The Spotnicks

The Spotnicks is an instrumental rock group from Sweden, who were formed in 1961. Together with the Shadows and the Ventures they are counted as one of the most famous instrumental bands during the 1960s. They were famous for wearing "space suit" costumes on stage, and for their innovative electronic guitar sound. They have released 42 albums, selling more than 18 million records, and still tour.
The Spotnicks originated from a duo, "The Rebels" (1956), formed by Bo Starander (born 11 March 1942; rhythm guitar, vocals), and Björn Thelin (27 June 1942 – 24 January 2017; bass guitar). They were joined by lead guitarist Bo Winberg (born 27 March 1939, Gothenburg, Sweden), and became "Rock-Teddy and the Blue Caps" in 1957 in Gothenburg. In 1958 they added Ove Johansson (drums) (born 30 March 1940), changed their name to "The Frazers", and began playing regularly in local clubs. They signed a recording contract in 1961, and changed their name to "The Spotnicks", a play on the Russian satellite Sputnik as suggested by their manager, Roland Ferneborg. Starander was later known as Bob Lander.
They soon became the first Swedish group to have significant international success, in a similar style to The Shadows and The Ventures. They toured Europe, and one of their early records, "Orange Blossom Special", became their first big international hit, making the Top 30 in the UK Singles Chart in 1962 on the Oriole label, and reaching #1 in Australia. Around this time they began wearing their trademark "space suits" on stage. They recorded their first album, The Spotnicks in London, Out-a Space, in 1962. Further hits included "Rocket Man" (based on the Soviet/Russian folk march "Polyushko-polye"), and "Hava Nagila" (their biggest UK hit, where it made #13). Winberg also recorded solo, credited as 'The Shy Ones'

In 1963, "Amapola" became one of their most successful singles in their home country, staying at #1 in Sweden for eight weeks. They appeared in the film Just for Fun, continued to tour widely, and recorded their second album, The Spotnicks in Paris. That year, drummer Ove Johansson left and was replaced by an Englishman, Derek Skinner (born 5 March 1944, London). Two years later, Skinner was replaced briefly by Jimmie Nicol, who had drummed with The Beatles on the Danish, Dutch and Australian leg of their 1964 tour, while Ringo Starr recovered from having his tonsils removed.

In 1964 and 1965, The Spotnicks expanded their popularity in Germany and Japan, reaching #1 in Japan in 1966 with "Karelia". Elsewhere, however, they became less successful as popular music tastes changed. In 1965 the band was joined by organist, vocalist Peter Winsnes (born 9 March 1944, Molndal, Sweden). Nicol left in February 1967 and was replaced by Tommy Tausis (born 22 March 1946). Thelin also left in 1967 and was replaced by Magnus Hellsberg (born 6 November 1944). Winsnes left in 1968 and organist Goran Samuelsson joined in 1969. The group, having undergone many personnel changes, split up in 1970 after releasing their fifteenth album, The Spotnicks Back in the Race. Yet the band was still popular in Japan, and it soon reformed under Winberg's control in 1971 at the request of a Japanese record label.

Winberg has continued to lead versions of The Spotnicks, occasionally including Lander and/or Thelin, on tour and in recordings since then. In 2013, Winberg and Lander announced that they would be undertaking a final tour, finishing in May 2014.
Here is "Orange Blossom Special" Enjoy. Also Their Website is  Here --->Website

Marty Wilde

Wilde was born in Blackheath, London. He was performing under the name Reg Patterson at London's Condor Club in 1957, when he was spotted by impresario Larry Parnes. Parnes gave his protégés stage names like Billy Fury, Duffy Power and Dickie Pride, hence the change to Wilde. The 'Marty' came from the commended 1955 film, Marty. Wilde was signed to the British recording arm of Philips Records, with US releases appearing on the Epic label via Philips' reciprocal licensing agreement with Columbia Records stateside. (Philips had yet to acquire the Mercury group as its US division.)

From mid-1958 to the end of 1959, Wilde was one of the leading British rock and roll singers, along with Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard. Wilde's backing group was called the Wildcats. At various times they featured Big Jim Sullivan on lead guitar, Tony Belcher on rhythm guitar, Bobby Graham or Bobbie Clarke on drums; plus Brian Locking on bass guitar and Brian Bennett on drums who both later joined the Shadows.

