Our pick of the pops: August 2007

Our pick of the pops

Les filles c’est fait

This song appeared on Charlotte’s debut release on the Polydor label. Issued in 1966, the EP led with Ça m’est égal, but we prefer this cracking dance track, a version of US soul group The Capitols’ We got a thing that’s in the groove.

Lulu

Love loves to love love

Lulu was one of Britain’s biggest stars of the 1960s. With its rock guitar riffs, this single, issued in the autumn of 1967, was a change of sound for the singer. However, completely unjustifiably, it proved only a small hit.

Vera Palm

Weil mein Daddy dich gut leiden kann

Released on the Hit-Ton label in 1968, this song has all the ingredients of a “death disc”, though without the tragic ending. In it, singer Vera Palm enjoys riding around in her father’s red sports coupe, which he’s lent her because he likes her boyfriend.

Rosalia

No importa nada

Rosalia was Spain’s second yé-yé singer of the 1960s, behind Karina. With a tougher sound, she enjoyed a string of hits from 1963 until the end of the decade. This gutsy number was released in 1967.

Beryl Marsden

What’s she got

Despite constant billing as the “next big thing”, Liverpool’s Beryl Marsden never made it as a solo artist. This song, released in 1966, was her final solo single and has recently been re-released on CD, allowing us to enjoy it in all its non-crackly glory for the first time.

Séverine

Je ferme les yeux, je compte dix

Under the name of Céline, France’s Josiane Grizeau released her first record in 1967. After it flopped, she was relaunched with a new name, Séverine, and went on to record this tune in 1969, a very competent cover of Dusty Springfield’s I close my eyes and count to ten.