JINGLE JUMPERS, Jumpin´ The Jingle, 1965
Posted: October 28, 2017 Filed under: 60s, Beat Records, France, Promotional Records | Tags: Beat, Rock´n´Roll, Twist 1 Comment
This EP promoted the Jingle Jump toy in France. Dansez Le Jingle Jump is a cover version of Jingle Jump bei Danny Peil and the Tigers/Apollos.
When I first listened to this EP, I immediately thought: This does not sound like a budget-group doing a half-assed promo song, but an established rock´n´roll band. I listened to it again and again. Finally it hit me: I know this voice! It sounds like Eddy Mitchell!
I found reference to the record in the book La belle histoire des groupes de rock français des années 60 by Jean Chalvidant and Hervé Mouvet published in 2001: In 1962, Eddy Mitchell broke up with Chausettes Noires and went solo in 1963. In 1964 he briefly got together with Les Fantômes and recorded these four beat tunes…
JINGLE JUMPERS, La lecon de jingle jump, 1965
JINGLE JUMPERS, Jumpin´ the jingle, 1965
JINGLE JUMPERS, Dansez le jingle, 1965
JINGLE JUMPERS, Jingle jump champions, 1965
ELS MOLENAAR, Gezakt of geslaagd, 1967
Posted: August 8, 2016 Filed under: 60s, Beat Records, Holland 3 Comments
Gezakt of geslaagd has been re-issued more than twenty years ago. I´m still posting it here, because it´s one of my better recent finds. It was only one Euro and I found it in May at a flea market – of all places – in Istanbul! Buried in a bunch of other Dutch records, I did´nt know what it was at the time. The catalog of the Negram label that is printed on the back of the sleeve seemed promising, though. It features Dutch Beat groups like The Ronnies, Mokum Beat Five, The Motions, Tee-Set, Andy Tielmann and Roek Williams and the Fighting Cats.
Back home in Berlin I recognized Gezakt of geslaagd from a CD a Dutch friend gave me many years ago. The song was first re-released in 1994 on Biet Het Vol. 2 – Trip Trap Door De Tulpjes on Boem Records. In 2002 it was featured on Beatmeisjes – Dutch Girls and Girl Groups in the Sixties, compiled by Frank Dam and Marthy Coumans. Frank Dam also wrote a 224 page book on the same subject. Everybody who bought that book knows more about Els Molenaar than I do. Sadly, I don´t know Dutch and do not own the book.
According to Popsike someone bought this record for 110 Euros in 2011. It is Els Molenaar´s sole record. Gezagt of geslaagd (pass or fail) is a happy little anti-school song.
Two bad it only lasts two and a half minutes….
ELS MOLENAAR, Gezakt of geslaagd, 1967
ELS MOLENAAR, Wat ben je toch?, 1967
What sort of book is Els throwing in the dustbin? A German-Dutch textbook.
Figures…
Some schoolgirl doodles by the graphic artist: T-Set… Motions… Lily Bart… Lily Bart from Edith Wharton´s The House of Mirth?
Els, where are you today?
Bereits im Juni schrieb ich für die Junle World einen kleinen Text über rare Platten und wie ich diese fand hier.
THE ROY BOSTON SHOW INTERNATIONAL
Posted: February 18, 2016 Filed under: 60s, Beat Records, Germany, Instrumental Records, Private Pressings 4 Comments
Roy Boston is mostly know for his Schlager songs of the 70s, but apparently he already led his own “show band” in the 60s. This is part 2 of his “American Records” label (located in Düsseldorf!) releases , so I suppose there is a part 1 too, but I´ve never seen it.
Roy Boston seems to have had an appetite for travel and luxury even as a young man. He went on to become a building tycoon in the Souh of Spain. Today there is even a street named after him in Marbella, the Calle Roy Boston.
Liner notes from the back of the sleeve:
Here, with an excerpt from his show, the singer Roy Boston presents his band. It is a pleasure to hear and see this young band sing and play. Unfortunately, there is no gold metal for versatality. They harmonize in seven languages and in all kinds of styles from Bamba, Chacha, Calypso, Swing, Twist, Slop and Blues to Tango, Waltz, Polka and March. And further, from German songs of the Rhineland to the Spirituals and Folk songs of America. This great versatality is explained by Roy Boston´s enthusiasm for travel and study.
