Los Bravos: Black is Black (1966)

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Los Bravos: Black is Black (1966)

People speak casually about the global village as if it had been invented by the internet, but how is this for an implosion of cultures?

This song was written by a couple of British guys, was recorded by a Spanish group who had hooked in a German singer, the song was sung in English and went into the charts in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand -- as well as various European countries.

And the reason it has appeared here now is because I heard the other day in my supermarket.

Written and sung in the Beat group style of the era, it was a minor classic and -- rather surprisingly -- not the last we heard of Los Bravos who could have been a one-hit wonder as so many were.

They were a two-and-a-bit hit wonder with their follow-up I Don't Care, then reaching the lower rungs of attention with Bring A Little Lovin' (which, with horns, sounded more like Edison Lighthouse than their original guitar/organ-based sound).

They didn't last long -- although two years was a long time in the Sixties for some bands -- and the reason they make it out of the vaults is this deserves to be better than the background noise while you are buying veggies.

For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.

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