Showing posts with label Sixties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sixties. Show all posts

Saturday 28 November 2015

L'amour s'en va - Françoise Hardy

Françoise Hardy was born on January 17, 1944. She grew up in Paris. She had her breakthrough when she was just 18 years old with the hit 'Tous les garçons et les filles', which sold 700,000 copies in France alone.

She represented Monaco during the 1963 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. 'L'amour s'en va' is a chanson, popular in the early years of the Contest. Hardy sings about a relationship which is conducted in the knowledge that love is a fleeting thing - however this does not seem to matter to either of the lovers involved, as they 'chase after it'. Hardy also recorded the song in Italian and German. She finished 5th in a field of 16 competitors.

My collection: 7" single no. 5808
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, November 21, 2015
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'L'amour s'en va', 'Je pense a lui' / 'Comme tant d'autres', 'L'amour d'un garçon'

Listen to the song

Saturday 14 November 2015

The same old way - Frankie Vaughan

Frankie Vaughan was born on February 3, 1928. He made a name for himself singing easy listening and traditional pop music, starting with 'The old piano roll blues' in 1950. Between then and the end of the Eighties, he released more than 80 singles. In 1955, he recorded what was to become his trademark song, 'Give me the moonlight, give me the girl'.

One of his singles, released in 1959 was 'The same old way', which like most of his singles after 1958 didn't become a hit. But I didn't buy this single for that song, I wanted to have it for the B-side, which was written by Marty Wilde and Ronnie Scott: 'You can't stop me dancing'. Vaughan died from heart failure in Oxford in 1999.

My collection: 7" single no. 5802
Found: Discogs.com, received October 28, 2015
Cost: £ 1
Tracks: 'The same old way' / 'You can't stop me dancing'

Listen to the song

Yo soy aquel - Raphael

One of my favourite singers of the early years of Eurovision is Raphael. He's got a voice that cuts through your soul and songs to match. I bought his Hablemor de amor years ago, but never found a reasonably priced copy of his other Eurovision smash, 'Yo soy aquel' ('I'm that one').

Raphael was born as Miguel Rafael Martos Sanchez in Linares, Spain on May 5, 1943. His musical career started in 1965 and continues to this day. 'Yo soy aquel' was a reasonable success: it finished 7th in a field of 18 competitors at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1966. He returned the next year with that other song, and finished one place higher.

My collection: 7" single no. 5799
Found: Revolver Records, Barcelona, September 22, 2015
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Yo soy aquel', 'Es verdad' / 'La noche', 'Hasta venecia'

Listen to the song

Friday 13 November 2015

Que tiempo tan feliz - Mary Hopkin

There are a lot of Spanish singles with translated titles on the sleeve - Bobby Goldsboro's Autumn of my life is an example - but when a sleeve announced 'canta en espanol', you can be sure that the artist has re-recorded their song in Spanish.

Mary Hopkin did this with her 1968 hit single Those were the days. I couldn't pass up on 'Que tiempo tan feliz', because the original is so beautiful and it would be interesting to hear it in a different language. All I need now is the Japanese version of The Police's 'De do do do de da da da'.

My collection: 7" single no. 5796
Found: Revolver Records, Barcelona, September 22, 2015
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Que tiempo tan feliz' / 'Gira, gira, gira'

Listen to the song

La source - Paul Mauriat and his Orchestra

Isabelle Aubret competed in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest with 'La source', representing France. Paul Mauriat and his orchestra were quick to profit from the commercial success of the song, recording an instrumental cover version of it for a single release quickly after the Contest took place.

He did a similar thing the year before with L'amour est bleu. That single sold millions of copies, this single went by almost unnoticed in most territories.

My collection: 7" single no. 5795
Found: Revolver Records, Barcelona, September 22, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'La source' / 'Ne sois pas triste'

Listen to the song

The autumn of my life - Bobby Goldsboro

There are some singers that are blessed with both a unique voice and great compositions. I haven't heard much from Bobby Goldsboro during my life, but what I've heard has impressed me. His song Honey is an evergreen, of course, and Summer (The first time) always touches anyone who has a heart.

The autumn of my life is a similar work of art. I found this single during a few days in Barcelona. Whenever I go to a different city I check out the local record shops, and fortunately the second one I visited delivered some goodies. This was the only single I didn't know at all, but I was not disappointed: Bobby Goldsboro is a gifted man.

My collection: 7" single no. 5794
Found: Revolver Records, Barcelona, September 22, 2015
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'The autumn of my life' / 'Pledge of love'

Listen to the song

Wednesday 11 November 2015

In the night - Ben Cramer

In 1969, Marty Wilde released 'Diversions', an album of original songs written by himself and several collaborators. One of the songs on the album was Abergavenny, which was a hit in several European countries, but there was also the song In the night.

That song was covered that same year by Dutch singer Ben Cramer and released on this single. It spent three weeks in the 'bubbling under' chart of the Dutch top 40, but didn't become a hit. It was included on the album 'My world of music', released on the Omega label in 1969.

