Los Shakers: Alternate Global Timeline

  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...

  1965 had been a massive year for Los Shakers both in their home continent and in many nations across the globe, however the lack of success in one of Europe’s biggest markets in Germany had been disappointing managing only one record entering the charts (the single release of ‘Break It All’ and ‘More’ which peaked at the lowly position of number 38). One of the goals of 1966 was to make more concentrated efforts breaking into the German markets, beginning with a brief European tour in January. The band touched down in Germany on the 17th of January 1966 this time with much more press than their brief stint back in August 1965. The group appeared on a tour alongside The Lords, a German beat band who had been gaining huge momentum in the country who, much like Los Shakers, was marketed by EMI as their countries’ equivalent of The Beatles.  The German branch of the tour was dubbed ‘Kampt um den Beat’ which translated into English is ‘Battle Of The Beat,’ and lasted for two week...

Los Shakers In Germany: July 1965 to October 1965 (Part One) Much like the rest of the world in the mid 1960s, the youth of Germany was fully consumed by the sounds of the British Invasion. Although many of the groups didn’t tour the country frequently, the sales of their records skyrocketed and began to influence a new generation of musicians in the country with bands such as The Rattles and The Lords as well as enticing overseas talent such as The Liverbirds to relocate to the country.   Being one of the largest markets in Europe, Odeon was keen to push Los Shakers into Germany as quickly as possible. When talk of expanding the group’s music to overseas territory, Germany was one of the first countries discussed and one of the quickest arrangements to be created, being in large part that EMI’s main label for distribution in the country was an international branch of Odeon. Thus the group was (rather quickly) signed onto Odeon Records in Germany with very little hassle. ...

  As a result of the Toto’s Bar fiasco in January 1968, Odeon forced Capitol to drop Los Shakers from the label and although these events affected Los Shakers and Odeon, ultimately the final double-disc album was finished and released later in the year. As the group was working on the album, Odeon signed a deal with Columbia Records for American and Canadian distribution of their material and as a consequence of the fallout, Odeon did not allow another one of their artists to have their records released by Capitol in the United States until the label became rebranded and regrouped into EMI during the 1970s.  Los Shakers’ releases from this point onwards mirror the intended Argentinian albums/singles perfectly regarding track listings, artwork and titles and edits. The first release under this practice was the two disc edition of ‘La Conferencia Secreta Del Toto’s Bar’ released in August 1968. As Los Shakers focused solely on albums from this point onwards, very few singles wer...