In television and recording studios, american clubs, in London´s exclusive Docklands Settlement Club, before Paul Getty, the richest man in the world, Princess Margaret, Lord Snowden and in the women´s clubs of Montreal, American Air Force clubs, on luxury liners, in the Orient and in Europe, he has learned what show business is and how it is done.
“American Records presents…:
Roy Boston… and his Band! …
Showtime! …
Showtime! …
Showtime! …”
THE ROY BOSTON SHOW INTERNATIONAL. Monkeytime
THE ROY BOSTON SHOW INTERNATIONAL, Peter Gun
LOS TNT, Que Suerte, 1964
Posted: January 2, 2015 Filed under: 60s, Beat Records, Italy, Uruguay, World 3 Comments
Happy New Year!
I found this EP last year at a record fair for 1 Euro. Italian-Uruguayan trio Los TNT recorded two dozen EPs between 1960 and 1965, many of them for the Spanish Belter label. TNT was short for the first letters of the nicknames of brothers Edelweiss “Tim” Croatto, Hermes “Tony” Croatto, and sister Argentina “Nelly” Croatto.
A lot of their songs have been featured on three CD re-issues in the late 90s.
Que suerte is easily the best song of this EP. For some unknown reason it has never been re-released.
MAMBO BAND, Hey-O-Mambo, 1966
Posted: November 16, 2014 Filed under: 60s, Beat Records, Germany 2 Comments
When I arrived at the flea market on Saturday, it was already afternoon. Not too many people strolled around the flea market in the icy wind, but nevertheless most of the boxes had probably been combed through by other collectors. One of the first booths I went to, belonged to a nice lady my age, a seasoned seller, who comes to the flea market even when it´s snowing. Now she was sneezing and coughing. I noticed that two guys were checking through the pile that I had just picked and told them kindly:” I just picked those.” One guy replied, “Oh! Sorry. I´m still curious what you found. Mind if I take a look?” I said: “You´re welcome. Go ahead.”
Well, they both saw this 45 and didn´t bat an eyelash. We talked about another one in the pile, a Spanish opera record that had a cowboy on the sleeve. I ended up not buying it. But, without knowing what it was, I did buy the Mambo Band for 1 Euro. No wonder this unassuming, sleeveless 45 went by unnoticed. Most collectors don´t go for mambo.
Well, as it turned out, Hey-O-Mambo is a great garage beat rocker, fuzz guitar and all…
When I heard Hey-o-Mambo at home for the first time, I immediately checked the Internet. It´s been featured on Prae-kraut Pandaemonium #14, that came out in 2003, the same Volume that also has Andy Nevison & His Rhythm-Masters White Woman.
This is what Peter Urbach wrote, in the trademark hip PKP-style liner notes: “Though credited on their Etzel 7” as Mambo Band, these guys were better known as The Mambos all over the Lower Franconian hinterland. A rare case of early German frat rock, these kids looked like acolytes on a joyride, but could do a neat Sonics imitation, when fuelled with enough homebrew. Remember: There’s nothing dirty about sax, except you know how to blow right…”
Left out from Bear Family Records huge German Beat round-up “Smash!…Boom!…Bang!…”, it´s due to the classic Prae-kraut series, that bands like the Mambos were finally put on the global map of Rock´n´Roll. Of course, it also led to increase the value of the original 45s.
Apart from the bootleg PKP re-issue, that is sold out, the songs are currently not available anywhere.
Rock´n´Roll-wise, there is nothing more to add. Still, the flip sheds a little more light on the background of the Mambo Band.
MAMBO BAND, Geh´ nie mehr fort von mir, 1966
Started as a duo by Kurt Eisemann (organ) and Hilmar Hirt (sax) in 1952, when the Mambo was in style, they soon developed into a full band. After more than 60 years, they still play locally.
