German Blue Flames

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The German Blue Flames were a West German beat band from Gelsenkirchen and the surrounding area, which celebrated its success in the 1960s.

German Blue Flames
General information
Genre (s) Beat music
founding 1962
Current occupation
Vocals, guitar
 Hartmut "Kuli" Kulka
Guitar, vocals
 Klaus Grochowski
Guitar, vocals
 Ulrich Feldhege
bass
 Heinrich "Heiner" Landwehr
Drums
 Hans von der Forst (formerly Lißeck)

Band history

Beginnings

The German Blue Flames emerged in 1962 from the Gelsenkirchen “hot band” Allround Men. Initially, Klaus Grochowski and Hartmut Kulka wanted to start a band when they were still at school, but failed because of the purchase of the necessary amplification system. Finally, Heiner Landwehr (guitar), Hartmut Kulka (vocals, guitar), Hans Lißeck (drums), Dirk Schortemeyer (piano) and Ulrich Feldhege (guitar) formed the dance combo Allround Men. The band initially played at club and school festivals. Dirk Schortemeyer left the band because of his studies, "the other four had long been infested with the beat bacillus that had conquered the mainland from England." During a stay in London in the summer of 1962, Heiner Landwehr and Hartmut Kulka attended a concert by the British Rhythm & blues combo Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames . Here they got the suggestion to name their band initially Blue Flames, later when the record contract was signed “German Blue Flames” for legal reasons. The German Blue Flames had their first appearances at the youth dance tea in Recklinghausen, in the parish hall of the Protestant Matthäus community in Gelsenkirchen-Buer-Middelich , as well as in numerous communal and denominational youth homes. During this time, Klaus Grochowski also joined. All band members studied or were high school graduates.

Record contracts, radio and television appearances

In 1964, the German Blue Flames took first place at the first "Vestische Guitar Festival" (later renamed "Beatband Festival") in Recklinghausen. Subsequently, the band with producer Hans Beukenberg recorded their first single ( "Rhythm & Blues & Johnny, German version / Good Bye" ) in the Gelsenkirchen sound and film studio (GTS ), which was released on March 13, 1964.

During the "Twist-Battle ´64" on November 14, 1964 in the town hall of Kassel, Telefunken and n - magazine for young people recorded a live sampler that also included an English live version of Rhythm & Blues And Joe (Sic !) contains. The two LP versions were released at the end of 1964.

The band signed a record deal with Ariola in early 1965 . In the Ariola studio in Cologne, the German Blue Flames played fourteen tracks under the producer Rudolf Leo Slezak on January 15 and 16, 1965, which were officially released on the album (again in a mono and a stereo version), and You can ´t do that as an outtake or replacement title, of which there is no longer a tape, as Ariola informed the band. The LP German Blue Flames was presented on April 18, 1965 at the Club Holiday Hit Parade in the Kassel town hall, along with other new recordings by other artists.

In February 1965 the band took first place again at the 2nd Beatband Festival in Recklinghausen.

On April 18, 1965, three other singles were released in addition to the LP, next to Baby, warte auf mich / Good-bye (both in German-speaking) and Sunbeams At The Sky / Ecstacy , Achim Reichel , founder and singer of the Beat- Band The Rattles , written. The German version of Sunbeams was released as the fourth single : Mein Herz ist noch frei / Lovely lady . The Rattles themselves had published the piece as the B-side of Tell Me What Can I Do in the spring of 1964 . The suggestion to re-record the song and to publish it came from the Flames producer Slezak, who also owned a music publisher that published "Sunbeams" (which the German Blue Flames didn't know, by the way, at least then).

On October 30, 1965, the German Blue Flames appeared in the 1st TV program in the 2nd Beat Club produced by Radio Bremen with the titles Too much monkey business , You've got your troubles, I've got mine , Sunbeams at the sky, Hit parade medley (Short Versions: Look through any window, Message understood, Eve of destruction, If you gotta go, go now, Almost there, Tears) l and Teen scene (Outro) .

On February 26, 1966, the German Blue Flames were recorded live by Radio Bremen in the Bremer Stadthalle, where they presented their fifth single Sha-la-la-la-lee together with the British beat singer Twinkle , along with several other titles . Only this Flames title was broadcast nationwide in Beat Club No. 6 on March 26, 1966, her second appearance in the series. Other live pieces from this Bremen Flames performance were neither broadcast nor, as far as is known, have been preserved as audio recordings.

The band also had appearances on WDR television ( What'd I say and Long tall Sally live from the Schauburg Gladbeck in Hier und heute on September 21, 1964 and an appearance in this country - now in March 1966).

From 1965 to 1969, Coca-Cola-Deutschland GmbH had some advertising records with the title Things go better with Coke produced; In addition to the original version as a sample and an EP with Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich , Petula Clark , the Supremes and Ray Charles , the German Blue Flames also recorded a version that was attached to the West German youth magazine Bravo .

German Blue Flames versus Small Faces

The Small Faces from England occupied with their original Sha-la-la-la-lee 3 on the British charts and # 15 on the German court. The German Blue Flames were more successful in Germany than the Small Faces with their version, released on February 3, 1966 as the 5th single with the B-side Rama Lama . In the 1966 “Schlagerderby” competition of Deutschlandfunk, the German Blue Flames took 3rd place with their hit, and they also beat the original with position 11 and 15th in the “Deutsche Club-Hitparade” youth hit parade of Radio Luxemburg. Beat magazines like Musikparade and Ok wrote luridly about the "band war" ("1. 0 for German Blue Flames", "The big tralala around the hot 'Sha-la-la-la-lee'", "Are the faces angry?", "The ear to the enemy").

Additional competition was at the same time (February 1966) from Star Club Records (Philips) (148 547 STF) with a third recording of the successful track with the single Sha-la-la-la-lee (Lynch / Shuman) / Old McDonald (add. & Arr. By The "In" Crowd) by The "In" Crowd, a pseudonym of the successful German beat group The Rattles.

Fashion

In the German beat scene, the German Blue Flames were considered to be an exceptionally fashion-conscious band, who were outfitted with the latest Courreges and Op-Art suits by various fashion stores and their “clean man” image was also given by well-groomed short hairstyles and suits or tuxedos with bow ties underline sought.

Dissolution and reunions

Ulrich Feldhege left the band in August 1966; he was the first to finish his studies and entered the school service as a teacher. From 1973 to 1990 he was a member of the Dixieland jazz band he founded, "Pupe's Fun Band", which recorded the LP "Funny and cheeky songs" in 1978 and published it on Delta Music.

The German Blue Flames continued for another year with four people. Before the original band broke up, the Flames recorded thirteen tracks live for two days in the Südwestfunk-Studio Baden-Baden in October 1966, including All Or Nothing , From Home , When I Come Home , What You're Gonna Do About It , new ones Versions of Rhythm & Blues And Joe , Olé Bardot and Everybody as well as the Chuck Berry track Too Much Monkey Business, which they often play live . However, the titles were never officially published; It was not until 2004 that the two tracks That´s What I Want and From Home appeared on the CD Ruhrgebeat (Bear Family Records) from this session .

From the beginning of 1967 Hartmut Kulka continued to work as a soloist and released two singles under the pseudonym Ken Howard and one single under his real name together with the front man of "Gaslight Union", Phil Cantley. Afterwards, "Kuli" was still active in the music business as a songwriter, sound engineer, producer and consultant up to the present day. He worked for numerous well-known German-speaking rock, pop and hit artists.

In 1968, Hans Lißeck founded another version of the German Blue Flames with Helge Napieralla (trumpet), Burckhard Schimmelpfennig (organ, saxophone), Klaus Sonnefeld (guitar, vocals), Lutz Krüger (saxophone), Heiner 'Fred' Kalinke (vocals, bass) In early 1968 they recorded another unreleased LP for Electrola under the working title Games with the Flames . with a total of 11 tracks, from which no actual master tapes were made. The pre-production took place in Hans Beukenberg's Gelsenkirchen sound and film studio. The last original member of the German Blue Flames was followed as drummers by John James and Jörg Nagel. The result was a completely new band, and in the summer of 1968 this meant the end of the second German Blue Flames formation. In the decades that followed, Hans worked as a part-time songwriter, studio producer and music manager.

The reunions of the German Blue Flames went hand in hand with the revival movement "The Wild Sixties", which he founded in 1986 in Gelsenkirchen and beyond. They organized concerts with a total of around 50 bands (some with the original line-ups from the 60s and 70s). From this emerged in 1989 the rock orchestra Ruhrgebeat (initially called Ruhrgebeat Big Band or Gelsenkirchener Bar-Rock), founded and directed by Hans Lißeck, with over 30 musicians. Hartmut Kulka was one of the advisors to the concert ensemble, which performs rock and pop hits from over five decades and its own songs (as of 2017).

One of the bands that appeared again in the original line-up for some pieces between 1986 and 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2014 were the German Blue Flames. Her first reunion in 1986 served primarily to present and promote the first book about Wilfried Batke's band ( German Blue Flames. Beat in the Ruhr area. Bochum 1986) and to promote the integration of hearing-impaired children and young people. The "Wilde-Sechziger" concerts are partly documented on two vinyl double LPs, 4 CDs and several video cassettes, each with individual tracks from the German Blue Flames (see discography).

Discography

Vinyl singles

  • 03/1964: Rhythm & Blues & Johnny (German version) (Hartmut Kulka) / Good-bye (Hartmut Kulka / Ulrich Feldhege), recording: March 13, 1964, FORMAT 0001
  • 01/1965: Baby, wait for me (German version of "That's all about love") / Good-bye (German version) (both: Hartmut Kulka / Ulrich Feldhege / Ernst Bader), recording. 15./16. January 1965, released: 04/1965, ARIOLA 18194 AT
  • 01/1965: Sunbeams at the sky (Achim Reichel) / Ecstasy (Doc Pomus), recording. 15./16. January 1965, released: 04/1965, ARIOLA 18196 AT
  • 01/1965: My heart is still free (German version of "Sunbeams at the sky" ') (Achim Reichel / Toby Lüth) / Lovely lady (Lovely, lovely) (R. Supraner / Rothmann / Ernst Bader), recording. 15./16. January 1965, released: 04/1965, ARIOLA 18216 AT
  • 02/1966: Sha-la-la-la-lee (Mort Shuman / Kenny Lynch) / Rama lama (McNamara / Bill Ramal), February 3, 1966, ARIOLA 18778 AT
  • 05/1966: Olé Bardot (Hartmut Kulka / Heinrich Landwehr) / Along comes Mary (Tandyn / Almer), record. May 29 / July 11, 1966 ARIOLA 18996 AT
  • 11/1986: Rhythm & Blues & Johnny (German version) / Good-bye. FORMAT 0001 appears as a re-issue and supplement to the book by Wilfried Batke: German Blue Flames. Beat im Ruhrgebeat "(see below) with a slightly changed cover.

Flexi singles

  • April 26, 1966: The German Blue Flames present the international hit "Besser geht's mit ... Coke" (Backer / Hibrius) (no.) (April 26, 1966, supplement to the youth magazine "BRAVO", promo disc)
  • 02/1966: Promotional Flexi-Disc for "Sha-la-la-la-lee", February 3, 1966, ARIOLA

