Wednesday 8 October 2008

The KINGS of Italian Beat!

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Their greatest song, the crunching, very Kinks-like "Trovane un altro" is rightly recognized by many as one of the best examples of Eurobeat...you know what I mean.
It's also pretty much all that is known by this group from the northern city of Verona. Often foreigners and Italians alike have wondered about the rest of their recorded output...well, here it is!
The band had started really early on and as Dino e I Kings released a couple of singles before they went their separate ways, Dino as a successful and more commercial singer while I Kings found in Renato Bernuzzi a singer that would stir them towards more Beat and R&B stuff and would look very different with his long hair and beard, giving the band that garage look too!
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It was 1965 and the new line-up also included American Andy De Bruyn on bass, by then they had moved from RCA to a smaller label Durium.

Their only album, I KINGS (1966) features a couple of numbers by the Zombies and the Stones and no less than 3 Dylan covers. There is also a cover of We Five's "You were on my mind", that the band recorded before the most famous version by the EQUIPE 84, but were not allowed to release it as their next single..."Io ho in mente te" as done by the EQUIPE 84 would become a major hit.
The LP included all of their four 45s up to then apart from the B-side of the last one.
That one plus the last two singles are included here.
True, there is nothing as wild as "Trovane un altro" but there are some great tunes to be found, more in a folk-rock vein.
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http://www.mediafire.com/file/wxmzggmjwqt/Kings Beat Italiano.rar
Tracklist:
1 Bambina non sono io
2 La bussola
3 Trovane un altro
4 Fai quello che vuoi
5 Sei stata tu
6 If you gotta go, go now
7 La risposta
8 1-2-3
9 Sei solo tu
10 Tu non puoi
11 Io ho in mente te
12 Ma non é giusto
Bonus tracks,
13 L'uomo di ieri
14 Cerca
15 Dedicato alla mia ragazza
16 Lasciati portare via
17 Caffé amaro

Singles Discography (all 1966, except the first one from 1965):
1 Fai quello che vuoi/ Ma non é giusto
2 Bambina non sono io / Trovane un altro
3 1-2-3 / La risposta
4 Tu non puoi / L’uomo di ieri
5 Cerca / Dedicato alla mia ragazza
6 Lasciati portare via / Caffé amaro
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Enjoy it and do leave comments!

12 comments:

Robert Charbonnier said...

Thank you very much for this good group. I already had the first 12 songs, and the 5 extra ones you gave us are equally good.

Great post, thanks again.

Robert Charbonnier said...

Thank you. Good group with good songs. Nothing wild but pleasent to listen to :)

Anonymous said...

Wonderful album; thanks so much!

Steven

aldo said...

Thanks all, I'm sure you were not looking for some Genesis/Marillion stuff...hold on!
somebody was!
oh, well....

Anonymous said...

hello, I amitalian, I am interested on the post but mediafire says it is set on rpivate... how am i supposed to go for it?

aldo said...

ANONIMO ITALIANO:
Anche se vero che uno mette su della musica perché altri la conoscono e non deve aspettarsi tanti ringraziamenti,mi son rotto un po' le palle che in questo caso oltre 300 persone l'abbiano scaricato e solamente 2 hanno avuto tempo per un piccolo ringraziamento (un commento é ripetuto, l'altro non c'entra niente!)...altrove in un altro post si lamentano che non avevo messo i titoli...cosa che uno lo puó fare solo...ma vaff...
magari nei prossimi gg lo rimetto pubblico...sarebbe bello avere anche un nome a cui rispondere, no un semplice anonimo.
ciao

Anonymous said...

I've just discovered your blog. Thank you for all these great unknown bands from South America, Africa, ...
For this post : is there a password because it says that the link is private ? I'm not very used with mediafire.

Packor

aldo said...

Hi Packor,

as i wrote back in Italian to a similar comment I got simply a bit pissed off by loads of people downloading this in a short time but hardly leaving a comment...so now it is not available...fair enough i put it up to share the music...and i think i've done that...no doubt it will appear on another blog!

Oldcapellon said...

Ciao Aldo
ho appena scoperto il tuo blog tramite quello di Caveman, complimenti e bellissimo e contiene rarita' "dal'altro mondo" !
capisco che ti sei incazzato perche' la gnete scarica e non lascia neanche un commento, lo sarei certamente anch'io!
volevo solo domandarti se sarebbe possibile avere un reup di questo link dei favolosi Kings, ho il cd del loro Lp ma mi mancano i bonus tracks, accidenti.. e dalla germania e difficilissimo reperire materiale come questo se non dai blogs.. Grazie !
...and the beat goes on !
;-)
Carlo

aldo said...

Carlo,
vecchio capellone...non ti preoccupare eccolo qua di nuovo, per te e chi lo desideri!
tra l'altro i brani degli ultimi due singoli mi piacciono molto.
se non li conosci giá, ti consiglio i PLANETS anche loro in sto blog.
un abrazo

Oldcapellon said...

caro amico Aldo, non saprei come ringraziarti!! mi hai fatto veramenete un bel regalo che ormai non ci speravo piu' essendo questa segnalazione dei Kings non propio recente..
Andro' a vedere quello che mi consigli.
Greetings from Germany
Carlo

ps.
se cerchi qualcosa del vecchio beat italiano che non e' il solito Equipe 84 e Rokes fammelo sapere forse ce l'ho..
;-)

Overthewall91 said...

Complimenti Aldo per il blog.E' una fonte preziosa di perle.