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A group created in Livorno (North Tuscany) by five friends in the year 1964, their first name was The Criker's. As many other groups the first activity of I Satelliti was in the dance halls, mainly in Tuscany. During a concert in Certaldo (a small town near Florence) they had the opportunity to perform their set soon after Ricky Gianco, one of the first Italian rockers, and at that time still famous (he will became during the sixties and afterwards also an appreciated songs' author). Gianco had been positively impressed by the five boys and had decided to propose them a contract as his group. Included in the agreement the change of the name, from Crikets' to an Italian one: I Satelliti (The Satellites) and the opportunity to publish a single. Their choice was an Italian version of a well known song, For Your Love by The Yardbirds. In Italian the title was Finirà (it will end up) and the performance of the Italian boys was not so far from that of the famous UK group of Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.The disc was their key access to the Piper Club, the famous dance hall in Rome, in which the five Satellites have performed their songs and many covers for almost a month. The following year they had the opportunity to sign a contract with the most important Italian label of that period, Dischi Ricordi, and to publish another 45 rpm single with other Italian versions (covers) of You Didn’t Have to be So Nice” by The Lovin’ Spoonful, in Italian “Perché non scegli me” (Why you don't prefer me?), and “Catch the wind” by Donovan, in Italian “La vita è come un giorno” (Life is as a day). Their greater successes will arrive in the following two years, with other covers, Ba-ba-ba-ba (from With A Girl Like You by The Troggs) and "Loro sanno dove" (they know where) from Holiday by The Bee Gees. This disc was a good success but it was also the last recording from the group of Livorno, as many others Italian's "complessi" they disbanded at the end of the decade.
The soundtrack of Almost Famous, the excellent film about rock music in the seventies directed by Cameron Crow in 2000, was organized by the rock composer Nancy Wilson, previously leader of the femal rock group Heart. Of course the soundtrack is mainly based on musical pieces of the seventies. More than 50 songs and musics were utilized in the film. Of course, only a selection of this list is included in the CD issued with the movie's soundtrack.
The selection includes many rock champions of the seventies, of course the Led Zeppelin, their forerunners, the Deep Purple and the Who, together with Simon & Garfunkel and Neil Young, up to Jimi Hendrix and the heavy metal first popular band the Black Sabbath, but even a progressive band as the Yes is present.
The southern rock is widely mentioned, with the Allman Brothers, the Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Little Feat, together with alternative and soul champions as Joni Mitchell or Stevie Wonder. In evidence the pop star Elton John: two famous songs of the British composer are used in two key moments of the film (Tiny Dancer and Mona Lisa).
To be mentioned also a not so widely known song of the British group Thunderclap Newman, an almost revolutionary piece called Something In The Air (something that is ... the revolution) from the album Hollywood Dream (1969, produced by Pete Townshend of the Who) covered many times and used also in other movies, as for example The Strawberry Statement of Stuart Hagman (1970), to give the flavor of the era.
For the imaginary band, The Stillwater, were instead composed new pieces, but perfectly aligned to the seventies style, between them the main theme of the movie, Fever Dog.
(...)
You can read the complete soundtrack, the CD soundtrack, a summary of the plot, a selection of images captured by the movie, the characters, the interpreters, the original screenplay on Music-Graffiti website.
Following the "british invasion" in the first years of the sixties and the global success of Beatles and Rolling Stones and many others bands, also in Italy during the decade a process of imitation had started. Two elements were back to the phenomenon: the hegemony in the music sector of the anglo-saxons models, after the II World War, and the strong request of new music coming from Italy, at that time a fast growing country, with many young people, one of the main music market in the western world.
Everywhere in the peninsula, almost in every town, thousand of young people, mostly boys, but also girls, decided to create a musical group, the name used at that time was "complesso" (complex) and the collective definition of complessi beat. The groups were based on the model coming from UK: a lead guitar, a second guitar, an electric bass, drums; afterwards, following the new directions in the music, keyboards and wind instruments were sometimes added.
A musical example from the Italian beat era, an original song of a group from Turin, I Ragazzi del sole, about the rival young gangs, "Atto di forza n.10" (strong action n.10).
Between thousands of groups (named then "complessi beat") active in Italy during the sixties, only two are still working now and are offering their music to their fans, without any interruption since the starting years. One of them were I Pooh (a word that does not mean anything in Italian, and probably not even in other languages, maybe inspired by Winnie The Pooh character, or it's a words joke). The other ones were, as previously said, I Nomadi. I Pooh started their activity in Bologna as Jaguars, and changed their name when they published their first disc, a not remarkable summersong called Bikini Beat (1966). The line-up had been formed by musicians already active in other groups of that period, no one of them in the personnel of the group today, even if Roby Facchinetti, the leader of tne group from the seventies up to now, had joined the group in the same year, replacing Bob Gillot, the keyboardist.
