THE HIGHLIGHTS, Ah, So, 1958
Posted: June 28, 2010 Filed under: 50s, Instrumental Records, Rock´n´Roll Records | Tags: Instrumental Rock´n´Roll, Jungle Exotica, Minesota, The Highlights 12 Comments »
Last week Gary Bailey, guitarist of the Highlights, left a comment on a post about their 45 that I had done earlier this year in February. I´m re-posting it here because Gary was so kind to send me some additional information plus high-resolution scans of a great publicity shot of the group (as Gary wrote: “Now you can put faces with the Record”) and a beautiful poster.
On the picture is:
Lower – Drummer Al Anderson, Middle Row Left – Gary Bailey-Guitar, Middle Row Right – Barry Rush-Lead Guitar, Upper Row Left - Bob Bulger-Bass, Upper Row Right – Dale Anderson-Sax.
Note that the other Highlights have greased-up flat-tops while Gary is the only one donnin´ a fine pomp!
Ah, So really is a cult song among many Rock´n´Roll fans and record collectors. It has been featured on Volume 1 of the “Jungle Exotica ” compilation that was put out by Tim Warren of Crypt Records in the 90´s and that really got a whole new generation of music fans to hear it for the first time. The Japanese girl group “The 5.6.7.8.´s” have recorded a cover version of Ah, So in 1991 and I´m sure others did too that I´m not aware of.
Studio Blues is a little unfortunately titled, because it´s a real fine instrumental rocker with great guitars and the same sparse but effective drum sound of Ah, So.
Thanks a lot Gary! I love this 45 and I´m sure a lot of people will continue to enjoy it in the future.
Keep on rockin´!
THE HIGHLIGHTS, Studio Blues, 1958
BERNHARD FRANK, Über die Brücken von Venedig, 1965
Posted: June 25, 2010 Filed under: 60s, Berlin Records | Tags: Berlin, Derby Records, Interpop Records 7 Comments »
As you might have noticed, I´ve taken a little break from this site lately, because… because I felt like it. After all, it is a lot of work scanning and digitizing the records and it´s not like they absolutely need to be heard anyway. My main ambition still is to put material (mostly obscure German records that are easy to grab for everybody at flea markets and thrift shops) on the Internet for the first time. But for now, nobody really seems to want to take over that job, probably because obviously this stuff is not worth most serious record collectors time. So here I am again…
Well, sometimes I do find records that are not so bad, or even great like this one. Bernhard Frank is not unknown to followers of this blog, I´ve posted a bunch of records by this forgotten Berlin musician in the past. Like I´ve said many times, he only wrote good songs. These two schlager-beat tunes might not stand the test of hardcore beat fans but I love them. The ballad on the flip side “Über den Brücken von Venedig” (Over the bridges of Venice) is a beautiful organ driven love song, while “Küsse von mir” (Kisses from me) is a fine easygoing schlager-beat stroller.
Interpop and Derby were two small Berlin sister labels that produced mostly pop and schlager records in the early to mid-60´s. Like Bernhard Frank they seem to have vanished into nowhere…
BERNHARD FRANK, Über die Brücken von Venedig, 1965
BERNHARD FRANK, Küsse von mir, 1965
JAN BERTHOLD, Immer allein, 1964
Posted: June 25, 2010 Filed under: 60s, Berlin Records | Tags: Berlin, Derby Records, Siebenbürgen, Transylvania Leave a comment »
Altough I have now idea who Jan Berthold is but that shouldn´t mean that someone more knowledgeable out there does. Several people that were connected to the records and artists that I´ve poste have contacted me over the past three years, so maybe over time somebody will come up with some information about Jan Berthold.
The catalog on the back of the sleeve lists three Transylvanian (Ethnic Germans from Siebenbürgen, Romania) records, so I´m curious if the owner of the Berlin-based Derby record label had any Transylvanian roots.
I don´t know any of the artists on the list and I´ve never seen any of the records either, but that´s one of the reasons I picked this one up. It´s another hint about what other stuff there is to discover. I know I´m a little strange, but doesn´t “Schwarze Saphire aus Bangkok” by Bert Bucher or “Tingel, Tingel, Ling-Ling” by Anita sound pretty interesting?
These two obscure schlager songs by Jan Berthold might not have changed the world but at least you´ve never heard them before…
JAN BERTHOLD, Immer allein, 1964
Download: JAN%20BERTHOLD%2C%20Sind%20auch%20die%20Jahre%20vergangen%2C%201964
JAN BERTHOLD, Sind auch die Jahre vergangen, 1964
MARY, Die Antwort weiß ganz allein der Wind, 1964
Posted: June 25, 2010 Filed under: 60s, Berlin Records Leave a comment »
Mary and her backing band the Moonlights were another obscure Berlin outfit that recorded a handful of records. Still, right now I can´t find any information about them. “Die Antwort weiß ganz allein der Wind” , a cover of Blowin´in the Wind was a hit for Marlene Dietrich in 1964. Hans Bradtke, who wrote the German lyrics to “Die Antwort weiß ganz allein der Wind” was a song writer, illustrator and cartoonist.
Download: MARY%2C%20Die%20Antwort%20weiss%20ganz%20allein%20der%20Wind%2C%201964
MARY, Die Antwort weiß ganz allein der Wind, 1964
HENRY HEISS, So will ich die Liebe nicht, 1964
Posted: June 25, 2010 Filed under: 60s, Berlin Records 2 Comments »
Henry Heiss had a pretty cool name for an artist, because heiss means hot in German. Again I don´t know a thing about him.
“So will ich die Liebe nicht” (That´s not how I like love) is a nice schlager-beat tune that is sung with the typical heavy pronounciation that was fashionable at the time and backed by even heavier reverberation.
Like an echo from an old, long gone Berlin… Download: HENRY%20HEISS%2C%20So%20will%20ich%20die%20Liebe%20nicht%2C1964 Download: HENRY%20HEISS%2C%20Ich%20seh%C2%B4%20fremde%20Sterne%2C%201964
HENRY HEISS, So will ich die Liebe nicht, 1964
HENRY HEISS, Ich seh´fremde Sterne, 1964
Voodoo Voodoo
Posted: June 1, 2010 Filed under: 50s, Comics | Tags: LaVern Baker, Voodoo Voodoo 7 Comments »
This is actually a whole page that I did two years ago. It ran in the comic magazine Mamba, a supplement of Jungle World, the weekly paper that has been publishing my Bigbeatland comic-strip for the last eight years, and in OX magazine. The English version of the comic I did today. Die deutsche Version dieses Comics findest du hier.
Werner Voss has been doing his “Rock´n´Roll Museum” radio show since 1974 and he´s still on the air every first Saturday of the month on NDR 4! I haven´t listened to his show in many years but now I think I need to catch-up with it sometime soon.
This is the German Atlantic 45 that was probably re-released in the mid-60´s, combining two of LaVern Baker´s greatest rockers: Voodoo Voodoo from 1958 and Hey Memphis from 1961. Because it was on Atlantic it´s not a very rare record here in Germany, but it is one that I reeeally like. And yeah, I´need two of them.
About me:
My name is Andreas Michalke. I´m a cartoonist from Berlin, Germany and I like collecting records. Most of the records I find in thrift stores or at flea markets here in Berlin. I like a lot of music but I thought I`d focus on odd German records. Preferably with cartoon covers.
All my scans are high-resolution. If you double-click on them they will get much bigger.
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