Gee Bros - One Word Songs (1969)

Gee Bros (also spelled as Geebros and G Bros) was a short-lived Dutch band from Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, active in the 1960's. They formed in 1964 as The Goldstar Brothers, and were made up of siblings André Groote, Ben Groote, Henk Groote, with Willem Antonius and Lol Nijhuis. Their first single was on an EP with three other artists on Lion Tops Records, featuring Yvonne Toelnaar, The Jets, and Rudi Seedorf, and this prompted Omega Records to offer them a deal, releasing two singles in 1964, before they moved to Phillips in 1966 for 'You Can't', which was their final release under the name of The Goldstar Brothers. In 1967 they rebranded themselves as Gee Bros, replacing Antonius with Cor Mestebeld, and rekindling their relationship with Omega Records, releasing the 'Let Me Find The Sun' single in January 1968. This was followed by 'Ev'ry Day' in May, after which they left Omega and signed to Pink Elephant Records for November 1968's 'Henry The Horse' single, which was a number 24 hit in their native country. In 1969 Hennie Backer replaced Nijhuis, and their final two singles appeared that year, after which the band broke up. The brothers stayed in the music business, performing under different names, including Crying Wood and Air Bubble, and in 1972 they released one final single as Gee Bros, with 'Canta Canta Libre' appearing on the Negram label. Despite being almost completely unknown outside of The Netherlands, they produced some great pop music, and so here are all their recordings collected together, to give us an idea of what was going on in Holland in the mid-to-late 60's.

 
Track listing

01 Nothing's Changed (single as The Goldstar Brothers 1964)
02 If I Were You (b-side of 'Nothing's Changed')
03 Zeg Mij Eens Even (single as The Goldstar Brothers 1964)
04 De Vakantie Is Voorbij(b-side of 'Zeg Mij Eens Even')

05 You Can't (single as The Goldstar Brothers 1966)
06 May Be (b-side of 'You Can't')
07 Let Me Find The Sun (single 1968)
08 She (b-side of 'Let Me Find The Sun')
09 Ev'ry Day (single 1968)
10 The Shadow Of Stone (b-side of 'Ev'ry Day')
11 Henry The Horse (single 1968)
12 Lively Liquors (b-side of 'Henry The Horse')
13 One Word Song (single 1969)
14 Made In Hong Kong (b-side of 'One Word Song')
15 It's In The Air (single 1969)
16 Shapes Of Blue (b-side of 'It's In The Air')

Skip Bifferty - On Love (1968)

Skip Bifferty were formed when Newcastle upon Tyne band The Chosen Few parted company with their singer Rod Hood and guitarist Alan Hull, later of Lindisfarne, and recruited Graham Bell to replace him. A name change quickly folllowed, and the newly christened Skip Bifferty soon signed a contract with RCA Records. The group released a number of psychedelic singles, including the flower-power 'Happy Land', and 'Man In Black', which was produced by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of The Small Faces, and in 1967 they released their self-titled album 'Skip Bifferty'. Some of their songs were covered by established artists such as Cilla Black, The Tremeloes and The Kingsmen, and they built a following on the live circuit, including touring with The Who in October 1968. However, a management dispute with their manager Don Arden caused the band to walk out en masse, eventually leading to the group's demise under that name in November 1968, re-appearing the following year under the pseudonym Heavy Jelly, and with Paul Nichols replacing Jackman on drums. They released one single on Island Records, 'I Keep Singing That Same Old Song', but when their true identity was uncovered they were let go by Island and they split up soon after. Together with Turnbull and Gallagher, Bell formed Bell & Arc in July 1971, and later Turnbull and Gallagher reappeared as Loving Awareness, who later morphed into Ian Dury's backing band The Blockheads. Skip Bifferty were one of the lucky few late-60's psychedelic bands who were allowed to make an album, and quite rightly it's become regarded as something of a classic of the genre. However, they were not around long enough to released a follow-up to that record, even though they had recorded enough material to make it. A couple of these tracks are taken from their many radio sessions, but they fit quite nicely with the rest of the songs, so here is what Skip Bifferty's second release from 1968 could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 On Love
02 Happy Land
03 Disappointing Day
04 Higher Than The Clouds
05 Cover Girl
06 Aged Aged Man
07 Man In Black
08 The Hobbit
09 Reason To Live
10 In The Morning
11 Once
12 I Don't Understand It
13 The Lion & The Unicorn
14 Round And Round

Paul at albumsthatshouldexist has also posted a couple of albums by this band, but he split them into BBC Sessions and a stray tracks compilation, including the Heavy Jelly recordings, so if you want to hear more then pop over there. 

Canela Cox - Canela (2001)

Canela Cox was born in 1984 in Los Angeles, California, moving to Amsterdam at the age of 12, where her mother, Rocq-E Harrell, a former Diana Ross' background vocalist, performed as an R&B singer and recording artist. Upon moving back to the United States at age 18, Cox continued to pursue her musical endeavours, performing with numerous musical groups throughout Los Angeles. In 2000 she was featured on Jennifer Lopez's multi-platinum selling single, 'Love Don't Cost A Thing', and although she was uncredited for her work on the song, she performed as Lopez's background vocalist for numerous tours and new songs. While performing with Lopez at a Los Angeles concert, her talent was recognized by Rodney Jerkins, who brought her to DreamWorks Records' attention, and was immediately signed to the label in 2001. She began to record her self-titled debut album, which featured production by Darkchild, Tim & Bob, Lil' Mo, Fred Jerkins III, Brycyn Evans, & DJ Clue, and DreamWorks announced at the time that it would be released sometime in December 2001. Her buzz single, 'Sponsor', was released to radio in March 2001, and a DJ Clue remix, featuring Fabolous, was also released to mixtape circuits, and it received heavy underground play. Despite this media onslaught, both versions of the single failed to chart, and so a new Darkchild-produced single, 'Everything', was released to radio as the official lead single from the album. However, 'Everything' suffered the same fate as 'Sponsor', and because of these two perceived failures, DreamWorks Records put a halt on the release of her album. Before the release date could be revisited, DreamWorks Records was bought by Universal Music Group, which caused the label to fold, and so her debut was permanently shelved. Some months after Cox left DreamWorks she co-wrote Anastacia's 2002 single 'Why'd You Lie To Me', and she was also the female vocalist on rapper Won G's 2004 single 'Caught Up In The Rapture', and then in 2004 she signed to Genuine Entertainment and began recording another album. Its buzz singles, 'Blazed' and 'Bedrock', were released through Monopoly Records in 2004, but neither single managed to chart, and because of a lack of promotion, and failed attempts to put out a single properly, she left Monopoly Records, and began singing and song-writing for other artists. In 2006 she joined pop band Anything But Monday, who featured in the reality show '30 Days 'til I'm Famous', but they too have yet to release a debut album, as this has also been  delayed several times. As she doesn't seem to have had much luck in getting a record of her own actually released, here is a chance for us to hear that abandoned debut. 

Track listing

01 Everything 
02 Sponsor (I Need I Need I Need)
03 Love, Lust, Crime
04 Friend Of Mine
05 I Can't Let Go 
06 Outta Here
07 Play Your Games
08 It Feels Just Right
09 1 Day
10 Trust Me