Our pick of the pops: May 2007
Our pick of the pops
Il geghegè
Redhead Rita was one of Italy’s most popular and most prolific recording artists of the 1960s. Her material ranged from classy ballads to schlocky Schlager, but this 1966 Italian top ten hit shows Rita at her gutsiest.
Surrender your love
Irene Carroll was lead singer of family group the Carrolls. By the time this 1966 R&B gem found favour on the Northern Soul scene in the 1970s, Irene had morphed into comedienne/impressionist Faith Brown. Pity.
L’oiseau
Bulgarian-born Sylvie was one of France’s biggest stars of the 1960s. She started out singing covers of American rock and moved into easy listening by the end of the decade. This highly danceable number, however, is one of the highlights of her output in the late 1960s.
Colores
Karina was the undisputed queen of Spain’s ye-yé scene in the 1960s. Typically of the genre, much of her material involved her adding an Iberian flavour to international hits. Colores was written by Kenny Young and recorded by Northern Ireland’s Clodagh Rodgers as The colours are changing.
Die Schule ist aus
German garage girl group Die Sweetles issued just two singles. Die Schule ist aus translates as School is out and was the B-side of Ich wünsch’ mir zum Geburtstag einen Beatle (I’m wishing for a Beatle for my birthday).
Tell the boys
Puppet on a string beat this song into second place in the UK final to find an entry to the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest and went on to win the contest in Vienna. But Tell the boys was considered so good that it was released in its own right, as the lead track on an EP of the other songs that the Dagenham doll had performed on the Rolf Harris Show.
Il geghegè
Surrender your love
L’oiseau
Colores
Die Schule ist aus
Tell the boys
