ManzeROCK

Rocking Cosmonauts #3

2011-04-11T10:24:00.008+02:00

Hello, everybody, hi all!

April 12 is coming, so I found the time to make another "Rocking Cosmonauts" show. Besides the birthday of "Rock Around the Clock" this year is a 50th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin flight to space. And here you can find a song dedicated to him.

This space rocking compilation includes artists from UK, Finland, Russia, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, France and Yugoslavia. Enjoy and don't hesisitate to write down your impressions. By the way, I just realized, that you have to be a member of blogspot to leave any comments here.

Winifred Atwell was born in Trinidad, had studied the piano since she had been a small child. By the late 1940s moved to London where she worked at clubs. By 1950 she began recording with Decca. Her music worked well on TV where she made regular appearances. She would normally start her act by playing a classical piece on a grand before transferring herself to what she called 'my other piano' which was an old 'honky tonk' upright. "Spaceship Boogie" was recorded together with trio: electric guitar, double bass and drums.

Harmony Sisters are three sisters: Vera, Maire and Raija. During their formative years the swing music loving girls performed only in English, until they met their new conductor and manager in 1937, George de Codzinsky, an emigrant musician, from St. Petersburg. Godzinsky was also a piano player, and had a chance to play for Fyodor Shaliapin. It’s Godzinsky and Saukki who’s credited for Finnish version of “Rock Around the Clock”.

The title “Baby Luna” is just another name given by journalists for Russian Sputnik-1. In the late 1950s there were even cafés named “Baby Luna” in Italy. I have no info about Carlo Genovesi who sings together with backing vocal group, so if you can put some light on this – let me know. I also have no info on 3 Kleine Kleuters & De Joffers en De Jonkers (“Grandpa’s Rock’n’Roll”), Maia Golovnja (“Silver Rocket”), vocal ensemble of Bulgarian radio (“Trip to Cosmos”) and vocal ensemble “Meteory” (“At the Cosmodrome”).

The Lollipops is a beat group of three young boys. The band won a children talent contest in Copenhagen in 1960 when they were 9, 10 and 12 yo. The band members were two brothers Torbenand and Joergen and older Poul. In 1961-62 they played in Sweden and got a recording contract with Karusell Records. Their first record was a cover version of Connie Francis’ “Lollipop Lips”. But quickly the boys showed that they had talent for writing own catchy songs. However, “I Got a Rocket In My Pocket” is also a cover version.

A few words about other performers. The Spoetniks were formed by singer and rhythm-guitarist Danny Fisher is 1958. The quartet had a big success on a Youth Festival in Bruxelles in 1961. This track has no space title, but the band has!

Vocal ensemble “Problem” sings Italian song called “Yuri Rock”. The songs was originally recorded by Johnny Mondo (Gianni Sismondio). N. Kalogjera made arrengements, M. Markuš wrote the lyrics. Backing by beat group Atomi.

Filippo Carletti has Italian origins. He moved to Spain and became popular there as a successful leader of quartet. The song in Spanish is about green Martian with one big eye who dances rock’n’roll.

In the early 1960s young French singer Jean Renard took the pseudonim Big Twist and recorded a few EPs. “Rocket-Bye-Bye” is from his first EP released in October 1961. Jean wrote music and lyrics by himself.

Winifred Atwell and Her Piano with Rhythm Spaceship Boogie (UK, 1957)
Harmony Sisters ja Triola-Yhtye Tunnista Toiseen (Rock Around the Clock) (Finland, 1955)
Carlo Genovesi Baby Luna (Italy, 1960)
3 Kleine Kleuters met De Joffers en De Jonkers Opa's Rock en Roll (Netherlands, 1957)
The Lollipops I Got a Rocket In My Pocket (Denmark, 1964)
The Spoetniks Brigitte (Belgium, 1962)
Grupa Wokalna “Meteory” Na Kosmodromie (Poland, 1965)
Maia Golovnja Serebristaia Strela (Russia, 1965)
Vokalni Kvartet “Problem” Jurij Gagarin (Yuri Rock) (Yugoslavia, 1963)
Vocal Ensemble of Bulgarian Radio Puteshestvie v Kosmos (Bulgaria, 1965)
Filippo Carletti y Su Cuarteto Mr. Marciano (Spain, 1961)
Big Twist Rocket-Bye-Bye (France, 1961)

Trip to Cosmos

Music for Sunday Date #29

2011-02-26T12:00:00.004+01:00

Johnny Meijer met Zijn Swing Accordeon Doedelzak Boogie (Netherlands, 1969)
Torquato y Los 4 Baby In “Blue Jeans” (Spain, 1960)
Lidija Klement My Prihodim v Novij Dom (Russia, 1963)
Orchestra Vanni Catellani Samoa (Italy, 196?)
Vokalni Kvartet Predraga Ivanovića Pod sjajem zvezda (Serbia, 1961)
Helena Majdaniec Jedziemy Autostopem (Poland, 1964)
Progresiştii Fetite Dulci Ca-n Bucureşti (Romania, 196?)
Brita Borg Fat Mammy Brown (Sweden, 1957)
Hazy Osterwald-Sextett The Laughing Hussar (Switzerland, 1965)
Gus Brendel Group Take a Shake (Western Germany, 1963)
Het Cocktail Trio met De Krekels Wie Heeft de Sleutel van de Jukebox Gezien? (Go 'Way Christina) (Netherlands, 1965)
Werner Müller mit Dem RIAS Tanzorchester Rumba Anna (El Negro Zumbon) (Western Germany, 1958)

click (61 MB)

Music for Sunday Date #28

2011-01-25T14:30:00.002+01:00

Fausto Papetti e Ritmi The Blob (Italy, 1961)
Vipers Skiffle Group Make Ready for Love (UK, 1958)
Duo Black & White met The Melody Sisters Carina (Netherlands, 1960)
Line Hübert Paris Er Stedet (Norway, 195?)
Annie Philippe Je Chante et Je Danse (France, 1965)
Valerij Obodzinskij Prazdnichnyi Ritm (Russia, 1967)
The Swe-Danes - Scandinavian Shuffle (Sweden/Denmark, 1960)
Constantin Draghici Mandoline Mandoline (Romania, 196?)
Thilo's Combo Campari (Portugal, 1965)
Angèle Durand, Die Hansen Boys und Girls Hula Hop (The Hula-Hoop Song) (Belgium/West Germany, 1958)
Pirko Manola und Wyn Hoop Ukelele-Baby (Finland/West Germany, 1962)
Sláva Kunst se Svým Orchestrem Babysitter Twist (Czechoslovakia, 1964)

click (51 MB)

Music for Sunday Date # 27

2009-12-30T00:01:00.006+01:00

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and radio Manzerock is on the air. I suppose this is the last post this year. Wish you all Happy New Year and jolly holidays :)

Here's what we have this time:

Les Bourgeois de Calais Nut Rocker (France, 1963)
Jan Corduwener en Zijn Balroomorkest Een Dansliedje Deint (Netherlands, 1953)
Maia Kristalinskaia Novogodnyaya Pesnya (Russia, 1961)
Nagy Marcell Együttes Totágas (Hungary, 1962)
Jiří Jelínek Oh, Marie (Czechoslovakia, 1966)
Orchestra Pupo De Luca Dai Dai Twist (Italy, 1964)
Orchester Günter Gollasch Twist für Geigen (East Germany, 1963)
The Kays Flipped Over You (Sweden, 1963)
Pierre Cavalli et Son Trio Cutie Pie (Switzerland, 1961)
The Beverley Sisters I Dreamed (UK, 1957)
Peter Kraus Du Gehörst Mir (West Germany, 1958)
Orkest Roger Mores Sunny Sunday (Belgium, 1968)

Digi-Digi-Don (53 MB)

Rock Over Europe

2009-12-20T17:00:00.006+01:00

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and radio Manzerock is on the air! :-)

It's been a long time since I posted here, and I've been neglecting you all recently.

I have a lots of things to do besides music, but I have found the time to post something on the blog.

Since rock'n'roll received a great recognition in the 1950s Europe, I decided to choose some songs and instrumentals with a rockin' flavour. Some of the songs were already aired in "Music for Sunday Date", but most of them not.

Dutch singer Diny Snyders recorded "Wie, Wie, Wie" in 1959 with studio musicians, who modestly called themselves "Rocking Stars". The line up including Eddy Christiani on guitar.

Another dutch band Kilima Hawaiians formed in the 1930s and was active for a long period. This track is a nice cover-version of "Hawaiian War Chant", the tune that was originally wrote by the future King of Hawaii Island and a bit later adopted to orchetsra by Johnny Noble. Don't know the exact date, maybe late 1960s, with Theo Ehrlicher exellent steel guitar playing.

Henry Cording, Van Wood, Brita Borg, Odd Gisløy and Magali Noël - all of them are here and many more.

Have a nice trip!

Diny Snyders Wie, Wie, Wie
(Pi Veriss / Wim Poppink) Netherlands, 1959
Baby Gate and The Happy Boys When
(Paul Evans / Jack Reardon) Italy, 1958
De Kilima Hawaiians Hawaiiaanse Krijgszang (Hawaiian War Chant)
(Leleiohoku / Johnny Noble) Netherlands, 1960s
Quartetto Cetra Sei Piccolo Per I Blue-Jeans
(Antonio Virgilio Savona / Giovanni Giacobetti) Italy, 1960
Peter Alexander Rocky-Tocky-Baby
(Heinz Gietz / Kurt Feltz) Austria, 1957
Janice Peters and The Playboys A Girl Likes
(Ian Samwell) UK, 1959
Henry Cording and His Original Rock’N’Roll Boys Rock-Hoquet
(Henri Salvador / Boris Vian) France, 1956
Nora Brockstedt Jag Trodde
(Sven Lykte) Norway, 1958
Conny Froboess mit Will Brandes Teenager Melodie
(Werner Scharfenberger / Aldo von Pinelli / Peter Ström) West Germany, 1958
Micky Main Peter
(Unknown) West Germany, 1959
Dickie Pride Frantic
(May / Norman) UK, 1959
Odd Gisløy Dancin' With My Rockin' Shoes
(Odd Gisløy) Norway, 1958
Van Wood e Il Suo Quartetto Van Wood’s Rock
(Peter van Wood / Leo Chiosso) Italy, 1957
Magali Noël avec Les Fontana Strip-Rock
(Alain Goraguer / Boris Vian) France, 1956
Hula Hawaiians The Chimpanzee Rock
(Werner Kunz) Switzerland, 1957
Will Tura Oh! Paardenstaart (I Love Your Pony Tail)
(Shelton Fisher / Jan Remo / Van Aleda) Belgium, 1958
Gitte Hænning med Jørn Grauengårds Quintet Souvenirs
(Cy Coben / Das) Denmark, 1959
Adriano Celentano Rock Matto
(Lucio Fulci / Giulio Libano / Piero Vivarelli) Italy, 1960
Siw Malmkvist Schotten-Rock
(Siegfreid Wegener / Peter Anton) Sweden, 1959
Rocky Volcano Comme Un Volcan
(Jean Nicolas) France, 1961
Brita Borg Frankenstein Rock
(Beverly Ross / Hans Alfredson / Tage Danielson) Sweden, 1958
De Zwarte Moustachen Vlaamse Hutsepot
(C. Koopmans / J. Brol) Belgium, 1961
Dorit Oliver und Das Orchester Charles Nowa
Oh Yes, Das Ist Musik (Oh, Marie)
(Eduardo Di Capua / Charles Nowa / Günter Loose) West Germany, 1959
Burt Blanca and The King Creoles Accordeon Twist
(Norbert Blancke) Belgium, 1962

Ready to Rock (101.6 MB)

Music for Sunday Date # 26

2009-12-06T00:00:00.012+01:00

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and radio Manzerock is on the air :-)

Adolfo Ventas con Ramón Vives y Sus Muchachos Ritmo en El Club (Spain, 1945)
Corrado Lojacono Angiolina (Italy, 1946)
Suzy Moller Liefde in Rhythme (Netherlands, 1947)
Zespol Jazzowy Skowrońskiego i Górkiewicza Trębacz (Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy) (Poland, 1948)
Le Quartet de Boris Tikhonov Vesyoly Napev (Russia, 1949)
Yves Montand C’est Si Bon (France, 1950)
Valentīna Butāne Vecpilsētā (Latvia, 1951)
Vico Torriani Domino (Switzerland, 1952)
Hula Hawaiian-Quartett Perlenfischer (Vaya Con Dios) (East Germany, 1953)
Adalbert Lutter und Sein Grosses Tanzorchester Jalousie (West Germany, 1954)
Rajka Vali Kad Bi Me Volio (Croatia, 1955)
Mony Marc Les Plus Beaux Jours De Ma Vie (Belgium, 1956)

39.5 MB

Edith Pierha avec L'ensemble Droujba - Dozhdik (1960)

2009-07-31T20:22:00.025+02:00

I already introduced ensemble Droujba and singer Edith Pierha before and here I go again. The song "Dozhdik" ("A Little Rain" or "A Little Summer Rain") was recorded for Leningrad TV in 1960.