In their first period the Pooh proposed a mix of covers and protest songs, as many others group of the sixties in the peninsula. Their smash hit arrived however a couple of year later, in 1968, with an original song, very romantic, about the private diary of a fourteen years girl (Piccola Katy, Little Katy). The following years were of momentanely eclipse, as many others beat groups, but at the beginning of the new decade they reached again the top of the success with another romantic andmelodic song, Tanta voglia di lei (a strong wish of her) became one of the classical songs in Italy. Not an isolated hit, because the Pooh have succeeded to enter the top-10 with many other songs in the same style (Pensiero, thought, Un attimo ancora, yet another moment, and many others) and furthermore they have developed and consolidated a very appreciated live act, that gave them in the following decades the leadership within the Italian concerts in Italy. The Pooh was for a very long period the only group inItaly capable to fill a big stadium.
The Pooh have continued the activities with great success, almost ever, renewing also their repertory year by year, including the new tendencies in music, and they are still on stage.
See more informations, discography and images on Music Graffiti website.
The only Italian beat group that has continued the activity with the same approach and with at least one member of the original line up to nowadays, I Nomadi (the nomads) have had furthermore a constant follow up by their fans, obviously with periods of success and others less, but always capable to fill of people ("il popolo dei Nomadi") their concerts. Characterized since the beginning by their front-man, the long-hair and big bearded Augusto Daolio, with his very peculiar voice, the Nomadi has started to publish their first disc, Donna la prima donna (woman the first woman, a cover from "Donna the Prima Donna" of Dion Di Mucci & The Belmonts, 1965), but since the second one they embraced a different way, more oriented towards the protest song. As their first success "Come potete giudicare" (how can you judge us, 1966) another cover, with different lyrics, by "The Revolution Kind" of Sonny Bono. Other songs had been written for the group by Francesco Guccini, one of the most known Italian chansonnier, from Modena (Emilia) as some of the Nomadi.
In particular, Guccini gave to them "Noi non ci saremo" (we won't be here) a song about the nuclear war, "Un figlio dei fiori non pensa al domani" (a hippie does not plan his future, 1967) a cover with different words by Death of a Clown of The Kinks, and above all their major hit of their first period, a protest song (original) even banned by the Italian radio and TV, Dio è morto (God is dead, 1967) about the contradictions of that period (or maybe also of the present one) that has became a classic in Italy.
After this period, declining the appeal of the beat movement, I Nomadi have diverted their production towards more popular songs, starting with a cover of Nights In White Satin by the Moody Blues, became in Italian Ho difeso il mio amore (I have defended my love, 1968, with different words and meaning) and, in the following decade, their biggest success Io vagabondo (I vagabond) one of the few songs that more or less all the Italians sing when they want to sing together. Pop songs, very melodic, but peculiar and easy to distinguish thanks to the penetrating voice of Augusto Daolio.
A period that has ended almost in the middle of the decade, when I Nomadi decided to return to the inspiration of their sixties, starting with an LP of covers of Guccini's songs, and afterwards with others, more up-to date, protest songs. At the end of the seventies they started their very long travel together with their fans, a travel made of hundreds of concerts and many LPs and CDs and many fan clubs all around Italy.
During these forty years (and more) some of the original members has left the group, and unfortunately also Augusto Daolio died on 1992 because of a fatal illness, but the original keyboardist, Beppe Carletti, remained as the focal point of the "nomads" up to now, the group has published their last CD (Orchestra, 2007) after other 14 CDs startig from the 2000 year, and they are continuing their activity as ever.
See more information about I Nomadi and the music in the sixties in Italy on Music-Graffiti website.
I Camaleonti (the Chameleons) were a group formed in Milan in 1964 and specialized, during their first period, simply in performance of english and US covers for concerts in Milan and Lombardia. They have signed afterwards a contract with the label Kansas and they published versions in Italian of songs by Manfred Mann, Animals, Herman's Hermits and even Rolling Stones (Get Off Of My Cloud, a very hard attempt) and Beatles (Norwegian Wood, even more difficult).
