go Go in the download below - you can preview the best on the relevant links too! For more on Lada's career and recent happenings please check her great site out, with some lovely pictures and information here which I very much urge everyone to check out. Here's the full rundown of the zip too.

The Answer / Foxy (Chancellor 1094) 1961
I Want A Man / This Time (Roulette 4449) 1962
I Know Something / Once Upon A Time (Decca 31937) 1966
The Larue (Decca 32007) 1966
Trouble (Is His Middle Name) / Boopsie (Coral 62534) 1967

Preview Foxy
Preview I Want A Man
Preview The LaRue
Preview Trouble

Go LaLa Over Lada Here!

The What Four Story!

Just came across this amazing set of videos on Youtube showcasing the music of one of the fabbest 60' all-female-band - The What Four! Best known for their song "I'm Gonna Destroy That Boy" and as featured on the Ace Records compilation bearing the same name! The vids include interviews with the band members too! 0__0 Fascinating stuff! Plenty of beautiful photographs too.....

Part One

Part Two

The All Girl Latin Beat of Las Mosquitas!

One of the most talented female bands I've had the joy to come across have been four fab females from the fair country of Argentina - behold, Las Mosquitas! Comprising of Pupé, Nita, Nené and Diana - their appropriation of traditional Latin rhythms with beat backed with solid playing skills works a treat! Pupé, 20 (at the time of the recording of their album), came from the distinguished Saltena family, loved to cook and was characterised by a melancholy, almost sad persona. She studied classical music from an early age till she dropped Liszt's sonatas for the modern rhythms! Nita, 21, hailed from Buenos Aires. By her parents' will she studies classical music and ballet until she discovered the "twist." However apparently it did not stop her pursuing some late night hobbies - philosophy and painting! Nené, 20, was the shy member of the group. She abandoned her plans to study medicine when at the age of 14 she decided she wanting to don a habit and become a Nun - almost! The notes also urge young bachelors to note that Nené's final hobby...is cleaning! Final member Dina, 18, is the most joyous and playful of the group - preferring too to be pampered and spoiled by her those around her. Hailing from La Rioja - she left school and headed to the capital to carve out a career in the music industry. All girls sing while Nené and Pupé strum guitar, while Nita wields the bass and Dina drums the drums. Here's what the English blurb had to say about the fab foursome ::

There's something international about the music of today. You can hear the blues inflection in that Liverpool sound. The Motown beat is distinctive and distinguished. There are young groups and new sounds in Germany and Australia and Japan. It's happening all over the world these days.

The music of today is happening in Argentina, too. There it's a totally new sound. This time it combines a Latin beat with Rock. This is the sound and style of Las Mosquitas, four young an attractive beatle-haired girls who sing an shake their way to fervent performances. They've affected audiences in Spain and Latin-America and other European arenas.

This is the first album of a collection of Las Mosquitas songs. Included is Si Llorar Si Ries, which won first prize at the San Remo festival.

These four girls do it all by themselves. They have the traditional musical combination, 2 guitars, a bass guitar and drums. There is nothing timid or dainty about their approach. These talented females come upon each song with fresh and dramatic accompaniment. They engender a weird and wonderful feeling.

Few people - once they hear Las Mosquitas - fail to be moved by the vitality and warmth of their performances. They've given birth to an intense music. It's most unusual.

Somethign new is coming out of South America these days. It's not traditional Latin tempo. This time it's the sound of Las Mosquitas - four beautiful girls who sing and play a Latin-Rock rhythm that will keep the youth of the world bouncing.

And now to the music! You can preview three tracks here.... And download their full sole album below!

Tembleque
Do Re Mi
Siempe Bailo Con La Mas Fea

CATCH SOME MOSQUITAS HERE!

Honey LTD - Live in Vietnam!

Sorry to post yet another video - but this is worth watching! Some great soul has uploaded a video of the original line-up of Honey LTD performing on a Bob Hope show in Vietnam - just incredible! Watch and let your jaw drop!

Anna Melato - Punto D'incontro

Here's something nice that like many before got banned from YouTube, or more correctly the original uploader got a thourough talking, and therefore is no longer available to the masses. So thanks to whoever digitized this first!

There are a number of things I like about this video; these being the emotive facial control which Anna displays throughout, the fact it's a fairly decent song, dramatic swooping camera swoops and it's l-i-v-e! Anna does have some other songs on YouTube which are worth checking out too - including the album version of this song.

