Songs With Halloween Themes? Devilish Tricks

Sunday, October 31, 2010

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL! PONTIANAK MUSIC IS COMING TOO!

Since Halloween is the theme tonight, songs from the fearful 50s, the scary 60s and screaming 70s are listed below. The words in the titles matter, so here they are, taken from the dusty, underground vaults of yore. They all spell blood, gore and grime. They may not be traditional, scary songs, but they can loosely fit into the Halloween theme by title, by music or by lyrics. So if you're lookin' for trouble, you came to the right place.

"I see the bad moon risin'/I see trouble on the way/I see earthquakes and lightnin'/I see bad times today/I hear the hurricanes ablowin'/I know the end is comin' soon/I hear the rivers overflowin'/I hear the voice of rage and ruin... (Bad Moon Risin' by: John Fogerty.)"

Bad Blood - 1975 - Neil Sedaka.
Bad Moon Rising - 1969 - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Black Magic Woman - 1968 - Fleetwood Mac/ Santana
Dark Lady - 1974 - Cher
Daughter Of Darkness - 1970 - Tom Jones

Devil Gate Drive - 1974 - Suzi Quatro
Devil In Disguise - 1963 - Elvis Presley
Devil Or Angel - 1960 - Bobby Vee
Devil With A Blue Dress On - 1966 - Mitch Ryder/Detroit Wheels
Devil Woman - 1962 - Marty Robbins

Devil Woman - 1976 - Cliff Richard
Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead - 1967 - Fifth Estate
Evil Hearted You - 1965 – The Yardbirds
Evil Ways - 1970 - Santana
Evil Woman - 1976 - Electric Light Orchestra

Frightened City - 1961 - Shadows
Little Devil - 1961 - Neil Sedaka
Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding - 1973 - Elton John
Ghost Riders In The Sky – 1979 - Johnny Cash
Love Potion Number Nine - 1965 - The Searchers

Poison Ivy - 1959 - The Coasters
Spooky -1968 - Classic Four
Superstition - 1973 - Stevie Wonder
That Old Black Magic - 1958 - Louis Prima and Keely Smith
Voodoo Chile - 1970 - Jimi Hendrix Experience

Witch Doctor - 1958 - David Seville
Witchcraft - 1963 - Elvis Presley/Frank Sinatra
Witchy Woman - 1972 - Eagles
Sympathy For The Devil - 1968 - Rolling Stones
Halloween Theme - 1978 - John Carpenter

Season Of The Witch - 1966 - Donovan
Evil On Your Mind - 1966 - Jan Howard
Race With The Devil - 1968 - Gene Vincent
Devil In A Sleeping Bag - 1973 - Willie Nelson

Please add to the list and contribute.

(It's only fun and games but if you find this posting too stressful, just listen to Beautiful Girl below in the next post.)

Song title info: http://www.who-sang-that-song.com/
Image borrowed from: www.wonderclipart.com/
Original article: Andy Lim.

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Dorothy And Vampires - All-Girl Group (Pt II)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The image on the right, taken from a souvenir magazine, shows The Vampires. From the vinyls recorded and publicity given, the girls were very popular and had appeared in a number of variety shows and private functions.

The description and position of each member in the magazine image is clear. From Dinner & Dance Magazine - 2nd October, 1965, "standing (left to right): Connie Fong is 18 and is a student at the Nanyang Academy of Arts. She plays the rhythm guitar and took up music some six months ago.

Rebecca Fong (with moon-glasses) is 18 and the lead guitarist and leader of the group. She is a student of the Sacred Heart School and took up music a year ago.

Front row (left to right): shows Gladys Ang, 17 years and is a student of Geylang Methodist School. She took up music nine months ago. Cynthia Fong is in the centre and attends Fairfield Methodist School. She took up the drums a year ago. Montaz Akib is the 2nd lead guitarist, is 16 and student of Geylang Methodist School. She took up music a year ago.

They had all gone for a TV audition and were accepted to appear on the small screen, so be on the lookout for this sensational teenage group. They are under the able hands of *Harry Martinez, Singapore's well-known music tutor."

The left image shows a Philips (438302 QE) recording of the same group. It features the same members (I think?) accompanying a vocalist called Dorothy. They pressed four Chinese (Mandarin) songs. These girls are unique within the Singapore 60s music circuit because I cannot think of another all-girl guitar group that plays Chinese music. Can you?

