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A minor dilemma for me, as a blogger living in a different hemisphere to almost all of my readers, is when to share a mix that seems so perfect for a particular season. I've had this mix in mind as a soundtrack for spring, but wondered whether to post it in your spring or mine? I've decided perhaps this is an ideal time for you and I alike, as my springtime begins, and maybe some of your summery days still linger as it turns to autumn. Whatever the weather, I think this provides some much-needed sunny cheer. It's music for daydreaming out the window.

This mix was inspired by, and shaped around, the simple, escapist joy of the song 'Up, Up and Away'. Written by Jimmy Webb and originally recorded by The Fifth Dimension, the harmonic slice of breezy listening was a big hit around the world in 1967. I wanted to create a mix with a feeling of pure escapism and floating away from troubles. Is there any song that better epitomises this?

The version I decided to include here is the less familiar Supremes' cover from their 1968 album Reflections, which is a little sweeter and more buoyant to my ears, and of course has Diana Ross' irresistibly silken vocals. It's nestled among a collection of songs I find uplifting, comforting and sometimes achingly beautiful (wow, that Aretha cover of 'Over The Rainbow').

Hello all! Been absent from the blog for much longer than intended, I'm sorry to say. But I hate to miss another Halloween, especially since my blog is named for a Halloween urban legend. So I've managed to squeak in a mix just in time!

'A Curse On You' is in a similar vein to my last couple of mixes: more of a haunting atmosphere than strictly horror-themed selections, though there are a few of those as well. I like to make my mixes a bit of an emotional journey through different moods and sonic textures, especially when fairly long like this one, which comes in at two hours and eight minutes.

This mix is packed with vintage European soundtracks, moody experimental pop, electronic forays, an abundance of 60s psych rock, and more. There's some of the sensual, affecting vibe of my previous mixes, but with more of a gritty, dirty punch - at least that was the aim!

Please enjoy this trippy spookfest! Here are the artists and songs featured in this mix (click 'Hide details' to see a simplified tracklist):

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Here's an all-France Gall mix, featuring some of my favourite songs of hers from 1963 to 1972. I say some of because, well, I love pretty much all her stuff from that era - it took some restraint to only choose 38 songs! You'll find some of her absolute classics here, as well as some lesser-known songs that are equally wonderful. After making the mix, I realised I drew a lot from my favourite album of hers, the 1967 psych-pop classic, 1968. I also seem to have included every song where she does her adorable version of scatting, which is really just the best thing ever. As well as her French songs, I've included a few of her German tracks, the Japanese version of 'Un prince charmant' and the Italian version of 'La Quatrième Chose'.

I've already gone into what I love about France Gall's music, so I'm not going to get descriptive here, but just let the music speak for itself. My hope is these selections would make someone new to her music fall in love with it as much as I did. And perhaps there are a few things here that are not so readily familiar to established French pop fans. 

I'm excited to share my second mix for Christmas this year, which features seasonal tunes from international female pop singers of the 1960s. This was harder to put together than I thought! Being a big fan of both sixties girl pop from around the world and Christmas music, I figured this would be a piece of cake. But I soon realised I only had songs that fit the bill from a limited number of countries. Branching out more broadly was quite a fun adventure, and I really adore some of the songs on this mix that are new to me, like the stunning tracks from Monna Bell and Maria Dolores Pradera. I know some Rita Pavone but her 'White Christmas' cover, 'Bianco natale', had escaped me, and it's just gorgeous. It was also interesting to get a sense of which places went for Christmas pop singles, and which didn't. Italy, for example, had a booming young beat music scene but I found very little in the way of yuletide pop tunes. Most of the Italian stuff I found was very traditional, even, surprisingly, from some rock bands. Perhaps in some more religious countries, too contemporary an approach to Christmas songs was deemed too irreverant. I lucked out with some countries altogether – some places did not produce enough girl pop for their singers to also dabble in Christmas singles, others I don't really know where to begin exploring. If you know of any sixties holiday songs from female pop singers from countries I'm missing here, I'd love to hear your recommendatons. 

The gorgeous illustration of Sylvie Vartan accompanying the mix is by the very talented Olivier C. You can check out and support his amazing work here.

The name of this mix was inspired by the delightful titles of Japanese retro comps like Japanese Pop Cuties in Swingin' 60s or Japanese Pop Christmas In Dreamy '60s. I'm not intending to make fun of Japanglish at all; in fact, I found the syntax (or my attempt at it, which lacks the Japanglish flair) made more sense to me in trying to convey what this mix was about than conventional English structure would allow. 