Originally this is a Polish song "Deszczowy Fokstrot" ("Rain Foxtrot"). Music written by Andrzej Markiewicz and Jerzy Mart, words by Bogusław Choiński and Jan Gałkowski.

Edith sings this song in two languages: Polish and Russian. Russian text was written by Aleksander Bronevitsky, the piano player and leader of Droujba ensemble.

This song is a pretty good example of harmonising performance.

Dozhdik (21 MB)

Re-uploads

2009-07-27T07:50:00.002+02:00

Three soundtracks have been re-uploded:

The Amphibian Man (Mosfilm, 1961)
Operation 'Y' (Mosfilm, 1965)
Posledniy Zhulik (Rīgas Kino Studija, 1966)

Happy listening! :-)

K.

Music for Sunday Date # 25

2009-05-29T09:10:00.022+02:00

Hello, my firends!

Summer is coming, so lots of things to do on the open air instead of sitting in the front of monitor ;) However, I found the time to make a brand new compilation for sunday date. These tunes are harmonising with the sun and summer fun.

Ozzie Warlock is actually Tony Osborne, British composer and arrenger. In the 1950s he was working for the major companies of the day, and he formed his own band, the Brass Hats, for weekly appearances on the BBC TV teenage show, Six-Five Special.

When that was superseded by "Juke Box Jury" show in 1959, Osborne wrote and recorded the theme song, "Juke Box Fury", under the name of Ozzie Warlock and The Wizards. Yeah, that's the programm where Sex Pistols have appeared in the 1970s ;)

Piero Piccioni, established composer and band leader, wrote "The Rendezvouz" for the "The 10th Victim" movie, based on the novel by my fav sci-fi writer Robert Sheckley.

Jonas Mašanauskas recorded this song about young city Elektrenai in the old Lithuania. Scored by Lithuanian Radio and TV orchestra and chorus.

The last track is an instrumental number "Sochi". It was written by Kirill Molchanov for a panoramic movie about USSR "Shiroka Strana Moya". Sochi was and still is one of the most favorite Russian resort cities.

There are more nice tunes here. Have a nice weekend!

Ozzie Warlock & The Wizards Juke Box Fury (UK, 1959)
Danny Fisher Be Mine (Belgium, 1961)
Margarita Vilcāne Man Šodien 18 Gadu (Latvia, 1964)
Kilima Hawaiians Hawaiiaanse Krijgszang (Netherlands, 1962)
Piero Piccioni e La Sua Orchestra The Rendezvous (Italy, 1965)
Paula Ribas Se Tu Me Queres Beijar (Portugal, 1962)
Jonas Mašanauskas Elektrėnų Žiburiai (Lithuania, 1964)
Miroslav Kefurt se Svou Skupinou Bílé Skály (Czechoslovakia, 1964)
Hazy Osterwald-Sextett Schokolata (Switzerland, 1961)
Lucky Blondo Filles (France, 1963)
Werner Müller Tanzorchester Lisboa Antigua (Germany, 1957)
Victor Knushevitskij et Son Orchestre Sochi (USSR, 1958)

31 MB

Big thanks to Twist and Frit', Andreas Michalke, Boris and another Boris.

Mina - Renato (1962)

2009-05-10T13:29:00.005+02:00

The music was written by Argentinian born singer and composer Alberto Cortez.

The original version was recorded as "Renata" by Alberto Cortez with Ernie Freeman combo. It was originally released on Moonglow records in 1961.

Then, Italian songwriter Alberto Testa wrote Italian lurics, Gosio Piero made arrangements, and the song was recorded by Mina with Tony De Vita orchestra. The Italian version was released on Italdisc records in 1962.

After that, the song became popular worldwide and has been recorded many times during the 1960s.

Now, here are excerpts from Italian movie "Appuntamento in Riviera" where Mina performed this great twist song.

And the lyrics, offcourse:

Renato Renato Renato
ti voglio bene non l'hai capito
Renato Renato Renato
se non mi baci non vivo più.

Renato Renato Renato
a casa tua tu mi hai invitato
Renato Renato Renato
e ci ho trovato papà e mammà.

Scommetto che nessuno bacia come te
però chissà perché non lo dimostri a me
se tu ti decidessi a dirmi almeno un sì
io non sarei ridotta così.

Renato Renato Renato
così carino così educato
Renato Renato Renato
mi porti al cinema e guardi il film.

Scommetto che nessuno bacia come te
però chissà perché non lo dimostri a me
se tu ti decidessi a dirmi almeno un sì
io non sarei ridotta così.

Renato Renato Renato
come vorrei non averti amato
Renato Renato Renato
tu sei un mostro di ingenuità.

Renato Renato Renato
la serenata che ti ho cantato
Renato Renato Renato
vuol dire che morirò per te.

Renato Renato Renato
la serenata che ti ho cantato
Renato Renato Renato
vuol dire che morirò per te.

Renato Renato Renato
la serenata che ti ho cantato
Renato Renato Renato
vuol dire che morirò per te.

Twist-Twist (27.5 MB)

Music for Sunday Date # 24

2009-05-03T00:01:00.005+02:00

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and Radio Manzerock is on the air.

I've received many letters regarding music of Eastern Europe. Here I tried to make a whole Eastern programm.

All of the countries below were parts of the former USSR. I think it's interesting to make a journey through some rare sounds of these partly unknkown music scenes.

Not many informarion of this tracks, I even didn't put years of recordings as I'm not sure what years they were recorded. But I'm sure they're from the 1950s-1970s.

If you have interest in certain performes I'll try to answer in the comments.

Have a nice weekend!

Aino Bāliņa Slezinki (Estonia/Latvia)
Zhan Tatlyan Gitarovo (Armenia)
L'ensemble Samotsvety Molodo-Zeleno (Russia)
L'ensemble vocal Narochanka Ekspromt (Belorussia)
L'ensemble Norok Deti Solntsa (Moldova)
L'ensemble Alma-Altinskii Electron Poyushaya Gitara (Kazakhstan)
Polad Bul Bul Ogly Sheik (Azerbajdzhan)
Batyr Zakirov Ty Daleko (Uzbekistan)
L'ensemble Orera Ty Mne Verish Ili Net (Georgia)
Nemuno Žiburiai Elegija (Lithuania)
L'ensemble Kobza Progulka (Ukrania)
ER Meeskvartett Romantika (Estonia)

34.8 MB

Beatniks - Music for Sunday Date # 23

2009-04-23T08:58:00.050+02:00

- Ah, say there Brutus, like, where is this King's pad?

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and Radio Manzerock is on the air!

We've talked about Sputniks, and now it's time for Beatniks. After discovering the great gem by Nero & The Gladiators, I inspired to choose something similar from all over the continent. Bad boys playing bad music.

As you might know, Peer Gynt is a half-folk, half-real character from Norwegian fairy-tales. Writer Henrik Ibsen and composer Edvard Grieg made him popular back in the late XIX century. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" sequence is from Greig's suite, describing Peer Gynt sneaking into the Mountain King's castle.

Nero and The Gladiators recorded it back in 1961. It was an original band, very stylish. Ah, and that great guitar play of Joe Moretti here!

Irish writer Abraham "Bram" Stoker wrote novel "Dracula" in 1897. Dracula is a vampirish aristocrat, who now is well-known as the King of vampires.

ZZ en de Maskers from Amsterdam recorded song about him in 1966. I also have their English version, but I think that ZZ's Dutch vocal fits very well in this song.

I've aired Romanian big-beat band Sincron before, and here I go again. Their cool version of The Shadows' "F.B.I." became "Melodie", but with the full copyright credits on the Electrecord Records sleeve. And again, great guitar work by Alexandru Arion.

Not much known about Alye Parusa. They were a big-beat band from Soviet city of Odessa. Later, some musicians played in Korabely ensemble. The band's name probably taken from Alexander Green's novel with the same title, written in 1923. Or, most possibly, from the beautiful movie from 1961 based on the novel...

This track was recorded from the Russian radio station in the late 1960s or early 1970s. If you have any more info on that nice band - drop me a line.

Alec Palao has chosen this Los Bravos song when he was producing UK version of the "Nuggets II" compilation. Sounds very familiar to Palao’s early works from The Sting-Rays days: melodical garage, if ya can imagine such cocktail. If not - here you are!

The Tramps are a five-piece band from Antwerpen. They recorded a few singles on Fontana label. "Murder" was released in 1962. Before The Tramps, vocalist and solo guitarist played in another Antwerp beat band The Jokers.

Czech big-beat band Olympic from Prague were formed in 1962. The frontman is Petr Janda, one of the first Czech beat musicians and guitarists. The song "Dynamit" was written by Janda and Zdeněk Rytíř, and recorded in 1970 for Supraphon label.

Italian big-beat band The Meteors recorded instrumental version of "Peter Gunn Theme" in 1964, for their first LP.

Peter Gunn was a private investigator from the TV series with the same title, which aired from 1958 to 1961. The track was written and originally recorded by the great Henry Mancini.

The 5 Dorados are from Switzerland. "Tilt" was written by Franco Bussmann and Fredy Enz. Released in 1964 on Luzern label Layola. Nice piece with crazy screams and cool organ sounds.

The Rocking Ghosts are a four-piece band from Denmark. They were formed in 1962, and after two years they won the Copenhagen championship in Rock at Nora Bio, which lead to a record deal with Metronome Records and producer Jørgen Ingmann (you know this guy, don’t you?).

One of their best known hits is “Belinda”. However, I decided on a great "Shakin' All Over" cover. This song was originally recorded by Johnny Kidd and The Pirates. Some Liverpool boys later named the Beatles, agreed that this is a very influential song from the early British beat music.

And the last track today is by the Swedish band called Bread. They are from the city of Malmoe. "Motortown Beat" is kinda a new dance for the bad boys and girls, represented by Bread in late 1960s.

Philips recording company put a lot of money into this recording. And it was worth it. About 10 additional musicians were invited. It resulted in this funky song with soul flavor and simple but great, I like it!

Here's the complete track list:

Nero and The Gladiators In the Hall of the Mountain King (UK, 1961)
ZZ en de Maskers Dracula!!! (Netherlands, 1963)
The Tramps Murder (Belgium, 1962)
Sincron Melodie (F.B.I.) (Romania, 1967)
L’ensemble Alye Parusa Escape (USSR, ?)
Olympic Dynamit (Czechoslovakia, 1970)
I Meteors Peter Gunn (Italy, 1964)
Los Bravos Going Nowhere (Spain, 1966)
The 5 Dorados Tilt (Switzerland, 1964)
The Rocking Ghosts Shakin’ All Over (Denmark, 1965)
Metro együttes Nincs Kegyelem (Hungary, 1965)
Bread Motortown Beat (Sweden, 1967)

I'm a Bad Boy
I'm a Bad Girl

Rocking Cosmonauts # 2

2009-04-11T14:00:00.013+02:00

Hello everybody, hi all, this is Karel and Radio Manzerock is on the air.

12th of April is coming, and so it's time for Rocking Cosmonauts. On this day, Bill Haley recorded “Rock Around the Clock” and Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth!

I just noticed that shortly after the first “Rocking Cosmonauts”, The European Space Agency (ESA) started an interesting competition. They asked young people from all over Europe to suggest the most suitable playlist for the astronauts living on the International Space Station.

After two months, the winner was chosen. It was Therese Miljeteig, 14 yo girl from Norway. Here’s Teresa’s playlist: Here Comes The Sun – Beatles, Come Fly With Me – Frank Sinatra, Rocket Man – Elton John , Up Where We Belong – Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, Imagine – John Lennon, Flashdance – What A Feeling – Irene Cara, Walk of Life – Dire Straits, Fly – Celine Dion, Rockin' All Over The World – Status Quo, I Believe I Can Fly - R Kelly.