He appeared regularly on the BBC Television show 6.5 Special and was the main regular artiste on the Saturday ITV popular music shows Oh Boy! and Boy Meets Girls. There he met and married Joyce Baker, one of the Vernons Girls who were also show regulars. The courtship was highly public but, after the marriage, Wilde's popularity as a teen idol declined.

He moved partly into all-round entertainment, appearing in musicals such as Conrad Birdie in the original West End production of Bye Bye Birdie and several films. He enjoyed success as a songwriter in the late 1960s and early 1970s. With Ronnie Scott, he co-wrote the one-hit wonders the Casuals' "Jesamine" under the pseudonyms of Frere Manston and Jack Gellar. The pair also wrote Lulu's "I'm a Tiger" and the early Status Quo hit, "Ice in the Sun".
Like many of his contemporaries, Wilde continued to perform in nostalgia tours in the UK and beyond. In 2007, he celebrated 50 years in the business with another UK tour which featured his youngest daughter Roxanne Wilde, and the issue of a compilation album, Born To Rock And Roll – The Greatest Hits. It included a duet with Kim Wilde of Elton John's "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", which was released as a promotional only single.

The tour culminated in a concert recorded at the London Palladium, and reunited the remaining Shadows: Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Jet Harris, Brian Locking and Brian Bennett.

In 2017, Wilde went on a UK tour with The Solid Gold Rock'n'Roll Show, which also featured Eden Kane, Mark Wynter and Mike Berry.
He and his wife Joyce have four children, Kim (born 1960), Ricky (born 1961), Roxanne (born 1979) and the youngest, Marty Jr. (born 1983), who was a contestant on the Golf Channel's The Big Break IV: USA vs. Europe in 2005. Kim, Ricky and Roxanne have worked in the music industry, like their parents.
Here is "Bad Boy" (November 1959) Epic ‎– LN 3686 Enjoy.
,which Wilde wrote, a Top 50 hit in the US in 1960 and covered shortly after its release by Robin Luke, in 1964 by Françoise Hardy and later by Nirvana and Robert Gordon. The B-side, "It's Been Nice", a Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman composition, was later recorded by the Everly Brothers and Freddy Cannon.

Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders

Wayne Fontana founded the band in 1963 with Bob Lang, Ric Rothwell, and Eric Stewart. The group was later joined by Grahame Foote. The name of the group was inspired by the title of a 1963 UK feature film, starring the British actor Dirk Bogarde, called The Mind Benders. Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders released a number of singles before recording "Um Um Um Um Um Um" in 1964, which was to be their first major hit in Britain and led to a tour with Brenda Lee. They also had a No.1 hit in the United States with "Game of Love" in 1965 (which also reached No.2 on the UK singles chart).

After a tour of America and some more singles that were less successful than "Game of Love", Fontana left the band in the middle of a concert in 1965. Stewart became the lead singer of the band, which henceforward was known simply as the Mindbenders.

The Mindbenders' first single without Fontana was the hit "A Groovy Kind of Love" (a Carole Bayer Sager / Toni Wine composition). The song reached No. 2 in the US (No. 1 on the Cashbox singles chart) and No. 2 in the UK in 1966. It sold one million copies globally. The Mindbenders' 1966 album of the same name, however, was a failure.
A second song by Bayer and Wine, "Ashes to Ashes," took the Mindbenders to No. 14 in the UK Singles Chart in the autumn of 1966, after an earlier effort in 1966, "Can't Live With You (Can't Live Without You)" had struggled to break the UK Top 30.
On 4 July 1966, the Mindbenders began their last US tour in Atlanta, Georgia in front of a capacity 25,000 crowd as the support act for James Brown. Stewart recalled that "we went down quite well" but that later shows at the Fillmore West Auditorium on Friday 8 July and Saturday 9 July 1966 were more memorable. "The liquid light show was great and really worked with our act, which was a lot heavier than on our records."
Stewart had become a songwriter, and wrote "My New Day and Age" for Family. However, the Mindbenders sought material from outside the band. Their next project was a concept album, several months before Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, S.F. Sorrow and Tommy were issued. The Mindbenders release, With Woman in Mind, contained "I Want Her, She Wants Me" (written by Rod Argent of The Zombies), "Ashes to Ashes", and the lascivious "Schoolgirl". The album did not sell well and was not even released in the US. The accompanying single, another Bayer/Wine composition, "We'll Talk About It Tomorrow" also flopped.
The Mindbenders appeared in the 1967 Sidney Poitier movie, To Sir, with Love and were also on the soundtrack with the songs "Off and Running" and "It's Getting Harder All the Time". Rothwell quit the band and was replaced by Paul Hancox. The Mindbenders released their cover version of "The Letter" which fell short at No. 42 in the UK singles chart (the last time The Mindbenders registered a single in the UK charts), whilst The Box Tops original reached the UK Top 10. A couple more flops followed and in March 1968, Lang quit and was replaced by Graham Gouldman; with him the band recorded a final single "Uncle Joe, the Ice Cream Man".

