Los Shakers In Germany (Part Five)
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 tracklisting to only thirteen songs. As Los Shakers’ singles had always been released in mono in Germany up to this point, a number of tracks made their stereo debut on this album. ‘It’s Not Bad,’ ‘Won’t You Please,’ ‘Stop The Game,’ ‘More’ and ‘Only In Your Eyes’ had true stereo mixes sent directly from Argentina with all pre-existing album tracks copied from the German masters making fairly jarring transitions between sound quality throughout the compilation. One track (‘It’s My Party’) remained in fake stereo due to the disappearance of its original two-track multi during the 1960s. The compilation was a massive hit upon it’s release in March 1967 reaching number five on the GfK album charts and continuing to sell well into the early 1980s when it was discontinued along with ‘Beatles Greatest.’ ‘Shakers Greatest’ also saw a release in the Netherlands in 1968.
Finally in early May, following the release of ‘Shakers Greatest,’ the ‘Red Rubber Ball’ was released in Germany where it peaked at number four on the GfK singles chart following the group’s first television appearance in the country during 1967.
Between 1967 to 1968, it became customary for British bands to appear on ‘Beat-Club’ to mime along to their latest with artists like The Kinks, The Who and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich making numerous appearances on the show throughout those years. One advantage of those artists was the relatively short distance between the two countries, often allowing the groups to make a simple appearance in the country even when not holding a tour in the country at that time. For many records of this era, the only footage we have of bands performing them are from ‘Beat Club’ due to German television’s much stricter archival routines when compared to stations in the UK where the vast majority was simply wiped over and lost forever. In this aspect Los Shakers were at a disadvantage, being primarily located in Argentina far away from either England or Germany and thus often arriving at both countries through occasional visits of the European continent for touring or promotion.
Although the footage of these appearances still exists, documentation regarding the dates they were filmed is few and far between. Los Shakers’ performance was likely filmed roughly two weeks after the single’s release on the 3rd of May. A filmed segment promoting the song from ‘Escala Musical’ is also known to have been aired on German televisions around this time.
In late June, the ‘Hallelujah’ single was released backed with ‘Let Me Tell You,’ a track from their second studio album ‘Shakers For You.’ This single did moderately well hitting number 14 during a short stint on the charts. Once again the group appeared on Beat-Club miming along to the song which by this point was beginning to shift away from their British Invasion image, with Hugo wearing coloured shades and Osvaldo slowly growing out the moustache he would don for the rest of the decade.
In August, the group once again reappeared in Germany for a brief promotional tour. Whilst on the tour, they travelled to the Hofner guitar company’s offices for a photoshoot where Pelin was given a violin bass, one nearly identical to the famous bass Paul McCartney used during his tenure in The Beatles during their touring years. Bizarrely they also appeared on Beat-Club this time miming to ‘Never, Never,’ a single from the previous year that had already reached its peak in the country and was in no need for promotion. This would prove to be the final television appearance of Pelin’s red Hofner 185 bass which would be replaced by the new violin bass during this tour although pictures show it was still kept as a backup on various shows. The group itself also looked quite different to their previous tour in the country back in 1966, with their suits ditched for more casual buttoned shirts and jeans with three members spotting moustaches. This was even more of a contrast to the numerous pictures that lined the sides of the stages and the record sleeves of their most recent singles with the group’s first major photoshoot from 1965 still being milked to promote the releases of Odeon Records in the country.
Shakers Greatest (5th March 1967)
Comments
Post a Comment