Other national winners mentioned on the web-site are: Aricia Planchenault from Belgium, Luisa di Valvasone from Italy, Sebastiaan Van Doornik from Netherlands, Lucìa Aparicio from Spain, Frederik Heimark from Denmark, Adam Viaud from France, Erik Guenther from Germany, Jean-Philippe Green from Sweden and Andrew Hale from Switzerland.

I dedicate this sampler to all the ESA winners, maybe some day they will be cosmonauts! Wish I was one of the competitors :-)

First track is simply called “Spoutnik”. This little gem was written by Belgian accordeon player Hector Delfosse, and recorded by Hector himself with two unknown (to me yet) musicians on lead and rhythm guitar in the late 1957.

Hector Delfosse was a successfull composer, he played with his ensemble, accompaniate to Belgian and French singers, received several golden discs, toured all over Europe, especially in France.

The second track is called “Teach You to Rock”. It was written by Freddie Bello, an Italian-American singer. Freddie recorded it in 1958 with his band The Bellboys.

The same year the song was recorded on the other side of Pacific by Peppino Di Capri and his band Rockers. Note space guitar solo by Mario Cenci in the middle of the song!

“Red Sputnik Rock (Red Planet Rock)” arrived from Great Britain. It was written and recorded by Don Lang in late 1957.

Don’s real name is Gordon Langhorn. When Rock’n’Roll movement has started, he was already a professional jazz musician.

After touring over Europe he decided to form his own combo. In 1956, Don Lang and His Frantic Five were chosen to be one of the cornerstones of the BBC teenage show “The Six Five Special”. And for two years they appeared as resident accompanist and in their own right.

Instrumental number called “Orbit” was recorded in 1963 by The Hurricane Strings – four-piece big-beat band from Rotterdam. Very nice melody with spacewomen backing vocal.

Russian “Rocket” was recorded by Aleksandr Vladimirtsov orchestra from Leningrad and written by K. Martiyanov, as it states on the EP sleeve from 1961.

Vladimirtsov formed his first orchestra in the early 1940s, and in the 1960s became official band leader of the Leningrad Radio orchestra. “Rocket” is an instrumental orchestra number, with cute swingin’ flavour.

The song “Satelliitti Kahdelle” (“A Satellite for Two”) has Finnish roots. It was recorded by established singer Kai Lind for Finnish National Final in the early 1964. As you know, the winner of the National Final would proceed for Eurovision contest.

However this song received only the 2nd place in National Final. But, if it was a Spacevision contest, I guess it will proceed ;-)

Serbian big-beat band Detlići (translated as “Woodpeckers”) play driving “Moonshot”. Originally , it’s a “Gunshot” written by The Fireballs. Thanks to The Spotnicks, this track became known as “Moonshot”. Detlići’s version was recorded for Novi Sad radio in 1965.

Next moon track comes from Spain. Gelu sings the song called“La Luna, el Cielo y Tú” (“Moon, Heaven & You”). Being written by Italian-Spanish composer Torrebruno in 1961, it first appeared in a movie “Horizontes de Luz” (“Horisonts of Light”).

Looks like the song became popular in Latin world soon, as I have more versions, like Brazilian. But I like Gelu’s version most of all – outstanding vocal, arrangement, lyrics. Everything is here in one bottle, err… rocket.

When it comes to romantic songs, one of my favorites is a Czech song “Orion” (you can see these stars if you’re in equator). It is about girl who’s talking to the stars. Female singer Judita Čeřovská recorded it in 1962.

Another romantic song is “Kosmos–Maa” (“Cosmos–Earth”) comes from Estonia. It was written by composer Alex Rasmussen and Estonian songwriter Heldur Karmo, who’s been writing both for jazz and light music. Vocals are by experienced musician and singer Kalju Terasmaa, and female singer Anu Anton-Õunapuu. The song was recorded for radio in 1966. Accomponiation by Emil Laansoo ensemble.

“Echo Boogie” was written and recorded by Danish guitarist Joergen Ingmann in 1961. It’s interesting, that the A-side of this 7” inch is “Apache” – a version that appeared to be a competitor to the Shadows "Apache" back in those days.

Joergen was one of the first and famous Danish electric-guitar players. He was also popular on the pop-scene, but I like his instrumental solo-works most of all.

And last, but not least, French girl Dani (or Danièle Graule, as her real name) sings a song called “Partir Pour la Lune”.

Have a space week!

Space Intro (Manzerock)
Hector Delfosse Spoutnik (Belgium, 1957)
Rockin' Intro (Manzerock)
Peppino Di Capri Teach You to Rock (Italy, 1958)
Don Lang and His Frantic Flive Red Sputnik Rock (Red Planet Rock) (UK, 1957)
The Hurricane Strings Orbit (Netherlands, 1963)
Aleksandr Vladimirtsov et son Orchestre Raketa (Russia, 1961)
Kai Lind Satellitti Kahdelle (Finland, 1964)
Detlići Moonshot (Yugoslavia, 1965)
Gelu La Luna, el Cielo y Tú (Spain, 1961)
Judita Čeřovská Orion (Czechoslovakia, 1962)
Anu Anton-Õunapuu ja Kalju Terasmaa Kosmos-Maa (Estonia, 1966)
Jørgen Ingmann Echo Boogie (Denmark, 1961)
Dani Partir Pour la Lune (France, 1965)

Beep-Beep!

P.S. Big thanks to Dima, Andrej, Max, Misha and Si for the big help with this one.

Music for Sunday Date # 22

2009-04-03T06:04:00.005+02:00

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and Radio Manzerock is on the air. Today we’ll surf through nice cover songs and great originals from the 1950s and 1960s.

De Strangers were formed as a vocal quartet in 1952 from Gust Torfs , Alex Boeye , Pol Bollansee and John De Wilde. They started to make funny cover versions of the hits of the day. At first they sang mainly in English, and then switched to covering songs in Antwerp dialect.

So, “Casetta in Canada” became “T.V. Truut”, which they recorded in 1960 with Jean Vanhoren ensemble. Nice song, even funny if you understand the dialect ;) with Eurovision vocal intro and outro. That was also their first Antwerp record. Dialect records made them very popular between Flemish people.

Edoardo Lucchina is Italian composer, band leader and accordeon player. The song “Geppyna” is written by Mogol Mangeri. This record was made in the best traditions of Italian 1950s combos. Everything is great here.

Vocal quartet Four Cats is from Helsinki, where they first appeared in Autumn 1958 as Esa Laukan kvartetti. Three members of the quartet started The Four Cats in 1960 as Pentti Lasanen, Esa Laukka, Kai Ruohonen and new member Kaj Lindberg. In the 1960s The Four Cats recorded many successful songs and appeared in a few films. This song was recorded in 1961 for their first solo EP.

Die Montecarlos (a.k.a. Die Blauen Jungs) was an Austrian vocal quartet formed in 1955. Members were Jörg Maria Berg, Leo Hoppe, Rudi Resch and Rudi Kreuzberger. With song “Andrea” The Monte Carlos had their first success in 1956. The following year of 1957 the song “Warum Strahlen Heut' Nacht die Sterne So Hell” got to the 9th place. Originally it is called “Singin’ the Blues” written by Melvin Endsley in 1956. The song was made popular by Croatian-American singer Guy Mitchell, soon followed by Tommy Steele and Marty Robbins.

Not much known about the following Monaco Danceband: where they’re from or who are the members. If you have any info – drop me a line.

The same goes to Swedesh female singer Maj-Britt Asp. Have no much info. Exept her song “Slut, Slut, Slut” (Final, Final, Final) was released on Swe Disc Records in 1965. Accompaniation by Lars Samuelson orkester. You can see the sleeve on the left. Some say, this fury song reminds them an outstanding version of "Shout". Well, just a bit ;) Also, this frenzy song is 1:50 lenght only, so don't be surprised!

The song “I’m Sorry”, which Ronnie Self wrote for Brenda Lee, became “Roň Slzy” in Czech language. The new text was written by Jiří Štaidl and recorded by 16 yo female singer Yvonne Přenosilová. I like this "blues" performance very much.

Stjepan Stanić, nicknamed “Džimi” or “Jimmy”, is one of the greatest Croatian singers of evergreen and jazz. Here is a cover version of a song “Bernardine”, that was written by Johnny Mercer for the film with the same title. Released on Jugoton label in 1959 or 1960 with Croatian lyrics.

Swiss singer Lys Assia was born in a big family, youngest among 12 brothers and sisters. At the age of 16 she debuted as a ballet dancer, in 1942 recorded her first 78 rpm as a singer. Here’s a song from 1959, when Lys was on the top of her fame.

There are more nice songs for today, like famous duo of Gitte Haenning and Rex Gildo singing love song “Sweet Hawaii”, Geoff Stephens’s novelty hit “Winchester Cathedral” sang by John Carter with The New Vaudeville Band formed by Geoff, and Belgian “Bon Appétit” by the great Al Verlane and his so-called Villa Montebello orchestra.

That’s all for now, see you soon. Have a nice weekend!

De Strangers T.V. Truut (Netherlands, 1960)
Edoardo Lucchina Geppyna (Italy, 1959)
Four Cats Si Si Si Napoli (Mais Oui) (Finland, 1961)
Monaco Danceband Something Different (?)
Die Montecarlos Singin’ the Blues (Austria, 1957)
Maj-Britt Asp Slut Slut Slut (Sweden, 1965)
Yvonne Přenosilová Roň Slzy (Czechoslovakia, 1963)
Stjepan “Jimmy” Stanić Bernardine (Yugoslavia, 1960?)
Lys Assia Caballero (Switzerland, 1959)
Gitte und Rex Gildo Sweet Hawaii (Denmark/Germany, 1964)
John Carter Winchester Cathedral (UK, 1966)
Al Verlane Bon Appétit (Belgium, 1964)

34.6 Mb

Radio Nord

2009-03-30T18:05:00.008+02:00

Radio Nord was an offshore radio station, operating for one year in the early 1960s. While the main office was in Stockholm, the station itself was located on a ship - cargo vessel MV Bon Jour.

I guess Radio Nord that was the first Swedish offshore station traslating popular music. Equipment included 10 000 watts AM transmitters. The station was heard in Sweden, southern Finland and parts of eastern Europe.

There were own and regular Top 20 lists transmitting every month.

The station was also one of the first stations in Europe to use radio jingles. It seems to me that the jingle below was recorded by vocal ensemble The Monn-Keys.

Photos courtesy of Soundscapes (1 - testing the reception; 2 - top 20 promotion at the music records shop; 3 - top 20 list from a newspaper).

Radio Nord jingle

Trio Lescano

2009-03-19T03:35:00.008+01:00

Sometime I like to refer back to some of my old favourite records. Today is the day for a beautiful female trio from the 1930s. The three girls were born of an Hungarian father and a Dutch Jewish mother. They were from Holland, where they made their first vocal steps.

Then they left their motherland for Italy, and became Trio Lescano over there. The youngest sister was only 15 years old back then. However, they took Italy by storm.

Band leader Pippo Barzizza, with his orchestra, recorded many of Trio Lescano's highlights, remembered that they were hard workers. I guess that's one of the reasons that their songs and harmonies are so free, light and full of fresh air.

So, let's give an air for three sisters: Alexandra, Judith and Kitty Leschan, which remains three young and beautiful girls - Trio Lescano.

Tulipan (Tu-Li-Tulip-Time)
Parlophone GP 93080 (1940)

Colei che debbo amare
Parlophone GP 92540 (1939)
(big thanks to Paolo)

Radio ads

2009-03-17T23:23:00.012+01:00

Music for Sunday Date # 21

2009-02-21T15:59:00.048+01:00

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and radio Manzerock is on the air. Since last time I’ve received lot of requests regarding certain songs and performes. Today, I’ll try to satisfy some of you :) Also, I have a chance to make this programm is 192 Kbps.

Well, the first song in today’s programme was recorded by Children’s choir and orchestra of Yugoslavian Radio Zagreb in the year of 1954.

Nikolay Istratov was Russian double-bass player and accomponiator. He played with different dance ensembles and accomponiated to different singers during the 1950—1960’s. This instrumental track written by Domenico Modugno was recorded by Nikolay Istratov own ensemble in the early 1960’s. The original title, as you might know, is “Nel Blu di Pinto di Blu”!

