Marty Wilson and His Orchestra

Artist: Marty Wilson and His Orchestra

LP: Jun'gala

Song: "Misty Poo"
[ listen ]
Song: "Manteca"
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Here's some steaming hot jun'gala music for a cold and dreary Sunday afternoon. (Who would have guessed that "Misty Poo" could be so appealing?) In spite of Marty wearing multiple hats during the making of this record (arranger, conductor, composer, musician—he plays the flute) I wasn't able to find any online info about the fellow, nor locate a single photo of him wearing a hat...except maybe this one. Marty, is that you? There's a gushing track-by-track review of Marty and His Orchestra's 1959 "Jun'gala" LP on the Ambient Exotica website here. 

Rodney Arias

Artist: Rodney Arias

LP: Rodney Arias

Song: "I Believe In Love"
[ listen ]

I Believe In Love...and white tuxedo shirts unbuttoned all the way down to there! According to the Bizarre Records Blog Rodney Arias was a Hawaiian lounge legend in the 1970s. "I Believe In Love" is probably the best song on Rodney's self-titled album—so, you know, you can imagine what the others are like. Even so, Rodney reportedly used to roam the halls of Maui Memorial Hospital, strumming his guitar while loungingly serenading the sick and afflicted, so he gets some big kudos for that. I found this autographed copy of Rodney's record at a junk shop in Dallas, Texas a while back and, as is often the case, I was completely captivated by the hair.

 

Southern All Stars

Artist: Southern All Stars ( サザンオールスターズ )

LP: Hot Uneasiness ( 熱い胸さわぎ )

Song: "Willfully Sinbad" ( 勝手にシンドバッド )
[ listen ]

I didn't realize when I picked up this 1978 Southern All Stars LP at Everyday Music a few years ago that I was acquiring the debut album of the #1 most influential Japanese rock group of all time. (According to a 2003 list, anyhow.) At one point Southern All Stars' songs held 44 spots in the weekly Top 100 Japanese singles chart. That hardly leaves room for anyone else! You can read about the group here and go here to find their entire discography.

I'm afraid my smart phone English translations may be a little off—at least I hope so. Otherwise the Southern All Stars are simply full of nonsense. Wikipedia provided the translations above. (With mine, the album title came out as "Hot Chest Rave," with their debut single called either "Sinbad Without Permission" or "Arbitrarily Sinbad.") Anyhow, I've done the best I could. Google-translated English lyrics to "Willfully Sinbad" included below. Enjoy!

Willfully Sinbad

Chigasaki people of sand and sand and waves disappear 

and memories of summer days disappear into eyes a little

Even so, my tears do not stop

How awful like a lady a little hot tonight

I'll burn a burst of burns

* I remember you until a while

I remembered you 

Shy heart I can not stay like 

the rouge color just came floating * 

** What time is it?

Well what kind of temples are you?

Wait a moment and what time is it now?

It is still an early magical thing

Looking at you, it is the essence of the Moon Raw Row... **

When can I meet Ai Nami lover

Why do not you draw your eyes 

like crowding yourself together

Even the house where Enoshima got to see 

is forgetting that a woman crawling nearly as a dream

No, no I got the sound of the waves tonight

Talking to the man's heart

Waist of the chest of the breasts

[ Southern All Stars ]

Belle Epoque

Artist: Belle Epoque

LP: Miss Broadway

Song: "Miss Broadway"
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"Me and You" 
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♫♪ ♫ "Uh-huh. I like it. Uh-huh. I like it." ♫ ♪ 

Based in Paris, France, Belle Epoque caught the disco wind in their sails in 1977 and rode it all the way to the end of the era, which was more or less 1979. Looking here at the three Belles, I can't help but wonder if anyone ever considered putting them on French television as a Parisian Charlie's Angels. Pierre's Angels, maybe? If I were in charge of casting, Belle Epoque would be Kelly, Jill, and Sabrina, from left to right. 

This trio of lovely ladies enjoyed their biggest success in Europe and Australia, but here in the USA the title track to their 1977 "Miss Broadway" LP hit #92 on the Billboard Hot 100, #26 on the Billboard R&B chart, and #21 on Billboard's "National Disco Action Top 40" (!) in the summer of that year. I finally got my hot little hands (and ears) on it last year at Råkk og Rålls in Oslo, Norway.

[ Belle Epoque ]

Lokomotiv GT

Artist: Lokomotiv GT

LP: 7" single

Song: "Higher and Higher"
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Supreme Echo, a tiny little place next to a super depressing pawn shop at the corner of Government and Bay Streets, was the last and final record store I visited in Victoria. It turned out to be the best one of all! (It was actually the second record store I visited too, but after traipsing across town in the pouring rain I found the place locked! I returned the next day via taxi after calling to make sure they were open.)

I realized pretty early on in my Victorian excursion that my vinyl-hunting expectations had been too high. I'd figured, "Canada's a foreign country! Exotic!" Plus, "I once found a Boney M single at Victoria's Salvation Army thrift store. The sky's the limit!" But it turns out the city's shops are primarily peddling pasty-people pop records that you could find in Everett or Wenatchee, USA. 