Vive les chansons de Kiki! ♪♫♪

In the year of 1957, a lad by the name of Christian Ysaye entered the bright and brazen world; location the Belgian capital, Brussels. What marked this boy out from the rest of the flock was his family musical legacy, his father Jacques Ysaye was an established orchestra conductor, while his grandpa was Eugene Ysaye, famous in his homeland and beyond as a composer and violinist. Obviously some of this talent rubbed off on Christian and so! at the tender age of 8 and a half the newly baptised Kiki embarked upon his musical adventure with his first record in 1965 under the direction of his dad. Employing his pysdeoneum of Jack Say, Jacques wrote, produced and over saw most of his son's records - all though Kiki did have a hand in penning his own songs - natch! This first record in question was the release "C'est Parti Mon Kiki" on the Palette record label. Even at this age Kiki's boundless joie de vivre comes though - singing with a playful maturity beyond his years. On the EP release is the amazing "Vive Les Chansons Yé-Yé" which by its very name could be the theme of the whole genre and was one of the songs written by the man himself. Moving on to 1967 came perhaps Kiki's recording opus with the amazing Bond-inspired "L'Agent Secret" - perhaps one of the finest examples of it's kind! Ok, now to 1968, a bumber year which saw the release of Kiki's last four EPs; “La légende du petit sapin", "Kiki Va Piano" and ‘Kiki à l’opéra." More amazing Yé-yé goodness is thus released to the world! Highlights from these include Les Grenouilles, L'Affreux Jojo and the fuzz/recorder fest of Je Serai Musicien. Along the way these records were also compiled onto not one but too long players! After his final release Christian retreated from the studio to concentrate on his studies - however it wasn't too long before returned, this time as a drummer of the group Blue Rock in 1974 at the age of 17, until 1977. Sadly no further info on Christian is available - but his cousin Marc Ysaye acheived some success as a drummer with the rock group Machiavel - talented family indeed! Now onto what you can hear of this talented youngster - in the ink provided I have compiled the best cuts from each EP, which is practically all of them! Sadly I don't have his last record just yet, but I imangine it's just as great!

♪♫♪ JE SERAI KIKI!!! ♪♫♪

Lorena Midi - Beat Ragazza

Despite being the boot shaped land of the emotional ballad, Italy had more than its fair share of ladies who took up the beat craze when it hit their country's shores. One of these who embraced a more upbeat sensibility was a lady by the name of Lorena Midi. She released at least 4 singles on the small America Records label sometime in the late sixtees and in quite quick succession judging by the release numbers. Her first was also the initial release from the label, Questa e L'Ultima Volta/Dici Sempre No followed by C'e Tanto Sole/Non Chiedermi Di Lasciarti. Next came Un Poco Piu D'Amore/Questione Di Mentalita and finally Una Caraci Di Baci/Un Giorno Hat Detto No. Whether or not any more followed is a question of mystery to me! The initial attraction of Lorena are not what's on the record, but what it is encased in. What a brilliant cover sleeve eh! Pop-art perfection, and what's quite neat too is how she recycled the theme for other singles - staying true to art form! Alas what is on the disc perhaps does not match what the cover might suggest. Production is sparse by Italian standards and the lass is certainly no Brunetta, or even Caterina Caselli - but she does possess a certain charm all her own. Her best cut from what I've heard is Un Giorno Hai Detto No, in English The Day You Said No. One thing I have discovered thus, is that the co-writer of her material and indeed the producer and arranger was a fellow by the name of Paolo Prencipe who acheived success much later in 1976 at the San Remo song festival with the song Linda Bella Linda. Futher information on just who, what, when, where and why is Lorena is non-existent......but if anyone can help! You can now preview Un Giorno Hai Detto No and Questione Di Mentalita' on Youtube. And download the two singles I possess below as always.


Preview Un Giorno Hai Detto No
Preview Questione Di Mentalita'

Download Miss Midi Here

Sweet Anki

One of Finland's brighest talents to emerge from the sixties was the amazing Anki Lindquist, a folk-pop singer who went on to forge a successful career in the industry beyond the end of the decade. The understated beauty and charm of this lovely lass is completely captavating - and then we get to her voice! Along with original works, she covered artists such as Marianne Faithfull, Francoise Hardy, Jacques Brel, Joni Mitchell...and The Kinks! In fact her covers of Francoise come close if not on par with the original versions. Sadly Anki passed away in 2007 but here she is in 1965 performing the traditonal folk song Barbara Allen - hope you fall in love as much as I did!

Way Fun Bantams!

Enough of the girls - here fantastically are 3 young lads who recorded under the name - The Bantams! I've previously posted a (now defunct) video of the group, of the amazing sunshine trip Follow Me - and now I've collated that ditty along with the rest of the singles, Meet Me Tonight Little Girl, I'm So Lucky and Good Lovin' Girl - all pure pop perfection! In contrast to their full length album, entitled Beware The Bantams, the group are judging from my ears backed by a studio group instead of playing their own instruments - consisting of drums, guitar and bongos - and subsequently have a more polished sound - all for the better too! Here's a wee piece on them from a news article :

"Beware The Bantams! This "out of sight" group on Warner Brothers Records is billed as "The Biggest Little Band In The Land." Three pre-teens with a rocking sound three times their size.

