THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
Once upon a time in Australia, Harry Vanda and George Young of the Easybeats (see #201, 1,310, 1,359, 1,415) wrote this “incredibly catchy” (Matt Singer, https://screencrush.com/what-are-the-songs-in-the-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-trailer/) song for Spain’s Los Bravos. Thank you, Quentin Tarantino, for reminding us of the genius of the song and of Mike Kennedy and Los Bravos. Katty Line, your yé-yé version takes my breath away.
1,538) Los Bravos — “Bring a Little Lovin’”
“That bass, along with the keys and horns, damn!” (moretoknowshow, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyw7z4T28nQ) The song hit #51 in the U.S., #22 in Canada, and #48 in Australia. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_a_Little_Lovin%27) “[It] became a radio hit in 1968, so it’s also totally appropriate to the period setting of the film. It also strikes me as one of those classic Quentin Tarantino music selections; something incredibly catchy from the past that’s not very well known that he then brings back from obscurity.” (Matt Singer, https://screencrush.com/what-are-the-songs-in-the-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-trailer/)
Richie Unterberger tells us of Los Bravos:
In 1966, this Spanish quintet became one of the very few rock groups from a non-English-speaking country to have an international smash with “Black Is Black,” which got to number four in the U.S. and number two in the U.K. Lead singer Mike [Kennedy, real name Michael Volker] Kogel’s overwrought, pinched vocals sounded so much like Gene Pitney [see #382] that many listeners assumed [it] was a Pitney single, and the strong resemblance remained intact throughout Los Bravos’ career, both in the singing and arrangements. Indeed, with their brassy pop/rock songs and production — which sounded about halfway between New York mid-’60s pop-soul and Jay & the Americans — Los Bravos sounded far more like a mainstream American pop/rock group than a Spanish or British one. Most of their records were sung in English, and although they never made the American Top 20 again, they were far more popular in Europe, even placing another single in the British Top 20 in late 1966 with “I Don’t Care.”
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/los-bravos-mn0000290390#biography
Carlos Marcos tells us of Mike Kennedy:
Michael [Kennedy] was Spain’s first rock star . . . . As a teenager, he rose to fame as the lead singer of Los Bravos. He became known for his wild attitude, his carefree way of living, his persistent rebelliousness and his inevitable decadence. “He was a force of nature. He sang as well as Gene Pitney or Del Shannon, in the same register, but with more volume in his voice. [Nobody had ever heard] such a peculiar voice,” asserts Miguel Ríos, one of the pioneers of rock and roll in Spain . . . . In the 1960s, Kennedy — who was born in Germany — landed in Spain. He brought with him his outlandish character, his hypochondria and an anarchist attitude to a frightened, conservative country living under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. . . . He was born in a dreary Berlin in the 1940s. When he finished school, he moved to Cologne to live with his mother and stepfather. There, he worked serving beer in pubs and performing nightly in the clubs. “I learned to sing because I was a big fan of Elvis Presley. I imitated his voice, his gestures, his makeup. Pat Boone, Eddie Cochran and Ricky Nelson also fascinated me,” he explains. He learned English by listening to the American Forces Network (AFN), the broadcaster for U.S. troops stationed in Germany. His life was transformed when, while performing at a club in Cologne, he ran into some Spanish musicians from Mallorca, who were touring in Germany. They were called the Runaways. And when the group’s singer returned to Spain because his vocal chords were destroyed after working eight-hour-long days, Kennedy was left to occupy the position . . . . And that’s how Mike and the Runaways were born. After their German experience, the band returned to Mallorca, and he went with them. . . . While he was in Spain, Los Sonor, an established ensemble, signed Mike and some of the Runaways. And this is when composer Manolo Díaz comes into play. He had years of experience as the president of CBS Records in Spain and EMI Music in Latin America. “Los Sonor told me that they had gone to see this new singer, who was very good… but he was completely crazy and was a kleptomaniac and an anarchist. [He was] very punk … and we’re talking about the 1960s in Spain. But when he started singing, it was impressive. I recommended that [the members of] Los Sonor bear with him and support him, because his voice and his way of singing were among the best in global pop-rock. I told them: ‘You can’t miss out on this, you’re going to make millions.’” Díaz contacted Alain Milhaud, a Frenchman based in Barcelona who was responsible for getting 1960s Spanish pop to the global market. And then, there was Tomás Martín Blanco, a radio giant in Spain. The plan got quickly underway: with Díaz composing, Milhaud acting as producer and manager . . . and Martín Blanco pushing the songs on the airwaves, a new band was born. “[Los Bravos] became the most successful and international Spanish band of all time,” says Salvador Domínguez . . . . The album Black is Black was composed by a group of writers from Decca Records, based in London. . . . “I didn’t like Black is Black… I followed along without liking it. It seemed to me like an easy melody, [with lyrics] that didn’t say much,” Kennedy shrugs . . . . [He] gave the group a cosmopolitan air: he sang in fluent English and, despite lacking in Spanish, displayed a charismatic, uninhibited character. His songs in Spanish are