They were selected to participate to the very popular summer event Cantagiro during 1966, where they have arrived at the fourth place with the soft-beat song Chiedi chiedi ("ask, ask", an original) becoming so one of the well known groups during the most succesfull period of the Beat genre in Italy. During the same year the front-man Riki Maiocchi left the group to start a solo career (initially with a good success) and two new musicians have reached the group, Tonino Cripezzi and Mario Lavezzi, coming from The Trappers. The group had the opportunity to propose in Italy the cover of Homburg, the international success of the Procol Harum (with the Italian title L'ora dell'amore, the hour of the love) and afterwards the new members Cripezzi and Lavezzi have turned the repertory of the group more towards the pop genre, gathering a very large success with melodic songs as Eternità or Applausi or Io per lei.
See more information, including personnel, cover images and discography, on Music Graffiti website (in English).
Probably the first (or maybe the only) Italian garage band of the sixties. Coming from Parma (Emilia) I Corvi (the Crows) have arrived to a wide success almost immediately, thanks to the participation to a very popular contest between beat groups (the Torneo Davoli, first edition of 1966) in which they arrived at the second place, having so the opportunity to publish their first single disc. Their choice was a cover, an italian version of I Ain't a Miracle Worker by the Brogues, that in Italy has became "Sono un ragazzo di strada" (I'm a street-boy) with a quite different text and also different sound arrangements (harder the voice and the guitars).
The song was a great success, one of the best known beat songs in Italy, and I Corvi started a succesfull career. Their image was harder and stronger in comparison with other famous group of the period, as the rivals Equipe 84, something similar to The Rolling Stones versus The Beatles. After their first success they published other well selected covers, as Sospesa ad un filo, from I Had Too Much To Dream by The Electric Prunes, Bang Bang and Morning Dew (the title of their Italian version was Questo è giusto (this is right). When the season of the beat has started to decline I Corvi was practically out of the market, too much linked with this period to evolve their sound to the new genres, as the forthcoming progressive rock, or to try the way of the pop, as I Pooh or I Camaelonti or even The Rokes. The group hence disbanded in 1969, after two changing of label.
See more information, including personnel, cover images and discography, on Music Graffiti website (in English).
Together with Camaleonti, Corvi and Equipe 84, I Dik Dik, a group coming from Milan, was in the top five between the Italian "complessi" during the mid sixties, specifically for their commercial success. Their image was extremely plain but they were supported by the main Italian label of that period (Dischi Ricordi) and the choice of the songs to cover very well focused.
They were in fact, almost for their first years of activity, a sort of cover band, specialized in Italian versions of very well known international successes. So they have arrived in Italy many songs as California Dreamin' by The Mamas and Papas (Sognando la California in Italian, exact translation), If I Were A Carpenter by Tim hardin (Se fossi un falegname, misleading translation: the meaning in Italian is "if I were a wood worker"), A Whiter Shade of pale by The Procol Harum, in Italian Senza luce (without light), I Saw Her Again Last Night, by The Mamas and papas (Il mondo è con noi: The world is with us), Let's Go To San Francisco by The Flower Pot Men (Inno: hymn), Mighty Quinn by The Manfred Mann Group, Wight Is Wight by Michel Delpech, in Italian L'isola di Wight (the island of Wight).
Starting from 1967-'68, they have proposed original songs, mainly written by the famous duo of composers Mogol and Battisti (Mogol, Giulio Rapetti, lyrics, Lucio Battisti, the most famous Italian chansonnier of that period and even now, music), as Il vento (the wind), Guardo te e vedo mio figlio (I watch you and I see my son), Vendo casa (I'm selling my house) and other originals up to the mid seventies (Viaggio di un poeta: "a travel of a poet", Help me, about the space exploration). They tried to participate to the new progressive movement (the LP "Suite per una donna assolutamente relativa", very difficult translation ...) with scarce success and then they remained active only in the revival scene, up to the '80s, when a new strong interest returned in Italy for the Beat period.
"Dik Dik", the name of the group, is the name of an african gazelle.
See more information, including personnel, cover images and discography, on Music Graffiti website (in English).
The most famous Italian group during the whole decade. Formed in Modena in 1964, the Equipe 84 published their first single discs, mainly covers from US and UK songs, with the label Vedette. In 1966 they signed a contract with the main Italian label of the period, Dischi Ricordi (the same of the Dik Dik) and with its support they had the opportunity to propose for the Italian market the versions of Bang Bang, the international success of Cher, very well known also in the peninsula, an announced success, and then, with a very good intuition, You Were On My Mind by the We Five (and Barry McGuire), in Italian Io ho in mente te (you are in my mind), the song that they proposed in the Cantagiro on summer of 1966, the main music event of that period (a series of concerts in the main Italian towns, associated to a competition, inspired to the Giro d'Italia or Tour de France, the bike race). They won this competition after a long head-to-head competition with The Rokes, confirming so to be the n.1 in Italy.
