Thursday, May 24, 2012

La Compagnie Creole

Artist: La Compagnie Creole
LP: Vive Le Douanier Rousseau!
Song: "C'est Bon Pour Le Moral"
[ listen ]

Turntable Treasures and House of Records is the other store I visited on my trip to Tacoma last Friday. They've moved around the corner from where they were the last time I was there about seven or eight years ago, but their new spot is as cluttered and junky as ever, and it feels like they've been stuck there for decades. Unfortunately, the older fellows who run the place evidently got wind of the news that vinyl sales have been on the upswing and that collecting has become popular with hipsters, and they're hoping to get themselves a big slice of the vinyl-sales pie. The first bin of records I thumbed through was filled with beat-up thrift-store staples like this and this and this, all of them marked at $20 apiece. (The friendly fellow behind the counter said to watch their Facebook page for info about featured sales on Sundays, so maybe those records are offered at a 190% discount at the end of every week to compete with the Good Will down the street.) But as is usually the case in stores where battered Huey Lewis records are going (or not going) for $15, you can usually find a few reasonably-priced treasures if you dig deep enough into the dustiest corners of the place. This lively and colorful 1983 LP by La Compagnie Creole is one of the neat things I found stuffed into the "World" section beneath the bins of "Pop and Rock," in the shelves near shoppers' kneecaps. Originally from French Guiana and the French West Indies, La Compagnie Creole are known for their happy-go-lucky music accompanied by joyful themes like rainbows, sunshine, and harmless animals, with a special emphasis on the Parakeet. You can read about them here. And then go here to read about La Compagnie Creole.

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