Here’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 […]
I 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 […]
If 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 […]
Usha Uthup’s crazy record Blast-Off (1984) is somewhat of an oddity in her otherwise impressive discography. The Indian jazz singer did cool solo records like Scotch and Soda and Live in Nairobi and did many Bollywood and Tamil film songs whenever there were English lyrics or a need for a singer skilled in the jazz […]
One side of this 10″ record by Yao Lee has Chinese folk tunes, the other side has western songs. I rather like the sound and the arrangements on this. Yao Lee became famous in China in the 30’s and 40’s but fled to Hong Kong in 1949. She then got inspired by imported western records. […]
A 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 […]
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 […]
It’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 […]
This cool record was made in Indonesia, 1966. All tracks are composed by Puspa herself. There are some indigenous sounding songs, some soft r&b and a couple of jazz songs. I particularly like the track Lagu Untukmu a lot. It sounds like an exotic version of Nina Simone, sung with a deep voice and with […]
This record comes without labels or cover, so I have no idea what it is. Seems to be a test pressing of sorts. One side has typical test record stuff, with signals, a chunk of classical music and a bland pop song. Don’t know what happened and why, but on the flip side of this […]
On 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 […]
I 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 […]
Here’s a good synth-bass, tabla, rhythm box, banjo, sax, accordion and female vocals combination from India. Music is composed by Charanjit Ahuja and this stuff was released in 1980. It sounds like it could have been from anything between 1958 to 2020. Certainly not something you hear every day. There are four songs on the […]
Who are these tribesmen the cover speaks of? A record that raises many what, why and when questions.The confusing juxtaposing of Taiwanese villagers and the African savanah is smoothly continued on the record itself. Taiwanese melodies have been given the Daktari treatment with exotic electronic melodies backed by wah wah and cool percussion. “African” grunts […]
With its 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 least […]
I 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 […]
I 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 […]
I’ve had this record for some years now and had filed it away with the mental note that it contained some nice songs. Now that I listen to it again I must say it’s really good. Side one suffers from some uneven tracks but side two is nice all the way. A quick internet search […]
This is the soundtrack to the Slovanian film MaÅ¡kerada (Boitjan 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. 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 […]
This is a nice little obscure 7″ flexi record containing the soundtrack to a film called “Ontario”. I guess it was a promotional documentary of sorts from around 1970, highlighting this and that of the province. Films like that usually ooze loads of period charm and you often wonder where all the nice tunes went […]
Obscure record offering borderline amateur renditions of okay seventies material. What’s nice about the recording is the ridiculously upfront percussion and the Curtis-wannabe falsetto singing. Even tracks like Get Dancin’ and I Got the Music In Me manage to transcent their originals ’cause of the strange mix, albeit barely. Most tracks are winners if you […]
It 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, […]
The 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 […]
After a fire destroyed their popular club The Green Grotto along with all their equipment, the Swinging Stars from Dominica quickly came back on top again. It’s hard to imagine they had ever been better than on this record from 1978 because it’s really superb Cadenze in a jam mode, with excellent guitar and keyboard […]
Al 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 […]