R. ANTHONY: "A Présent, Tu Peux T'en Aller"

Original released on LP Columbia (EMI) FPX 250

(FRANCE, 1964)

"FIVE LIVE YARDBIRDS"

Original released on LP Mono Columbia (EMI) 33SX 1677
(UK 1964, December 31)

DONOVAN ~ ANTHOLOGY 1

VIRGINIA LEE: HER "EARLY RECORDINGS"

Esta compilação (dos anos 1961, 1963 e 1964) reúne algumas das primeiras gravações de Virginia Lee, cantora sul-africana que começou a sua carreira como artista convidada em albuns de Archie Silansky ou Dan Hill. Como peculiaridade assinala-se a sua capacidade em cantar em diversos dialectos, muitas vezes sem sequer os conhecer. Nesta coletânea podemos ouvi-la cantar em 8 diversas línguas, mas ao longo dos anos chegou às dezasseis! Refira-se "A Noiva" e especialmente "Coimbra" (uma fantástica versão em ritmo de cha cha cha), nas quais canta em português (ou será "africanês"?).

MARIANNE's "My Songs of the Sixties"

Once upon a time there was a sweet loving girl called Marianne... No woman from the 1960s lost her youth as thoroughly as Marianne Faithfull. And by youth, I mean her innocence, not her looks. Long after that decade ended, she wrote in a song, "Where did it go to ... my youth?" She answered herself only last year with lyrics that begin, «I drink and I take drugs/I love sex and move around a lot». And no citizen of the '60s drank, took drugs and had sex with Faithfull's public abandon. This Rato Records's collection (shared once more 'cause of many requests), in three parts, reunites 75 great songs that Marianne recorded during the sixties, before her personal life went into decline, and her career went into a tailspin.

LUCILLE STARR: "The French Song"

Original Released on LP A&M LAM 2007 
(US, 1964)

1964 has been a particularly good year for Lucille Starr. She was presented with her first gold record by Quality Records Limited, in her native land, Canada, for the equivalent of a million sales of "The French Song". The same recording was also Lucille's first big hit in the U.S. most recently, it was the year she recorded a collection of some of her very favorite songs in her first album. After listening to this marvelously talented artist, we know you'll agree with us that this is only the first spark of a future magnificent glow - THAT IS LUCILLE STARR!

OST "L'Homme de Rio" (Georges Delerue, 1964)

LATIN, LUSH AND LOVELY

Original released on LP RCA Victor LSC 2752

(US, 1964)

THE ROLLING STONES 1ST UK ALBUM

1ª Edição no UK: LP Decca LK 4605 (mono) (1964, Abril 17)

1ª Edição nos US: LP London LL 3375 (mono) (1964, Maio 30)

Agora que os octogenários Jagger & Richards acabam de nos presentear com um álbum imaculado ("Hackney Diamonds" será mesmo o último?), é bom voltar atrás e recordar como tudo começou. Os Rolling Stones não eram estranhos ao estúdio quando começaram a gravar este primeiro LP em Janeiro de 1964. Já tinham conseguido hits em 1963 com "Come On", de Chuck Berry, e "I Wanna Be Your Man", de Lennon e McCartney. Pouco a pouco os Stones começaram a estabelecer um modelo confiável: pegar numa música de blues, torná-la mais difícil e mais rápida. Na esteira dos Beatles, o resultado foi um sucesso. Nos Estados Unidos, a London Records adicionou a frase "England's Newest Hit Makers" a uma capa que, na Grã-Bretanha, ousadamente não trazia nenhuma informação que não fosse o logotipo da gravadora. A editora americana também substituiu "I Need You Baby (Mona)", de Bo Diddley, por uma versão de sucesso de "Not Fade Away", de Buddy Holly. Os Rolling Stones ainda não eram tão bons quanto o material que lançariam nos anos seguintes. Mas a sua arrogância teve um impacto sísmico na pop educada da época – e continua a ecoar até hoje.

As primeiras prensagens do lançamento do álbum de estreia no Reino Unido incluíram por engano a versão sem piano de "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)" (com 2:52 m); todos os lançamentos subsequentes viriam no entanto a apresentar a versão com piano. A gravação completa (4:06 m) desta versão para piano, que apareceu no LP padrão do Reino Unido depois que o erro foi corrigido, tem um final abrupto antes da execução da música terminar. A maioria das outras versões em LP e CD do álbum de estreia no Reino Unido - bem como o álbum de estreia dos Stones nos EUA, oficialmente chamado de "England's Newest Hit Makers" - contém uma versão editada desta gravação, que desaparece por volta dos 3:48 minutos. Em Junho de 1964, "Tell Me" foi lançado como single apenas nos EUA, com a duração de 2:47 minutos. Alcançou a posição #24 por duas semanas, e durou na Billboard Hot 100 um total de 10 semanas. O lado B foi um cover da canção de Willie Dixon "I Just Wanna Make Love to You". O single "Tell Me" foi relançado em várias coletâneas dos Rolling Stones, incluindo "Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)", "More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)", "30 Greatest Hits" e "Singles Collection: The London Years". Ao longo dos anos, a edição de 3:48 minutos foi sempre a utilizada.

