After Dinner Dance Party Giveaway // Der Carnaby Street!

As promised, today's vinyl revival comes all the way from Berlin! We decided that it was Lola's mission to come back with a German treat after her trip last week. Although it's undeniable that Nena's 99 luftballons is an incredible hit from the 80s that should not be snobbishly laughed aside, we thought we would set the bar a little higher and hunt out something from the mid-century. It was a hard task, shuffling through the plethora of English gems available in flea markets, they had amazing collections of Beatles, Beach Boys & Stones but had no such luck with the German pop. Was dreading Hasselhoff popping up, gyrating his way through Looking for Freedom... appreciate what you're doing but please stop the gyrating 'hoff. 



It wasn't until we sauntered into OYE Records, a vibrant home to many House & Electro vinyls, that we got excited at a small crevice dedicated to 60s soul. We decided upon the the delightful Peggy March - originally born in Pennsylvania but as she sings in German and entered Eurovision on behalf of Germany in 1969, we decided that was enough to count! This b-side to this particular 45 features our favourite, 'in der Carnaby Street' a playful lament to a happening and swinging London of the Sixties, "they hear the beat in Carnaby Street!"

Apologies for the low-fi audio we just adored the video, the seductive go-go dancers and Peggy's Gall-esque slightly awkward, shimmying... mesmerising! 


To enter:
There are two opportunities to enter this week-1. Follow the blog2. Tweet about the giveaway "I just entered to win a #sixties vinyl with @dressesinblack"
Leave us a comment on this post to let us know that you've followed and/or tweeted (2 chances to win!)
Already follow the blog? Just leave a comment to let us know that you do for a chance to enter this competition :)
Competition closes on Friday 23rd March at 6pm (gmt)
Good luck! 
Check by our dance party next week, it'll be your last chance to win one of our vinyl giveaways... spreading the record love! 
Much love, L&R xx

After Dinner Dance Party // A Northern Soul Giveaway!

We have been shimmying across the kitchen tiles in our After Dance Party this week, as we're spinning some British Soul! Paul Anka was one of the biggest teen idols of the 50s, he looked delightfully dashing in his day and he also wrote some massive hits for the likes of Tom Jones but we love him best for this underground dance floor stomping gem! Released in 1968, this 7" featuring  'I can't help loving you" on the A-side and 'Can't get along very well without her' on the flip has been wetting our appetite for another night at Yum Yum. 
Good news, we have one copy of this 7" to giveaway this week (courtesy of Mr Bagshaw, thank you!) 

To win, all you need to do is: 1. Follow our Facebook page 2. Leave a comment on this post to let us know that you've done it  That's it! We'll then chose a winner on Friday using a random number generator and post your vinyl out to you!

We'll have a vinyl giveaway running each Monday throughout the month of March, so keep checking by to see if anything catches your fancy!

Much Love,
L&R xx

After Dinner Dance Party // Surfbeats

We fancied taking a short break from our usual vinyl revival posts to share a snippet of a vinyl we wished that we owned (please, if anyone can find these tracks for us, we'd LOVE it!) Since stumbling across the '60s garage, surf, freakbeat & psychedelic' channel on youtube, we've had to save it on to our bookmarks bar as we came back to it so regularly! As the weather has been getting a little warmer we can't stop dreaming of summer days and holidays so we've picked out a couple of our favourite West Coast surf instrumentals, rarely heard since they were first released on 45s...

First up, 'Ghost Hop' by the Surfmen! Love, love, love this tune. Apparently the music was provided for a film 'A life in the sun' but we haven't been able to find anything else about it anywhere, if you do, give us a shout!


The most incredible footage featuring synchronised life-saving! From volume 3 of the collection, it's 'Once and for all girl' by The Other 4!

Starting from next week, our After Dinner Dance Parties are going to include an extra treat for all you lovely people... a vinyl giveaway, one for each week in March! Check by next week to see how you can grab one!

Much love,

L&R xx

After Dinner Dance Party // Teddy Boys

Another charming vinyl find from our very successful carboot rummage last year. Elvis Presley hits Vol 1 features a delightful array of Mr Presley's most loved early hits that has had us twirling After Dinner this Week, lifting spirits and giving us a healthy dose of inspiration for our collection too :)



Our pick for this week is (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear, released between All Shook Up and Jailhouse Rock, it charted at Number 1 for 7 weeks (Elvis' 3rd Number 1 of that year) ... It was also performed, as in the video below, in Elvis' second feature film 'Loving You'.

The lyrics have us smiling everytime and Elvis has us melting, we would SO let him be our teddy bear. Oh my!



So, resisting temptation to turn this into a blog entirely devoted to Elvis fangirling, we shall leave it at that for this week. Be sure to pop over to our Facebook page for a bonus track from the record.

Much love sweets,
R&L
xx

January Highlights...

Hey Sweets,

What a lovely start to 2012 January was! Here's our highlights of this months' posts...

After wishing you all a Happy New Year we got stuck into Refreshing & Reviving our studio and She Dressed in Black as a blog...


