Los Shakers In Germany (Part Four)

 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 performance as the original ‘Escala Musical’ episode it comes from is thought to no longer survive.


The single did moderately well on the GfK singles charts hitting a peak of number 24, likely due to the A-side’s appearance on The Beatles’ own ‘Rubber Soul’ album which was and continues to be a large seller in Germany. That same month back in Argentina, work on the group’s second studio album entitled ‘Shakers For You’ was almost completed, with artwork about to be finalised and the completed mono mix sent for verification for release. The album set to be released in early October across South America had a slight delay pushing the album behind by a week due to the needed request of also providing a true stereo mix for European consumption, which was quickly and at times poorly done. Released on the 29th of October 1966, ‘Shakers For You’ hit a fairly low showing of number 43 on the GfK album charts despite the panic it caused at the EMI offices. The artwork and tracklisting remain fairly intact from the original release with only record labels and manufacturing information being changed out. The true stereo mix issued in Germany and other countries however was a much sloppier affair than the mono mix released in much of the world, although the album was recorded well on a four-track machine with decent panning, the sound quality of the mix was less to be desired with a very muffled sound and several audible faults either due to poor editing or bad transfers. These sound quality problems were of very little concern for the majority however. In November, a single from the album was released with ‘Never, Never’ released as the A-side but the album’s closing track ‘I Hope You’ll Like It 042’ as the rather unconventional B-side instead of ‘Let Me Tell You’ as was released in Argentina. It’s thought that film inserts of both songs made it to air on German television around November and December and possibly into January of the following year however no concrete evidence has been proven to back those claims nor any surviving footage of such airings. The single did however very well, bringing the group back into the top ten peaking at number seven. 


After a short break during the Christmas holidays, the 27th to the 31st of December was a heavy promotional period for the group including appearing on the final episode of British show ‘Top Of The Pops’ of the year (airing on the 29th of December 1966), after which they very quickly travelled back to Germany this time appearing live on the final episode of ‘Beat Club’ of the year and indeed what would prove to be the group’s final activity of the year airing on the 31st of December. Of note were live appearances of Australian rock group ‘The Easybeats,’ promoting their commercial breakthrough outside of Australia and New Zealand, ‘Friday On My Mind.’ This was likely the first interaction between Los Shakers and The Easybeats, both clearly making a big impression on each other. This relationship would prove fruitful much later when Harry Vanda and George Young did production work on the group’s 1979 concept album ‘Back Home’ recorded in Australia. The band performed two songs live; ‘Picking Up Troubles’ and ‘Never Never.’ As is the case with all ‘Beat Club’ episodes, this performance and indeed the entire episode survives and has been widely available across official DVD and video streaming releases.


The group would then cease operation outside of their contracted weekly appearances on ‘Escala Musical’ until the 29h of January 1967 when a four hour session occurred at EMI Studios, Argentina producing multiple masters including what would ultimately become one of their largest international hits ‘Red Rubber Ball.’ Upon word of the rush-release of the single in America however, Odeon prompted a delay on the single as they too had plans for a new Los Shakers release, a greatest hits compilation including numerous previously unreleased to album tracks.


Shakers For You (29th October 1966)

Side One:
1. Never, Never
2. The Child And Me
3. Hear My Words
4. Picking Up Troubles
5. Too Late
6. Let Me Tell You

Side Two:
1. Got Any Money?
2. You'll Find Another Girl
3. Smile Again
4. Reviens Ma Cherie
5. Waiting
6. I Hope You'll Like It 042



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