The band is known as Du Le Di in Chinese and the four songs translated into English are: Love Is Like A Balloon, Singing A Never Ending Song For You, Ah Lah Nah (Alanah) and Lian Hen (another Chinese name?)

*(Harry Martinez lived at Siglap in the East Coast and was a popular music tutor in the 60s who talent scouted his own students and grouped them into successful pop bands. The Silver Strings was such a group.)

Were you one of the band members? Is this the same group that were with Satellite Records? Do write in to tell us.

Image/Original article: Andy Lim Collection.

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US All-Girl Groups Made Impact On Our Bands

Saturday, October 9, 2010

GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAThe Vampires all-girls from Singapore could have been influenced by the US female vocal groups that flourished in the late 50s and 60s. One such group and one of the first female R&B vocal groups to have nationwide success were The Chantels (left image: http://www.thechantels.com/ ).

These ladies were also considered by many to have been the best female group of all time because their choir-like sound and close-knit harmony brought a new dimension to rock n roll and rhythm n blues songs. They played instruments too.

Their 1958 hit Maybe was considered the standard by which other girl group songs were judged. Lead singer Arlene Smith was one of the very first female rock performers to write her own material. They are still performing today.

The Crystals vocal team was Phil Spector other big girl-group mainstay of the early 60s, cranking out classics such as Uptown, Then He Kissed Me, Da Doo Ron Ron, and He's A Rebel. Some of these songs have been covered by our Singapore bands.

Then came the Marvelettes and they got Motown their first number one hit, and in the process established the girl group as an undeniable hit-making genre of its own with songs such as Please Mister Postman. They set precedence for the other Motown greats like The Supremes.

There was The Ronettes, the girl group that best defined the Phil Spector Wall of Sound with their classic hits Be My Baby, Baby, I Love You, and Walking In The Rain.

The Shirelles too, the girl-group pioneers who scored some of the genre's earliest and iggest hits with Soldier Boy, Dedicated To The One I Love, Mama Said, and Will You Love Me Tomorrow and Everybody Loves A Lover.

Remember, Where Did Our Love Go (1964), Baby Love (1964), I Hear A Symphony (1965) , and Stop! In The Name Of Love (1965)? Originally a quartet, the Supremes (right image) were formed in 1959 under a different name.

"These girls gave Motown a successful base from which to build their label. The Supremes defined the girl-group aesthetic that projected an air of romantic grace and personal style essential to the genre. They helped establish a beachhead for American music at the height of the British Invasion (About.com)."

But how many all-girl groups did we have? The Vampires played their guitars and were an instrumental group backing a singer. Other Singapore all-girl teams, The Tidbits, Friday Girls and Girvin Sisters were vocals groups. I wonder if our local experts and gurus can provide an answer?

The above edited article is only a morsel of what readers can expect from the Website itself. So check out below for more reading:

http://oldies.about.com/od/girlgroups/Girl_Groups.htm

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Singapore Vampires At Cavanagh Bridge (Pt I)

Friday, October 8, 2010

The ladies in the image were once a group that played Chinese (Mandarin) songs. They were called, The Vampires but they were not characters from the commercially successful Twilight series of the four vampire-themed fantasy romance novels by American author Stephenie Meyer.

In fact, these sweetheart Vampires from Singapore came at a different period and time. They haunted the dance halls, theatres and clubs in the 60s. This all-girl guitar group featured on the EP cover had only five members but added another, a vocalist called Du Di Na.

According to the sleeves, she joined the group two years prior to the release of this vinyl. Apparently the instrumental group itself had won many fans among Singapore youths and Du Di Na was added to front the original band.

From A blog called Mod-ified Music, one of the songs featured on the Satellite brand record was Han Yu Qu (Chilling Rain Song). It was a popular Chinese song instrumentalised by this group. The Vampires could have been just as successful in the mid-60s but without Bella Swan from Twilight fame.

Wearing dark jackets, short, tight skirts and white boots, the girls looked smart and neat, posing in front of heritage protected Cavanagh Bridge. Behind them is the Victoria Memorial Hall with its imposing clock-tower.

There were not many all-girl guitar groups in Singapore were there? Are you familiar with this group and do you know who they are?
Image/information: http://modcentric.blogspot.com/

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