tinged with the peculiar accent of an outsider. On top of that, at the time, the songs offered subtle messages that managed to get past the formal censorship. In the background, Manolo Díaz composed odes to youth, to fun and to freedom. The success of Los Bravos was ephemeral, lasting only two years, from 1966 until 1968, but intense. . . . Every song that they put out that took advantage of Kennedy’s aggressive and powerful voice — “Black is Black”, “Los chicos con las chicas“, “Bring a Little Lovin’“– had a huge impact, both in English and Spanish. . . . Kennedy assumes that, to a great extent, his own difficult nature caused the band to break up. The singer was spending a lot of time with a doctor, who was basically stuck to him. He explains: “I was a [total] hypochondriac. Everything started before a concert in Istanbul, in 1967. I wanted to try [some hashish] and it was mixed with alcohol and amphetamines. We took amphetamines like candy to hang in there, because we played for eight hours straight. Then, with that cocktail, I went to perform and felt terrible. I had arrhythmias, it felt like my heart was stopping, I had to hold myself up against a wall…” ” [That incident] became an obsession,” he notes. “. . . . I always brought the doctor with me, to be able to calm down.[“] Another incident marked the end of Los Bravos. In April 1968, Manolo Fernández, the keyboardist, had a car accident in which his wife was killed. A month later, Fernández, heartbroken, wrote a farewell note and shot himself in front of an altar in his house, which was covered with photos of his deceased wife. At the time, suicide was a taboo subject. This tragedy – along with the troubles that Kennedy was having with the rest of the group – put an end to the original band. Kennedy published 70 good songs over the course of his solo career, but he never reached the level of success that he had when he was with the band. He also refused to follow the rules, something that also didn’t help. . . . Manolo Díaz adds: “Mike didn’t have the business sense or discipline to move his career along. Milhaud and I took advantage of his enormous ability as a singer, but we weren’t able to help him establish himself. He continued to be an anarchist.”
Here is a beyond cool TV appearance by Los Bravos:
Here is Los Bravos in the ’68 Spanish movie ¡Dame un poco de amooor…!/Give Me Some Loooove…! Of the film, FlixOlé (courtesy of Google Translate) tells us:
Mike, the lead singer of the famous group Los Bravos, is kidnapped by Chou-Fang, a follower of the doctrines of the fearsome Fu Manchu. Chou-Fang’s goal is to dominate the world through a chemical formula whose secret is known to a retired scientist. The professor’s daughter, the beautiful Sao-Ling, believes Mike is a superhero and involves him in the dangerous story.
1,539) Katty Line — “Un Petit Peu D’Amour”/”A Little Bit of Love”
Katty Line’s French yé-yé version of the song is “truly powerful and perhaps superior, intoxicating” (35whirlpools, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtSOfyhakpw) It “rocks like crazy! Fantastique!” (filton0 (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtSOfyhakpw)
Line was “a superb, sexy girl. She FLEW to Italy. Where she found fame. Too bad for us.” (Denis-yc6qe (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtSOfyhakpw) 35whirlpools writes:
“A sexy pop icon in Op-Art miniskirts” is how Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe ascribes and positions Katty Line in his wonderful and now nearly mythic book, Yé-Yé Girls of ’60s French Pop. Painting the French music scene in 1965 with a coruscating splash of colour in her debut cover of the Supremes hit ‘Back In My Arms Again’ [“N’Hésite Pas Quand L’Amour T’Appelle”] Katty went on to have a brief but dazzling display upon the canvas and galleries of European music.
Wikipedia tells us of Katty Line (courtesy of Google Translate):
Catherine Denise Frédérique Boloban known as Katty Line . . . is a French singer active mainly in Italy, where she is a member of the Clan Celentano [record label]. She published 26 songs in French between 1965 and 1969. . . . Discovered by René Porchet . . . she began her singing career in France in the mid-1960s and achieved success in 1965 with “N’hesite pas quand l’amour t’appelle” . . . and in 1966 with “Ne fais pas la tête”, a cover of “How Does That Grab You, Darlin'” by Lee Hazlewood (launched by Nancy Sinatra), then also performed in Belgium and Switzerland. In 1968, she married Porchet, her producer. In Italy she became famous after participating in the TV show Stasera con Adriano Celentano, where she stood out for her beauty and the miniskirts she wore: the Molleggiato himself released her records with his record company; moreover, following her TV success, Katty Line was hired by Dufour for the show Carosello. She participated in the 1969 Festivalbar [an Italian song festival] with “La Rivale” . . . and in the same year she recorded “Tu vinci sempre”, an Italian cover of “Touch Me” by the Doors . . . . The following year, with In direzione del sole, she participated in the Cantagiro 1970 [an Italian traveling summer variety show]. In 1971 she participated in the television show Incontri d’estate, but in December 1971 she was the victim of a terrible car accident while traveling with her husband: Porchet lost his life and Katty Line was hospitalized for 18 months, after which she decided to return to France.
Here is Katty in Italian — “Portami un Po’ d’Amore”:
Here are the Easybeats. Their demo finally appeared on the Australian version of the ’68 LP Vigil:
Here, from Serbia, is Tamara Šarić with “Čekam Te”/”I’m Waiting For You”:
Here are Las Moskas with “Amor Chiquito”/”Little Love”:
Here are Soul Strings & A Funky Horn (at 24:05):
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