What is the Bantams formula?....1) Start with those freckles (you count 'em) 3,605 freckles a piece; 2) Special Award winners in the National Band Championship at Pacific Ocean Park, Santa Monica, California. They look like three finalists in the National Dennis-the-Menace-Look-Alike-Sweepstakes. They are 31 years old if you add up their ages, 12, 10 and 9. Only one of them is named Fritz; the other two are Jeff and Mike - all part of one family. Jeff, Mike and Fritz have three more brothers and two sisters. One of the sisters has waist-length blond hair and she sometimes joins the group as their own bam-bam Wa-Wa-Watasui dancer. She is seven."

Cannot express how much I love these singles - definitely some of the best unabashed sunshine pop garage going! And as such if it doesn't make the corners of your mouth turn upward in a gawping grin - well.....this is the wrong place for you!

Finally here's a vid of them performing one of their album tracks!

Follow The Bantams Here!

Bella Anna!

Just a quickie to display the wonderful talents of Italian Anna Identici - here singing my favourite song by her - "Una Lettera Al Giorno" - in some spaghetti western of some sorts! It seems to have disappeared from YouTube .... so here it is again!

The Laura Ulmer Collection

From the back of Laura's Canadian LP (roughly translatedly...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- She is 18 years old
-- Her name is LAURA, after her grandmother
-- She missed her exams
-- She scores a zero in maths
-- She insulted the people of Niçois

.....and she sings without accent

LAURA ULMER, daughter of GEORGES (of Danois) and BETTY (of Niçoise) has a sense of humour that her parents do not necessarily appreciate. For example when she wrote "BISMARK" was a "blouson noir", which contributed to him "missing the boat".... She also appreciates the experiences of her scientist brother who builds rockets with cigarette cases and bombs with cartons of fruit juice.

---"He found his hardware in the dustbins of MAMN restaurant, in the south. At night he wakes up everyone! Even the policemen who were frightened: they thought it was gunshots"

Every coin has its flip-side, a sentimantal LAURA recounts.

"When I'm happy, I laugh and do nothing. When I am sad, I write sad poems, or songs: the latter beginning with "Ma chance est partie avec toi" has been completely redone before I finish singing!"

LAURA writes in a diary, every day, before falling asleep

"Mom is so strange ... She would love to get their hands on it! But I use a special technique and write in reverse as Leonardo de Vinci...."

Indeed, LAURA writes from right to left with remarkable ease, but this would not put off the indiscreet BETTY if she "came across" the diary as the secrets of her daughter would be revealed in a mirror!

LAURA hit upon the idea of singing three years ago:

"A guitarist had come to the resturaunt, I sang with him. Mum told me "Go on, I'll give you some advice"

Mum, who is very practical woman and until that night had two main concerns: Dad's business and the threat of dismissal hanging over the head of her daughter from school. She now has a third preoccupation, since she is now the impresario of young LAURA who indeed promises a lot.

LAURA who dons skirts and is captivated by cartoons is not all influenced by the career of her father

"Papa is also not my type of man," she comments, "I prefer the finesse of DELON"

This gentleman, (Alain) DELON, who "will" eventually sweep LAURA off her feet into marrigedom has no risk of dying from obesity.

"I hate cooking LAURA readily admits. Just like mum! Dad on the other hand actually does like it, but the fact is it's just inedible: too many spices, everything, and he is alone in liking the end result. However he succeeds with one dish, paella: which is rather funny, for a Dane! "

... And now, if you want to meet this young lass who will never "cordon bleu" elsewhere on the cover of this record, then go to the cinema: LAURA never misses a 18 rated movie. ....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ah, Laura! What a gal eh! ^___^ - Sadly I don't think her wish of nabbing that Alain Delon came into being - what could have been! Right well as you have probably have gathered this post is dedicated to one of the fabbest of the swinging chanteuses, Mlle Laura Ulmer, best (and most likely only) known for her song "Amoureux D'une Affiche," certainly one of the finest examples of how adoringly cute vocals and great beat combine in Yéyé glory! And of course it does leave one wanting more of this girl. Dribs and drabs of her other work had to do till I got my hands on her long player, which is basically a compilation of her 3 EPs, and I certainly was not "déçu"!

The songs breakdown thus.....

Jimmy Attends Moi
Je N'Oublierai Jamais
Je Pense A Vous
Tous Les Garcons Ne Pensent Qu'aux Filles
Jean-Paul
On Revient Toujours
As-tu Fini De Pleurer
Il A Besoin D'une Lecon
Depuis Je Pense A Toi
Il Revient, Mon Copain
Ne Sois Pas Jaloux
Un, Deux, Trois

also included in download is single Les Cover Girls

all with the fab Michel Colombier, a man responsible of many a yéyé classic, overseeing production. While the songs never reach the pefection of "Amoureux...." - Laura gives every one her own special charm - which you can view for yourself on this scopiotone by way of the 'tube. Sadly I cannae embed directly! Hmmmmm what's left? The download? Well you'll find it below!

Oh La La Laura!