Instrumental number “Kogda Prihodit Vecher” (“When Evening Comes”) was composed by Armenian composer Aleksander Arutunjan (b. 1920) and was recorded by Armenian Radio sextet in the 1950’s. Arutunjan successfully mixed ethnic tunes with modern music tendencies in his theatre works. And this jazzy record is an example of his innovation.

Vocal duo Butterflies were two brothers: Luc and Godert van Colmjon from Amersfoort, Holland. They formed the duo in 1956 when they were 13 and 17 y.o. and became very popular with their cover-songs and Dutch ones. Song “Dixieland” was their big hit in 1957!

Not much known about the next performer — mystery James Award orchestra. French guy whoops, who originally digitalised this record, said that it was a pseudonym of more or less known French conductor: "since all the tracks he has recorded are credited to A. L. Prevost, i believe that this is his real name". I suppose, this would let him to record on a small label and accomponiate to many singers. However, James Award recordings are worth to mention.

German organ player Klaus Wunderlich (b. 1931), a son of a police-inspector, got his first piano at the age of 7, and became a performer at the age of 16. He always preferred dance music to classical, so he arranged music for orchestras and formed his own band in 1951 where he played piano and accordion. In 1955 the guitarist of his band had rented a new Hammond organ and the new sound of the band was born. “The organ is my life!", Klaus stated later.

I’ve aired Italian trumpet player Gastone Parigi before, and here we go again. This song “Donna” is from his early repertoire. It was written by Ovale Testoni and recorded by Gastone Parigi quintet in 1959. Vocal by Gastone.

Speaking of pseudonims, Danish singer Gustav Winckler (b. 1925) was also known as Gunnar Winkler in Germany and Sam Payne in England. In his teens he studied painting together with his brother, but soon decided to become a singer. In 1948 he won a singers contest in Copenhagen and his crazy popularity has begun. Wikipedia states, that “he participated in Eurovision Song Contest 1957 where he sung "Skibet Skal Sejle i Nat" ("The Ship Is Leaving Tonight") with Birthe Wilke. They ranked number 3, and stunned television audiences with a 32-second long kiss at the end of their performance”. Wow! Here he sings the song "Patricia" in English language. It is from a rare 78 R.P.M. record.

Vico Torriani is one of my fav singers. He sings “Siebenmal in der Woche” here – the song that was written by Austrian composer and band leader Erwin Halletz together with German songwriter Hans Bradtke. This danceable tune was released in 1957 and reached #1 in all three countries that have been involved in its birth: Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

Cherry Wainer arrived in London in the middle 1950’s from South Africa, where she was born.
Cherry’s talents as a dancer and organ player made her a star within a very short time – rare thing in showbusiness! I chose this tune because one of my mates asked me, if I know who is playing on his old tape. I listened – and that was her! This recording has stood the test of time for sure!

Iceland is presented by a song performed by singer Egill Ólafsson (b. 1953) who is also a composer and lyricist by himself. Anyway, this popular tune “Anna Maja” wasn’t written by him, but by composer Henni Rasmus and songwriter Tómas Guðmundsson.

And last, but not least, Anni-Frid Lyngstad — Frida of the late ABBA fame! Before she met her band mates, she won a prize as a singer and was given a chance to make a record. This song from 1967 could be translated as “Weekend” or “A Day Off”. It was written by composer B. de Filippi and Swedish lyricist Bengt Sten. The tune was scored by Marcus Österdahls orkester.

See you next time, dudes!

Dječji Zbor Radio Zagreba Pjesma o Tati (Yugoslavia, 1954)
L'ensemble de Nikolay Istratov Volare (Russia, 1960?)
Le Sextet du Radio de Armenia Kogda Prihodit Vecher (Armenia, 1960?)
The Butterflies Dixieland (Muskrat Ramble) (Netherlands, 1957)
James Award et Son Orchestre Atout Surf (France, 1963?)
Klaus Wunderlich Teufelstanz (Germany, 1964)
Gastone Parigi e Il Suo Quintetto Donna (Italy, 1959)
Gustav Winckler Patricia (Denmark, 1956?)
Vico Torriani Siebenmal in der Woche (Switzerland, 1957)
Cherry Wainer More (UK, 1964)
Egill Ólafsson Anna Maja (Iceland, 1973?)
Anni-Frid Lyngstad En Ledig Dag (Sweden, 1967)

47.5 Mb

Olav Wernersens Kvartett

2009-02-06T23:39:00.006+01:00

Olav Wernersen was born in 1936 in Fredrikstad, Norway, where Roald Amundsen was born, too. Since childhood he became interested in accordeon and showed a big talant in it. In 1952 he won Scandinavian accordeon contest, aired on radio and soon went on tour with popular Norwegian singer Jens Book-Jenssen.

Back in Oslo he played with several dance orchestras (i.e. Bristolorkesteret and Alf Søgaard orkester) in restaurants "Humlen". At that time he also practiced and played on double-bass. He was much interested in popular music and recorded lots of dance tunes since 1954 together with his ensembles. Olav have been composing his own music, too.

In 1960 he went and settled down in Sweden, where he continued to play accordeon and double-bass and study music with famous teachers, like professor Knut Gulbrandson and studied harmony with Josef Brinnè. Olav was great figure on Swedesh jazz scene, played with talented swdesh and foreign musicians, like Dizzy Gillespie. In 2004 he was honored with Stockgolm Musical Academy award.

Here is his first record on 78 rpm issued on Odeon label. These tracks were recorded by Olav Wernersen quartet on February 23, 1954 in Oslo. First track is an international jazz hit "Whispering", which is one of my favorite tunes. The second track is a famous Russian tune called "The Dark Eyes". Note, that Olav was only 18 when he recorded these.

Olav Wernersens Kvartett
Whispering / Sorte Øyne
Odeon ND 7189 (1954)

Benelux orkest

2009-02-06T18:36:00.008+01:00

This is Benelux orchestra. The photo was taken in Luxembourg in the early 1960s. Maybe somebody can put the light on this band?

Re-uploads

2009-01-31T21:48:00.006+01:00

Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3

More to come in better quality :-)

Music for Sunday Date # 20

2009-01-25T07:58:00.006+01:00

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and radio "Manzerock" is on the air. Today's programm contains:

Optimistid Boogie (Estonia)
Hana Zagorová Svatej Kluk (Czechoslovakia)
Klan Wait and See (Bulgaria)
Paul Würges Olympic Nights (West Germany)
Caterina Caselli Sono Qui Con Voi (Italy)
Eskos Habitat 736 (Portugal)
Eglutes Dainą apie Kauną (Lithuania)
ZZ en de Maskers Beat Girl (Netherlands)
Koncz Zsuzsa Rohan az Idő (Hungary)
Gamblers Little Girl (Austria)
Forminx Jenka Beat (Greece)
Phoenix Vremuri (Romania)

I'll write notes someday!

Link to download

Happy listening and see you next time!

Music for Sunday Date # 19

2008-12-31T10:11:00.006+01:00

And another one, with Best Wishes :)

I'll write notes someday here too!

Cheers,
Karel.

Orchester Max Greger Maxi-Rock (Deutchland)
Latin Combo East of the Sun (Spain)
Barbro Skinnar Ingen Tvist om Twist (Sweden)
Cristian Popescu Liliana (Romania)
The Freedom Riders Pizzicato Twist (Belgium)
Aspalathos Brass Sjecanje Na Granadu (Yugoslavia)
Tony de Matos Vocês Sabem Lá (Portugal)
Fred Frohberg und die Babsis Die Sterne der Heimat (DDR)
Mieczysław Wojnicki Jabłuszko Pełne Snu (Poland)
Karin Kent Loop Nou Niet Weg (Netherlands)
Janice Peters A Girl Likes (UK)
Öijwind’s Creole Jazz (Sweden)

Downloading

Music for Sunday Date # 18

2008-12-31T10:07:00.008+01:00

Hello!

Thanks everybody for keeping in touch with me and for your interest! Hope in the next year there'll be more music here :)

I'll write notes someday!

Until than, Happy New Year and all the best,

Sincerely,
Karel :)

Vocal quartet Accord Princess of the City (USSR)
Jan og Kjeld When Irish Eyes are Smiling (Denmark)
Anita Hegerland Hutte-tutte-tei (Sweden)
Irma Sokhadze Orange Song (Georgia)
Dalida Le Petit Gonzales (France)
Lille Eris Jeg Vil Ha en Liten Hund (Norway)
Kovács Eszti A Pancsoló Kisgyerek (Hungary)
Diny Snijders De Rock School (Netherlands)
Dana Pustinová a J. Strnad Motýl Kosmonaut (Czechoslovakia)
Alicia Soy Asi (Spain)
Vladislav Lynkovskij Me and Kinder Garden (Latvia)
Danuta Rinn i Bogdan Czyżewski To Est taka Gra (Poland)

Downloading

Aloha from Europe - Music for Sunday Date # 17

2008-02-03T02:48:00.018+01:00

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and radio Manzerock is on the air.

Today I'll take you back in the 1930's-1950's. That was when Hawaiian music really spreaded all over the world, including our motherland Europe.

The early traces of Hawaiian culture in Europe lead back to the late XIX century. That was when lots of music ensembles toured Europe. Some of the artists, like "Bird of Paradise" show, presented exotic sounds of Hawaii island.

Soon, European ensembles began to include Hawaiian themes in their repertoire and put them on records. Today we'll listen to just a couple of them, just to give a clue what it looked like in Europe.

I can comment just a few artists presented here. But if you have more info, please let me know!

One of the most popular Swedish steel-guitarists Yngve Stoor from Sweden recorded his selfwritten "Sjømannsjul på Hawaii" in 1943.
Russian singer Ivan Milovidov recorded the song "Hawaii" in 1933, with John Danker on steel-guitar.
German vocal ensemble Comedian Harmonists recorded this version of "Blume von Hawaii" with Marek Weber orchestra back in 1931.
And that’s all I can put in here. Most of these records are from the 1930s. The last three are 1950s recordings for sure.

Have a nice trip!

Ansamblul Mihai Daia O căsuţă mică (In a little hula heaven) (Romania)
Instrumentální soubor Karla Slavíka Maui no la ka oi (Czechoslovakia)
Ivan Milovidov Gavai (Russia)
Kostas Bezos Ta aspra poulia sta vouna (Greece)
Malihini Hawaiians Moonlight and shadows (Denmark)
Yngve Stoor med sin Hawaiiorkester Sjømannsjul på Hawaii (Sweden)
Waikiki Serenaders Bei mir bist du schön (UK)
Gino Bordin et Son Orchestre Hawaii-marche (France)
Comedian Harmonists Blume von Hawaii (Germany)
Sylvia Mayer en De South Sea Hawaiians Aan 'tmooi Waikiki strand (Holland)
Lys Assia mit Aloha Islanders Die weissen blüten von tahni (Switzerland)
Onni Gideon ja Hänen Aloha-Hawaijiyhtyeensä Palmujen alla (Finland)

Aloha! (49.2 MB)

Music for Sunday Date # 16

2008-01-12T00:21:00.006+01:00

I'll write notes someday!

The Jokers Sabre Dance (Belgium, 1965)
Adriano Celentano e I Ribelli Ciao ti Dirò (Italy, 1959)
Nora Brockstedt Jag Trodde (Norway, 1958)
Atlantis együttes Szöcske (Hunagry, 1966)
Benny Quick I'm Coming Home (West Germany, 1964)
Beti Jurković i Marko Novosel Autobus Calypso (Jugoslavia, 1959)
The Hubbubs Express to Gloryland (Austria, 1967)
Britt Damberg Jocke Jukebox (Organ Grinder's Swing) (Sweden, 1962)
The Danish Sharks Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie (Denmark, 1964)
Luisita Tenor Yeh Yeh (Spain, 1965)
Vadim Ludvikovskiy et Son Orchestre Night In Paris (Russia, 1968)
Karel Vlach se Svym Orchestrem It's Not an Ordinary Day Today (Czech, 1962)

Have a nice weekend!
ask for the link, please

Music for Sunday Date # 15

2007-12-15T22:16:00.004+01:00

I'll write notes someday!

