Italian Beat - 45 rpm Picture Sleeves |
During the sixties
music became more important than ever before, and the music we listen to now,
rock, pop, and other genres is, for the most part, a prosecution of styles
invented or restarted during these years. In this section it is presented a selection of 45 rpm singles edited in Italy during the sixties. Many of these singles were edited by Italian groups ("complessi beat") sometimes famous at their time (Rokes, Camaleonti, Equipe 84, Dik Dik), sometimes not. See also: Italian Beat Part 2 |
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See also Italian Beat from A to Z Covers' Country 1000+ Cover Songs Italian Beat groups Cover art Part 2 |
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Anonima
Sound |
Anonima Sound |
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Antoine |
Le
Bisce |
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Bisonti |
Bisonti |
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Califfi |
Califfi |
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Camaleonti |
Camaleonti |
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Camaleonti |
Camaleonti |
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Brunetta |
Caterina Caselli |
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Caterina Caselli |
Caterina Caselli (Caterina Caselli: |
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Caterina Caselli |
Caterina Caselli |
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Caterina Caselli |
Catherine Spaak |
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Catherine Spaak |
Catherine Spaak |
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Casuals |
Cavernicoli |
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Chetro & Co |
Chetro & Co |
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Corvi |
Corvi |
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Corvi |
Corvi |
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Delfini |
Michel Delpech |
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Dik Dik |
Dik Dik |
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Dik
Dik |
Dik Dik |
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Evy |
Dino |
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Don Backy |
Don Backy |
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Equipe 84 |
Equipe
84 |
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Equipe 84 |
Equipe 84 |
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Generali |
Ricky
Gianco |
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Ghigo
Agosti (Ghigo) |
Ghigo
Agosti (Mister Anima) |
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Ghigo
Agosti (Mister Anima) |
Ghigo
Agosti (Probus Harlem) |
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Giganti |
Giganti |
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Giganti |
Giganti |
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Gianni Morandi |
Giois (This World Of
Mine |
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Jonathan &
Michelle |
Luigi
Tenco |
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Michel Polnareff |
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Nada Ma che freddo fa Una rondine bianca (But That Is Cold, A White Swallow) |
Nada Biancaneve Cuore stanco (Snow White, Tired Heart) |
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Patty Pravo
(14) (Sad Boy) |
Patty Pravo |
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Patty Pravo |
Profeti |
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Quelli |
Riky Maiocchi |
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Ribelli |
Ribelli |
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Ribelli |
Renegades |
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Renegades |
Renegades (6) |
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Roby
Crispiano |
Roby
Crispiano |
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Rokes |
Rokes |
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Rokes |
Rokes |
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Rokes |
Rokes |
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Rokes |
Rokes |
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Rokketti (6) |
Ricky
Shayne |
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Satelliti (When You Are With Me) |
Ricky
Shayne |
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(1) |
The Renegades where a British group that soon after their first success in UK (Cadillac) started to travel and work all around Europe, mainly in Italy and in Finland. In Italy they issued many discs singing in Italian, including also a participation at the Sanremo Festival, together with the most famous Italian group (Equipe 84). Their Italian production was more sentimental and traditional than "beat" and their success in the Mediterranean country was weak, even if they were quite famous. (see their discography) |
(2) |
Chetro & Co was a minor group, but a remarkable one. Founded by Ettore De Carolis, after this experience he became an appreciated folk musicians with his group Il Nuovo Canzoniere del Lazio. The song on A side is indeed very close to beat genre, with some aperture to the new psychedelic mood, and it's based on a poetry work written by the famous Italian novelist, film director and poet Pierpaolo Pasolini; the B side was based on the tune Milestones of Miles Davis ("Le pietre numerate" is the translation of "milestones" in Italian). The single cover was folded on many parts and very complex, with a collage of many photos, sometimes ironic (“Il sistema compra Bob Dylan”, that is: "Bob Dylan sells itself to the system"). You can see all the photos here. |
(3) |
