Wednesday 27 August 2008

The Crown Prince of YéYé Land

One of the smallest but certainly brighter stars of YéYé explosion in France in the early sixties was a young chap by the name of Pascal Krug, or to give his stage name Le Petit Prince. Born in Switzerland on the 3rd February 1952 he had a natural flair for strumming the guitar at an early age and quickly rose attention at an appearance at a national music festival in his home country. At just 11, he was offered a contract with the French record company Barclay by producer Ken Lean. After securing the deal he was approached and went on to be managed the singer Claude François who he went on to later to tour with in 1963 alongside the group Les Gams. 11 singles and two albums later the inevtiable happend, and the small prince had to grow up - still he managed one EP in 1968 after his voice had taken the low road!

The few recordings I have heard of the prince have all been ace, combining good production with Pascal's talented singing voice. And on offer to download is his EP from 1964, Chante Avec Moi with fellow performer Franck Alamo. Francky comments on why he got together with the prince with the wise words "He is nice, spontaneous, sings and adores playing guitar like me!" Chante Avec Moi turns out to be a pretty catchy ditty - however the highlight is definitely the cover of Rag Doll, retitled Triste Noel - very worthy cover! Plus Pascal lends a hand to writing too with S'il Faut Grandir. The EP rounds of with the track Ces Gens-La.

Listen To His Highness Here!

Wednesday 20 August 2008

Power to Romina!

Hey! Apologies for a lack of updates - in a bit of a transitory situation - but expect more soon! In the mean time I had to post this vid of a 15 yeard old Romina Power performing her second single from 1965, Apri Quell'ombrello - What a great a song! Dig those shapes she throws as well - too cool - and quite refreshing from what the standard of Italia's female singers!