Cor Steyn Tune (Netherlands)
Muslim Magomaev Watussi (USSR)
Willy Alberti Marina (Netherlands)
Lolita Seemann, Deine Heimat Ist Das Meer (Austria)
Jumping Jewels Guitar Tango (Holland)
Cliff Richard Livin' Lovin' Doll (UK)
Conny Froboess Mariandl (West Germany)
Siw Malmkvist Danke für die Blumen (Sweden)
Rex Glido Zarina (DDR)
Cousins Kili Watch (Belgium)
Karel Duba Wheels (Czechoslovakia)
Ansambl Stjepana Mihaljinca Sjena (Yugoslavia)

Have a nice weekend!
ask for the link, please

Music for Sunday Date # 14

2007-12-02T11:18:00.004+01:00

I'll write notes someday!

Jumping Jewels Darktown Strutter's Ball (p) 1962 (Holland)
Adriano Celentano Il Tuo Bacio E' Come Un Rock (p) 1959 (Italy)
Orchester Erwin Halletz Der Puls Von St. Pauli (p) 1967 (Austria)
Freddy Sunder Calling Car Boogie (p) 1963 (Belgium)
Gitte Hænning Basin Street Blues (p) 1960 (Denmark)
Tercet Florida Singing the Blues (p) 1959 (Yugoslavia)
Les Quatre de Paris Daisy (p) 1957 (France)
Alice Babs After You've Gone (p) 1963 (Sweden)
Caterina Valente Cherokee (p) 1964 (West Germany)
Andrzej Kurylewicz Big Band Wieczorem po Marszałkowskiej (p) 1964 (Poland)
Allanovy Sestry Dej si Říct (p) 1953 (Czechoslovakia)
Orchester Max Greger Chattanooga Choo Choo (p) 1967 (East Germany)

Have a nice weekend!
ask for the link, please

Music for Sunday Date # 13

2007-11-09T04:27:00.005+01:00

Romanian vocal duo Fratii Mentzel with an opening tracks called "Curcubeul". In fact, it is a cover version of the song called "Over the Rainbow". And intro is taken from Ted Heath's record called "Skin Deep". Quite outstanding, eh??

I'll write full notes someday!

Have a nice weekend!

Fratii Mentzel Curcubeul (Romania)
Vocal quartet Gaya Geyran (Azerbaijan)
Kjell Öhman I Saw Her Standing There (Sweden)
Les Milady's Guantanamera (France)
Kvartet 4 M Buona Sera, Signorina (Yugoslavia)
Filipinki Mr. Wonderful (Poland)
Karel Štědrý a Inkognito kvartet Bonbon (Czechoslovakia)
Melody Sisters with Black & White Sh-boom (Holland)
Quartetto Cetra Aveva un Bavero (Italy)
Oktáv vokálegyüttes Tánczenei Randevú (Hungary)
Vocal quartet Akkord Dancing Teens (USSR)
Orchester Hugo Strasser Tintarella di Luna (West Germany)

ask for the link, please

Music for Sunday Date # 12

2007-10-30T10:38:00.005+01:00

I'll write notes someday!

Klaus Wunderlich Delicado (West Germany, 1959)
Freddy Quinn So Geht Das Jede Nacht (Austria, 1956)
Milva Flamenco Rock (Italy, 1960)
Duo Dinamico ¡Oh! Carol (Spain, 1960)
Körmendi Együttes Csing-Csing Twist (Hungary, 1962)
Maria Koterbska Parasolki (Poland, 1960)
Rudolf Pellar Červená Aerovka (Czechoslovakia, 1960)
Stef Meeder A Dedicated Follower of Fashion (Netherlands, 1969)
L'ensemble Grammophone The Sun (USSR, 1969)
Alice Babs Love In Swingtime (Sweden, 1956)
Zvonko Špišić Milioner (Yugoslavia, 1962)
Kjell Karlsens Orkester Lappland (Happy End) (Norway, 1965)

Have a nice weekend!
ask for the link, please

Music for Sunday Date # 11

2007-08-18T17:26:00.005+02:00

Hi, friends, this is Karel and radio Manzerock is on the air. Today we will tour all over Europe.

Grass skirts and leis, hula-dancing babes with fire in their eyes, tropical nights under the palms... that was how Hawaii appeared to Europeans in the first place. Dozens of bands saluted the islands in music and song.

The Waikikis spearheaded this movement. Behind the scenes, producer Horst Fuchs promoted the band's career and pulled the strings. Composers such as Hans Blum and Michael Thomas created their repertoire. The Waikikis - all of them Belgian studio musicians - sold their colorful island reveries by the millions, and some of the instrumentals made their way into the charts in several countries.

Peter Hinnen was a popular Swiss singer & yoddler. He sang pop songs, country and offcourse he did some pretty rock'n'roll tunes.
"Moonlight-Kss" is a nice version of Douglas Cornell's "Hey, Cool" from 1958 (written by Beverly Ross and Julius Dixon). This version has got German lyrics.

Kilima Hawaiians were founded in 1934 by Aris-Jereke Buijsman and his wife Mary Buijsman. The band played a Dutch variant on the exotic Aloha music. Its heyday the band enjoyed in the 1950s, also in neighbouring Germany. Until 1989 the Kilima Hawaiians performed live concerts.
"A Song of Old Hawaii" was written by Gordon Beecher and Johnny Noble in 1937.

Die Optimisten were formed in 1952 from Peter Alexander, Erni Bieler and Erwin Halletz. All of them soon became the stars of Austrian pop music. Erwin Halletz was a band-leader, he made many top records with Austrian and German singers.
"Jambalaya" was originally written and recorded by Hank Williams in 1951. It means a french fish dish which is very popular in French speaking States of America. German lyrics by Kurt Feltz.

Conny Froboess is a German singer, made her first hit in 1951 and never stopped since then. She starried in many teeenage musical films in the 1950s and 1960s, sang rock'n'roll and pop songs. Here's a 1962 hit "Lady Sunshine".

France Gall, a popular singer, was born in Paris. Her father was lyricist. In the early 1963 he encouraged his daughter to record some songs and send the demos to a musical publisher. In July she was signed with Philips. After the song "Sacré Charlemagne" whose lyrics were penned by her father, was an enormous hit in 1965, selling more than 2 million copies around the world, Gall was then selected to represent Luxembourg for the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest. With the song "Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son" she took the Grand Prize. And here's a romantic song from her 1966 album.

Four Hawaiians is a Danish quartett with Hawaiian influence. Here's a song "Stop den Lille Kaenguru" ("Stop the Little Kangaroo") wich was recorded in 1963 and released on 7" Columbia Records 45-DD 721 (see the picture sleeve).

L'ensemble de Mescherin is unique in its way. Led by the legendary producer Vyacheslav Mescherin, the ensemble made their first record in 1957, especially for the 6th International Youth Festival in Moscow.
One interesting thing was that the ensemble played on electric instruments only: electric guiars, organs, hammonds, and other nameless experimental instruments. This made them one of the most original and unique groups on the Rusian music scene.
Vyacheslav Mescherin was like a pioneer when he experimented with the sound, recording process and instruments, many of which established in music forever.
Music of his ensemble still surprises and sounds original even today. Here's an example of his late recordings, the instrumental track called "On the Beach". It was recorded in 1969 and is a jolly danceable number.

Not only Mescherin was experimenting with space age sounds. Some of the other early electronic recording in Europe were produced in the late 1950s by Dutch composer/keyboard player Tom Dissevelt and technician Kid Baltran. Their 1957 debut album included this composition called "Song of the Second Moon". And in fact, The Electrosonics were Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan. Their music was way too experimental in composer way, not very danceable but interesting to listen to.

I like vocal of Anca Agemolu very much. She's from Romania, became popular in the 1960s and recorded some great songs on Electrecord label. Here's a song from the late 1960s.

Hungarian singer Korda György was born in 1939. At the age of 18 he performed at music festival and at the age of 19 started to record songs. His first hit was "Szeretni Kell" in 1958.
Here's an example of his early repertoire - a song that was written by composer Deák Tamás. With Deák Tamás ensemble György recorded many songs, including "Nem Vagyok Ideges". It means "I'm not Nervous" in English.

Ticky Show Quintet was a Swedish instrumental band formed in the 1960s. Led by guitarist Lennart Carlsson they released some nice records. This popular number "C'est Si Bon" was written by French composer Henri Betti back in 1947.

Here's the full track-list:

The Waikikis Tahiti Tamoure (Belgium, 1962)
Peter Hinnen Moonlight-Kiss (Switzerland, 1962)
Kilima Hawaiians A Song of Old Hawaii (Holland, 1955)
Die Optimisten Jambalaya (Austria, 1953)
Conny Froboess Lady Sunshine (West Germany, 1962)
France Gall Quand on est Ensemble (France, 1966)
Four Hawaiians Stop den Lille Kænguru (Denmark, 1963)
The Electrosonics Song of the Second Moon (Holland, 1957)
L'ensemble de Mescherin On the Beach (Russia, 1969)
Anca Agemolu De-aş Avea Un Baby (Romania, 1967)
Korda György Nem Vagyok Ideges (Hungary, 1958)
Ticky Show Quintet C'est Si Bon (Sweden, 1963)

Have a nice weekend!
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Posledniy Zhulik (Rīgas Kino Studija, 1966)

2007-07-30T18:44:00.015+02:00

I like this film very much. It is one of the most outstanding Russian comedys. It has some mystery around it and beautiful music by Mikael Tariverdiev.

The film was released in 1966, and you can feel the spirit of the time here, in the picture and in the music.

The film is about a burgular Petya (actor Nikolay Gubenko), who after having been spended a lot of time in prison, finally is free (because the city of the future doesn't need prisons anymore :) In the city he met a pretty girl and fell in love with her.

The soundtrack was recorded by Eric Tyazhov ensemble together with vocal ensemble, which Eric originally formed for the VIO-66 jazz band.

Instrumental ensemble features, among others, Yuri Muhin on electric guitar, G. Melnikov on double bass, and D. Bekkerman on drums.

Music from this film was released on vinyl EP in 1967 (Melodia Records, D 18311-2). The lyrics for the final song were written by Russian poet Vladimir Vysotskij. The song was performed by Nikolay Gubenko himself.

Wish there were more such pictures!

Melodia Records D 18311-2 EP

Hosting

2007-05-07T07:23:00.001+02:00

Hi, friends. Finally, my hosting is temporary suspended. Please, write your offers in the comments. Cheers and best wishes!
Karel.

Rocking Cosmonauts

2007-04-15T23:23:00.025+02:00

Hello everybody, hi all, this is Karel, and Radio Manzerock is on the air.

12th of April 1954 is the day when Bill Haley recorded his all-time hit «Rock Around the Clock». And 12th of April 1961 is the day, when Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. So, todays programm is dedicated to these historical events: rocking and space, hence the name - Rocking Cosmonauts!

Electron is one of the first Russian instrumental bands, started back in 1957 as an instrumental guitar quartet.
In the early 1960s two guitarists (V. Prikazchikov and E. Gusev) formed a new quartet with rhythm section and found the name Electron (see the picture on the right). Instrumental number «Sputnik» is from a flexi released by Russian music journal «Krugozor» in 1966.

Peter Karus is German singer and actor, was very popular in Germany in the late 1950s. And still is.

The next track is «Sputnik Rock and Roll» by Swedish rock star Rock-Krister and His Cristals. It was recorded back in the ealry 1958. See the EP sleeve on the left. It is a cult song, even modern Swedish rockabilly bands have it in their repertoire.

Metro is one of the most popular Hungarian beat bands. This instrumental number is from their ealry single. On the photo below you can see one of the early Metro gigs.

Bergendi együttes is another famous Hungarian band. They were formed as a dance and accompaniation ensemble. Later they released some cool jazz records. "Üstökös" means "Comet" is Hungarian.

Die Sputniks is an East Germany big-beat band formed in 1963. This instrumental tarck is from 1964.

Miroslav Kefurt is a czech guitarist, played with jazz combos during the 1950s and formed his own band in 1960. The band recorded some interesting instrumental tracks in the 1960s, and also accomponiated for czech pop stars, like Eva Pilarova or Jiří Popper. Here's an instrumental track called "Vostok", dedicated to the the first human spaceflight.

Another czech gem, «Pozdrav Astronautovi» was written in 1961 by J. Hnilička and P. Pácl. Gustav Brom Orchestra was founded by Gustav Frkal (who changed his name due to the WWII stormy events after a chemical element, Bromine) signed up for their first professional engagement in June 1940. Since that time Gustav Brom’s big-band’s name has appeared on more than 576 music records, of both local and foreign origin.
This song was recorded by Gustav Brom Orchestra with Gustav taking vocals by himself.

