If you’ve already read the first part of the Frost records story (available elsewhere on these pages), you should be familiar with the label’s mission to make available, practically EVERYTHING ever released throughout the sixties on the Danish pop/beat/r’n’b/psych scene.
This time around, we open with THE TELSTARS, starting off their career, as well as their CD, obviously enough, with Joe Meek’s same-titled instro, which is basically what they were dealing with for the first couple of singles, before throwing in some more or less usual covers or an occasional original too, like the Pacemaker-styled r’n’b Where-Where.
By the start of the second half of the decade, they got kinda more serious, as evidenced by some of the self-penned stuff as the Vox Continental beat organ-isation Come On, Baby, or even some unexpectedly wild, fuzz-soaked blue-eyed soul (True Love Has Gone Forever, Tell Me Why).
PETER BELLI & LES RIVALS were another one of the cooler looking bunches, sporting the “pretty” longhair look, and consequently, usually opting for a bit cruder r’n’b delivery from early on, instead of the more common instro/Mersey stuff.
Unfortunately, only one original can be heard (if something titled Roll Over Beatles can be considered one at all!?), but the one reason why they deserve to be praised for, must be their choice to cover the Everlies’ ’67 classic that never was, I Don’t Want To Love You.
The next one is the collection of various Danish Beat Masters, whose legacy rarely exceeded a single or two, starting with the supposed Danish Beatles, THE BEETHOVENS, who actually played their part pretty well image and soundwise (at least covering the Cavern-days period). Besides the inevitable covers, they also provide us with a couple of originals, highlighted by the Merseybeat-en Hey Pretty Baby and an Arthur Alexander-influenced ballad Aeh Baeh Buh!.
Among another bunch of pretty obvious covers, THE CARAVANS must be worth the mention at least because of the fabulous cover of the jazzy-pop Music To Watch Girls By, while THE BLACKBEATS and LOS FLAMINGOS offer at least one decent Merseybeat tune each (That’s Wrong, To Be With You).
The last one in the line of “Beat Masters” are THE MANIACS, who only managed one single release, coupling a pair of Howlin’ Wolf/Willie Dixon r’n’b numbers, of which the latter (300 Hundred Pounds Of Joy) is turned into an instant fuzzy garage classic.
Considering my Danish, I might be wrong, but something tells me that the title of the next collection Pigetråd has more to do with girls than pigs for that matter. Of course, this one gathers the girly beat/pop sounds between ’63-’68.
The emphasis is once again on cover versions, but there’s quite a few originals worth the mention too, such as the moody garage beat of GUNILLA THORN’s Jealous Woman (backed by The Beethovens), the Spector-cular pop of LECIA & LUCIENNE’s Wishing To Kiss You, ANETTE & MOGENS Mersey ballad Johnny Is My Guy, or the dance floor filler by ANNIE RY & THE BLUE BIRDS called The Jenka.
The 3rd (65-66 beat) and 4th (68-70 blues/soul/psych) volumes of Danish Beat Cookies are the ones that seem to leave the weakest impression, with the former featuring among others THE LENNONS, with nothing more to offer really, than the rest of the bunch featured, except for the name of course.
While the blues/soul/psych volume features mostly not really memorable blue-eyed soul covers, before things get slightlydelic and a bit more interesting (which is by the time of COINS’ Sadness and MASTER JOSEPH’s Bad Guy), after which the CD ends with a couple of more conventional blues numbers.
Anyway, I suppose being so super-detailed as Frost is, some substandard material is inevitable, but what you definitely do get, is a complete overview of the scene.
[Released by Frost Records 2005]
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