Battle of the babes singing for babies

Ya know, back in the 80’s and 90’s, kid shows in America seemed to be missing something compared to children’s television in some other countries — something that might have made parents, dads in particular, more interested in watching TV with their kids. I wonder what that certain something could have been?

Chantal – France

http://youtu.be/N40uc4wBXrs
http://youtu.be/fMWgZaZG_jU

Dorothée – France

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=419Ur0FMoN4
http://youtu.be/m5-PQmkETQI

Xuxa – Brazil

Douchka – France

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D04ReBGeRY

Les dames de Sixties Française Pop

Swinging London wasn’t the only place in Europe that was swinging in the Sixties. France had its own brand of Pop music, with a decidedly feminine fragrance. This collection of videos includes Sylvie Vartan, Francoise Hardy, Chantal Goya, and France Gall. It starts with — surprise! — Petula Clark, who was a Pop star in France before returning to recording in English with “Downtown”.

So who was Harry Nilsson, and where are the Apple digital downloads?

Almost three years ago I mentioned a documentary called Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)? It seems that at long last the film has a distribution deal, and will be out on DVD before the end of year.

And this just in, Denro says…

I just saw it in an email from James Taylor. The first step in Beatles stuff being available for download?

http://www.applerecords.com/

Apple Records Catalogue Remastered and Reissued on CD and Digital Download, Classics Set for Release on October 26th

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music raise the curtain on remastered CD and digital download releases of 15 key albums from the Apple Records catalog. All 15 titles will be released on October 26th. Most of the physical CDs will include bonus material. Together, the 15 albums represent the first ever Apple Records releases to be available via digital download.

Is see that somebody has asked what I asked Denro — “Where is “Brother” by Lon & Derrek [Van Eaton]?” And there’s no mention of the other Apple, or iTunes. Perhaps Apple Records is testing the waters for doing its own online Beatles catalog.

The fact is that the ultimate digital copy of the Beatles catalog is already available on Beatles.com, in (lossless) FLAC 44.1 kHz 24-bit and MP3 320 Kbps formats.

Texasize Me

Denro says my lack of appreciation for Mitch Miller is due to the fact that his recording of The Yellow Rose of Texas was #1 in September, 1955, the week that I was born. Well, it’s true, I would have preferred anything else, even The Ballad of Davy Crockett!

The first video has the original Mitch Miller recording of The Yellow Rose of Texas…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Lakexqqqc

… and the second has Stan Freberg’s parody of Mitch. Both are taken from 78 rpm records posted by fave YouTube member 45s4FR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-By0vBrzDE

The Yellow Rose of Texas was written in 1858, and Texas has certainly changed since then, so let’s update things a bit, with this pair of TV commercials, made by an old friend of mine, for a restaurant chain called Cotton Patch Cafe. The first one has a straight-forward ZZ Top-style boogie…

…and I love the second spot, featuring music of epic proportions to go with the food of epic portions!