Heintje - Mama + A Mother's Tears in STEREO

Somewhat hidden in the activities Mike Curb engaged in at MGM Records before becoming California's Lieutenant Governor was the fact that he happened to put out an album by what the Los Angeles Times dubbed "the hottest property in Europe" back in 1971. His name, of course, was Heintje, who had become quite famous as a child singer and actor in Germany (although he was actually a native of Holland). His most successful record in (at the time, West) Germany was a million-selling rendition of "Mama", essentially the German-language version of an Italian standard (and in fact, many of the artists who recorded before AND after Heintje's breathtaking performance of it had Italian blood). The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung stated that "no one [was] bigger in German show business" back then. These two factors made it look like putting out an English-language album of his here in the United States would result in a win-win situation for Mike Curb who was also trying his darndest to get rid of MGM's least successful artists people on MGM's roster who in his view promoted drugs in their lyrics (which Heintje certainly wouldn't be accused of). The liner notes of his first American LP, "Mama" (SE4739) even predicted that he would be "the music man of the seventies". Unfortunately, it turned out not to be the case, as the album didn't even get into Billboard's Hot 200, and is only referenced by name and artist in the online MGM Album Discography. Too bad, I bought a copy of his first, self-titled German album on Ariola and my mom LOVED it. May I present to you MGM K14183) his performance of the English-language version of "Mama" (master tape 70-L-1716) and "A Mother Tears", its B-side (master tape 70-L-1722).