MUSIC WEEK DECEMBER 25, 1976

D P n C C c c. c European top sellers 7 VERDE, Ricky King, BASF 5 MANANA, George Baker lies! Germany 8 EUROPA, Santana, CBS Selection, Negram Finnish country 9 SMILE, Pussycat, EMI 6 DON'T TAKE AWAY THE (Courtesy Musikmarkt) 10 KIOSK, Rumpelstilz, MUSIC, Tavares. Bovema From KARI HELOPALTIO in HELSINKI 1 JEANS ON, David Dundas, Schnoutz/Phonogram 7 SOMEBODY TO LOVE, GREAT TH1NGS have been happening to Finnish country music Chrysalis/Phonogram Queen, Bovema in recent months. It is an area of music in which developments 2 DADDY COOL, Boney M, 8 FLIP, Jesse Green, Red Bus have surprised even the most optimistic of enthusiasts. Hansa/Ariola Frare® 3 IN ZAIRE, Johnny Wakelin, 9 LIVIN' THING, Electric Light First, a seven-piece group called Country Express has literally Pye/Ariola (Courtesy Groupement Orchestra, United Artists conquered the Nordic championships in the country field and d'lnteret Economique de 10 MAJOOR KEES EN DE was invited to appear at Mervyn Conn's International Country 4 MONEY MONEY MONEY. I'Edition Phonographique et SINTERKLAHAAS, Paul Van Abba. Polydor Audiovisuelle) Vllet, Philips Music Festival at Wembley Empire Pool. Nothing like this had 5 VERDE, Ricky King, BASF 1 DADDY COOL, Boney M, happened to a local country-style group before. 6 UND ES WAR SOMMER, Carrere Soon afterwards, the debut of Country Express stormed Peter Maffay, Telefunken 2 J'ACCUSE, Jean Claude up the Finnish charts, selling somewhere around 20,000 copies in 7 DISCO DUCK, Rick Dees and Borelly, Discodis Delphine Btslf a matter of a few weeks. And at the same time the Robert Altman Cast Of Idiots, RSO/DGG 3 LES FEMMES, Sheila, Carrere movie Nashville was playing to full cinemas in key cities. 8 BEAUTIFUL NOISE. Neil (Courtesy Germano Ruscitto) Diamond, CBS 4 ALLEZ LES VERTS. Les Suddenly, out of the blue almost, country music was (he most Supporters, Phonogram/Dis- 1 CONCERTO PER talked about aspect of the popular music and recording industry, 9 I'LL MEET YOU AT MARGHERITA, Riccardo MIDNIGHT. Smokie, ques Monty scenes in Finland. 5 LE PETIT ROCHETEAU. Cocciante, RCA The sheer enthusiasm was good to see. Jussi Raillincn, the 20- Rak/EMI Electrola Monty and Les Supporters, 2 POOH LOVER. I Pooh. CBS- 10 SILVER BIRD. Tina Rainford, Phonogram/Disques Monty MM stone godfather of local country, went to Nashville, Tennessee, CBS 6 GABRI ELLE, Johnny 3 ARABIAN NIGHTS, The with friends Matti Laipio and Kaj Westcrlund and cut his new 11 DANCING QUEEN, Abba, Hallyday, Phonogram/Philips Ritchie Family, Derby-MM album there. Assisting him were members of the old Elvis Presley Polydor 7 LE COEUR TROP GRAND 4 VIA PAOLO FABRIC 43. recording gang: Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana, the Jordanaircs, 12 DANCE LITTLE LADY POUR MOI, Julien Clerc, Francesco Guccini, EMI plus top Nashville session men Weldon Myrick, Reggie Young, DANCE, Tina Charles. CBS 5 ULLALLA, Antonello Venditti, Ray Edenton and Buddy Spicher. 13 SMILE. Pussycat, EMI Pathe Marconi RCA Electrola 8 LE PERE DE SYLVIA, Sacha 6 TROUBLE MAKER. Roberta For Raittinen and his friends it seemed like a dream come true 14 STILETTO HEELS. Sailor. Distel, Carrere Kelly, Durium — and the sheer improbability of it all affected the whole of the Epic/CBS 9 SORCIERE BIEN AIMEE, 7 AMIGOS, Santana, CBS-MM Finnish country music field. The album itself is obviously a local 15 LOST ANGELS. Sweet, RCA Sylvie Vartan. RCA 7 COME UN'ULTIMA CENA, landmark; all-Finnish compositions performed with the musical 10 JE VIENS DE LOIN. Shake. , heart-beat of Nashville. The songs are sung in Finnish, which in a Carrere Ricordi way is a pity, because this could easily have proved a strong S^taeirlainid! 9 IS THIS WATCHA WONT?, export article. (Courtesy Der Musikmarkt) Hoiiasii Barry White, Phonogram However this was essentially made for Finnish audiences with 1 DADDY COOL. Boney M, 9 LA TORRE Dl BABELE, their rather peculiar musical tastes, involving a mixture of styles. (Courtesy Stichting Edoardo Bennato, Ricordi Hansa Nederlandse T op 4) But for Finland the greatest and biggest country-music 2 SILVER BIRD. Tina Rainford. 11 HARD RAIN. Bob Dylan. explosion is due April 13, 1977. That is when British promoter CBS 1 IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW, CBS-MM 3 IN ZAIRE, Johnny Wakelin. Chicago, CBS 12 A LOVE TRILOGY. Donna Mervyn Conn presents his first international country music Pye/Vogue 2 UPSIDE DOWN, Teach-ln. Summer, Durium festival in this country. The event will be staged in the 11,000 4 JEANS ON, David Dundas, Negram 13 MADE IN EUROPE. Deep sealer Helsinki Ice Stadium and artists are to be flown in direct Chrysalis/Phonogram 3 MONEY MONEY MONEY, Purple, EMI from Conn's festival at Wembley, and via Gothenburg in 5 LE REVE, Ricky King, Epic Abba. Polydor 14 REBEL, John Miles, Decca Sweden. Russian observers of the fast-growing country music 6 MONEY MONEY MONEY, 4 BEAUTIFUL NOISE. Neil 15 FOUR SEASONS OF LOVE, scene will be there, too. Abba, Polydor Diamond, CBS Donna Summer. Durium

To al lour Rood friends in the business

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CHRISTMAS

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GREETINGS m

FROM

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m A:1 V #• Island Music Limited, 47 British Grove, London W4 2NL. PAGE 17