On 20 November 1968, they broke up at the final concert of a UK tour with The Who, Arthur Brown and Joe Cocker. Stewart and Gouldman went on to form Hotlegs and, much more significantly, the band 10cc.

Lang later joined another rock music outfit, Racing Cars. They had one hit single, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", which reached No. 14 in the UK Singles Chart in 1977.

In the 1970s, Grahame Foote joined with original members Lek Leckenby and Barry Whitwam of Herman's Hermits after the exit of Peter Noone. Although Leckenby died in 1994, Foote has continued with the Hermits through to the present.
Here is "Hello Josephine" Fontana ‎– TF 404 From 1963 Enjoy.

The Pussycats

One of my top tens here and it just kills me that I cannot find out any real information on these gals and this killer garage recording! It’s looking like this mighty 4 piece girl group may have only ever laid down 4 studio tracks in their career, including this release with The Rider on the flip, and also You Can’t Stop Loving Me (Columbia 4-43587), which I’m guessing was released that same year. Strange that you also get a very delightful  Dressed In Black on that flip, made popular by The Shangrilas in ’66 on Red Bird.
I Want Your Love, written by Tony Michaels, has all you could possibly want in my opinion. Opening with a dangerous blues riffing companionship with overdrive guitar and bar piano, insert seductive vocal “Hey you…. come here” and before you know it, you’re in the widow’s web. The first verse is playful and desperate, and the backing doo-wops and harmonies are starting to spin you in a spiral. We are now only 30 seconds in and the guitar gets dirtier and the build up, like a steep roller coaster climb, is making you nervous. You’re pretty much trapped by now, and can’t help feeling like that little mouse that kitty just won’t let die…all in the name of selfish pleasure perhaps. This track ticks all the boxes for me! It’s raw and driving, like good garage should be. It’s got great horns and pace, stomping percussion and stinging guitar, and of course those femme fatale vocals….innocent yet sultry, and even soulful! Great production from Michaels and killer arrangement by Artie Butler!

The Rider is more down tempo but still just as charming and has more of that Spector sound that I can’t get enough of! All 4 Pussycats recordings also came out as an EP (Portugal) through CBS in ’66 with a killer pic sleeve (above) of all 4 band members. As always, would love to know more about these elusive ladies and their recordings.(From CULT 45).
Here is "I Want Your Love" Enjoy.

