Pick of the pops, October 2014

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Luisa Ghini: Piangi baby piangi
This month, we kick off with Italian doll Luisa Ghini and her take on Roddie Joy’s Come back baby. The original was released on the Red Bird label as the debut disc of the former Rita Coleman in 1965. Love hit me with a wallop and If there’s anything else you want (let me know) proved two other highlights from her time with the legendary label. Meanwhile, over in Italy, Luisa Ghini gained a contract with the Milano record label, where she would release this song as the flip to Prima di uscire. What happened to her after it flopped is anybody’s guess.

Tracy: A city called soul
Now here’s a real slice of late 1960s pop for you. It’s performed by Tracy. She shouldn’t be confused with Germany’s Tracy who we featured a few months back. It’s thought this Tracy was the same Wembley-born teenager who cut a version of Freda Payne’s Rock me in the cradle (of you lovin’ arms) a couple of years later. Our pick, A city called soul, is the B-side of her 1969 single for Columbia, Follow me, and was penned by no less than Bob Barratt and Norrie Paramor. Interestingly, the single was also released in Germany, on the Cornet label. In neither country was it a hit, however.

Maria Sandrelli: Jerk pour toi
Once again, we have to thank regular visitor Fane Jones for this little find. Maria Sandrelli hailed from Roccaforte del Greco in Italy. Record company Windsor’s PR team claimed that she learned to sing while spending time with local farmers tending goats. At the risk of seeming cynical, we’ve filed that story in a different animal folder altogether: bull. Anyway, young Maria and her family moved over the border to France, and settled in Nice. There, she would go on to win a talent show in Menton and a recording contract. Serments d’été beame her debut disc, in 1966. Our pick, Jerk pour toi, is taken from her second – and final – EP, Fille de Méditerranée, issued the following year.

Gisela Collins: Du bist genau wie die Anderen
We’ve featured this song before, but that was way back in 2007 and it deserves another outing. We’re not the only ones to rate it: top German star Marion (Maerz) also recorded it. Both singers favoured this kind of downbeat number. Not much is known as Gisela herself. Like Maria Sandrelli above, she recorded just two singles. Our pick is the second of those. Her first 45, Wo find’ ich ihn, is also worth a listen, especially for the terrific B-side, Abendstern. We’ll bring you that another time. Right now, we have this track lodged in our brains – and we reckon you should too.

The Caravelles: I like a man
This British duo will forver be associated with their international hit You don’t have to be a baby to cry. Brunette Andrea Simpson and blonde Lois Wilkinson enjoyed massive success with their take on the old Moon Mullican song, even reaching the top three in the US. What’s often forgotten about the pair, though, is that they could also pen a decent tune themselves. We’ve picked their composition I like a man for your listening pleasure this month. It was issued in 1964 as the B-side to a rather unnecessary remake of Patti Page’s I don’t care if the sun don’t shine.

Zsuzsa Koncz: Eretnek vágy
Good news for any of you who know little about eastern Europe’s female music scene of the 1960s: Matthew Meek will be sharing his expertise in a Hungarian girls special very soon. To tease your tastebuds, here’s Zsuzsa Koncz with her 1968 single Eretnek vágy. If you fancy joining the Ready steady girls! editorial team, get in touch. Or if you just fancy writing a one-off, we’d love to hear from you too. You would be welcome to share the story of a genre or singer we haven’t covered or you could pick six songs for Pick of the pops.