BEAT AROUND THE CLOCK
Posted: October 15, 2013 Filed under: 60s, Beat Records, Berlin Records 4 Comments
Just found this album last Friday in the free bin outside a local charity shop, without a sleeve and in pretty bad condition. There are big scratches over both sides, but it is a fun album to share, because the bands are anonymous, it mostly consists of folk songs that are in the public domain, plus, it has never been re-issued.
Issued by the tiny local budget label Topas, and manufactured by the Phonocolor company, it´s probably the most amateurish Berlin beat album. Only, The Bounties, The Medussas, The Black Devils, and Die Floridas were not from Berlin. So, where were they from? I have no idea. There was a Black Devils group in Bochum. But is this the same group?
Topas was the LP branch of the super-budget flexi-disc labels Okay Exquisit and Rondo Spezial, that mostly issued 45s. I have posted Okay and Rondo releases repeatedly over the past years. Obviously, variety budget labels only cared for profit. But Topas went even further, with their habit of not assigning any specific names to the songs on the labels or on the sleeves. So which artists really played on this record? And when was it released?
I simply chose the order of the bands on the labels, but maybe that´s not making matters easier. Another Topas LP (Melodie und Rhythmus, Topas # 2606) also features eight of these tracks (The Old Cottonfields, O my Darling Clementine, Almdudler, Gregor, Oh Susanna, Good Night Ladies, Greenleaves) but only features one beat group: The Black Devils. Still, are all these songs really performed by the same group?
Lots of ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????….
Seite A
THE BOUNTIES, The old Cottonfields
Cotton Fields was written and first recorded by Lead Belly in 1940.
“When I was a little bitty baby/ My mama done rock me in the cradle/ In them old cotton fields back home/ It was back in Louisiana/ Just about a mile from Texarkana/ In them old cotton fields back home”
THE BOUNTIES, The Quartermaster
The Quartermaster’s Stores is a traditional British army song. The Shadows instrumental version of Quartermasster´s Stores (re-named after the BBC´s science fiction TV series Quartermass), was the flip side of their 1960 hit Apache.
Almdudler is an Austrian soft drink, that was developed in 1957. The phrase auf der Alm dudeln, means “singing in the (alpine) meadows”. Austrians love Almdudler almost as much as Coke. A Radler variety (mixed with beer), is called Almradler. In the wine-growing regions of eastern Austria,Almdudler is mixed with locally produced white wine.
Probably for copyright reasons, this song was titled Almdudler. It does sound a lot like Rocket Man by the Spotnicks, which was incidentally adapted from the melody of a Russian folksong
THE MEDUSSAS, O my Darling Clementine
Oh My Darling, Clementine is an American western folk ballad, or rather a parody of a ballad, written by Percy Montrose in 1884.
“In a cavern, in a canyon,/ Excavating for a mine/ Dwelt a miner forty niner,/ And his daughter Clementine/ Oh my darling, oh my darling,/ Oh my darling, Clementine!/ Thou art lost and gone forever/ Dreadful sorry, Clementine/ (…) Drove she ducklings to the water/ Ev’ry morning just at nine,/ Hit her foot against a splinter,/ Fell into the foaming brine./ (…)/ Ruby lips above the water,/ Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,/ But, alas, I was no swimmer,/ So I lost my Clementine./ (…)/ How I missed her! How I missed her,/ How I missed my Clementine,/ But I kissed her little sister,/ I forgot my Clementine.”
THE BLACK DEVILS, Good Night Ladies
Goodnight, Ladies is a folk song written in 1847 by Edwin Pearce Christy, founder of the blackface minstrel group Christy’s Minstrels.
“Goodnight, ladies! Goodnight, ladies!/ Goodnight, ladies!/ We’re going to leave you now./ Merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along, O’er the dark blue sea.”
THE BLACK DEVILS, A home on the range
Home on the Range was originally written by Dr. Brewster M. Higley in the early 1870s. It´s also the state song of the American state of Kansas. .
“Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,/ Where the deer and the antelope play,/ Where seldom is heard a discouraging word/ And the skies are not cloudy all day./ Home, home on the range,/ Where the deer and the antelope play;/ Where seldom is heard a discouraging word/ And the skies are not cloudy all day.”
