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Los Pop Tops

You know Guerssen get a lot of plaudits for their output and rightly so but there are other Spanish labels who have been reissuing 60/70s material for some time without so much attention from international collectors. One such label is Remma Lamma;

http://www.ramalamamusic.com/

Anyhow they have just released a glorious 2 cd collection of the Spanish with band with a Trinidadian lead singer Los Pop Tops. I'd say more than half of it is in English but here are multiple versions in Spanish and Italian. Their music reminds me of The foundations -i.e. a mix of soul and pop. Not much in the way of psych I'm afraid except the painted body cover-

http://poptops.oyla15.de/cgi-bin/hpm_homepage.cgi

but if you like 60s pop with a large Tamala a la Amen Corner this is just the business. Listen -




Here is another fan site (in spanish but worth listening to)

http://musicantic.blogspot.ie/2011/05/pop-tops.html

Wiki;

Pop Tops (or Los Pop-Tops) were a vocal/instrumental band, formed in 1967 in Madrid, Spain and consisting of José Lipiani, Alberto Vega, Ignacio Pérez, Julián Luis Angulo, Enrique Gómez, Ray Gómez plus lead singer Phil Trim (born January 5, 1940, Trinidad and Tobago).
Their sound was a blend of baroque classical-styled pop with the soulful vocals of Trim. Major influences included Procol Harum and The Left Banke.[citation needed]
Their first release to gain attention was "Oh Lord, Why Lord" (196 , written by Jean Marcel Bouchety and Phil Trim. It was the first pop song to incorporate the melody of Pachelbel's Canon in D. That single's b-side, "The Voice Of The Dying Man" (based on a Johann Sebastian Bach composition) was also recorded in Spanish as "La Voz del Hombre Caido".
They are best known for their 1971 hit "Mamy Blue" (sic), referring to a son's poignant song addressed to his departed mother about his childhood memories and life in general, sometimes spelled "Mommy Blue" or "Mammy Blue" or "Mummy Blue", which was a Top 10 hit throughout much of Europe, Japan (#2), and Canada (#42), and a minor Billboard Hot 100 chart hit in the United States (#57). It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. As follow-up singles they released "Suzanne Suzanne" (early 1972) and "Hideaway" (mid 1972), which were only minor hits in some European countries.
The composer and lyricist of the French song "Mamy Blue" was Hubert Giraud. English lyrics were written by Phil Trim. The Pop Tops also recorded Italian and Spanish versions, with lyrics by Gefingal.

Re: Los Pop Tops

Well said Paul. I have a few of the Ramalama CDs, anthologies of Spanish bands and they're great. Ther's a lot more reissue activity in Spain as well, labels like Munster, Vampi Soul and Wah Wah do a lot of good work. I also take my hat off to the guy who puts out the 'Andergrund Vibrations', 'Acid Rumba' etc LP compilations. If you like Pop Tops, try Vampi Soul's three double volumes of the V/A - 'Sensacional Soul' series, they're full of this sort of stuff, Spanish soul style which I love.

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