Rocke-Pelle (real name Per Harald Hartvig) was one the first Norwegian rock stars.
The song «Good Rockin' Baby» is from the 1958 EP. It's originally Sid King & The Five Strings song from 1956.
He was was very popular, even Norwegian painters used his name in their satiric pictures. I just found a funny Norwegian postcard from the 1950s (see the picture below).
It shows a young man who's invited to shake hands with his girlfriend's father.
It reads:
— Are you Rockefeller?
— No, Rockepelle!

The Beatniks was a Norwegian big-beat band. This instrumental track was recorded in 1963.

Edith Pierha started to sing in the early 1956 with vocal ensemble "Droujba" (translated as "Friendship"). Soon, they won the first prize at the 6th Youth Festival in Moscow in 1957, toured all over Europe. Edith can sing songs in many European languages. "Valentina Twist" was sang in Polish and dedicated to Valentina Tereshkova — the first woman to fly in space. Originally this song was recorded by Polish vocal ensemble Filipinki.

And last, but not least, great Swedish instrumental band called The Spotnicks.

The track-list:

L'ensemble Electron Sputnik (Russia, 1965)
Peter Kraus Rock Around the Clock (West Germany)
Rock-Krister Sputnik Rock and Roll (Sweden, 1958)
Metro együttes Kozmosz (Hungary, 1963)
Bergendi együttes Üstökös (Hungary, 1965)
Die Sputniks Sputnik-Thema (DDR, 1964)
Miroslav Kefurt se svou skupinou Vostok (Czechoslovakia, 1962)
Gustav Brom Pozdrav Astronautovi (Czechoslovakia, 1961)
Rocke-Pelle Good Rockin' Baby (Norway, 1958)
The Beatniks Mars One (Norway, 1962)
Edith Pierha avec l'ensemble Droujba Valentina Twist (USSR, 1964)
The Spotnicks Space Walk (Sweden, 1965)

Let's Space Rockin'!

Luxembourg

2007-04-07T15:30:00.001+02:00

The City of Luxembourg, Luxembourg's capital.

Date and time 21:21, 15 September 2005.

Music for Sunday Date # 10

2007-03-25T21:46:00.005+02:00

Hello everybody, hi all, this is Karel, and spring is in the air.

Czterech is a Polish beat band. «Śpiew Wiosny» was written by guitarist Marek Bliziński, and EP was released on Muza Records (Muza N0499) on April 30, 1967.

Margreta Nikolova is one of my favorite Bulgarian singers. «Spring and Me» was written by Kubichek. I ripped the song from an old vinyl, hence some hiss and clicks.

The famous Uzbek singer Botyr Zakirov was born on April 26, 1936. He sings a love song in Hindi. The song was written by composer Shankarsinh Raghuwanshi.

Luigi Ionescu was born on April 3, 1927. He's one of the most popular Romanian singers from the 1950—1960's.

«Ty Vseh Miley I Nezhnei» in Armenian language is sang by Sergei Davidyan. Sergei Davidyan made this song by young composer Arno Babajanyan popular all over USSR in the late 1950's. It is from the motion picture «The Song of the First Love / Arajin Siro Yerge».

Domenico Modugno was already very popualr in Europe when he came to Moscow, USSR, for the first time in 1962. His concert with Nello Ciangherotti Orchestra was marvellous. Here's an interesting recording from that conecrt. At the beginning there's a little introducion, and Domenico started to sing «Selene» in Russian!

The last song today is by Vocal Quartet Gaya. They are from Azerbaijan and this song is a traditional Azerbaijan tune. It was recorded from radio back in 1969.

Track list:

Czterech Śpiew Wiosny (Poland, 1967)
Nadine Young avec Les Rock Four Crazy Rock (France, 1959)
Margreta Nikolova Spring And Me (Bulgaria, 1964)
Botyr Zakirov When Love's Coming (Uzbekistan, 1966)
Luigi Ionescu Primăvară (Romania, 1959)
Unknown Quartet Priyatnaya Vstrecha (Russia, 1958)
Rimvidas Ratsyavichus et Son Orchestre Volna (Lithuania, 1964)
Sergei Davidyan Ty Vseh Miley I Nezhnei (Armenia, 1958)
Rostislav Merkulov et Son Orchestre Lyrical Foxtrot (Estonia, 1958)
Domenico Modugno Selene (Italy, 1962)
Zaray Márta és Vámosi János Popcatepetl Twist (Hungary, 1963)
Vocal Quartet Gaya Gaya (Azerbaijan, 1969)

Download a little bit more spring now

31 MB

Operation 'Y' (Mosfilm, 1965)

2007-02-28T09:04:00.007+01:00

Another Russian movie that I like very much - 'Operation 'Y' and Other Shurik's Adventures'.

The picture devides into three parts, three short novels. The main hero of all three novels is a young student Alex (or Shurik in Russian). Famous comedy artists starring here with the talented (the girl Lida is also very beautiful) young actors.

The first novel's called 'Naparnik' ('Helper') and it tells a story about middle-aged hooligan who changed his mind on hooliganism after joining Shurik's brigade. It is the most funny one for me!

The second novel is called 'Navazhdeniye' ('The Delusion'), you can see a title shot at the beginning of the article and screen shots from that novel below). This novel is based on a funny story from some Polish magazine. It is about students, who are going to pass their exams and beacuse of that are hardly see what is going on around. It is a love story and the most beautiful novel.

The 3rd novel is a story about three burgulars who decided to rob a shop. Offcourse, Shurik catched them.

When director of the film Leonid Gaidai asked unknown at the time composer Alexander Zatsepin to write music for this picture he wanted to get some modern and catchy melodies. Zatsepin was the 100% satisfaction. He wrote music which fits very well with the film scenes. It's modern (for the early 1960's offcourse :), funny, dancable, lyrical. Everything is here.

I like this music a lot (as well as the picture). Here's a soundtrack (stereo) that was released the same year on EP on Russian Melodiya label. Alexander Zatsepin formed an ensemble to record the music and also played accordeon by himself.

Here's the track list from the EP:

1. Après des examens
2. Réunion
3. Sauvage
4. Marché
5. Promenade dans l'autobus

Melodiya Records D 15943-4 EP

Music for Sunday Date # 9

2007-02-20T03:53:00.008+01:00

Hello everybody, hi all, this is Karel, and the next 30 minutes we will be touring Europe of the 1950's and 1960's.

British swing has many great names. One of them is Ken Mackintosh — great musician and person. He started to play in big bands in the 1940's, and in the 1950's his orchestra became one of the most famous.

The song is Bill Justis' «Raunchy» recorded in 1957. As Ken speaks about it: «Wally Ridley* said he wanted me to cover this thing by Bill Justis. We were doing a couple of weeks in a ballroom in Torquay and I came up to London to do this thing. He only wanted a small rhythm group on it and so Bert Weedon played guitar, Phil Seamen drums, he was a very comical chap, and I did the alto. We recorded it in half an hour, but there was nothing to it. When the record was issued, we were playing in Felixstowe and I thought we would give it a try. The applause was tremendous. We had to play it again and I said to Wally, This is a hit.'»
* HMV producer.

Akkord Quartet was formed in 1958 from two male and two female vocalists. At the beginning they sang with Oleg Lundstrem Big Band, and that was a good school for them. Since 1960 they've been releasing records. This song from 1964 was written by Viktor Kuprevich, and accompaniation is by L'ensemble de Kuprevich as well.

Caterina Valente is probably the most famous German singer and actress. With her brother Silvio she recorded lots of hits in the 1950 - 1960's. She is a talented singer and could sing in many languages. But here's Tony Renis' hit «Quando Quando Quando» in German. Truly outstanding, but not a big surprise, 'cause German market required songs in German, honestly.

Nicola Arigliano is an Italian singer. This is a live recording of one of my favorite Italian songs called «Carina».

Otto Brandenburg is a Danish actor and singer. His acting skills made him sing not just a song but a little story, together with a little show.

I like Hungarian ensembles quite a bit. But I know nothing about Négy Barát együttes. It's strange, but not much information about them around. If you know something — let me know, please.
This instrumental track was originally written for documentary "Tropico De Notte" by Italian composer Armando Sciascia (under nom de plume H. Tical) in 1961.

Swedesh swing has a good and long history. Jazz became popular here in the 1920's, and since that time lots of good orchestras and musicians appeared on the scene. Sax player Arne Domnerus is one of them.

Here's a song he did, called «En Gang I Stockholm». This tune was popular all over Europe when Monica Zetterlund covered it in 1963, when she performed at Eurovision. But here's an instruental version.

André Brasseur is a Belgium organist. At the beginning he learned to play piano and violin. In the early 60’s he formed a trio (piano, bass and drums) and recorded a few 45’s. At the same time he played in the orchestra, and was the 1st violin in the orchestra represented Belgium at jazz-festival Comblain-la-Tour.
However, as a pianist he fell in love with the electric organ. He composed and recorded many numbers with his rhythm-band. Here’s a #1 hit from 1965 «Early Bird», named after the telecommunications satellite that was launched into orbit in the same year.

Ricky Shayne is a French singer and actor. He was born in Lebanon, and moved to Paris when he was 15 y.o. There he took singing lessons and established himself as a singer in Italy in 1965.
This song is from his 1965 album «Uno Dei Mods», which received a gold record. «My Babe» was originally written and recorded by bluesman Willie Dixon and became popular in the 1950’s (some of the rockers who's recorded this song were Narvel Felts, Ricky Nelson and Dale Hawkins).

Greek rockin' scene grew like mad in the 1960's, after Greece became a tourist destination. Even serious orchestras recorded teen tunes. This is an example of such a situation. «Teddy Boy’s Shake» was recorded by Mimis Plessas (Μίμης Πλέσσας), pianist and band leader, with his Quartet back in 1965.

Gelu is a young Spanish singer who was popular in Latin countries. Her version of Petula Clark's «Downtown» which became «Chao Chao» has both spanish and english lyrics. To make the record more playable on radio station, I suppose.

And the last song today is a nice instrumental tune by Norwegian big beat band The Pussycats called «Ebb Tide».

Here's the full track listing:

Ken Mackintosh & His Rhythm Group Raunchy (UK)
Akkord Quartet Echo (USSR)
Caterina und Silvio Quando Quando (Germany)
Nicola Arigliano Carina (Italy)
Otto Brandenburg Hello, Mr. Twist (Denmark)
Négy Barát Együttes Tigris Twist (Tiger Twist) (Hungary)
Arne Domnerus Orkester En Gang I Stockholm (Sweden)
André Brasseur Early Bird Sattelite (Belgium)
Ricky Shayne & The Skylars My Babe (France)
Mimis Plessas & His Quartet Teddy Boy’s Shake (Greece)
Gelu Chao Chao (Downtown) (Spain)
The Pussycats Ebb Tide (Norway)

Download the whole programm now!
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Music for Sunday Date # 8

2007-02-16T17:53:00.006+01:00

Hello, my friends! Here’s Karel and "Music for Sunday Date" is one the air.

This week we will tour through the countries that I thought were rarely presented in the last shows. First of all, I have no clue about German band Heinz Kuhnert-Quintett. If you have any information – please, contact me.

Gitte Haenning is a Danish singer and film actress. She started to sing professionally in 1955 with her father Otto Haenning, another famous Danish singer. In 1957 she recorded her first solo record "Ejner, Du Er Min Allerbedste Ven", which became a huge hit. Gitte sang in many languages, but here's a song in her native Danish language called "Ta' Med Ud Å Fisk'" (cover version of "We're Gonna Go Fishing"), from 1963. The song isn't actually about fishing – there are more things to do on Saturday night.

, Finnish singer and guitarist Lasse Liemola formed his first band Rambling Cowboys (other members were Paavo Rave and Raimo Roimu) in 1956. During 1957–1963 they played and recorded country, rock'n'roll and twist songs. Here's more pop song called "Kristiina Ja Minä" from 1963, with orchestra backing.

The Stylistes is a Greek big beat band. I know very little about them. So, if you have any info – you know what to do ;-)

Colette Deréal (real name Colette de Glarélial) was born in a small town of Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole in France. As she grew up, her godmother found that Colette had a lovely soprano voice. At the age of seventeen she went to Paris and enrolled at the René Simon School of Acting. She appeared in many French films and devoted herself to the theatre. In 1959 she appeared in TV serial where she sang "Ne Joue Pas"… And became famous overnight. Here's another lovely song from 1961. With this song she presented Monaco in Eurovision contest.