Guitar break!!!
DIE FLORIDAS, I´ve been working on the railroad
I’ve Been Working on the Railroad is an American folk song, first published as “Levee Song” in 1894.
“I’ve been working on the railroad/ All the live-long day./ I’ve been working on the railroad/ Just to pass the time away./ Can’t you hear the whistle blowing,/Rise up so early in the morn´/ Can’t you hear the captain shouting,/ “Dinah, blow your horn!”
Yankee Doodle is a American patriotic song that dates back to the mid-18th century. Also the state anthem of Connecticut.
As a term, Doodle first appeared in the early seventeenth century, and is thought to derive from the Low German dudel or dödel, meaning “fool” or “simpleton”.
See also: Almdudler
TWANGGGG!!!!
Seite B
This is not the classic German beat tune by Drafi Deutscher & Manuela. Probably a self-written song.
“Take it easy Mister Playboy,/ wenn sie dich nicht lieben kann./ Leider sucht sie keinen Playboy,/ sie will einen echten Mann./ Leider sucht sie keinen Playboy,/ sie will einen echten Mann./ Take it easy Mister Playboy./ Muss es grade diese sein?/ Glaub´ mir, lieber Mister Playboy,/ lange bleibst du nicht allein./ Glaub´ mir lieber Mister Pl,ayboy,/ lange bleibst du nicht allein./ Sei nicht traurig, Mister Playboy./ Lass sie gehn,/ mach dir nichts draus./Take it easy Mister Playboy,/ such dir eine andre aus./Take it easy Mister Playboy,/ such dir eine andre aus./(…)/ Take it easy Mister Playboy,/ such dir eine andre aus/ “
“Gehe nicht, o Gregor” is a Ukrainian folk song, with German lyrics written in the early 1930s by German Boy Scouts leaders Eberhard Köbel and Günther Wolff.
The tune is still sung by German Boy Scouts today.
“Gehe nicht, o Gregor, gehe nicht zum Abendtanz;/ zauberische Mädchen folgen deinen Schritten dort./ Weiße Hand wie Schnee braut dir Tee aus Zauberkräutern,/ trübt den Spiegel deiner Seele wie der Wind den See./ Dort ist auch die eine mit den schwarzen Augenbraun./ Glaube uns, o Gregor, das ist eine Zauberin./ Ihre schmale Hand braut dir Tee aus Zauberkräutern,/ legt sich über deine Seele wie der Herbst aufs Land.”
“Kalinka” (Russian: Калинка) is a Russian song written in 1860 by Ivan Larionov.
The refrain of the song refers to the kalinka, which is the snowball tree.
Oh! Susanna , a minstrel song by Stephen Foster, was first published in 1848.
My favorite track. Great piercing organ sound!
THE BLACK DEVILS, Greenleaves in summer
The Green Leaves of Summer was written by Dimitri Tiomkin for the 1960 film The Alamo. In 1961 the song was nominated for an Academy Award.
Ultra-garage version of The Searchers cover of Don & Dewey’s Farmer John.
“Oh-yeah, a-ha-ha/ Oh-yeah, a-ha-ha/ Oh-yeah, a-ha-ha/ Oh-yeah, a-ha-ha/ Oh-yeah, a-ha-ha/ Oh-yeah/ Mmm, farmer John/ I’m in love with you daughter/ Wow-wow-wow/ With a champagne eyes/ Yeah, she knows that I love her/ Yeah, but she tell me lies/ I like the way she walks/ The way she talks/ She really knocks me out/ Causin’ me to shout, oh-wow/ Now look here!”
Johnny Guitar was written by Peggy Lee for the 1954 film Johnny Guitar, directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Joan Crawford.
The Spotnicks recorded Johnny Guitar as an instrumental in 1963
“Die Floridas” – What a great band name!