The name of the group, according to the official version, comes from the sum of the age of the four members, Maurizio Vandelli, the leader and the singer, characterized by his curly hair, Victor Sogliani (recently passed-by), the electric bass, you can remember him being extremely tall, Alfio Cantarella, the drummer, that was instead very short, and finally the second guitar Franco Ceccarelli, the handsome one of the group. A very good mix that helped the beat people in Italy to remember the group. But the sum of their ages was 85 when the group started the activity ...
After the period of the covers and starting the declining phase of the beat genre, the group started to propose original songs, by important Italian authors as Francesco Guccini (also from Modena and friend of the four musicians) with songs as Auschwitz, L'antisociale, E' dall'amore che nasce l'uomo and especially Mogol and Battisti, that gave to the Equipe 84 their peculiar song 29 Settembre, a great success in 1967 (n.1 in May).
See more information, including personnel, cover images and discography, on Music Graffiti website (in English).
A group of Verona, very much appreciated during their years of activity. The first singer and front-man of The Kings has been Dino Zambelli, a very popular singer and performer during the sixties in Italy (known simply as Dino). In the first years The Kings was practically the support group of Dino (Dino e i Kings). Dino has embraced soon after a brilliant career as a pop singer, and The Kings continued alone with another front-man, Renato Bernuzzi. The group abandoned the pop sounds and, thanks also to the more modern and strong voice of the new singer, the Kings were claimed by their fans a "real beat" group. During the summer event Cantagiro in 1966 they were choosen as one of the eight beat groups invited to the contest. The song they presented in the concerts was Cerca (look for). They proposed also covers, as many other groups (La risposta, the answer, from the famous song of Bob Dylan Blowin' In The Wind) but also some songs written by The Kings themselves (specifically D'Adda and Ottofaro) as the interesting Caffè amaro (bitter coffee).
See more information, personnel and complete discograpy on Music Graffiti website.
The New Dada were one of the most influential beat group of the sixties in Italy. The name was inspired by the dadaist artistic movement, and they have been very effective during their concerts, mainly thanks to the original approach of their front-man Maurizio Arcieri (maybe he was the inventor of the "moon-dance").
Their main successes have been La mia voce ("my voice", from Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk In The Room"), Non dirne più ("don't say anything", from Sick & Tired of Fats Domino), Batti i pugni (an original), Lady Jane (an Italian version of the famous song of the Rolling Stones). Troubles between the members led the group to a separation in the first months of the 1967 and to the birth of a new formation. The new band was formed by Ferry Sansoni (the keyboardist), Franco Jadanza and Renè Vignocchi (guitars) of the original group and Gaby Lizmi (drummer in the Patrick Samson Group) and Danny Besquet (bass player of the group I Profeti). The name was simply Ferry, Franco, Renè, Danny & Gaby (maybe inspired by the UK group Dave, Dee, Doozy, Beacky, Mick & Tich).
See other information on this and other Italian beat groups on Music-Graffiti website.
The Rokes were four musicians already active in the UK musical scene, since the beginning of the sixties, when they arrived in Italy for a tour as a support band of the singer Colin Hicks. The name of the band was then The Cabin Boys, with the same line-up (Shapiro, the band leader, Charlton, Posner, Shepstone). During this tour they were noticed by a well known Italian talent-scout, Teddy Reno, previosly a singer and actor and at that time the husband of the most famous female singer of the first sixties, Rita Pavone.
Teddy Reno invited them to an event and other concerts and created a contact with an Italian label (Arc) in order to publish their first single in Italy in 1964, a cover of a rock'n roll classic (Shake Rattle and Roll) and an Italian song on the other side, followed very soon by another disc with a melodic Italian song on the A-Side (Un'anima pura: a pure soul). They changed also their name to Rokes, a term not so common in English, but in Italian it sounds very well ...
Their first success has been a cover from Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk In The Room", in Italian C'è una strana espressione nei tuoi occhi (there is a strange glance in your eyes), in 1965, and the smash-hit, the year after, has been another cover, from Bob Lind's "Cheryl's Going Home", in Italian Che colpa abbiamo noi (what is our blame?), with totally unrelated lyrics, speaking of the new beat movement. In the meanwhile they have been also one of the more requested bands for live sets, thanks to their high professionality, and they have been also the performer of the starting concert at the Piper Club, on February 1965.
