Compilation: 60's Beat Italiano

Compilation with Italian 60's Groups playing original material and covers full of primitive fuzz guitars and teenage enthousiasm.

Track Listing

1. I Bisonti - "Crudele" (2:28)
2. I Chewing Gum - "Senti questa chitarra" (2:49)
3. Red Roosters - "La Fina Verra" (2:59)
4. Noi Tre - "Distruggimi" (1:50)
5. Gli Evangelisti - "Un ragazzo di strada" (2:36)
6. Gli Evangelisti - "Sensazioni" (3:05)
7. Le Anime - "It tuo ricordo" (2:49)
8. Hugu Tugu - "Fino a ieri" (3:00)
9. Night Birds - "Night Birds" (1:39)
10. I Cinque Monelli - "Balbettando" (2:52)
11. I Jaguars - "Non sei sincera" (2:30)
12. Condors - "Lei Ler La Vida" (2:40)
13. I Barrittas - "Dusu Amigusu" (1:53)
14. New Dada - "La quindicesima fruastrata" (3:17)
15. I Profeti - "Bambina Sola" (2:20)
16. Ranger Sound - "Ricordami" (2:03)
17. Ragazzi Dai Capelli Verdi - "Un Tipo Per Ti" (2:24)
18. I Ragazzi Del Sole - "Atto Di Forza No. 10" (2:30)
19. La Setta - "Bloodhound" (2:01)
20. La Setta - "Our Little Rendezvous" (2:35)
21. I Chewing Gum - "Tu sei al buio" (2:48)
22. I Fantoms - "Le Insegne Pubblicitarie" (3:47)
23. Nico - "Che vita e questa qua" (3:36)
24. Night Birds - "Richard Cory" (3:08)
25. I Ragazzi Dai Capelli Verdi - "Ragazza Notte" (2:37)
26. I Barrittas - "Non uccidere" (4:01)

Download from here: http://www.badongo.com/file/2796799

The Action (New Zealand)

The Action isn't the UK group of the same name but a New Zealand group from Auckland. Seems like they didn't mind being confused with their more famous namesake, as they recorded the UK Action's Never Ever for their second 45. Not an unusual practice at the time, there's also an Australian group calling itself the Birds who covered two of the UK Bird's 45s, No Good Without You and Say Those Magic Words.
This Action cover the Vagrants on the flip side of their first 45, Romeo and Juliet, doing an excellent job of it too. This was recorded in April of 1967. Though you wouldn't think it from this song, they were actually known as more of a soul and r&b band than pop or garage.
Evan Silva wrote to me about I Can't Make a Friend: "That was the first song I recorded with the Action at Stebbings studio in Eldred Stebbing's basement. I sing on all but Romeo & Juliet. The A sides were Stebbing's suggestion for the pop market and we selected the B sides. We never played the A sides live as we did not like them, except for Try A Little Tenderness we played that regular especially in Oz! Brett [Neilsen] our drummer was the La De Da's drummer prior to us and did not want to go back to Oz, then joined the Action and off we went to Oz!"
Brian Harris then took Brett's place in the La De Da's!
Eldred Stebbing was the owner of the Zodiac label. Many of the great New Zealand bands recorded at his studio, and the Action, the Pleazers and the La De Da's all played residencies at his nightclub, the Galaxie.
A detailed history of the band is available here

The Action - I Can't Make a Friend

Blue Birds (from Greece)

The Blue Birds formed in the port town of Piraeus, near Athens. They were one of the first Greek garage bands, releasing a national hit "Julie" in 1965 on Philips. The flip, Way to Heaven is supposed to be a good, moody song, but I haven't heard it because I have the ROL release, in which Julie is backed with an instrumental number by different band. The ROL label 45s were given away to promote ROL laundry detergent!
Their next 45 was also released on both Philips and ROL, both sides included this time. Sweet Polly / Just Remember are both excellent garage numbers, with fantastic farfisa organ playing and good harmonies.
Two other early singles are highly rated, but with a change in lineup in 1967, their music developed with psychedelic and folk influences. They stopped singing in English and wrote songs with Christian themes to the lyrics. In total the Bluebirds released thirteen 45s and one fine album, Xylinos Stavros (Wooden Cross).
Band members were:
Giorgos Petridis: Vocals (-1967, + Lja Laoytari)
Yannis Psimoppoylos: Guitar, Vocals
Leonidas Louloudis: Bass (-1967, Manolis Laoytaris)
Swkratis Ardavanis: Organ
Gavrilis Pantzis: Drums (-1972, + Nikos Kalogerakis)

The Blue Birds - Julie

The Blue Birds - Sweet Polly

The Blue Birds - Just Remember