Gastone Parigi was a great trumpet player and singer. He started to record in the 1950s with his own band. Later he was a member of Ennio Morricone orchestra. Here's a sample of his trumpet playing from the motion picture "I Maniaci" from 1964.

There were many big beat bands in Portugal. One of them is Ruy Manuel. They recorded some songs as well as instrumental numbers in the 1960s.

Here's an instrumental number called "Fuga". As you can see on the sleeve, all the tracks are subtitled as "Shake". Well, shake-shake.

Miguel Ríos was a very successfull Spanish pop singer. His first EP was released in 1962. This song "Pera Madura" is from that EP.

Lili Ivanova is one of the most famous Bulgarian singers. I digitalized "Louie" from Russian 1960s vinyl compilation. There are no in-depth liner notes, but I guess it was Ivan Peev ensemble who has accompanied her on this song.

Czerwono-Czarni is Polish band. We have talked about them a few weeks earlier. Here's a great garage/beat number translated as "We Don't Like Advertisement". I guess this track was recorded for radio.

The Scythians was Moscow big beat band. They were formed in 1967 from the students of Moscow State University.
In 1968 they played on the Moscow Music Festival and won the first prize. This tended them to appear in the motion picture "Yeshchyo Raz Pro Lyubov", where they played a great number.

Here's an example of the late Scythians fame – the band called Golubye Gitary (where two members of the Scythians played). The song is called "Barynya". It is originally Russian folk tune, but the Scythians wrote their own lyrics. The song is about foreign tourists in Russia, driving on a bus around Moscow city. You can see Golubye Gitary playing this song on the photo above.

The last (but not least) is a Belgian big beat band called Les Caravelles. The instrumental tune "Caravelle" is from their single released in 1964.

The complete track list:

Heinz Kuhnert-Quintett La Conga (Germany)
Gitte Hænning Ta' Med Ud Å Fisk' (We're Gonna Go Fishin') (Denmark)
The Stylistes Όταν Περνούν Τα Πούλια (Greece)
Lasse Liemola Kristiina Ja Minä (Finland)
Colette Deréal Allons, Allons les Enfants (Monaco)
Gastone Parigi La Mia Mania (Italy)
Conjunto Académico Ruy Manuel Fuga (Portugal)
Miguel Ríos Pera Madura (Spain)
Lili Ivanova Louie (Se Fossi Un Uomo) (Bulgaria)
Czerwono-Czarni My Reklamy Nie Lubimy (Poland)
L'ensemble Golubye Gitary Barynya (USSR)
Les Caravelles Caravelle (Belgium)

That's all for now. Have nice weekend!

27.2 MB

Music for Sunday Date # 7

2007-02-11T04:17:00.013+01:00

Freunde, wir haben alles verkauft,
Die letzten Teppiche,
Die schönsten Frauen,
Das beste Öl,
Und nun verkaufen wir Musik...
- Hazy Osterwald-Sextett.

Hello friends, and again "Music For Sunday Date" is on the air.

Mario Bertolazzi is an Italian pianist and composer. In the late 1940's he played jazz in Bologna and in the late 1950's became interested in Rock'n'Roll movement and even recorded an album in 1960 simply titled "Rock'n'Roll", where he played outstanding version of this music.

Ragnar Nygren, well-known in Sweden and over Europe as Rock-Ragge. He formed his band The Four Comets in 1957 and played in parks, and later put some nice tunes on vinyl. Here's a Dick Lory's song "Ballroom Baby" form his first EP released in 1958 on Decca Reocrds.

Wenche Myhre is a Norwegian singer and actress who has had a great number of hit songs since the 1960s in the Norwegian, German as well as the Swedish markets and languages. She got her first recording contract with composer and producer Arne Bendiksen at an age of 13, when she won a talent contest in Oslo in 1960. Here's a Don Gibson's cover "Oh, Lonesome Me" from 1960, which Wenche sings in Norwegian.

Ivo Robić is one of my favorite Yugoslavian singers. He started to sing and make records in the 1940's. He sang Italian songs, toured Germany where he sang in German. But "Pjesma o Švrći" is an original Yugoslavian song. It was written by Nikica Kalogjera - great composer and arranger - and was recorded in 1957.

There are more nice songs, like Tamara Miansarova's "You're the Best" written by Eddie Rozner (also listen to great accompaniation from "L'ensemble 3+2"), funny "Caravan" from Swiss hero Hazy Osterwald, Romanian Dan Georgescu's "Cu Tine Nu Pot Sa Ma Cert", Hungarian actress and singer Kiss Manyi with Koltay-Papp együttes, French Petula Clark with Beatles song "Please, Please Me", Icelandic Hljómar and Dutch indo-rock band Tielman Brothers with beautiful "Moon River" by Mancini.

Here's the track list:

Mario Bertolazzi e I Suoi Rockers Train Rock (Italy, 1960)
Rock-Ragge & His Four Comets Ballroom Baby (Sweden, 1958)
Wenche Myhre Åh Det Er Søndag (Oh, Lonesome Me) (Norway, 1960)
Ivo Robić Pjesma o Švrći (Yugoslavia, 1957)
Tamara Miansarova Ty Luchshe Vseh (USSR, 1964)
Tabányi Mihály és szólistái The Breeze and I (Hungary, 1962)
Hazy Osterwald-Sextett Caravan (Switzerland, 1961)
Dan Georgescu Cu Tine Nu Pot Sa Ma Cert (Romania, 1966)
Kiss Manyi Mesélj a Böbebabáról (Hungary, 1963)
The Tielman Brothers Moon River (Netherlands, 1961)
Petula Clark Tu Perds Ton Temps (Please, Please Me) (France, 1964)
Hljómar Fyrsti Kossinn (Iceland, 1965)

Have a nice weekend!

30.7 MB

Music for Sunday Date # 6

2007-01-14T11:02:00.004+01:00

Hello, friends! My names is Karel and radio "Manzerock" is on the air!

This Sunday we will continue touring all over Europe.

Let's begin with classic stuff. The Shadows was British band from London. Started as Cliff Richard's band, they soon tended to write their own material. They wanted to be a real band, not just like Cliff's shadows. Hence the name: Shadows!

Ted Herold was one of the first and best German rock'n'roll singers. He released his first single in 1958 when he was only 15 years old, and the rest is history.
After the army he continued to sing and still is very famous all over Germany. This song is from the single released in 1960.

Irina Brzevskaya started to sing in swing orchestras in the early 1950's. With her husband (trumpet player) they formed Vesna Осtet after quitting Dmitri Pokrass Orchestra in 1957.
Since that time Vesna Осtet have recorded many lovely songs, won the prize on Drezden Music Festival in 1964. Here a song from the early 1960's called "We're Dancing".

Composer and band leader Roger Mores was born in Belgium. He wrote music for films. Here's an instrumental track from vinyl LP recorded by Roger Mores Orchestra in the early 1960's.

Elly Vilhjálms was very famous all over Iceland in the 1950-1960's.
Song "Ég Veit Þú Kemur" is a good example of her lyrical style, though she can sing not only lyrical songs.

Tabányi Mihály is one of the best accordeon players in the world.
"Csillogo Harmonica" is a nice instrumental tune recorded in 1955.

Milan Chladil was great swing and pop singer. You'll hear him singing Louis Armstrong masterpiece "Mack the Knife", recorded in 1960 (one of the first cover versions in Europe). Karel Vlach Orchestra playing here.

Czerwono-Czarni was a Polish band. Usually they accomponiated to Helena Majdaniec, but this track is from their fully instrumental EP. This is a cover version of Louis Prima song "Just A Gigolo", recorded in 1963.

The Greenbeats, originally named The Caravelles, were Irish 1960's beat group. The song we hear today is from 1964.

Olympians was Greek band fromed in 1965 from the members of Bramhs. They started as many European bands playing The Bealtes and Rolling Stones, but also tried to write their own compositions. This song "Istoria" is from their 8th single released in 1968. Later, vocalist Pascalis started his solo career. He was, and still is, very succesful.

Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Leipzig was one of the leading dance and swing orchestras in East Germany. "Palmen Am Meer" is a nice tune which receives a good feeling.

And last (but not least) is Romanian beat band Sincron. Leader Cornel Fugary was also well-known for his solo projects. He's a good singer. But Sincron was famous for their instrumental tracks. So, here you are: "Play With the Maiden".

The track-list:

The Shadows Blue Star (UK)
Ted Herold Nur Sie (Germany)
Irina Brzhevskaya Tantsuem My (USSR)
Roger Mores et son orchestre Silver Lake (Belgium)
Elly Vilhjálms Ég Veit Þú Kemur (Iceland)
Tabányi Mihály és szólistái Csillogo Harmonika (Hungary)
Milan Chladil Mackie Messer (Czechoslovakia)
Czerwono-Czarni Little Gigolo (Poland)
The Greenbeats If This World Were Mine (Ireland)
Olympians Ιστορια (Greece)
Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Leipzig Palmen Am Meer (DDR)
Sincron Play With the Maiden (Romania)

Have a nice weekend!

28.4 MB

Kertukai

2007-01-10T00:50:00.004+01:00

Big-Beat band Kertukai was formed in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1966. Officially they were called Vokal & Instrumental Ensamble of Kaunas Polytechnic Institute (Kauno Politechnikos Institutas or KPI).

Rhythm guitarist and vocalist Vydmantas Juronis formed Kertukai in the first place, wrote music and texts to all original songs. The music leader was Gediminas Jurgilas. He played on keyboards. Other members are: Saulius Lukošius - vocal & lead guitar, Feliksas Tulcinas – bass guitar, Alius Tatarskis – drums. Also, Simas Taršys and Gražina Akstinaitė on vocal.

Never being officially released on vinyl, Kertukai gained a fantastic popularity in Lithuanina. Their tapes (usually recorded live on concerts) were very famous among the youths. They played on dances and travelled all over Lithuania, were regular on radio.

The repertoire contains instrumental numbers, famous cover songs, original songs, like "Lopšinė" ("Lullaby") and traditional tunes.

In the late 1960's they appeared in Lithuanian motion picture "Ave Vita".

Here you can hear the tracks that were digitilized from old tapes – both instrumentals and vocal numbers. Kertukai usually sang in Lithuanian. For example, an old country/rockabilly hit "Long Tall Texan" became "Ilgas Plonas Techasietis".

If you have more records (or better quality) - contact me, please!

Big thanks to Vydmantas Juronis for the information!!!

:-)

Music for Sunady Date # 5

2006-12-30T20:08:00.004+01:00

Hallo, friends, here's Karel and radio "Manzerock" is on the air! Today is the last day of the year 2006. I want to say Happy New Year to all of you, retro lovers. Hope the next year will bring you lots of nice music.

The first artist today is Alfi Kabiljo Ensemble. Alfi Kabiljo, composer, arranger, songwriter and producer, was born on December 22, 1935. He wrote, and still writes, lots of music for film and TV, arranges dance and classical music. The track is called "Morning Twist" (hope it will make you wake up ;)

El Toro et les Cyclones is a French beat group, they released a few EP's in the early 1960's. This song is "Twenty Flight Rock" with French lyrics was released in 1962.

I still wonder how many music lovers aware of Icelandic artists? I think they are just amazing. For example, Ási í Bæ.

István Selmeczi, a Hungarian organ player, plays a famous tune called "Green Fields" together with Vilmos Körmendi ensemble.

Hugo Strasser was a famous German clarnetist, formed his big band in 1955 and still in active. He was also successful as a composer, his "Lonely Trumpet" with Ray Anthony became a world hit.

There are more interesting tracks here, like "Santa Lucia" by Vico Torriani - very nice piece of Italian origin, "Hello, Mr. Sir..." by Austrian obscure beat band called The Hubbubs, Margareta Pâslaru - romanian music and film star, Camillo Felgen from Luxembourg, Mimi Nikolova backed by Bulgarian Radio and Television Orchestra conducted by M. Leviev.

The last track is Alexander Zatsepin' masterpiece from the motion picture "Tak Rozhdautsya Tosty". It was recorded by Zatsepin' ensemble in 1961.