But my luck finally turned around at Supreme Echo. Along with pasty-people pop and really friendly service, the place offers a treasure trove of Eastern European rock records from the late-'60s and early '70s, with an emphasis on Poland! One of the neat things I found there is this 1975 Polish pressing of two live tracks by Hungarian supergroup Lokomotiv GT. (They're still pasty, but I bet they don't have this in Wenatchee.) You can read all about Lokomotiv GT on Wikipdia here, where they discuss various lineup changes over the years and outline Lokomotiv GT's connections to other Hungarian rock groups of the '70s like Omega and Skorpio.

[ Supreme Echo — Victoria, BC, Canada ]

Calum Kennedy

Artist: Calum Kennedy

LP: Songs of Scotland and Ireland

Song: "The Ould Lammas Fair"
[ listen ]

Song: "Lovely Stornoway"
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Scottish singer Calum Kennedy once embarked on a disastrous tour of the Scottish Highlands in an old bus, with the entire enterprise documented on video by the BBC. Kennedy reportedly wasn't happy with the program, but it has since developed cult status. I found this 1959 recording (and not much else, other than a James Last Christmas LP) at Lyle's Place in Victoria, Canada. I've provided a sample of one of Calum's Irish songs ("The Ould Lammas Fair") as well as one from Scotland ("Lovely Stornoway," which is also a really good band.) You can read about Mr. Kennedy on Wikipedia here. 

[ Calum Kennedy: June 2, 1928 — April 15, 2006 ]

[ Lyle's Place — Victoria, BC, Canada ]

Smokie

Artist: Smokie

LP: Bright Lights & Back Alleys

Song: "Needles and Pins"
[ listen ]

Essence, The Four Corners, The Yen, Kindness, The Sphynx and The Elizabethans were all names this British rock band performed under before finally settling on Smokey in 1974. (They switched it to Smokie in 1975 after being threatened with legal action by Smokey Robinson.) The group had a few hit singles in several European countries—they were particularly popular in Scandinavia for some reason. Yet major success in the USA evaded Smokie; "Needles and Pins" was their second most popular hit on these shores, peaking only at #68. I found this copy of their 1977 "Bright Lights & Back Alleys" LP at Vinyl Envy in Victoria while taking refuge from an end-of-year rainstorm.

[ Vinyl Envy — Victoria, BC, Canada ]

Ruby and the Romantics

Artist: Ruby and the Romantics

LP: Ruby and the Romantics

Song: "I Cry Alone"
[ listen ]

The next record store I went to in Victoria was Cavity (aka. Cavity Curiosity Shop), which is right around the corner from Fan Tan Alley on Pandora Avenue. Another vinyl shop called Talk's Cheap was listed as having the same address as Cavity, but the guy at the Cavity counter said the owner of Talk's Cheap now sells music out of his house, usually only by appointment. The Cavity was filled with lots of neat old vinyl, comic books, posters, crystal balls and other curiosities. I picked up a handful of records; my favorite is this Ruby and the Romantics LP from 1967. 

Singer Ruby Nash and her fellow Romantics, who all went to school together in Akron, Ohio, hit it off big when their debut single, "Our Day Will Come," went to #1 in 1963. Sadly, it was their only top ten hit; their singles stopped making it into the top 20, then eventually began peaking outside the top 40 before the group ultimately called it quits in 1971. Still, as you can see here, the group had a profound influence on lots of other musical artists of the '60s and '70s. Ruby and the Romantics were finally given their due when they were inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame in the summer of 2013.

[ Cavity Curiosity Shop — Victoria, BC, Canada ]

The Breeders

Artist: The Breeders

LP: Mountain Battles

Song: "Walk It Off"

[ listen ]

Song: "Regalame Esta Noche"
[ listen ]

Happy New Year! I escaped America for a few days and zoomed up to Victoria, British Columbia on the Victoria Clipper for a bit of rest and relaxation. Plus records! The Turntable is a neat-looking little store situated in the famously quaint and narrow Fan Tan Alley, near the city's Chinatown neighborhood. Oh, did I say store? Record museum is what I actually meant, since the prices at The Turntable generally discourage purchasing by anyone who isn't a nutty collector or an unfortunate tourist who has absolutely no idea what they're doing when shopping for vinyl. Here are a few unfortunate examples: 

• Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits = $20. You can find three copies of this at just about any thrift store for $1 apiece.
• Frigid Pink LP you can see on the wall in the photo below = $45. I paid $6 for mine and have seen it around pretty regularly for a similar price. 
• Tom Waits' "Foreign Affairs" LP = 2 copies at $45 apiece. Records this expensive should be ones that you aren't likely to find available for sale ever again...especially not three seconds later right there in the very same bin.
• Berlin "Love Life" LP = $12. OMG. Take my breath away! Are you nuts? 

There were lots of good records at The Turntable, but they basically have an ongoing "buy-one-for-the-price-of-eight" sale and I just wasn't having it....well, not until I found The Breeders' "Mountain Battles" LP perched up on the wall display for $30. That, as a matter of fact, seemed reasonable.

For one thing, that's $30 Canadian, which equals about $25 US. For another thing, The Breeders are one of my favorite bands and you don't see this one around too often on vinyl. For yet one more thing, it features a song, "Regalame Esta Noche," sung entirely in Spanish! For a last and final thing, it was just about the only reasonably-priced LP in the store and I desperately wanted a souvenir from this place! You can read about "Mountain Battles" on Wikipedia here and go here to find a 2008 Pitchfork review that seems pretty spot-on to me.

[ The Breeders, circa 2008 ]

[ The Turntable — Victoria, BC, Canada ]