Italian cover, totally unrelated (lyrics by Mogol, the most famous Italian lyrics' author) of Bob Lind's tune Cheryl’s Going Home. It was the greater success in the whole Italian beat era. The Rokes, a British group, became after this hit the number 1 in Italy, together with the Italian group Equipe 84. (See the discography) |
(4) |
Gianni
Morandi, the most successful Italian singer during the sixties,
proposing up to then only pop songs, tried to credit himself also as a Beat
singer with this disc. He was actually very young and very sympathetic
with the new ideas of the sixties and, with the help of Mauro Lusini,
an author of folk and beat songs, (toghether with him on the cover, on the
right) he issued this song ("There was a boy that as me loved the Beatles
and the Rolling Stones") about Vietnam
war. A not usual argument in Italy at that time, when the Italian
television accurately avoided to speak explicitly of the war and of the
difficulties that the US forces were facing (the Italian government was
then a
very loyal allied of the American one). The song was a success, entering
in the Top-10, but not a huge one (Morandi was a n.1 guy). The song became
anyway a "protest song" very well known in Italy, sung together during the
seventies by the students. |
(5) |
The original song was the international success "Wight Is Wight" written by the French musician Michel Delpech, and inspired to the rock festival of 1968 in the South England island, with Hendrix, Doors, Who and even Miles Davis. A very slow and traditional song, anyway, totally unrelated with the event, as far as the cover showing the members of Dik Dik (one of the most famous groups in Italy) in the middle of an urban street. |
(6) |
Sometimes the covers of the Italian beat era were very scarse. This is an example. The Renegades are covering here two songs: the very well known "Love Letters" of Elvis Presley ("Lettere d'amore" in Italian) and The Camp of the Danish group Sir Henry & His Butlers. This was originally an instrumental tune, but was added to it new lyrics inspired to the rural life ("wine and country") following an ephemeral tendency of that period in Italian music ("Il ballo di Peppe" of the Cugini di campagna, Il Ballo di Simone of Giuliano e i notturni). Impossible to understand why the Renegades are wearing renaissance suits. |
(7) |
The group I Rokketti was quite appreciated in Italy during the sixties. This song is a strong R&B, an original, based on a difficult love between a black boy and a white girl. |
(8) |
Caterina Caselli, started her career as the bass player and singer in his group Gli Amici, and was also one of the first "queen" of the famous italian dance hall Piper Club of Rome (that started the activities on February, 1965). During the sixties she became one of the most popular female singer in Italy, together with Patty Pravo, starting with his international hit Nessuno mi può giudicare ("Nobody must judge me"), proposed at the Sanremo Festival in 1966 together with the American singer Gene Pitney. After this period and many other hits (Perdono, Cento giorni, Tutto nero, Io sono bugiarda, Il volto della vita) she started a different career, becoming the owner of one of the most important italian labels (Sugar) and the producer of Italian musicians famous in Italy and in the world, as Elisa and Andrea Bocelli. |
(9) |
Italian cover of the international hit Days of Pearly Spencer di David Mc William. |
(10) |
This song L'orologio (The clock) wasn't a success. On the B-side an interesting experiment, the song Bagnata come un pulcino sung in the dialect of Modena, the town in Emilia region in which the singer was born. In Italy they are still present many dialects, related to the Italian language but sometimes, as in this case, very difficult to understand for an Italian coming from the South or the Central regions. An interesting cover inspired to the psychedelic style. |
(11) |
Non c'è niente di nuovo ("Nothing new here") was the song proposed by the Camaleonti during the Cantagiro in 1967. The Cantagiro was a very popular event, inspired to the bike contests (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia) and travelling all around Italy during the summer. The Camaleonti group was another of the most popular in Italy at that time, their former singer Riky Maiocchi has left the year before for a solo career and Mario Lavezzi and Tonino Cripezzi were the new components of the band. |
(12) |
Ghigo Agosti started to sing professionaly during the fifties, and he was among the first in Italy to sing R&B and rock songs (Stazione del rock, Coccinella), together with other "rockers", all from Milan, very famous in the following years (Adriano Celentano, Giorgio Gaber, Enzo Jannacci, Guidone, Ricky Gianco, Clem Sacco). During the sixties he formed the group Ghigo & i Goghi, he proposed a cover of Shout! and then he assumed other identities, as Mr. Anima (Mr. Soul), than Probus Harlem and lastly the psychedelic Black Sunday Flower. |
(13) |
Catherine Spaak, daughter of the former belgian premier and living in Italy, was an young actress extremely popular in Italy during the sixties. She started also a career as a singer with the cover in Italian of the hit of Francoise Hardy "Tous les garcons et le filles" (in Italian "I ragazzi della mia età") and other songs, the most popular one being "L'esercito del surf" ("surf army") |
(14) | Patty Pravo was the most popular Italian singer during the sixties, probably even more of Caterina Caselli and Mina. She started to be famous as "la ragazza del Piper" ("the Piper Club's girl") following the great success of this dance hall located in the center of Rome, and she had very soon the opportunity to publish several discs. In the beginning she followed the "beat" style, but her greater hits were more popular and traditional songs, as "La bambola" ("the doll"), over 9 million copies sold in Europe. |
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