See more information, dscography and much more on Music Graffiti website.
Gene Guglielmi was one of the first beat singers and performers in Italy, one of their single discs was "I capelli lunghi" (long hair), a sort of declaration of the beat principles, another one about this movement was "Preghiera Beat" (beat prayer). Afterwards he interpreted and published in Italian two french hits of Jacques Dutronc: "Et moi, et moi, et moi" and "Mini, mini, mini". Gene Guglielmi abandoned the musical scene when the beat movement started to disappear, to escape a commercial career.
See more information about Italian Beat groups on Music-Graffiti website.
I Generali (The Generals) were for a short period the support band of Riki Maiocchi (previously the front-man of one of the best known Italian "complessi": I Camaelonti). From Milan, their line-up included a keyboardist (not a common choice at that time), they were also in the cast of a movie of that period, inspired by the famous song of Don Backy "L'immensità". Only one 45 rpm single disc in their career: "La vita è una battaglia" (the life is like a battle), "Pensaci un po'" (think about it) (1966).
See images, discography, personnel and more information about Italian Beat groups on Music-Graffiti website.
The support group of the famous italian singer and musician Don Backy during his first years within the Clan, the label and the team of the well known italian rocker Adriaino Celentano (Don Backy was in turn a brilliant performer and author, active also in the following decades). They came from Mantova (Lombardia), their first name was I Delfini (the dolphins) then they choose I Fuggiaschi (the Escaping Men) from the lyrics of a Don Backy's song.
See images, discography, personnel and more information about Italian Beat groups on Music-Graffiti website.
Since the beginning of their activity in 1959 in Voghera (Pavia, Lombardia), I Frenetici (the Frantics) was more a pop group than a beat one, but they had the opportunity to participate to several concerts and events, even in television, and also at European level (Oscar della canzone 1968, in Switzerland). They are known in Italy also as the group in which started his activity Giampiero Anelli, who will become in the seventies and in the '80s a very much popular Italian singer and performer with the name Drupi.
See discography, personnel and more information about Italian Beat groups on Music-Graffiti website.
Evy (Evelyn Lenton Verrecchia) was one of the few beat singers and performers active in Italy during the sixties. She's grow up in France, and she started her career as a singer there. When she arrived in Italy she started to publish some traditional song ("Giochi proibiti"), arriving soon after to the beat genre with "protest songs" as "L'abito non fa il beatnik" (it's not enough to dress as a beatnik) and "Domani il mondo sarà nelle nostre mani" ("the world will be ours tomorrow", a song about "women liberation", many years in advance). She remained in the world of music in the following decades, working in England and in France.
See more information about Italian Beat groups and singers on Music-Graffiti website.
An Italian pshychedelic group from Turin. Gli Astrali (The Astral Men) have performed many concerts but no discs during their period of activity (1967 - '68). A LP almost ready at that time, "Viaggio allucinogeno" (hallucinatory travel) was edited on CD many years later (1995) by the label Destination X. In the album were included Yardbirds' covers (Mr. You Are a Better Man Than I, in italian "Noi non siamo come voi", "we aren't like you"), Byrds (Eight Miles High, "Vado su in alto", "i'm getting higher") and an original instrumental suite "Un Altro Viaggio Allucinogeno" (another hallucinatory travel).
See images, discography, personnel and more information about Italian Beat groups on Music-Graffiti website.
At the beginning their name was Bruno Castiglia e i Bisonti, then simply I Bisonti (The Bisons). After a first period as concert band in many dance-halls in North Italy, they had the opportunity to publish many singles, in comparison with other Italian groups of that period. Globally 11 singles and 2 LPs between 1965 and 1970, all with the same label, a small indie of Milan called City Records. Almost all the songs published were originals, including their minor hit Crudele (1967).
See images, discography and more information about Italian Beat groups on Music-Graffiti website.
A group of Milan very much appreciated during their period of activity. During a concert at the Shaker night club in Milan, in 1966, a very well known Italian talent scout, Piero Trombetta, proposed them a contract with the EMI label. The single published by The Blacks soon after included "Tu sei come me" (cover of Hot Pastrami of The Dartells, and "Rimani". Under the direction of the famous music manager Leo Watcher The Blacks were in tour in Sardinia for a long period in 1967, together with Pino Donaggio, I Giovani Giovani, Vittorio Inzaina, Wilma Goich, Arturo Testa, Gilda.
See images, discography and more information about Italian Beat groups on Music-Graffiti website.