Another Shadows song…
Sorry for the sound quality. It was a free record. A presumably much better copy than mine is currently for sale on Ebay for 32 euros
HEART OF BLUES, Smoking takes you faster to God, 1969
Posted: September 9, 2013 Filed under: 60s, Beat Records, Cartoon Sleeves, Germany, Promotional Records 6 Comments
Found this last Thursday in a local thrift store for one euro and, because of the nondescript sleeve, thought it was just another advertisement record. At home, the two songs really blew me away! Two great beat/krautrock songs on this one! A quick check on the Internet revealed that Smoking takes you faster to God has been reissued in the late 90s on the “Kraut! Demons! Kraut! – German Psychedelic Underground 1968-1974″ CD bootleg comp, compiled by none other than the late Werner Voran aka The Lolly Pope. Apparently this is quite a rare Krautrock 45 that somebody is currently trying to sell on Ebay for 100 euros. Hopefully to no avail.
Unlike most musicians who played in 1960s beat groups, former Heart of Blues bassist Norbert Maislein-Sylvester, cares for his musical legacy, and loaded Smoking takes you faster to God, including some info about the band, up on Youtube, himself. He even illustrated the video with the Kraut! Demons! Kraut! bootleg CD image, instead of the original sleeve that you see above. Heart of Blues, a popular R&B Band who played around the Munich area, were: Graf Amadeus von Donnersmarck, guitar; Norbert Maislein-Sylvester bass; Henny Stadler, vocals; Peter Stadler, keyboard and Rudi Zöttel, drums. Some former members still play in Munich bands today.
No info, however, on Munich Express found on the Internet. Their Nebellungenlied is a well done combination of funny lyrics in the 3 Travellers vein, set to beat music.
This is a perfect record for Berlin Beatet Bestes: it´s a beat record, it´s got a cartoon sleeve and it´s an advertisement record, containing music with a practical purpose. Ironically, while Krautrock is considered to be underground music, these songs were actually commissioned by the German government. In 1969 Heart of Blues and Munich Express won a contest, launched by minister of family affairs Käte Strobel, for “Best Anti-Smoking Song”
Well, thanks German government, for cutting these two wonderful sides for eternity!
I think I´m going to light one up right now, to get a little faster to god…
‘
HEART OF BLUES, Smoking takes you faster to God, 1969
MUNICH EXPRESS, Das Nebellungenlied, 1969
A bit of trivia:
As you can see on the labels, this 45 was pressed at Schallplattenfabrik Pallas out of Diepholz, Lower Saxony, a family-owned company that has produced records since 1948. On the 1st of April 2013, a mass fire destroyed their CD-manufacturing building, causing an estimated damage of 10 million euros. The factory building where Pallas is pressing vinyl, a business they had bravely held onto all through the worst part of the 90s until now, was miraculously left intact.
A sign from above?
ANDY NEVISON AND HIS RHYTHM MASTERS, White Woman (Don´t Roll Your Big Blue Eyes), 1966
Posted: May 9, 2013 Filed under: 60s, Beat Records 7 Comments
On April 13 Werner Voran passed away. He was 58 years old. Werner was a musician, artist and record collector but also the main man behind a series of compilations called Prae-Kraut Pandemonium. These comps are the German equivalent to Crypt Records´very influential Back from the Grave Garage-Punk series. Back in the early 90s, when most German Beat Fans were still focused on mainstream “Oldies”, Werner and his collaborators dug up the lost sounds of the German underground of the mid to late 60s, the pre-Krautrock era. The Prae-Kraut series basically put that sound back on the map! Or rather they created this sound and made it cool to listen to. It was their achievement to let a whole new generation of music fans discover the often crude sounds of German amateur Beat bands.
Of course the fact, that it was a bootleg series, contributed to the cool factor. But mostly it was the selection of songs – the way they put disparate songs together, that did not have any connection with each other, but made sense in the context of the compilation. It was Werner´s and his friends own punk attitude and their collector spirit that fueled the series. In terms of pure cool and consistency the Prae-Kraut comps remain unparalleled in the history of German re-issue series.