My collection: 7" single no. 5801
Found: eBay.nl, received September 29, 2015
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'In the night' / 'Although you're gone'

Listen to the song

Monday 9 November 2015

Merci Cherie - Tino Rossi

Constantin "Tino" Rossi (29 April 1907 – 26 September 1983) was a Corsican French singer and film actor. Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, he was gifted with a voice well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret-style. Later, he appeared in various movies. During his career he recorded hundreds of songs and he appeared in more than 25 films, the most notable of which was the 1953 production, 'Si Versailles m'était conté' directed by Sacha Guitry.

He remains the only French singer to have sold more than 700 million records. His disc "Petit Papa Noël" alone sold 80 million copies worldwide. This cover version of Udo Jürgens' 1966 Eurovision winner is less wellknown, but it's a beautiful rendition nonetheless.

My collection: 7" single no. 5777
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Merci Cherie', 'Bye, bye, bye (moi je reste)' / 'Parle-moi d'Ajaccio', 'Teresa'

Listen to the song

Un tout petit pantin - Les Parisiennes

Sandie Shaw didn't just record her Eurovision hit Puppet on a string in Spanish, a French version also exists. She recorded that version as Un tout petit pantin. And that version, of course, was covered by French artists.

In this case, Les Parisiennes, a group of four singers clad in sexy minidresses. Brought together by one Claude Bolling, they sang original songs written by him and Frank Gérard, but in 1967 they tried their hand at the Eurovision winner. During the Seventies the group broke up, but two of the ladies remained active in the entertainment business. Raymonde Bronstein had a solo career as a singer and Anne Lefébure was a presenter on the French TV channel FR3.

My collection: 7" single no. 5776
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Un tout petit pantin', 'Ah! Vivement ce soir qu'on s'couche' / 'Y'a comme un défaut', 'Grand prix'

Listen to the song

Sunday 8 November 2015

Elle était si jolie - Alain Barriere

Alain Barrière (born Alain Bellec, 18 November 1935 in La Trinité-sur-Mer, Morbihan) is a French singer, who has been active since the Fifties and is known for participating in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest. His song, 'Elle était si jolie', turned out to be by far the biggest seller of Barrière's career to that point.

He released his first album, 'Ma vie', a year later, and the title-track became a huge hit. In 1965 he was offered, and accepted, a leading role in a heist thriller, 'Pas de panique', alongside Pierre Brasseur. This would be his only venture into acting, but his singing career reached its peak in the latter part of the decade with a string of hits making him one of France's biggest stars and a sell-out live attraction. He remained popular until a decade later, when he got married and moved to the USA. Upon returning four years later, his popularity had waned and he had difficulty getting successful again. However, he continues to release albums to this day.

My collection: 7" single no. 5775
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Elle était si jolie', 'Le temps d'une valse' / 'Plus je t'entends', 'La route'

Listen to the song

Marionetas en la cuerda - Sandie Shaw

After winning the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Puppet on a string', Sandie Shaw recorded many of her tracks in Spanish, her record company probably smelling success in that region.

This EP features four tracks in Spanish, and is surprisingly titled 'Sandie Shaw canta en español'. The title was borrowed for a 2004 CD release, which features all of her Spanish language recordings. An astounding amount: 25 tracks.

My collection: 7" single no. 5765
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 11, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Marionetas en la cuerda', 'A los chicos les diras' / 'Otra vez sone', 'Dile a cualquiera'

Listen to the song

Saturday 7 November 2015

D'harmonie van Boemmerskonte - The Strangers

The Belgian band The Strangers have featured on this blog several times already, but this single was a huge surprise for me: a cover version of Marty Wilde's 'Abergavenny'. There aren't that many covers of the song, especially not in the Antwerp dialect.

Like all their other cover versions, the Strangers have written their own lyric which has nothing to do with the Welsh city of the original song. And even for someone who understands Dutch, it's hard to find out what this lyric is about because the Antwerp dialect is pretty hermetic. So I guess it will remain a mystery. Nice music, though.

My collection: 7" single no. 5771
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'D'harmonie van Boemmerskonte' / 'Camp'

Listen to the song

Congratulations - Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard has been in the news lately with shady accusations that involve minors and many of his colleagues have actually been indicted - but fortunately he remains innocent until proven guilty. Let's hope that he won't be guilty because it would certainly bring a cynical ring to hit singles like this one.

'Congratulations' was of course a Eurovision hit, and although Cliff Richard didn't secure the title in 1968 - the contest was won by Spain with the song called 'La la la' - it certainly became a big hit for him.'Congratulations' was actually recorded in Spanish, and this Spanish version appears on this single.

My collection: 7" single no. 5766
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 11, 2015
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Congratulations (Canta en espanol) / 'High 'n' dry'

Listen to the song


Friday 24 July 2015

Puppet on a string - Flip Henderson

Flip Henderson plays the trumpet in this instrumental cover of the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest winner, 'Puppet on a string'. The song was originally performed by Sandie Shaw, representing the United Kingdom. Many covers of the song exist, including one by a barrel organ which was featured on this very blog some time ago.