This blog has gained many new readers since I first posted my Spiked Candy Canes mixes in 2005, so I thought I'd share them again for anyone who missed out the first time around. Hopefully they'll give you an idea of the abundance of lesser-known but fun, interesting, weird or sometimes beautiful Christmas songs that are out there, and maybe introduce you to some artists you haven't heard before. If you're looking for more info and links to purchase anything that's still in print, have a look through the December 2005 and the December 2006 archives.

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I'm feeling spoiled this year thanks to all the quality Christmas music I've found online that the artists have generously made available for free download. Below is my list of finds. Got any more to add?

Daniela songs (20 tracks): HTML5 | Flash

A little while ago, I came across the excellent Jugobeat site, filled with bios, pics and discographies of artists from the little-known 60s beat scene of former Yugoslavia, and became fixated with finding music by the only solo female act listed, Daniela. The site is run by Vanya, of No Brains Zine & Records, who was kind enough to rip some Daniela vinyl for me. Vanya was also responsible for a small run of 2 volumes of a great comp called Jugobeat Explosion a few years ago.

Meanwhile, I passed the Daniela obsession on to Lush from Dans Mon Café, who found some tracks posted at Garage Hangover. Some background on Daniela from GH:

Daniela's real name was Danica Milatovic. She was born in Munich, Germany on December 13th, 1949, and her parents had come from Yugoslavia some years before. In 1960 she recorded her first 45. Between 1965 and 1973 there were 12 more 45s and two LPs with German songs. Her biggest hit was "Im Jahre 2002" ("In the Year 2002").

I haven't heard her most well-known song, but my guess is it's a cover of 'In The Year 2525'. Amusingly, various foreign language covers all set the date of doom in different years, depending what best fits the tongue it's sung in: 2005, 2003, 2023. [*Edit- I guessed wrong: here's a link I found to a stream of the track: 'Im Jahre 2002 ' (watch out for pop-up ads). Youtube.]

I'm posting all 20 tracks I have by her, which include recordings sung in English, Serbo-Croatian, German and French. The best is her garagey stuff, but I think these are all worth hearing. For those whose connections don't let them get large files, the tracks Garage Hangover posted are still up. You'll find a couple of her German songs and one Yugoslavian EP, featuring her appealing garage cover of 'These Boots Are Made For Walkin''.

No songs today, but just a post to let you know about two new(-ish) blogs I'm loving.

Zoi Zoi's supergroovy Mimi La Twisteuse has launched her blog, Babette's Feast, featuring a great stash of 60s sounds from France and Québéc, as well as 60s garage girls, obscure French-language covers from various eras and assorted other gems. She certainly injects some welcome originality, expertise and personality into the yé-yé-related blogosphere.

Suzanne Doucet - Okay, ich geh' ! (1964)

Second up is Jens' Verlorene Mädchen blog, entirely devoted to German 60s girl recordings. If you've ever attempted to venture unguided into German 60s pop, you'll know it's tricky territory, and very hard to find much that isn't unlistenable schlager pap. I consider most schlager to be the musical equivalent of a prolonged, forced smile. Graham Welch's Dolls In Deutschland article at Cha Cha Charming is an extraordinary help in sorting the wheat from the pap. But even so, I've found German girl pop pickings to be quite slim. Some of it is, on its own merit, great; some of it is good, but even much of the better stuff is still quite average to bad, especially next to the fountain of goodness that is French 60s pop. Often in my German pop explorations, I soon realise I am being lenient because it sounds comparatively good after being exposed to the worst German pop has to offer.

Born in Landau, Bavaria, Glas started appearing in films as early as 1965. Her breakthrough role was that of Barbara in the unconventional Zur Sache, Schätzchen (Go for It, Baby) 1968, which captured the spirit of the times in that it presented youthful protest against the German Establishment and hinted at the loosening of morals in the wake of the Sexual Revolution. — Wikipedia

As seems to be the case with many successful European actresses of the time, Uschi also ventured into the recording studio. And, as also seems to be typical, she didn't find the same popularity there. Her Giorgio Moroder-produced cover of Edison Lighthouse's 'Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)' as 'Wenn dein Herz brennt' ('When Your Heart Burns' (?) ) was her biggest hit - but still only achieved modest success, according to this page on Uschi at the Schlager Stars website.

Here's a scan of her from a 60s German mag and the blurb that accompanies it: