At first there was Trini Lopez who took Brazil by storm circa 1964 and 1965 with 'La bamba', 'America' plus 'Michael' (Roll the boat ashore) & 'Perfidia' that played on the radio morning, noon & night.
Then, in mid 1967 Johnny Rivers entered the Brazilian charts with 'Poor side of town', a song he had taken to #1 at Billboard in November 1966.
Johnny Rivers had arrived to stay... and he stayed much longer than Trini Lopez or everyone else barred The Beatles.
Johnny had an uncanny ability to cover a song and make it better than the original. I much prefer his cover of 'Whiter shade of pale' than the original done by Procol Harum. Not to mention his covers of the Four Tops' 'Baby I need your lovin' and Smokey Robinson's 'Tracks of my tears'.
Later on, in 1972, Johnny covered Huey 'Piano' Smith's 1957's 'Rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu' which became a favourite of mine too.
The only song Johnny Rivers couldn't do better than the original was The Mamas & the Papas' 'California dreamin'.
Best selling extended-plays in Sao Paulo from 19 to 24 June 1967 done by Ibope.
1. Tributo a Martin Luther King - Wilson Simonal (Odeon) (2)
2. Coração de papel / Nuvem branquinha - Sergio Reis (Odeon)
3. Anna - The Beatles (Odeon)
4. Roberto Carlos vol. 2 (CBS)
5. Poor side of town - Johnny Rivers (Liberty-RCA)
FCD-45022 - August 1966.
RCA presents Johnny Rivers to the Brazilian record-buying public: Johnny Rivers foi coroado 'Rei do Go Go' (they do not explain what 'go go' is). Sua voz, sua guitarra e seu balanço (swing), levam o povo a cantar e dançar no mundo inteiro.
Se você é uma garota que lê notas de contra-capas numa tarde solitária, quando não tem nada para ler, nós podemos dizer a você que Johnny Rivers é um rapaz de 23 anos, solteiro, moreno, sensível e bastante simpático. (Actually, John Henry Ramistella was born in New York City on 7 November 1942, which made him 24 years old in mid 1966).
Se você é um rapaz que lê notas de contra-capas numa tarde solitária e está diante de muitos problemas, nós sugerimos a você que não ouça este disco porque ele é definitivamente para amantes do ritmo alegre somente.
FCD-45026
FCD-45033 - 1967.
FCD-45039 - 1968.
FCD-45045.
FCD-4502 - 1969.
FCD-45057 - 1970.
No comments:
Post a Comment