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Before ABBA, one of the most popular groups on the Swedish music scene was The Lee Kings.  Between 1965 and 1967, The Lee Kings released fourteen singles – including several hits and chart-toppers on the Tio i topp chart – and one album, all of which are collected on Bingo!! For The Lee Kings: Expanded Edition.  This RPM Records release, licensed from Warner Music Group, Universal and the band itself, has a whopping 48 tracks on two CDs, representing everything The Lee Kings recorded in their short but prolific existence – including a rare single produced by and featuring Graham Nash and Allan Clarke of The Hollies.

Vocalist Lennart “Lenne” Broberg and guitarists Bengt Dalen and Bjarne Moller were at the core of the beat band; the bass and drums slots saw a revolving door of personnel changes.  RPM’s collection begins with the original 1966 Bingo album, as released on Swedish RCA Victor in stereo only.  The original 12-track LP, sung in English, featured a blend of beat, folk-rock and R&B, boasting both band-composed originals and choice covers of Sam Cooke’s “Shake” and The Hollies’ “I’ve Got a Way of My Own.”  The Hollies and The Lee Kings had formed a mutual admiration society when they shared bills together in summer 1966.  (Note that “Don’t Go, Please Stay” isn’t a cover of the similarly-titled Burt Bacharach/Bob Hilliard hit for The Drifters.)  The “classic” Lee Kings line-up as represented on the album consisted of Broberg, Dalen, Moller, bassist Mike Watson, and drummer Lasse Sandgren.  (Watson later became an associate of ABBA, playing on such records as “S.O.S.” and “Mamma Mia.”)

The first disc of this comprehensive set is rounded out with ten rarities including six songs (among them covers of “Hi-Heel Sneakers” and “Rock and Roll Music”) from a promotional EP made for the Grace Soap company; one track (“On My Way”) from a magazine tie-in flexi-disc;  another song (“Stop, Think, Reconsider”) from a charity compilation; and two songs (Jerry Ragovoy and Mort Shuman’s “Look at Granny Run Run” and Shuman and Doc Pomus’ “Save the Last Dance for Me”) recorded in 1967 but unreleased except in recent years as digital downloads.

The second disc has all of The Lee Kings’ singles remastered in mono from the original tapes, including the band’s first three 45s on the Gazell label credited to Lenne and The Lee Kings in 1965.  The repertoire on these tracks is diverse, including renditions of the Doris Day classic “Que Sera Sera” and Irma Thomas’ Allen Toussaint-penned “It’s Raining.”  Dropping the “Lenne and,” the band released one more track on Gazell, a short, three-minute spin through Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” before decamping to RCA.  At RCA, the band brought an energetic attack to recordings of songs by an eclectic range of pop and rock performers including The Who (“La-La-Lie Lies”), Unit 4 + 2 (“Concrete and Clay”), Muddy Waters (Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You”), Nino and April (“I Can’t Go On Living, Baby, Without You”) and The Beatles (“Day Tripper”).  Broberg and Watson contributed original songs to the band’s 45s, and Graham Nash and Allan Clarke gifted the band with the A-side of their final single in 1967, “Coming from the Ground.”  The two Hollies co-wrote the song with Nicky James and Kirk Duncan, and are audible on the harmonies.

By early 1968, The Lee Kings had broken up, but as this definitive anthology reveals, the band left behind a strong legacy of compelling and melodic rock-and-roll music.  Reissue co-producer Kieron Tyler tells the band’s story in the 10-page booklet, and the tracks have been remastered by Simon Murphy.  Bingo!  You can order this set from The Lee Kings at the links below!

The Lee Kings, Bingo!! For The Lee Kings: Expanded Edition (RCA Victor Sweden LSP 10106, 1966 – reissued RPM WRETROD 974, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. It’s Not Right
2. Lost My Girl
3. I Still Love You
4. I’ve Got a Way of My Own
5. Tears Fell
6. Just Give Me Another Beer
7. Gonna Keep Searchin’
8. Smile for Me
9. Don’t Go, Please Stay
10. Shake
11. The Trees Are Talking
12. Why, Why, Why
13. On My Way
14. Stop the Music (Alternate Version)
15. High-Heel Sneakers
16. Rock ‘n’ Roll Music
17. Lonesome Town
18. Always and Ever
19. Flickor Bak I Bilen
20. Stop, Think, Reconsider
21. Look at Granny Run (Run)
22. Save the Last Dance for Me

CD 2

1. Stop the Music
2. Always and Ever
3. Que Sera Sera
4. Sticks and Stones
5. O.D. (Love on Delivery)
6. It’s Rainin’
7. Like a Rolling Stone
8. I Just Want to Make Love to You
9. La-La-La Lies
10. Concrete and Clay
11. Outsider
12. Why, Why, Why
13. Give Me Just Another Beer
14. The Trees Are Talking
15. It’s Not Right
16. Smile for Me
17. Gonna Keep Searchin’
18. Orient Express
19. I Can’t Go On Living, Baby, Without You
20. They May Forget
21. Take a Message to Mary
22. Hot Dogs
23. Come on Home
24. Coming from the Ground
25. Day Tripper
26. Stop the Music (Alternate Version)

CD 1, Tracks 1-12 from Bingo!! For The Lee Kings, RCA Victor Sweden LSP 10106, 1966
CD 1, Track 13 from Bildjournalen Go Go Skiva 66 flexi-disc, 1966
CD 1, Tracks 14-19 from Don’t Stop the Music EP, Grace LM5102, 1966
CD 1, Track 20 from Popligan, PRH 5003, 1967
CD 1, Tracks 21-22 rec. 1967, previously released only in digital form
CD 2, Tracks 1-2 from Gazell single C-158, 1965
CD 2, Track 3 from Gazell single C-166, 1965
CD 2, Track 4 from Gazell single C-166 and C-182, 1965
CD 2, Tracks 5-6 from Gazell single C-173, 1965
CD 2, Track 7 from Gazell single C-182, 1965
CD 2, Tracks 8-9 from RCA Victor single FAS 749, 1966
CD 2, Tracks 10-11 from RCA Victor single FAS 755, 1966
CD 2, Tracks 12-13 from RCA Victor single FAS 760, 1966
CD 2, Track 14 from RCA Victor single FAS 765, 1966 and single FAS 773, 1967
CD 2, Track 15 from RCA Victor single FAS 765, 1966
CD 2, Track 16 from RCA Victor single FAS 768, 1966 and single FAS 786, 1967
CD 2, Track 17 from RCA Victor single FAS 768, 1966
CD 2, Track 18 from RCA Victor single FAS 773, 1967
CD 2, Tracks 19-20 from RCA Victor single FAS 785, 1967
CD 2, Track 21 from RCA Victor single FAS 786, 1967
CD 2, Tracks 22-23 from RCA Victor single FAS 788, 1967
CD 2, Tracks 24-25 from RCA Victor single FAS 796, 1967
CD 2, Track 26 from Gazell (Finland) single C-158, 1965