Joe Jr. And Side-Effects - Effective (LP 1967, Hong-Kong)

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Joe Jr. And Side-Effects - Effective (LP Diamond LP-1037, 1967) - Beat Pop from Hong Kong

Trata-se de um LP fantástico, de um cantor de Hong Kong (com origem portuguesa), acompanhado por uma banda excelente e de grande nível para a época. Vale a pena ouvir este disco. Joe Jr. nasceu em Hong-Kong. O seu avô era português (José Maria Rodrigues), residente em Macau. Um dos seus primeiros grupos foi The Zoundcrakers e depois mudaram o nome para Joe Jr. and the Side-Effects.

There were lots of talents of different nationality appearing in the Hong Kong band scene. You could find local Hong Kong, Chinese, British, Swedish,Macanese/Portuguese, Philippinos, Singaporeans and Indians among others. Among all the famed bands, there were no boundaries. As long as they played a great tune, they would be accepted. Most of the great names were under the moniker of the "Diamond" label. You had Teddy Robin The Playboys, Mystics, Joe Jr. and The Side Effects, Anders Nelson & The Inspiration, Fabulous Echoes, Danny Diaz and The Checkmates, D'Topnotes, Lotus, Mod East, Magic Carpets, Menace to name a few.
 Joe Junior was the gentle “boy next door” teenage idol. He was of Macanese (Chinese and Portugese) ancestry. His family moved from Macau to Hong Kong where Joe was born and grew up. Joe and The Zoundcrackers recorded “I Gotta Find Cupid” in 1966 which went to the RTHK pop chart. After some major changes in band members, they regrouped as Joe Jr. and The Side-Effects. They recorded “Here’s a Heart” in 1967 which became his most successful single. They also released two successful LPs (“Effective” and “Tribute”) before disbanding.
He softened up that image more so in the '70s, going solo and switching from English to Cantonese-language music. He failed to achieve the mainstream success a few of his counterparts did in the '70s and '80s, but he’s gone on to make his life out of it, singing for 40 years.
Joe Junior continued to sing and record as a solo act.
Jose Maria Rodrigues, his grandfather was Portuguese. Once having lived in Macau, Joe, however, was born in Hong Kong and always a Hong Kong native. In 1963, he was one of the top winners of the New Star Talent Contest. His early favourite pop singer was Paul Anka. His first band was called Hunters and afterwards Topnotes. Zoundcrackers, however, proved to be his break through band. They were spotted by Diamond label and released their 1st seven inch single titled Once Upon A Time backed with No No No No in 1965. The second single I Gotta Find Cupid backed with I Only Came To Say Good Bye came out in 1966 and was very popular.
His grandfather used to lived in Macau a long long time ago. His family name was Rodrigues. In Macau, there is even a road under this Portuguese name. He used to joke with the others that my family used to own this street. Afterwards, our family moved to Hong Kong. "I was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Hong Kong".
Joe Jr and The Side Effects together with Teddy Robin and The Playboys became the two most popular bands under the moniker of the Diamond label. They were teenage idols which caused fans to go haywire whenever they were on stage. While Teddy Robin was having a wild rock/pop image. Joe Jr was just getting sweeter and sweeter. The first long play album Effective was released with great success and soon followed by another album called Tribute which contained cover versions of Joe Jr beloved Cliff Richard songs.
Joe Jr became a solo singer and kept on releasing hit singles and popular albums like The Voice of Love. He kept his style of being a "Boy Next Door" gentle pop singer in the early to mid 70s, regardless of how heavy and sophiscated the Rock and Pop world would become. His clean image and gentle songs could bring him some chart success every now and then. However he had started to lose momentum. From 1975 onwards, the language of choice evolved from English back to Cantonese. This was accepted by the new generation of youngsters.

Thanks to some blogs where we removed excerpts from this informative text.

L.P. gentilmente cedido por Luís Futre, a quem agradecemos.
Ripado do vinil e masterizado por Carlos Santos.