Gunilla Thorn - Sweden's Dark Bombshell

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but as always there's not time like the present! Here we have the wonderful Gunilla Thorn, Joe Meek protogé and bee-hive sporting Swede that would certainly give any Ronette, (or Winehouse for that matter), a run for their monies! I was very lucky to be able to speak to the lady herself within the last year and found out many fascinating fact-ettes about her life and recording career. What a joy! Here's a brief outline of what I have gathered! Gunilla was born on the 14th May in 1944 in Malmö, Sweden. Her first foray into recording was initiated by photographer and fellow Swede Jan Olofsson, who took her to London where she introduced and worked with the legendary Joe Meek in 1963. Here she recorded the single "Go On Then/Merry-go-round" as well as (excitingly revealed) the unreleased "He's Mine" and "We're Chasing Something In Another Way" (I wonder if these were in the "Tea Chest Tapes"?). As expected of his character, Joe was quite an eccentric character for Gunilla to work with, including speeding up her recordings so much it destroyed some of them. Quite cooly too is the before he Deep Purple days, Richie Blackmore was a session guitarist for Meek in The Tornadoes, and plays on the recording Go On Then! Her time in London seems like a great experience, especially since she hob-nobbed with people such as The Searchers, Screaming Lord Sutch and later on Jimi Hendrix!

After her work with Joe Meek and The Tornadoes in England, Gunilla released a cover of Johnny Cash's Walk the Line in 1965 with Danish group The Defenders, and then another single in 1966 with another Danish group, The Beethovens. This recording (Our Love/Jealous Woman) was Gunilla's finest recording moment, really showcasing her raw, ballsy vocals - defintely one of the best female garage releases from the sixties! During this time she toured extensively, taking in such countries such as Switzerland, England, Germany, Australia, America, Korea and the Netherlands - phew! This also included a stay in Vietnam in 1967-68 where she entertained the American troups, performing under the name Nilla. Please check out this website - which has some amazing photos of Gunilla during her visit to Vietnam and more recent pic too! Another bout of touring, Gunilla revealed, included performing on a cruise ship to millionaries! The ship left Rotterdam and took in stops such as the Isle of Wight and more exoticly Bermuda and New York! After a brief partnership with Sonny Guerrero of folkgroup The Immigrants, Gunilla left the music biz in the 70's to begin her own business.

It's fair to say Ms Thorn is one of the more provactive female singers, especially from Sweden, and her ballsy vocals more than much up to this image. If only she could have more opporunity to showcase them on record! Netherless Jealous Woman in particular packs a wallop few contempoaries can match - and would send any man fearing for his life on the receiving end of its lyricall tongue! .... So up for grabs is all of the three records she released during her career - six songs in total! These are as follows :

Merry-go-round/Go On Then 1963 (HMV Pop 1239)
I Walk The Line/A Closer Walk With Thee 1965 (Sonet T 7199)
Our Love/Jealous Woman 1966 (EMI X B47C)

Get closer with Gunilla here!

ZouZou on the box!

Just a quick post to rave about a couple of YouTube delights featuring the ultra fab ZouZou - both with the featuring the French lass performing the song 'Il est parti comme il était venu.' The (above) first is from The Tom Jones Show, and features the afformentioned ZouZou and Mr Jones wigging out to some go-go beats before ZouZou proceedes then to very cooly step over some placards and into her rendition of her recording. The second (below) is again of ZouZou and again in the same frock again coltishly doing what she does best! What is especially wonderous is the chance to actually see what she looks like - as as famous as she there is a severe lack of photoage in internetland! Thank you to the posters!

The All Girl Chips!

Howdy! Excitingly this update we have some more sixties female rock'n'rollers to add to the rooster! As you can see from the picture sleeve above, The Chips were one with a definete penchant for geometrics! As well as the look, the group also had the crudentials according to the blurb on the back of the sleeve - and it goes something like this.....

"The Chips are destined to be this country's next No.1 all-girl group. They're that good! So good, in fact, that one of their moee recent jobs was touring with the Paul Revere and the Raiders Show. From Chicago the Chips are Daren Pasterik, Sheri Hartman, Aleat Maciejewski, Klayre Hartmann and Charlotte O'Neill. While many all-female acts are thought of as a novelty, the Chips are far from that category. There are many top male groups whose members wish they could play and sing as well.

When your'e finished listening to "Break It Gently," the group's first single for Phillips, we're certain you'll agree that the Chips are one of the top acts in the record business-fellows included!"

While perhaps not fufilling the destiny as heralded by the label, the group did manage to release another single on ABC Paramount and do some extensive touring nationwide. The exact fate of the group is a mystery, but I'm guessing they parted ways at some point along the way! They were hoever formed in Chicago as early as 1966 and lasted till 1968/69, when the singles were released. Chicago itself did seem to produce it's fair share of female groups, most famously The Daughters of Eve and also The Marie-Antoinettes. More importantly how do they sound?????? Well a bit of a mix really! Lead single "Break It Gently" is fair enough, think mid-tempo girl group soul. However the cover of Patty and The Emblems "Mixed Up Shook Up Girl" is much more successful. Their second single for ABC Paramount is a tale of two stories too! "When You Hold Me Baby," written by band member Sheri Hartman, is garage soul crossover with in the lead singer in growling fine form - certainly their best recording. Their flip is more ballad-like and take note of the picture of Mickey Mouse detailed on the sleeve as he reappears lyrically in "Dream With Your Eyes..." - natch!

