Los Shakers: The Alternate Reality Project (Part 0: Introduction)

 For the few who know the story of Los Shakers, you would know it is one that is slightly infamous for all the wrong reasons. In early 1965, the four group members would sign a contract to record label Odeon, the very company who had their rock idols The Beatles signed. However, unbeknownst to them, they had signed one of the ‘worst contracts in rock history.’ Despite lawyers and the Fattoruso brothers’ father in attendance to read over the contract, this contract (which supposedly was written in a different language) would practically make the group slaves the record company including such baffling royalty rates with the band only allowed to make any money in Argentina or Uruguay, with each member despite their huge level of success somehow receiving a salary that was far below the average earnings of an Argentinian citizen. Yet it was this awful contract (that remains framed in numerous musician’s homes) that also gave the band significant advantages over their competition, particularly the amount of time and money the company was willing to invest into the group. Many deals were penned for the group both across the continent and internationally. Whilst most of the ones across South America were fulfilled such as a weekly spot on Argentinian music TV show ‘Escala Musical,’ the vast majority from global parties were rejected or fell through. Despite articles in late 1965 stating potential European tours by the group, and planned television appearances in the United States in 1966 none of it ever happened. The one international deal that did go through was a contract with Audio Fidelity Records in the United States, a company most well known for their stereo demonstration and sound effect records. Ultimately, the group bailed out of an American tour and promotion of their one and only US album ‘Break It All’ stating their severe lack of English and the fierce competition of the American scene as reasons for bowing out. Audio Fidelity themselves refused to do any promotion of the material themselves, producing many copies of the album magically expecting it to sell but by the 1970s became a staple in cutout bins across the country. Funnily enough, randomly in the 1980s, an Australian release of this album was released despite the fact it never came out in the country in the 1960s. The company Raven Records who specialised in obscure 1960s recordings also released the album in its one and only CD release in the 1990s in very low numbers. 


Whilst the group were hugely successful across South America, they were unknown anywhere else due to the simple fact their material was never released outside of their home continent. Even after the Fattoruso brothers’ collaborations with many famous American jazz musicians in the 1970s and 1980s, their previous Shakers material was locked outside despite recent reissues in Argentina and Uruguay doing exceptionally well including a near four month residency of a reissue single containing ‘Break It All’ in Argentina’s top 30 singles chart between 1975 and 1976. To this day, certain countries are blocked out of the group’s music including yet again the United States who are unable to access the group’s Odeon material on streaming services. It wasn’t until 2020 that through new vinyl reissues of their material that it was accessible across the globe. But what had happened if they did release records elsewhere? What would’ve happened if they took on their European and American tours? What if the group had continued moving into their jazz roots? This is what this alternate reality project attempts to theorise. 


(This post was originally posted on the 1st of January 2023)

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