Los Shakers: Alternate Global Timeline

July proved to be a much more productive period for the group, being the first full month of work the band had on the project with five documented recording sessions taking place between the 3rd and the 21st. This month also saw the release of the Hallelujah song in numerous territories such as the United States, a held over track from the group’s recording session at Venezuela on the 19th of February 1967 which also produced the single’s B-side (although several European countries would end up using Let Me Tell You off the Shakers For You album as its B-side instead). It appears at this point in time that Hallelujah would be an intended part of Toto’s Bar tracklisting, being inserted into an early work-in-progress reel dated the 2nd of September 1967 but ultimately not being included on the rough mono mix of the album created later on the 30th of November 1967. The group’s first appearance into the studio this month was on the 3rd of July to record a composition entitled Candombe ...

I Remember My World: The Journey To 'La Conferencia Secreta Del Toto's Bar' - Part One (April 1967 to June 1967) In April of 1967, Los Shakers had achieved a feat most international artists could only dream of, having a number one single on the Billboard Top 100 chart in the United States. The release of Red Rubber Ball backed with Don’t Call Me On The Telephone Anymore, Baby in March of that year received to put it mildly a vastly mixed reaction around the world achieving massive success in the United States and Canada where it hit the top of the charts, becoming a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany and Japan whilst completely missing the singles charts altogether in Australia and France and fairly low sales in Argentina, being vastly outsold by their previous single Never, Never . As promotional work for the single continued throughout the months of March and April, the band had become increasingly impatient to return to the recording studio partic...

  In early October of 1967, the single of ‘Lovely Lola’ was released in Germany backed with ‘Marabú,’ a song recorded back in February during a recording session in Venezuela which four tracks were released on the ‘Los Shakers No. 2’ EP in the country before being used on a radio broadcast in Uruguay likely in May 1967. Despite their recent promotional tour the single failed to gain traction in the country and became the group’s first single since their debut single to completely miss the singles chart. Pictured: The picture sleeve of 'Lovely Lola' backed with 'Marabu' showing the group in their recently established 'Toto's Bar' attire. As the group continued to spend much of 1968 in the studio recording what would become the ‘La Conferencia Secreta Del Toto’s Bar’ album, they decreased their touring schedule especially to international regions. A television special in February 1968 entitled ‘Von Uruguay nach Deutschland: Los Shakers’ aired in the country co...

  In March of 1967, Los Shakers’ next single ‘Red Rubber Ball’ backed with ‘Don’t Call Me On The Telephone Anymore, Baby’ was rush-released in the United States, less than two months after its original recording date on the 29th of January. Although the single proved to be a massive worldwide hit (except bizarrely in their homeland of Argentina), Germany delayed the single until May as to not compete with a new German-only release compiling tracks that not previously been released on albums in the country as well as existing hits the group had in the country. This model had been accomplished by Odeon in 1965 through the release of ‘Beatles Greatest,’ a greatest hits album compiling sixteen songs from the group’s previous albums and singles in some cases appearing for the first time in true stereo.  As that album had long been prepared, Odeon used it as a template for their forthcoming Shakers compilation, using the same title and artwork structure but pairing down the tracklis...

  Compared to the first half of 1966, the later half of the year was fairly silent in terms of the group’s direct impact into the German market. The group had been preoccupied with touring commitments elsewhere, including what would prove to be The Beatles’ final tour playing across the United States Of America throughout August of that year. Thus although for the time being the group weren’t releasing new records or making personal appearances in the country, they maintained mainstays in newspapers and teen magazines all over. In September a new single was released, a cover of The Beatles’ song ‘Michelle’ backed with ‘Let Me Alone,’ an outtake recorded back in March of 1966. The group did appear on German television to promote the single, through a filmed insert that was originally filmed for and used on an episode of the Argentina music television show ‘Escala Musical.’ This segment was aired on ‘Beat-Club’ in early October and is currently the only surviving source of that mimed...

  Following the airing of ‘der Klang von Los Shakers’ on ARD1 during the 13th of March 1966, Odeon issued another single this time of ‘Stop The Game’ backed with ‘Tell Them.’ Due to the A-side’s sonic similarity to their previous hit single ‘Won’t You Please,’ this song too was a success peaking at number 16 on the GfK singles chart. By April, the group’s next engagement in the country had been announced in the press, this time with The Who, The Alan Price Set (fronted by ex-Animals member Alan Price) and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick And Tich, all artists who were hoping to break into the German and subsequent European markets. The tour was scheduled so as to give enough time for The Who, the Alan Price Set and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick And Tich to return to England for the heralded Whit Monday Pop Gala Festival held on the 30th of May 1966.   Later that month, a reissue of the group’s debut album was released on the Hörzu label instead of their regular Odeon label. Hör...