Here's what's included ::

Break It Gently/Mixed Up Shook Up Girl (Phillips 40521 1968)

When You Hold Me Baby/Dream With Your Eyes Wide Open (ABC Paramount 11158 1968)

Grab Some Chips Here!

The Veritable Ms Beryl Marsden!

One of the most talented female vocalists to emerge from the United K during the sixties beat boom was one Beryl Marsden. Much has been written on the lass allready so I'll keep it short but sweet! A great place to start is the entry on the amazing ReadySteadyGirls website. Essential reading too is Beryl's own biog at the Merseybeat website - fascinating stuff! I do wonder if she ever did record anything with She Trinty?? I do hopes so! This collection collates some of Beryl's lesser known recordings - which I do hope you enjoy! The full list is as follows:

Who You Gonna Hurt? (Columbia DB 7718 1965)
When The Lovelight Starts Shinin' (Decca F11818 1964)
Music Talk (Columbia DB7797 1965)
Let's Go Somewhere (Columbia DB 7888 1966)
I Only Care About You (Decca F11707 1963)
I Know (You Dont Love Me No More) (Decca F11707 1963)
Gonna Make Him My Baby (Columbia DB 7718 1965)
Everybody Loves a Lover (Live)

Excitingly Beryl is back and recording! Her new website is up and running here and features some great pictures and links to some fab new singles too!

Bag Some Beryl Here!

Mark Radice and the Ten Year Old Blues

Jeezo! Sorry (yet again) for abstaining from posting on this dear blog/graveyard/wasteland......but!....I have returned (for now) and with something I hope you will all enjoy. Continuing with child singing sensations comes the complete pre-puberty releases of the very talented Mark Radice. The son of record producer Gene Radice, Mark shone from a very early age in the studio - writing over 50 of his own compositions by the age of 11. His first release came at the age of 10 with Wooden Girl/Save Your Money in 1967, then Natural Morning/You Took the Words Right Out of My Life in 1968, followed by 10,000 Year Old Blues/Three Cheers (For the Sad Man) in the same year. Finally came Richest Man In the World/Girl By The Meter in '69, which was the last single before his self-titled debut album in 1971. In addition to both singing and writing the releases - he also played a part in producing and arranging the records too - nice! After allowing these recordings flow down your ear canals, I'm sure you'll agree with me on what a superb talent Mark was and indeed still is! Mr Radice grew up to become a successful songwriter (including a variety of numbers for Sesame Street - wahey!) and his official site is here for much more information and a full discog. I've also split it into two parts as my connection aint what it used to be!

Mark One!

Mark Two!

The Swiss Yé-Yé of Josiane Rey!

Time for another French (or French speaking to be exact) maiden to grace these humble pages - and the honour this week goes to a Swiss belle by the name of Josiane Rey! Mlle. Rey is an elusive character to track down, however what is known is that she released 3 EP's and one single on the Swiss Arpege label circa 1967. Her recordings range from the swinging homage to aeronautics (En Jet) to the Cossack inspired Casatchok de la Volga to dulcet ballad of Reste Dans Mo Coeur. Other highlights include the fab Notre Amour A Dormi Tout Un Hiver and the ace Elapostrofaemo-uere. In the download you'll find all 3 EP's for your delight! The rundown looks like this.....

Josiane Rey (Aperge 4501)

Sous Les Lampions

Notre Amour A Dormi Tout Un Hiver

En Jet

C'est Bon

Josiane Rey (Aperge 4502)

Tambours Battant

Non Monsieur

Le Petit Porte-bonheur

Reste Dans Mon Coeur

Josiane Rey (Aperge 4503)

Un Medaillon

Par La Tendresse

Elapostrofaemo-uere

Casatchok de la Volga

Accompany Josiane on her recordings is the talented Alain Morisod, except or her last one where Andre Borli takes the helm! Josiane nowadays maybe be a doctor or botique owner - who knows! I hope you very much enjoy what musical career she did undertake! Included also in the download are some high-quality scans of the sleeves - as they quite groovy!

Sample the delightful Miss Rey here!

The Same - Just Not The Same

Another female band that the sixties, in particular the late sixties, gave birth to were a high school quintet that went by the name of The Same. Hailing from the Arlington Heights area in Illinois, they managed to record at least one single at the Valentine Studios in California, the release Sunshine, Flowers and Rain/If You Love Me, Really Love Me. Members included Judy Selman (lead gt.), Debbie Reiss (rhythm gtr.), Vicki Selman (bass gtr.) , Donna Smelak (drums) and Vicki Hubly (lead singer). The group toured several towns in their homestate, and various venues in Chicago, including The New Place, The Crimson Cougar, and the Dark Spot while sharing the bill with bands such as The Cryin' Shames and Michael and the Messengers. Judging by the paisley glory of the girls threads they tried to encapsulate that flower power vibe flowing at the time - plus if you download the songs you'll hear how they pull the same thing off with their sound! Other outfits included pink 'poor' sweaters and maroon skirts. A newspaper article from the time explains that the girls were not allowed to pratice during the week, but their parents do not object alltogether as they see it as an overall postive experience for them. While not performing the girls enjoyed ordinary teenage activities including listening to records, going to dances and talking on the phone in-between doing homework.

While not anything spectacular, they're still another fascinating entry in the annals of 60's female bands! As one student at the time comments "I think 'The Same' is groovy, and they show what really good music a group consisting entirely of girls can produce"!

Dig The Same Here!