Vinyl long-playing records

  • 04/1965: German Blue Flames, series "Liverpool Beat", mono, recording: 15./16. January 1965, released: April 18, 1965, ARIOLA 72256 IT
  • 04/1965: German Blue Flames, series "Liverpool Beat", stereo, recording: 15./16. January 1965, released: April 18, 1965, ARIOLA 72257 IT
  • 1980: German Blue Flames, "Liverpool Beat" series, stereo, re-issue 1980, ARIOLA 200870 - 241
  • 1964: Various Artists: Twist Battle Party. Live recordings of the big Beat Group Night in the Kassel town hall (1964), mono, TLEFUNKEN BLE 14343-P, with: The German Blue Flames. Rhythm and Blues and Joe (English version, live)
  • 1964: Various Artists: Twist Battle Party, stereo, TELEFUNKEN SLE 14343-P, With: The German Blue Flames: Rhythm and blues and Joe (English version, live)
  • 1964: The LP "Twist Battle Party" was offered on the Internet in two different editions, one from Colombia (Colombia) (Discogs) and the other from Uruguay (Popsike). It is doubtful whether these are legal or authorized issues. The record sleeves (cover) differ slightly from the original German edition. It is also unknown whether the two South American editions are stereo or mono.
  • 1987: Various Artists: "The Wild Sixties" "live" from the 2nd Beat Festival November 13th, 1987 Hans-Sachs-Haus Gelsenkirchen, Wilde Sechziger Records L 001/2 (C 1987 by BIG "Wilde 60er"), double LP, with German Blue Flames: Be-bop-a-lula
  • 1989: Various Artists: The Wild Sixties. pro Ruhrgebeat, Emscherland ELP 1150-51, double LP, with: German Blue Flames: Ginny come lately

Compact discs

  • 1987: Various Artists. "The wild sixties" "So it was, the time was beautiful" on November 13, 1987 in the Hans-Sachs-Haus Gelsenkirchen, Emscherland CD, WKCD 1014, with: The German Blue Flames: Be-bop-a-lula
  • 1988: Various Artists: The Wild Sixties. Rendezvous with jeans and high heels “live”, November 11, 1988, Emscherland CD 1116, with: The German Blue Flames: Ecstasy
  • 1989: Various Artists: Die wilden Sechziger pro Ruhrgebeat, Emscherland CD 1152, With: The German Blue Flames: Ginny come lately
  • 1989/1990: Various Artists: The Wild Sixties - Dat Beste. Emscherland CD 1163. With: The German Blue Flames: Ginne come lately
  • 1994: Various Artists: Die Deutschen Beat Bands, 2 CDs, 1994, Starpool / Polygramm 516 699-2, With: The German Blue Flames: Sunbeams at the sky
  • 1995: The German Blue Flames. A legend. Ruhrgebeat Records RR 9302, undated
  • 2001: The German Blue Flames (series: “Smash…! Boom…! Bang…!”), 2001, Bear Family Records BCD 16455 AR. With booklet (text about German Blue Flames by Hans-Jürgen Klitsch, 44 pages)
  • 2004: Various Artists. Ruhrgebeat (series: “Smash…! Boom…! Bang…!”), 2004, Bear Family Records BCD 16474 A., With: The German Blue Flames: That's what I want, From home. With booklet text about German Blue Flames by Hans-Jürgen Klitsch, p. 13
  • 2004: Various Artists. Beat-Battle (series: "Smash ...! Boom ...! Bang ...!"), 2004, Bear Family Records BCD 16464 AR. With: The German Blue Flames: Rhythm and blues and Joe (English version, live). With booklet text about German Blue Flames by Hans-Jürgen Klitsch, p. 50
  • October 2006: Klaus F. Bresser (ed.): Various Artists: Vestland Beat Vol. 1. pro media musik & film, Recklinghausen, CDPM 060813. With: The German Blue Flames. Ecstasy. With booklet (24 pages), text: Klaus F. Bresser, page 11: The German Blue Flames.
  • October 2006. Klaus F. Bresser (ed.): Various Artists: Vestland Beat Vol. 2. pro media musik & film, Recklinghausen, CDPM 060823. With: The German Blues Flames: Too much monkey business,
  • October 2008: Klaus F. Bresser (ed.): Various Artists: Vestland Beat Vol. 3. The Best - Live from the 60s. pro media musik & film, Recklinghausen, CDPM 080913. With: The German Blue Flames: Sunbeams at the sky, Everybody. With booklet (8 pages, but unpaginated), text: Klaus F. Bresser, page 5: The German Blue Flames, Gelsenkirchen.
  • April 19, 2019: Twinkle (Lynn Annette Ripley): Girl In A Million. The Complete Recordings (Cherry Red Records). CD 1, Track 22: Sha-la-la-la-lee (live) together with the "German Blue Flames". Recorded and broadcast on February 27, 1966 in the Stadthalle Bremen by "Beat Club" Radio Bremen, previously only included on "Beat Club" DVDs. Liner Notes from Twinkle's sister Dawn James. (The identity of the recording was clearly confirmed in the name of the German Blue Flames by the two band members Hartmut Kulka and Heiner Landwehr.)

