All reviews by Milan
Al Collie and the VIPS – The First of MayAl Collie and the VIPS was the houseband of “the IN spot in Nassau, the swinging Buccaneer Lounge at the Flagler Inn Hotel on beautiful Paradise Island.” The band played the typical mix of Calypso, almost-reggae and soul that features on so many private hand-out records from countless “In spots” on the Islands of the [...]
Alojz Bouda – Synthesizer SoundThis is a totally common record from Slovakia that has pretty bad synthesizer pop tunes. One track is insane however. It’s the track that’s called Random and according to the sleeve, here Alojz explores the possibilities of the synthesizer playing on it’s own. I wish the synthesizer had played on it’s own for the entire [...]
Baligh Hamdi featuring Magid Khan – Indo Arabic VariationsThe idea for this record occured when Baligh Hamdi, famous Egyptian composer, heard the excellent sitar player Magid Khan when Khan visited Cairo. Hamdi had been expanding the horizons of Egyptian music by incorporating organs, electric guitar and saxes since the late fifties and this proved to be a new challenge. The resulting album, with [...]
Baligh Hamdy – GadaBaligh Hamdy is a composer well known for his work with Egyptian super star singer Oum Kalsoum and Hamdy’s wife, Algerian born Warda. Here’s a real oddity from his hand, an EP with a rather daring silk screened cover (daring considering it was released in Egypt in the sixties). This mini-album has 6 beautiful instrumental [...]
Baligh Hamdy – Love StoryOn this instrumental record, Baligh Hamdy continues in the style that’s also on the earlier EP Gada (featured on Waxidermy). The arrangements combine Western and Eastern instruments, with wild rhythms and Eastern melodies. There’s a drum kit, which you don’t hear that much on Arabian records, plus saxophone and electric guitar. Wild keyboard sounds are [...]
Baquen! – Sensational Sound of Screen MusicIt took me a while before I noticed the pink female torso holding a gun underneith Sean Connery’s posterized face. The lack of priorities and absence of focus on this cover is somehow exemplary for the record itself. Some cool and some uncool tunes have been treated by the strange combo of drums, flute, oboe, [...]
Black & White – Samba-Soul-BeatIt’s not immediately clear to me what the correct name of this German group is. The graphic design leaves you the choice whether it’s Daniela und Ann or Black & White. I’ll take the latter. I’ve had the record for a while and always liked the music. Rumour has it the two girls, refered to [...]
Bojan AdamiÄ – MaÅ¡keradaThis is the soundtrack to the Slovanian film MaÅ¡kerada (BoÅ¡tjan Hladnik). The film was made in 1971, but was banned and only shown years later in 1984, apparently due to the explicit sex scenes that it contains. Â
Anyway, the tripped out psychedelic “song” Hippy on the A-side of the 45 is quite spectacular. It has a great funky garage beat, wild soaring hammond, [...]
Carlos Fari̱as РAguas TerritorialesThe side long piece Aguas territoriales has a very cool concept that is executed perfectly. We start off with the sound of dripping water. Every minute or so the Cuban composer Carlos Fari̱as adds another electronic effect to it, progressively rendering it unrecognizable untill it sounds as the score for some scifi flick. Halfway into [...]
Denise and the Jaguars – Accompagnandotti/GoneI just thought this is a charming 45 and as of yet it doesn’t yield results on the Google. Pressed in italy and arranged by one Gioriano Baldassari. It appears to be an Italian backing group with an English singer. Probably some lounge act, as this private record is signed by the whole bunch. Gone [...]
Eric Siday – Musique ElectroniqueI wrote a little review on J. Matthews’ Electronic Music a while ago on this site. Here’s another very cool one that comes in the same pre-1968 library format, 78rpm microgroove. This one has the same title, be it in French, but it is 5 years earlier, from 1960. It’s by Eric Siday, an English [...]
Estudiantina Electronica – Colombianas con vestido HippieA fun instrumental exploito record from Colombia 1974. The cover, with face painted hippie chics and the title, “Colombians in Hippie Clothes”, promise at least some psychedelic music. The drum-organ-guitar-bass combo has more of a cool South American surf/go go sound but derails frequently enough. In fact, I was initially a bit disapointed in this [...]
Experiência – Passo a PassoI bought this LP in Lissabon some eight years ago. I’d never seen it before or since. Rock is not my expertise, but it seems to me this is a record that should be better known. I’m afraid it’s really rare though. They play folk-funk with some latin-rock influences, cool percussion in the mix. It [...]
Francis Bebey – Un Petit IvoirienCameroon born novelist, poet, musicologist, historian, radio DJ and multi-instrumentalist Francis Bebey (1929) conjured up this relatively unknown record for Ozileka Records in 1979. If you’re familiar with his classical guitar work, this stuff may come as a suprise. Deploying an assortment of synthesisers, the tunes range from feather-light afropop to very exciting grooves. One [...]
Fris Sranang – Gie Mie, Mie Lobie/SabanaHere’s one of my all time favorite 45’s from my collection, and probably the only cracked record I keep in the collection. It’s a Surinam single, pressed in Holland in 1978. The band name Fri Sranang is a combination of the Surinam creole language Sranang Tongo and Fri, which, I’m guessing, must mean free. Fri [...]
Fuat Saka – Ayrılık TürküsüWith it’s use of delayed percussion, eastern scales and jazzy ney (flute), this folk pop album manages to create a nice psychedelic mood, despite the release date (1984). The 10 songs featured on it are very contemplative, sung with a dark brooding voice, but still there’s a drive to the music, not in the [...]
Funky Sounds from Central AfricaI guess this is the kind of record that would scream “grab me” even to the most casual of record browsers so I feel extra lucky it fell into my greedy hands. This is a very rare compilation released in the Netherlands by some forward souls at Philips. The bulk of the 12 tracks, although [...]
Infinite Love Experience – Love Will Never dieI’m guessing these guys were from the Dominican Republic, since the back cover has an advertisement for a Dominican disco album, but I’m not sure. The cover is as vague as can be, with many typ-o’s and bold stickers to re-arrange the tracklisting. Luckily the music is quit good, with a typical island mix of [...]
Inneke Kusumawati – Pengen KenalIf you, like me, habitually check out Indonesian krontjong pop records, you know many of them look promising and some might have a good sounding backing band. But in the end, the songs are for the bigger part pretty formulaic. I was very happy to find this one though. The excellent backing group De Galaxies add [...]
Ivo Nilakreshna – Tegakkan SembahyangÂ
I’m not sure if this record was made in Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia. What makes it noteworthy is the funk track Rukun Islam. I can’t understand the language but it’s dealing with Allah and Muhammad. The chorus is cool, the refrain is lush. The male la la la chorus makes it somewhat trippy. There’s more good [...]