Our Number 1 highlight was without a doubt making our very first silent film recipe for Chocolate and Violet Cupcakes!



We also really enjoyed showing our experiments from the studio and sharing tutorials for Fancy Pants and Chevron Patchwork Cushion.





Part of our 'Refreshing' was to bring in 'Vinyl Revival' to our After Dinner Dance Parties
Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4



Literature Love - Limehouse Blues and 1969 Playboy




We did a mini shoot to show off our favourite brands from our wardrobes. Rhi picked Jovonna London and Lola showed off her Alice Takes a Trip collection. Plus some behind the scenes snaps...


We reached 100 followers! YAY! So we gave a few somethings away to our followers :)


Lola showed some of her adorable illustrations in response to the question "If you could do anything tomorrow, what would you do?"


Rhi unleashed her inner geek...


We celebrated Twee Tower's regular Colour Wizard Chris' 24th Birthday with cocktails and northern soul...


We shared some more art from around Twee Towers by Rob Ryan


We announced the launch of Stitch n' Bitch


We had some blustery Twee Troubles


And another new feature - Friday Flicks, kicking off with An Affair to Remember, followed by Band A Part

Busy, busy, busy! February is going to be even more hectic here in the Twee Studio so we shall be bringing you some fabulous guest posts - can't wait to let our friends loose on the blog again, hope you'll enjoy them :)

Much love,
R&L xx

After Dinner Dance Party // Vinyl Revival Pt. 4

We hope it hasn't gone unnoticed that Ringo Starr is quite possibly our favourite Beatle (sorry John, Paul & George!) ... So who better to feature this week than the genius behind Octopus's Garden himself? Back in the stacks of Rhi's Dad's collection is this rather special single - Ringo Starr - Only You.

This single is from his 1974 album Goodnight Vienna, John Lennon actually recorded the initial demo of this version and sent it to Ringo suggesting that he cover it. Lennon plays acoustic guitar on the track while Ringo replaced his vocal and brought in Harry Nilsson ("Everybody's talkin' at me...") to sing the harmonies.




Not only does Ringo Appear on the single sleeve and the video wearing a space suit (thrilling, we love space too!), there's also a UFO flying above the Hollywood Hills at the start (Eee! Ringo as a spaceman AND unidentified flying objects, too much!) - here is the brilliant video, filmed atop Capitol Records, LA!





If you're hearing this for the first time and thinking, "Gee, that song is certainly familiar, why is it so familiar?" - then listen to the original below from The Platters, Ringo sure does make it his own, only just recognisable as the track originally released in 1955!



C'est tout for this week sweets. Don't forget to check the facebook page for a bonus Ringo track!

Much love,
R&L xx

After Dinner Dance Party // Vinyl Revival part II

Continuing the After Dinner Dance Party Vinyl Revival we're bringing you a classic from the record collection Rhi inherited from her Dad... Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends, one of our favourite albums of all time featuring the timeless 'America'...

Side one follows a concept of life's journey, a plea for the life of a child through to 'voices of old people' - America, the third track, sits in the middle of the journey and tells the tale of a literal and metaphorical journey, one heading eastward across America, in a bid to explore and discover the country, and another in the hope self discovery...

"Kathy, I'm lost" I said,
though I knew she was sleeping,
I'm empty and aching and
I don't know why..."

If we ever decided to leave home and become a stewardess... This would be the song we'd use to explain why.

Happy dancing!

Much love,
L&R xx

After Dinner Dance Party // Vinyl Revival

It's time to put a new spin on an old feature! We're still dancing around the Twee Towers kitchen after dinner to make the tedious task of doing the dishes a little more entertaining but with stacks of vinyl that had been temporarily abandoned in our studio, we'll be using this slot to pull some of our old (and new!) records to share with you! So, concentrating on one vinyl a week, we're starting with one of our most recent purchases, 'Cat's Eyes' with their self titled album!

This album was the soundtrack to our summer last year and we've loved playing it in the studio again this week while we've been getting organised for the year ahead! Cat's Eyes are a duo formed by Rachel Zaffira, a renowned opera soprano and classical multi-instrumentalist and Faris Badwan, lead singer from the London based psych/shoe-gaze band 'The Horrors'.
At the moment, we're absolutely loving the Sixties revival that's beginning to emerge in contemporary tunes. Cat's Eyes, undeniably harks back to Sixties from the Phil Spector 'wall of sound' present in the drums to the wistful vocal delivery, that sounds a little Velvet Underground in the Nico days.
We just love the constant juxtapositions within the tracks; the orchestral production and garagy guitar sounds, the heart-warming melodies and the unsettling eeriness created by the reverb on the vocals. It's a great album to stick on while being creative!
It was so difficult to chose just one song from this album as they all have something really different to offer. We've went for 'Face in the Crowd', the first song that we heard as a introduction to the band for those that are unfamiliar. if you've got a moment, go on youtube and take a look at their gig at the vatican... stunning!



if you've been riffling through your vinyls, let us know what you've been listening to! To hear more Cat's Eyes, check out our Facebook for an additional After Dinner treat!
Happy Dancing!
Much love, L&R xx