Video cassettes

  • 1986: The wild sixties from November 14th, 1986 - 60 min.
  • 1987: The Wild Sixties of November 13, 1987 - 60 min.
  • 1988: The wild sixties from November 11th, 1988 - part 1, 60 min.
  • 1988: The wild sixties from November 11th, 1988 - part 2, 60 min.
  • 1988: The wild sixties from November 11th, 1988 - part 1 & 2, 120 min.

DVDs

  • 2006: Werner Kubny, Per Schnell: Halbstark an Rhein und Ruhr, published in the series “Wir in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Our collected works ", DVD 65, Klartext Verlag, WAZ media group, WDR, 84 min.
  • 2008 (other sources: March 2009): Radio Bremen, ed. The Story Of Beat-Club, Vol. 1, 1965–1968, DVD 1 and DVD 2
  • September 25, 2015: Radio Bremen, Ed .: Beat Club. (Amplifier box set: 25 DVD) (Anniversary edition limited to 2000 pieces for the 50th birthday of the "Beat Club")

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ After 20 years, 1,400 fans are flocking to the 'Blue Flames' again. In: Buersche Zeitung. dated November 6, 1987.
  2. ↑ Wilfried Batke: German Blue Flames. Beat in the Ruhr area. 1986.
  3. ^ Hans-Jürgen Klitsch: German Blue Flames. 44-page booklet for the CD of the same name, published in the Beat in Germany series. Smash ...! Boom ...! Bang ... !, Bear Family Records (2001)
  4. ↑ Horst D. Mannel, Rainer Obeling: Beat history (s) in the area. Journal-Verlag, Recklinghausen 1993, p. 100.
  5. ↑ Christine Flender, Ansgar Jerrentrup, Uwe Husslein: Deep in the west. Rock and Pop in NRW. Musikland NRW, Volume 2, Emons-Verlag, Cologne 1999, p. 73.
  6. ↑ Uwe Nielsen: 40 years of the Beat Club. Parthas, Berlin 2005, p. 39.
  7. ↑ Thorsten Schmidt (Ed.): Beat Club. All programs - all stars - all songs. Kultur Buch Bremen, Bremen 2005, p. 20.
  8. ↑ Hans Jürgen Klitsch: 'Shakin' All Over. Beat music in the Federal Republic of Germany 1963–1967. 2nd revision and exp. Edition. Fantasy Productions, Erkrath 2001, p. 330.
  9. ^ DAG-Jugend Bremen (1967): Youth program (special edition German Blue Flames), p. 5.
  10. ↑ a b Wilfried Batke: German Blue Flames. Beat in the Ruhr area. 1986, p. 55 ff.
  11. ↑ a b Wilfried Batke: German Blue Flames. Beat in the Ruhr area. 1986, pp. 92, 95.
  12. ↑ a b Hans Jürgen Klitsch: 'Shakin' All Over. Beat music in the Federal Republic of Germany 1963–1967. 2nd revision and exp. Edition. Fantasy Productions, Erkrath 2001, p. 331
  13. ↑ Wilfried Batke: German Blue Flames. Beat in the Ruhr area. 1986, p. 104.
  14. ^ Hans-Jürgen Klitsch: German Blue Flames. 44-page booklet for the CD of the same name, published in the Beat in Germany series. Smash ...! Boom ...! Bang ... !, Bear Family Records (2001) p. 34.
  15. ↑ Hans von der Forst, Ed .: 10 years 'The Wild Sixties' 1986–1996. Gelsenkirchen 1996, p. 11.