This cover version isn't exactly anything special, but whenever I see any covers of Eurovision songs I am always interested. Hence the inclusion of this in my collection.

My collection: 7" single no. 5756
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 11, 2015
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Puppet on a string' / 'Penny of happiness'

...

Saturday 25 April 2015

Uno per tutte - Tony Renis

Tony Renis was born in Milan, Italy on May 13, 1938. Paired with Adriano Celentano in the mid-Fifties, they performed covers of songs by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. In 1958, he signed to the label Combo Records as a singer and started releasing covers of Italian and American songs. In 1962, Renis gained international success with the song 'Quando, Quando, Quando', written with Alberto Testa and performed at the Sanremo Music Festival. One year later, he won the same Festival with the song 'Una per tutte'.

That song was performed by Emilio Pericoli on the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest. It finished in third place. This original version remains just as charming.

My collection: 7" single no. 5740
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 11, 2015
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Uno per tutte' / 'Le ciliege'

...

Dio, come ti amo - Gigliola Cinquetti

Domenico Modugno represented Italy in the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Dio come ti amo' ('God how I love you'). The song was not a success, as it was the first and only Italian entry in Eurovision history to receive the dreaded nul points.

When Gigliola Cinquetti, who had represented Italy in the Contest in 1964, recorded the song, she had considerably more success. Her version of 'Dio come ti amo' became a worldwide hit. At the San Remo festival in 1966, she performed the song together with Domenico, which is why this single mentions that festival on the sleeve.

My collection: 7" single no. 5739
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 11, 2015
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Dio come ti amo' / 'Vuoi'

...

4 Tophits - Various

This EP is a mixed bag, and gives a little impression of what people listened to back in the Sixties. It has to be said, of course, that this '4 Tophits' EP is part of a series of so-called Fonodiscs which included classical music and light entertainment, as well as marching band music and children's songs.

Of special interest is the first track on this EP: it's a cover version of 'Zwei kleine Italiener', the song that was performed by Conny Froboess as the German entry in the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest. This version is almost identical, which was the secret behind the cheap EP's of Fonodisc: cheap versions of hits could mean big profits. Although this EP never charted, of course.

My collection: 7" single no. 5735
Found: Kringloop Voorhout
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Zwei kleine Italiener' (Charlotte Marian), 'Auf wiederseh'n, Marlene' (The Music-Makers) / 'Tanze mit mir in den morgen' (Udo Spitz), 'Hawaii Tattoo' (Ernst Zeiner)

...

Sunday 22 February 2015

Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das schöne - Nora Nova (Ariola Music Box EP)

This EP is a strange beast. I bought it, obviously, for the German entry to the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest, but there are three other tracks on this disc, and possibly the weirdest of all is the first one: it's Chubby Checker singing 'Good old Schwäb'sche Eisenbahn'. That's right, partly in German.

Nora Nova was the first Bulgarian to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Her father was an official of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria and she reports that she was raised a monarchist. After scoring a number of hits in the German and Swiss charts, in 1964 she was chosen to represent West Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. Her song, 'Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne', reportedly has the longest name in Eurovision Song Contest history. With it she had another record — nul points for West Germany, and hence 13th, last place.

My collection: 7" single no. 5620
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received February 14, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Good old Schwäb'sche Eisenbahn' (Chubby Checker) / 'Keine Schule mehr' (Peggy Peters) / 'Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne' (Nora Nova) / 'Bella Luna' (Renate und Werner Leismann'

Mama - Jean-Jacques

Jean-Jacques appeared on this blog once before with the single of his 1969 Eurovison Song Contest entry Maman. As mentioned there, he recorded his song in French, Spanish and Italian. So this single presents the Spanish version, and even the B-side 'Les beaux dimanches' appears here in that language.

It's not inconceivable that I would never have bought either single if Jean-Jacques hadn't participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, because it's such a sentimental song. But there you go.

My collection: 7" single no. 5619
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received February 14, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Mama' / 'Los domingos felices'

Saturday 21 February 2015

Pozdrav svijetu (Dobar dan) - 4M

Two weeks ago, as I was on Ebay bidding on a series of Eurovision singles (and won seven out of ten, as you can read here), I noticed that most of the action happened in the last two minutes. Suddenly there were bidders (or it was only one, I couldn't tell) coming up and offering more than my maximum - which, admittedly, wasn't exactly high. By quickly throwing in one more bid - which, again, wasn't very high - I was  able to steal back the singles in the last few seconds. There was just one exception: this 1969 Yugoslavian entry by 4M. And that's remarkable, since it's such an old record from a country that doesn't even exist anymore.

'Pozdrav svijetu' is a ballad, in which the 4M's salute all people of the world, wishing them a "good day" in several languages: Spanish, German, French, English, Dutch, Italian, Russian and Finnish. At the close of voting, it had received just 5 points, placing 13th in a field of 16 competitors.

My collection: 7" single no. 5613
Found: eBay.com, received February 12, 2015
Cost: 0,7 euro
Tracks: 'Pozdrav svijetu (Dobar dan)' / 'David i Ruth'

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