Here's the full track list:

Ansambl Alfija Kabilja Jutarnji Twist (Yugoslavia)
El Toro et Les Cyclones Vingtième Étage (Twenty Flight Rock) (France)
Ási í Bæ Sólbrúnir Vangar (Iceland)
Körmendi együttes Zöld Volt A Mező (Green Fields) (Hungary)
The Bachelors Only You (Ireland)
Hugo Strasser-Tanzorchester Popocatepetl Twist (Germany)
Margareta Pâslaru Doua Rindunici (Romania)
The Hubbubs Hello, Mr. Sir... (Austria)
Vico Torriani Santa Lucia (Switzerland)
Camillo Felgen Petit Bonhomme (Luxembourg)
Mimi Nikolova Sinee (Bulgaria)
L'ensemble de Aleksander Zatsepin Prazdnichniy Vals (USSR)

Have a Happy New Year and all the best wishes to all of you!

26.6 MB

Music for Sunday Date # 4

2006-12-23T13:50:00.003+01:00

Hallo, friends, here's Karel and radio "Manzerock" is on the air! First of all, I wanna say "Merry Christmas"and all the best wishes to all of you!

Today I continue to acquaint you with European retro music. Today I decided to start with the Dutch "A.V.R.O. Dansorkest". This is one of the best swing orchestras from the 1930's, and the first more or less dance orchestra employed by Dutch A.V.R.O. Radiostation back in the early 1930's. The song is called "Copper Colored Gal" and the singer is Freddy Johnson, american swing vocalist and pianist. The song was recorded in 1937.

Hula Hawaiians is a Swiss band from Basel, formed with inspiration from Dutch band Kilima Hawaiians. This is an instrumental number and it's called "The Chimpanzee Rock", recorded back in 1957.

Marino Marini e il suo Quartetto was the first European quartet that gained a fantastic popularity in the 1950-1960's. The song "Sei Bella" ("You're Wonderful") was released on a USSR record in the late 1950's.

Pompilia Stoian is a Romanian singer. With her fantastic vocal she was very popular in Europe.

Larissa Mondrus was a young singer who has recorded some very lively tunes with Egil Schwartz Orchestra. They are from Latvia.

There are some instrumental/big beat bands, like Crveni Koralji, Meteor, The Nightrunners and Hitmakers.

Johnny Hallyday sings a wonderful love song "Retiens La Nuit". Karel Vlach Orchestra is very good with the swing tune "Say It Softly to Me", and Caterina Valente with Peter Alexander sings in duo a funny song "Sing, Baby, Sing", recorded in 1955.

There are more interesting tunes to come, just keep on tuning.

Here's the track listing:

A.V.R.O. Dansorkest & Freddy Johnson Copper Colored Girl (Holland)
Hula Hawaiians The Chimpanzee Rock (Switzerland)
Marino Marini ed il suo Quartetto Sei Bella (Italy)
Pompilia Stoian Kiss Me Quick (Romania)
Crveni Koralji Tema Mladih Ljubavnika (Yugoslavia)
Johnny Hallyday Retiens La Nuit (France)
Karel Vlach Orchestra Say It Softly to Me (Czechoslovakia)
Larissa Mondrus Miliy Moi Fantaser (Latvia)
Meteor A Gardista (Hungary)
The Nightrunners Riders In the Sky (Sweden)
Hitmakers Jambalaya (Denmark)
Caterina Valente und Peter Alexander Sing, Baby, Sing (Germany/Austria)

Goodbye and have a nice weekend!

29.2 MB

Music for Sunday Date # 3

2006-12-16T13:03:00.006+01:00

Hello friends, "Music For Sunday Date" is on the air.

Again, you'll travel all over Europe. Little Gerhard from Sweden sings a nice love song from 1958, Jacob Sisters presented their hit "So Ein Boy" from 1964, Radmila Karaklajic from Jugoslavia wrote her own lyrics for Louis Prima "Angelina Zooma Zooma" and sings it here... Well, lots of lovely songs.

Here's the full track listing for the party:

Karel Duba & His Band Aerotaxi (Czechoslovakia)
Little Gerhard All Right (Sweden)
Sheila Pendant Les Vacanses (All I Have to Do Is Dream) (France)
Jacob Sisters So Ein Boy (East Germany)
Laila Halme Muistojeni Laulu (Finland)
Jan Høiland Inden Sol Finner Vei (Til Min Gate) (Norway)
Vamosi Janos Csini Baba (Hungary)
Werner Müller mit Sein Orchester Music Box Favoriten (West Germany)
Vello Orumets Kui Kõnnib Mannekeen (Estonia)
Radmila Karaklajić Angelina Zumba Zumba (Angelina--Zooma Zooma) (Jugoslavia)
Oleg Anofriev Suppose that... (USSR)
L'ensemble Electron Guarda Come Dondolo (USSR)

Have a nice weekend!

28.9 MB

Music for Sunday Date # 2

2006-12-10T00:28:00.006+01:00

Hello, friends! Here you are – the second issue of the European Sunday compilation called "Music For Sunday Date". I enjoy making this, so and you, I hope.

Some tracks here are rather obscure. The Cliffters is a Danish band, very popular in the 60's, ofthen called as the Danish Shadows. The track "Sleepwalk" is from their early demo.

Anita Traversi song is not the best sound quality, but I doubt there is a better one anywhere?

Burt Blanca is my favorite Belgium guitarist, was very popular with his band in the 1960s. This version of "Telstar" has English lyrics, with magic organ at the beginning (and at the end of the song, too).

And again Lehel Németh presented Hungary here – I can't help it, I like him. And the same goes for Ivo Robić.

Elisabeth Granneman sings a funny song called "Square Waltz", she is from Norway.

Sile Dinicu and his Orcestra was transcribed from LP, so expect a little hiss. This Romanian swing band make a good point at the end of my new compilation.

The full track listing looks like this:

The Cliffters Sleepwalk (Denmark)
Adriano Celentano Rip It Up (Italy)
Anita Traversi Cielo e Terra (Switzerland)
Burt Blanca Magic Star (Telstar) (Belgium)
Ivo Robić Stranci u Noći (Strangers In the Night) (Yugoslavia)
Lehel Németh Ramona (Hungary)
Oliver Twist & The Happy Twistler Twist für Gina (West Germany)
Elisabeth Granneman En God Gammel, Firkantet Vals (Norway)
Milan Chladil Snění, To Pro Mne Není (Czeskoslovakia)
The Caretakers Caravan (Sweden)
Orchestra RTV, dirijor Sile Dinicu Potpourri, Part I (Romania)
Orchestra RTV, dirijor Sile Dinicu Potpourri, Part II (Romania)

Have a nice weekend!

37.8 MB

The Amphibian Man (Mosfilm, 1961)

2006-12-04T04:25:00.012+01:00

This is a nice film and one of my favorites. It is called "The Amphibian Man" ("Chelovek-Amfibiya") and based upon the novel of sci-fi writer Aleksandr Belyayev.

The great cast including Anastasiya Vertinskaya, Vladimir Korenev, Mikhail Kozakov... Great underwater signs, nice atmosphere and, offcourse, the music.

The music was written by Andrew Petrov, young composer, who was unknown at the time. The producer asked him to write a sci-fi soundtrack. And Petrov came up with the fantastic music that was so nice and wonderful! Sometimes I still hear it on radio and TV.

I love this short soundtrack. It was released on a 33 RPM sampler vinyl shortly after the pciture release, and here's only music, no singing. Just great music.

Melodiya Records D 17315-6

Music for Sunday Date

2006-12-03T05:03:00.010+01:00

I'm starting a new wave of my Nostalgia Show: a retro party called "Music For Sunday Date". It's compiled of 1950s-1960s music to listen, dance and relax to.

Have a nice weekend!

The Shadows Cosy (UK, 1962)
Peter Alexander Rocky-Tocky-Baby (Austria, 1957)
Wenche Myhre La Meg Være Ung (Norway, 1964)
Josef Vobruba se svým orchestrem Píseň pro Kristinku (Czechoslovakia, 1963)
Vico Torriani und Das Sunshine Quartett In der Schweiz (Switzerland, 1955)
Rein de Vries Patsy (Pathces) (Netherlands, 1962)
Németh Lehel Ó Serenella (Hungary, 1961)
Andromeeda Minu Vanem Vend (He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother) (Estonia, 1970)
Richard Anthony Toi, L'ami (All My Loving) (France, 1964)
The Bachelors Whispering (Ireland, 1963)
Danuta Rinn i Bohdan Czyzewski Bądź Wiosną Cały Rok (Poland, 1965)
Peppino di Capri Roberta (Italy, 1963)

Here's the link to download the whole party (79.8 MB)

Baby Gate & The Happy Boys

2006-12-01T05:40:00.005+01:00

That's the singer who is very original, I think. Her name is Anna Mazzini Maria, or Mina, and she's one of the biggest stars on Italian scene.

Mina was born on 25 March, 1940 in Busto Arsizio. In 1943 her parents moved to Cremona. There Mina started to study accounting, but not too long, because she decided to dedicate herself to music. That was in the middle 1950's when she heard rock'n'roll and started to sing with the local band The Happy Boys.

One summer evening of 1958 David Matalon, the head of Italdisc/Broadway records, noticed her and thought that she has a real talent. He signed her with his labels. In December two singles have been released. One, under the name Baby Gate & The Happy Boys, and another, under the name Mina.

Soon, The Happy Boys decided to make it their own way, and Mina formed a new band called Solitari. With Solitari Mina appeared on the first Italian Rock'n'roll festival and received a huge appreciation from the public. And the rest is history.

Listen to her first single from 1958, which was recorded under the name Baby Gate & The Happy Boys (Baby was Mina, and Gate came from her favourite gospel group Golden Gate Quartet). Really smashing record, here she goes!

Baby Gate & The Happy Boys
When // Be Bop A Lula
Broadway Records, B-1010 [1958]
ask for the link, please

Adams Boys

2006-11-30T14:00:00.003+01:00

Adams Boys was Greek instrumental/beat/garage band from Athens. They released a few singles which are rather rare today.

Here is a complete single from their 1967 vinyl release. Simple beat, raw organs, surf guitars - that makes me feel dizzy.

Adams Boys (Popular Records, AP 6179, 1967)
Mafia / Dizziness
ask for the link, please

Rock Hotel

2006-11-30T01:22:00.002+01:00

Well, I'm planning to write not about retro music, but also newly recorded :P

The only important thing is that it should fit well in the roots.

Rock Hotel is Estonian rock'n'roll band. Since 1978 they have released many albums. And it was good to know that they are still in active with their all-time leader Ivo Linna, and had a new album out in 1995. When I discovered this band for myself I was blew away by the song "Rockabilly Rock" (recorded in 1981). And I was blew away again when I heard their song "Let's All Rock Together" from their '95 album "Aeg Meid Muutnud On". Listen and decide for yourself.

Line-up:
Ivo Linna - vocal,
Tiit Kõrvits - lead guitar.
Heigo Mirka - bass guiatr,
Margus Kappel - keyboards,
Harry Kõrvits - drums.

Rock Hotel Let's All Rock Together (Red Hot Records, RHCD 001, 1995)
ask for the link, please

Vadim Ludvikovskiy Orchestra

2006-11-28T01:31:00.004+01:00

Well, here's another place to share various music archives of mine. Expect a lot of European retro music & other oddities from near and there. I'll try to bring the best possible quality.

OK, let's start tonight with Vadim Ludvikovskiy Orchestra.

For those, who don't know, Vadim Nikolaevitch Ludvikovskiy is the bandleader and composer. He was born on on 23 April 1925, and like many other children he started to play piano and later clarinet. His musical talent leds him to condact Army ochestra in Belorussia when he was only 19 y.o.

He was a good arranger and after the WWII he became a condactor in National Jazz Orchestra. In the meantime he tried to make his own band. Since 50's his orchestra (sometimes called Ansamble Of Soloists) has been releasing 78 RPM's, and later EP's and LP's, making shows all other USSR.

He wrote for musicals, mition pictures and soon became one of the best dance and swing orchestras in USSR. They were rather popular. Some of the best jazz and swing musiciants played in this orchestsa, like Georgiy Garanyan (sax), Konstantin Baholdin (trombone), Boris Frumkin (piano), just to name a few.

In the early 1970's the orchestra disbanded.

Here's a sample of Vadim Ludvikovskiy Orchestra music: theme from the motion picture "Lubit'" written by Mikael Tariverdiev (1963)
ask for the link, please