Andrew Loog Oldham, que juntamente com Eric Easton produziu este primeiro álbum da banda, escreveu na apresentação: «Os Rolling Stones são mais do que apenas um grupo – são um modo de vida. Um modo de vida que capturou a imaginação dos adolescentes do país e os tornou um dos grupos mais procurados da música Beat. Porque os Stones têm a premissa básica do sucesso da música pop – a de que o seu público compra discos, e discos com o som que lhes é dado neste seu primeiro álbum: uma abordagem básica e emocionante de Rhythm and Blues que, misturada com os seus cinco personagens explosivos, lhes deram três sucessos e um EP que permaneceu nas tabelas de singles por quinze semanas. Nos oito meses desde que os Stones embarcaram na sua carreira pop, eles não só conquistaram grandes sucessos como quebraram recordes de público em digressões por todo o país. Os Stones emergiram como cinco talentos inteligentes, que viajarão com sucesso muito além dos domínios da música pop. E neste álbum há doze boas razões para isso.»

BERT KAEMPFERT: "Let's Go Bowling"

Original released on LP Polydor 237657

(GERMANY, 1964)

TOM JONES: "The First Years" (1965-1967)

Sir Thomas Jones Woodward is a Welsh singer known by his stage name Tom Jones. He was born in 1940, June 7, at 57 Kingsland Terrace, Treforest, Pontypridd, in Glamorgan, South Wales and became one of the most popular vocalists to emerge from the mid-1960s. Since then, he has sung many forms of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, soul music and gospel – and sold over 100 million records. Jones has had thirty-six Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom and nineteen in the United States. He began singing at an early age, at family gatherings, weddings and in his school choir. Jones did not like school or sports, but gained confidence through his singing talent. At 12 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Many years later he said: «I spent two years in bed recovering. It was the worst time of my life.» During convalescence he could do little else but listen to music and draw.

Jones's bluesy singing style developed out of the sound of American soul music. His early influences included blues and R&B singers Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson and Brook Benton, as well as Elvis Presley. In March 1957 Jones married his high school girlfriend, Linda Trenchard when they were expecting a child together, both aged 16. The couple's son, Mark, was born in the month following their wedding. To support his young family Jones took a job working in a glove factory and was later employed in construction. Jones's voice has been described as a "full-throated, robust baritone". He became the frontman in 1963 for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales. 

The group recorded several solo tracks in 1964 with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but they had little success. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and the Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but the partnership was short-lived. The group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs in South Wales. One night at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager who also originally hailed from South Wales. Mills became Jones's manager and took the young singer to London, and also renamed him Tom Jones, to exploit the popularity of the Academy Award winning 1963 film.

Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single, "Chills and Fever", was released in late 1964. It did not chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual", became an international hit after offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline promoted it. The following year was the most prominent of Jones's career, making him one of the most popular vocalists of the British Invasion. In early 1965, "It's Not Unusual" reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom and the top ten in the United States. During 1965, Mills secured a number of film themes for Jones to record, including the themes for the film “What's New Pussycat?” (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and for the James Bond film “Thunderball”. Jones was also awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1966. In Hollywood, he met Elvis Presley for the first time who he recalls singing his song as he walked towards him on set.

In 1966, Jones's popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to reshape the singer's image into that of a crooner. Jones also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience, such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked, and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the UK and began hitting the Top 40 again in the US. For the remainder of the decade, he scored a string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic, including "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", "I'm Coming Home", and "Delilah" which all reached No. 2 in the UK chart.

Melody Maker Awards, 1966 - With Paul McCartney, Dusty Springfield and Ringo Starr

Jones performed in Las Vegas for the first time at the Flamingo, in 1967. His performances and style of dress became part of his stage act, and increasingly featured his open, half-unbuttoned shirts and tight trousers. He soon chose to record less, instead concentrating on his lucrative club performances. His shows at Caesars Palace were a knicker-hurling frenzy of sexually charged adulation and good-time entertainment. Women started throwing hotel room keys onto the stage. Jones and his idol Elvis Presley met in 1965 at the Paramount film stage, when Elvis was filming Paradise, Hawaiian Style. They became good friends, spending more and more time together in Las Vegas and duetting until the early hours at Presley's private Las Vegas suite. The friendship endured until Presley's death in 1977.

This double CD set collects the very best of Tom Jones’s songs, released in his first years of fame and success, between 1964 and 1967.

WANDA SÁ: "Vagamente"

Edição original em LP RGE Discos XRLP 5.248

(BRASIL, 1964)