Rock & Pop Magazine

From the beginnings till 1985 - The band Les Sauterelles stood for the decade of the 60ties, when Switzerland's youth was shaken by the rock'n'roll fever.When in summer 1968 Les Sauterelles ruled the Swiss charts with their hit “Heavenly Club”, this success marked both their climax and end. Often referred as the “Swiss Beatles”, Les Sauterelles had been the undisputed kings of the scene for years. It was their resounding success that caused their downfall in the same year – a pattern that would repeat itself on and on throughout the history of pop and rock music in Switzerland. Differences over the direction in which their music was going and the sobering reality of their daily professional routine had led the group to an impasse. Their breakup heralded a similar fate for most other Swiss “beat bands” who had for years been cruising along in the slipstream of their Anglo-American models, albeit with varying degrees of success.

Relix Magazine CD Sampler (December/January2007) is a 2006 sampler CD found within the December/January 2007 issue of Relix magazine. This is just the sampler disc, not the full magazine.

Nothing shakes some action like a snappy guitar-based pop song delivered with a powerful beat, boundless energy and joyous enthusiasm. “Power pop is what we play,” declared Pete Townshend in a 1967 interview to promote the Who’s ‘Pictures Of Lily’. Although the term power pop did not gain much traction at the time, it re-emerged at the beginning of the 70s after the Beatles had dissolved and music began to fracture into various camps. In the USA, bands that remained true to the Beatles tradition began to be referred to as power pop. The Raspberries set the ball rolling in 1972, and young bands began to spring up who really only wanted to sing about girls and having a good time on Saturday night. As the 70s wore on, the new wave had an ever-growing influence on the movement, and even the Ramones donned skinny ties long enough to back up harmony pop masters the Paley Brothers on a thrilling update of Ritchie Valens’ ‘Come On Let’s Go’.

Compiled by Stefan Granados (Shindig) with tracks drawn from the ever expanding UK ‘heritage’ Angel Air label who, since their inception in 1997, have developed a catalogue of much sort after original recordings from the 60’s to 21st Century. With new additions for this compilation supplied courtesy of Phillip Goodhand-Tait (CIRCUS) and Mike Hurst (DOUBLE FEATURE). This release focuses on tracks drawn from the classic popular music years 1965 to 1970 and the album opens with ‘Walkin, Walkin’ a freakbeat classic written and produced by Mike Hurst in 1966, moves to THE TREACLE from Hull featuring one MICK RONSON who recorded in 1965 ‘Stop Get A Hold Of Yourself’ and finally to ATOMIC ROOSTER’s original demo of their anthem ‘Devils Answer’ recorded in 1970. Classic tracks from a classic label.