The Truth

1960s British pop group not to be confused with '80s British mod revival band of the same name.
Hairdresser Steven Gold met future singing partner Francis Aiello while cutting the latter's hair. Taking their name from a favourite Ray Charles' song, "Tell The Truth", the duo scored a UK Top 30 hit in 1966 with their debut single, an opportunistic cover of "Girl" from the Beatles' Rubber Soul album. Although the Truth drew plaudits for "I Go To Sleep", written by Ray Davies of the Kinks, it emphasized the Truth's inability to acquire exclusive material. Subsequent singles included "Walk Away Renee" and "Sueno", originally recorded, respectively, by the Left Banke and Rascals, but when such releases failed to chart the duo abandoned their brief pop career.Frank Aiello and Steve Jameson were mods, but did they make mod music? Aiello and Jameson were the singers who comprised the British vocal group the Truth, and they were faces on the mid-'60s U.K. mod scene, frequenting the right clothing stores and hitting the right nightspots. But just as there wasn't a firmly codified mod sound in the '60s (it was often said that the Who were never really mods, though mods clearly liked them, and most of the kids on the scene were into R&B and bluebeat rather than rock), the record industry didn't put much stock in the Truth's mod persona, and ended up treating them like any other pop group trying to make their way onto the charts. While Aiello and Jameson wanted to model the Truth after Sam & Dave or the Righteous Brothers, the closest they got to a hit was a polished cover of the Beatles' "Girl," and though they could handle pop as well as blue-eyed soul (in some cases better), their belated reputation as mod heroes is the product of a few stray tracks rather than the entirety of their catalog. The Truth released just seven singles during their five-year lifespan, and Who's Wrong? Mod Bedlam 1965-1969 collects all 14 tunes on one disc, along with two unreleased numbers and a pair of songs released under the name Shere Khan. The sequence front-loads the tougher R&B numbers at the start with the more pop-oriented tunes following, but "Baby You've Got It," "She's a Roller," and "Baby Don't You Know" suggest the Truth were not at their best trying to sound like soul shouters, though the bluesy "Jailer Bring Me Water" gets over and "Who's Wrong" boasts some gutsy guitar work and a good melodic hook. Meanwhile, Aiello and Jameson sounded very much at home harmonizing on slicker pop productions, and their covers of "I Go to Sleep," "Walk Away Renee," and "I Can't Make It Alone" are more than satisfying. If you're expecting some serious Mod Bedlam from this collection of the Truth's recordings, well, you might be a trifle disappointed, but as a compact look at one band's adventures in the U.K. music business in the mid- to late '60s, this certainly has its merits, and shows Aiello and Jameson deserved better treatment (and luck) than they got.

Here is "Girl"  PYE 7N 17035 From 1966 Enjoy.

The Ministry of Sound

Decades before the current London club, the phrase Ministry of Sound had already been coined by Robin Shaw and Micky Keen for their studio project, The Ministry of Sound issued just one 1966 single while they were active. But they recorded several albums' worth of material within the space of about a couple of years, eventually bringing them to the notice of those who collect the small British school of '60s sunshine pop. Too, their history was quite complicated considering their small discography, as they were a studio outfit whose personnel included noted songwriter John Carter, although Carter was not the dominant member.
The core of the Ministry of Sound was the duo of singer/songwriters Robin Shaw and Micky Keen, who had first performed together back in the late '50s in Mick Everly & the Prophets. By the mid-'60s they were part of the house band of Southern Music Studios, and signed to Carter's publishing company as songwriters. They also recorded often at Southern Music Studios as Ministry of Sound, with Carter pitching in with songwriting, guitar, and some lead vocals. Songwriter Russ Alquist also sang lead on some tracks, as well as making some contributions as a writer, with Robin Shaw handling some of the lead vocal duties as well. Top British session drummer Clem Cattini and keyboardist Barry Kingston also recorded with them.
At least several dozen songs were recorded by the aggregation between 1966 and 1968, but the only two that found release were issued on the 1966 Decca single "White Collar Worker"/"Back Seat Driver." In common with much of the material with which the prolific John Carter was associated in the mid- to late '60s (with groups such as the Flower Pot Men and the Ivy League), it gave a British spin to the harmony sunshine pop of groups like the Beach Boys, the Turtles, the Association, and the Tokens, perhaps with a bit of the Four Seasons and Motown thrown in. Some of it also drew from psychedelia in the sophisticated production, use of then-advanced instrumentation such as the Mellotron, songs that explored British characters and situations, and lightly trippy lyrics. It wasn't as good as their most obvious influences, but it was very smoothly recorded and sung, with pleasant if not indelible tunesmithery.
Midsummer Nights Dreaming/Men from the Ministry Although some of the songs they recorded were covered by British pop group Amen Corner and Australian singer Normie Rowe, the Ministry of Sound didn't get the chance to release any more records while they were active. They came to an end when Robin Shaw joined the touring version of the Flower Pot Men, with Keen, Carter, and Cattini continuing to focus on studio work. In 2005, 35 of the tracks they recorded between 1966 and 1968 were issued on the two-CD set Midsummer Nights Dreaming/Men from the Ministry, most of them previously unreleased, though it did include both sides of their 1966 single.Biography by Richie Unterberger.
Here is "White Collar Worker" Decca F 12449 From 1966 Enjoy.