THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,521) The Charms — “I’m Coming Back (to Stay)”
Here is my big fat Greek ’66 garage gold! Nikos Sarros tells us:
The “Charms” . . . were one of the most successful bands of the Greek sixties. The original members of the group were Giorgos Stratis, Giorgos Balaskas, Spyros Karoutas and Kostas Karydas. Many changes and a large number of live performances accompany the fame of Charms, whose members started various bands of that time. The success of Olympians with Greek lyrics and the influence of their manager Costas Tseronis made the Charms in late 1966 turn to their own songs (among them “The Crazy Girl” we all know). Charmes (with Mike Rozakis, Teri Ieremia, Giorgos Stratis, Costas Nikolopoulos and Petros Polatos) became one of the most commercial bands of the 60s [and] participated in motion pictures . . . .
The Greek music bands of the 60’s, https://thecommonsense.gr/en/2023/11/25/14-%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AC-%CF%83%CF%85%CE%B3%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%AE%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1-%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD-sixties-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%BF%CE%B9-%CE%AC%CE%B3/
Chris Bishop adds:
The Charms were one of the top acts in Greece in the mid-1960s. . . . [B]y 1966 they stepped away from instrumentals and started singing, but the music still has a jerky instrumental flavor to them on the early Music Box releases. All their early vocals are in English. Their first Music Box 45 has the great garage sound of “See You on Sunday” on the B-side . . . . Their next 45 . . . may be even better. “I’m Coming Back (to Stay)” has a repetitive horn riff and a good performance from the group. . . . After these releases the band lineup changed and their later output is more pop, and more often sung in Greek . . . .
Bart informed Chris Bishop that “[o]ne reason that the Charms switched to ‘terrible pop’ as you say, after 1966-67, might be that lead singer Mike Rozakis had a tonsillectomy operation around that time* and, as a result, his voice lost that wonderful hoarse quality. (*) according to the book (in Greek) by Dinos Dimatatis, Get that Beat: Greek Rock, 1960s-1970s” (https://garagehangover.com/charms/)
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