When releasing LPs became too expensive the series continued in digital format. Starting with Volume 16 in 2008. Prae-Kraut was released exclusively as RAR files trough Spurensicherung Blog. A fitting name: the way they presented their obscure finds, was like a “securing of evidence”. I felt quite honored, when Werner used one of my scans from a German comic book called Lupo, that I had posted in May 2008, for the virtual “cover” of Volume 17.
The compilation can still be downloaded from Spurensicherung.
I never met Werner personally but we emailed a bit and he occasionally commented on some of my posts. Last September, when I hastily announced a new set of blog ethics, Werners´reply was straight forward, determined but also very inspiring:
“We all know about The Monks, but they weren’t the only ex-GI’s on the German scene. Screamin’ Andy Nevison (whose throat might sound familiar to owners of our Vol.2) and his Westphalian band The Rhythm Masters had German and American members and their three 45’s were produced exclusively for the German market. “White Woman, don’t roll your big blue eyes at me” wouldn’t have been much of a hit in Alabama 66 anyway. Blessed with good looks not unlike a younger brother of Sam Cooke, Andy honours sister Rosa with more than just innate seat on the bus. Say it loud, I’m black and kraut. Dig it!”
ANDY NEVISON AND HIS RHYTHM MASTERS, White Woman (Don´t Roll Your Big Blue Eyes), 1966
Just because your skin is white, you think you´re mighty fine/ Yes, you told me that you love me, then you rolled your big blue eyes/ When I saw you last week, your skin was turning black/ Go find the guy that beat you up and ask him to take you back/ Don´t roll your big blue eyes at me… “
( I´d love to get the rest of the lyrics but I can´t understand what he´s saying. Any volunteers to translate these exceptional anti-racist 1960s beat lyrics?)
Andy Nevison was born to Jamaican parents and grew up in London. Like many young British musicians in the 1950s, he started to play music in a skiffle band. During his military service he was stationed in Gibraltar, Cyprus, Malta and Germany. Based in Delmenhorst, he often traveled 130 kilometers to Hamburg, to perform in various clubs, together with musicians like Tony Sheridan and Gerry & The Pacemakers.
In the early 70s he settled in Recklinghausen and became a fixture in the local music scene playing Blues, Jazz and Rock´n´Roll. In 2006 Andy Nevison and the Recklinghausen All-Stars recorded the CD “Wakado”. Shortly after local occasional journalist Ulle Bowski did an interview with Andy Nevison on his balcony.
On March 27 2012 Andy Nevison died in Recklinghausen. He was 74 years old.
(There is no Wikipedia text about Andy Nevison but Guido Röcken wrote a very nice biography and obituary in German on his website.)
———————————————————————————————————
Andy Nevison and his Rhythm-Masters, “Rhythm-Masters Swing” b/w “Shaking It Up”, 1964 (Tampicord # 1 D 934)
Andy Nevison, “Humpty Dumty” b/w “Somebody”, 1965 ( Ariola # 18 576)
Andy Nevison and his Rhythm-Masters, “Indiano” b/w “What´s Your Name”, 1966 (EMI Columbia # C 23145)
Andy Nevison, “Pleite” b/w “Worried Blues” (R&B # ?), 1967
ANDY NEVISON & HIS RHYTHM MASTERS, Shaking It Up, 1964
Werner about “Shaking It Up”, reissued on Prae-Kraut Pandemonium Volume 17:
“ANDY NEVISON & HIS RHYTHM MASTERS: their 3 hard to find singles for major labels have already been well documented on Prae-Kraut. But that’s not all there is to the career of this black ex-GI in Germany. A big surprise – and a 7″ the man himself had forgotten about when asked these days – is “Shaking It Up” on the totally obscure Tampicord label from Hamm, Westfalia (’64). Certainly a band in progress, and not up to the monster standard of “Indiano”, but a good example of the early sound of the German red light districts on the wrong side of the tracks. On par with King Size Taylor and Bobby Patrick. For those of you who care: Andy Nevison had a 5th and last single (the only one without The Rhythm Masters) on the German label R+B in ’67. This was a novelty German version of Ray Charles’ “Busted” called “Pleite” b/w “Worried Blues”. Funny, but not much more…”
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.
Berlin Beatet Bestes 
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