I Want My Baby Back: RPM Collects Los Bravos' Best on "Black Is Black"

I Want My Baby Back: RPM Collects Los Bravos’ Best on “Black Is Black”

October 17, 2017 By Joe Marchese — 1 Comment

What 1966 record from a Spanish band with a German lead singer was written and recorded in England before becoming a top 5 hit in America? The answer, of course, is “Black is Black,” the No. 4 smash from Spain’s Los Bravos. Cherry Red Records’ RPM imprint has recently released a definitive 2-disc compendium from the group. Black is Black: The Anthology 1966-1969 boasts 60 tracks on 2 CDs from the band most often thought of as a “one hit wonder” in the United States.

Los Bravos was formed as a combination of two earlier band, Los Sonor from Madrid, and Mike and the Runaways from Mallorca. The new five-piece was led by the Runaways’ Mike Kogel, born in Germany and able to persuasively sing in German, Spanish, and English. The band was signed to the Spanish Columbia label, which at that point had no ties to either the U.S. Columbia (CBS) or U.K. Columbia (EMI) labels but did have a connection to the U.K.’s Decca Records. Decca placed the group with producer Ivor Raymonde, best known for his hits with Dusty Springfield and The Walker Brothers. Though Manolo Diaz, Los Bravos’ multi-instrumentalist, was already songwriting, Decca was eager to place outside songs with the band. One such tune was “Black is Black” from Tony Hayes, Steve Wadey, and Michelle Grainger. Though the band members took a back seat to session players like Vic Flick and John McLaughlin, “Black is Black” featured the full throated, Gene Pitney-esque vocals of Mike Kogel out front. It soon became an international hit, reaching No. 2 in England, No. 4 in the United States and No. 1 in Canada, not to mention a double platinum seller in Spain. (Its chances for success in France were torpedoed by Johnny Hallyday’s French language cover!)

The single “Black is Black” opens RPM’s collection along with its B-side “I Want a Name,” which is heard in both Spanish and English versions. Its hit status led Decca to commission a full album from the band. Black is Black, the LP, was released in the U.K. on Decca and in the U.S. on Press Records, with a slightly altered track listing for the latter version. It included the title song plus more Grainger/Wadey/Hayes songs, a pair by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter, and original songs from Diaz. A follow-up single, Raymonde and Tony Clarke’s “I Don’t Care,” was included on the album but didn’t match the chart success of its predecessor. It did, however, make No. 16 on the British singles chart. Their 45 “Going Nowhere” closed out 1966, its title sadly proving prophetic where the charts were concerned in the U.S. and the U.K. – though it belatedly became a hit in Italy in 1967, and gained new life on Rhino’s Nuggets II box set decades later.

Still, Los Bravos kept a high profile, appearing at the San Remo Music Festival in Italy with their song “Uno Come Noi,” appearing in the Spanish film Los Chicos con Las Chicas as themselves and providing its soundtrack, and recording with Raymonde in London in search of the elusive follow-up hit. (The soundtrack featured compositions such as The Bee Gees’ “Like Nobody Else” and Les Reed and Barry Mason’s “Bye Bye Baby.”) Disappointed by the band’s diminishing returns, manager Alain Milhaud took the reins himself as producer, bringing in French arranger-conductor Jean Bouchety. Milhaud then got the band involved in another film, Dame Un Poco de Amor, and gave them another chance for a comeback with the single “Bring a Little Lovin'” penned by Harry Vanda and George Young of Australia’s Easybeats. The catchy track made it to No. 51 in the U.S., but that wasn’t enough to resuscitate the group’s fortunes.

Tragedy struck when 23-year old organist Manolo Fernandez committed suicide after his young, pregnant wife perished in a car accident. When Dame Un Poco de Amor was released in September 1968, it became a sad tribute to the late Fernandez. Shortly after its release, Mike Kogel announced his intentions to go solo; he soon rechristened himself Mike Kennedy. Los Bravos soldiered on for a time with personnel changes (one of their latter-day lead vocalists was Andy Anderson, brother of Yes’ Jon Anderson), and in 1969, they disbanded. The same year, their final 1968 recordings were released in Spain as the Illustrisimos Bravos LP.

Black is Black celebrates the short career of the talented pop-rockers, anthologizing the music from both films as well as their albums in Spain, England, and the United States. Among the disparate offerings on this collection are songs by such notable names as Scott English and Kenny Young (“Save Me, Save Me”), Mark Barkan and Hank Hunter (“If I Were a River”), and Larry Weiss (“Just Holding On”). Nick Rossi tells the story of the band in his detailed liner notes found in the 14-page color booklet. Simon Murphy has remastered all of the tracks. You can order this illuminating and comprehensive collection from an underrated sixties band at the links below!

Los Bravos, Black is Black: The Anthology 1966-1969 (Cherry Red/RPM Retro D 992, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

Black is Black
No Se Mi Nombre
Will You Always Love Me
Quiero Guitar
Una Flor Corte
Recopilacion
I Want a Name
Trapped
Baby, Baby
Make It Easy for Me
She Believes in Me
Stop That Girl
Give Me a Chance
I’m Cuttin’ Out
Two Kinds of Lovers
You Won’t Get Far
Baby, Believe Me
I Don’t Care
Don’t Be Left Out in the Cold
Uno Come Noi
Going Nowhere
Brand New Baby
I’m All Ears
You’ll Never Get the Chance Again
Like Nobody Else
I’m Wearing a Smile
Te Quiero Asi
Bye Bye Baby
Don’t Get in My Way
Come When I Call

CD 2

Show Me
Sympathy
I’ve Been Hearing Things
Then the Sun Goes Down
Get Out of My Life
This Way, That Way
Down Down
Bring a Little Lovin’
Make It Last
Play with Fire and You’ll Get Burned
You Got Until the Morning
I’ll See You Through
Deeper Roots
Yakipo
She’s My Girl
Dime Donde Estoy
If I Were a River
Just Holding On
We’ll Make It Together
Save Me, Save Me
Baby, I Love You
Cool It
Individuality
Viva La Vida
Amor y Simpatia
Dirty Street
Live Girl
Wait a Minute
Como Superman
Two People in Me

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Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.