Anthony Newley

 Artist: Anthony Newley

LP: The Singer and His Songs

Song: "Gay Girl"

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Song: "Shelby"

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Song: "Learning to Love You Again"

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On the way home from visiting my younger sister and her husband in Kingston, WA two weekends ago, I stopped in at the Deseret Industries Thrift Store on Highway 99 to see if they had any good records for sale. They just had one—this 1977 Anthony Newley LP that I haven't been able to stop listening to for the past ten days. Born in London in 1931, Newley got a break as both actor and singer when he landed the role of a rock star called to military duty in the 1959 film IDOL ON PARADE. He went on to appear in other films (and marry Joan Collins) in the 1960s and '70s, while also releasing a few hit singles along the way. With a whirlwind of swirling strings backing his brassy vibrato, Anthony Newley ranks right up there with Scott Walker as one of my favorite male torch singers. The aforementioned vibrato can be heard loud and clear on "Learning to Love You Again," which would certainly make a great karaoke tune. The song "Gay Girl," about a pretty Cinderella who's suddenly turned herself into a butch Raggedy Ann, is of interest because it cleverly mixes the meanings of "gay girl" from the 1950s and the 1980s (besides, "Lesbian" just isn't a very catchy song title), and I had to throw in "Shelby" too because... well, you'll see. You can read about Anthony Newley and find a list of his records and films on Wikipedia here.

 [ Anthony Newley: September 24, 1931 — April 14, 1999 ]

Vince Cardell

Artist: Vince Cardell

LP: Liberace Presents Vince Cardell

Song: "Windmills of Your Mind"

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Song: "Tea For Two" [duet w/ Liberace]

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I've been having a recurring fantasy where I suddenly find myself at the center of a torrid three-way with piano virtuosos Liberace and Vince Cardell. When I close my eyes and listen to their musical interplay on "Tea For Two," I can practically feel the thrilling sensation of their twenty talented digits working their way up and down my... arms. I was pretty excited to find an autographed copy of Cardell's debut album (I even considered changing my name to "Florence"), but then I discovered that just about everybody has a signed copy of this LP. You can see Vince Cardell and Liberace in action together (on piano, anyway) using the video link below.

Vince Cardell w/ Liberace on YouTube:

[ "Brazil/Cumana" ]

 

 

 

Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

Artist: Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

LP: 7" single

Song: "Uwasa no Onna"
aka. "The Woman Everyone's Whispering About"

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Here's the last of the six Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five singles my friend translated for me last weekend. "Uwasa no Onna" features some impressive vibrato acrobatics by lead vocalist Kiyoshi Maekawayou and was one of the group's early hits, peaking at #2 on the charts in 1970. According to my Japanese friend, the song title literally translates as "Woman of Gossip." At first we were calling it "The Woman Everyone's Talking About," but that sorta' makes it sound like she's a celebrity.

I just read that Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock donated $1,000,000 to help The Red Cross with earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan. That almost makes me feel like watching one of her movies. If you'd like to donate $1,000,000 (or even just $10) to help The Red Cross in Japan, you can do so here.

Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

Artist: Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

LP: 7" single

Song: "Uminari"
aka. "The Sound of the Waves"

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In this pretty ballad by Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five you can hear the voices of the cool five imitating the sound of ocean waves as they advance, crash upon the shore, and then recede. According to my Japanese friend, "uminari" is the word for the sound the waves make, but we couldn't come up with an English-language word that means the same thing. This song made it to #45 on the Japanese singles charts when it was released back in 1974.

Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

Artist: Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

LP: 7" single

Song: "Kokorogawari"
aka. "Change of Mind"

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I like the trumpet that accompanies the elegantly tortured vocals in "Kokorogawari" or "Change of Mind," one of my favorites of the Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five singles I found. Sadly, the song only made it to #32 on Japan's singles charts back in 1973. That's group leader Hiroshi Uchiyamada (1936-2006), third from the left with the square hairline, and vocalist Kiyoshi Maekawa is pictured on Hiroshi's right, with the spotty black and white tie.

Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

Artist: Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

LP: 7" single

Song: "Koiuta"
aka. "Love Song"

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"Koiuta" or "Love Song" by Horishi Uchiyamada and Cool Five was a #14 hit on the Japanese charts back in 1972. I like the cover of this one because it sorta looks like a promo still for the Japanese version of WEST SIDE STORY with an all-male cast.

Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

Artist: Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

LP: 7" single

Song: "Ame no Shinobiai"
aka. "Affair In the Rain"

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Here's the second of six Horishi Uchiyamada and Cool Five singles I'm posting this week. "Ame no Shinobiai" went to #41 on the Japanese singles charts in 1974. If you look closely at the cover, you'll see blue raindrops set against the trunk of the tree.

Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

Artist: Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five

LP: 7" single

Song: "Nagasaki wa Kyo mo Ame Datta"
aka. "It's Raining Again In Nagasaki"

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While in Boston for work in November of 2009, I found a bunch of neat-looking Japanese singles from the late '60s/early '70s, all by the same spiffy looking sextette. Unfortunately, I didn't know the name of the group or any of the song titles—until now! Earlier today I met a Japanese friend for coffee, and I brought some of the singles for him to translate. It turns out they're performed by Hiroshi Uchiyamada and Cool Five (read about them here), who are from my friend's home town of Nagasaki. (Nagasaki is on the southwest coast of Japan and so wasn't really effected by the earthquake and tsunami that caused so much damage on the northeast coast near Sendai last week.) "Nagasaki wa Kyo mo Ame Datta" or, "It's Raining Again In Nagasaki," was the group's first single and one of their biggest hits, going all the way to #2 back in 1969. I have about 14 singles by these guys, but I only brought six to be translated, figuring I'd post one every day this week to show my support for Japan. Of course, with 8.9 earthquakes, tsunamis, no electricity, a food and drinking-water shortage, melting nuclear power plants, thousands of people dead and thousands more still missing, I'm sure nobody in Japan really gives a shit what I post on my blog this week. There's a list of seven better ways to support the people of Japan here.

Poussez

Artist: Poussez

LP: Poussez!

Song: "Never Gonna' Say Goodbye"

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Poussez (pronounced "poo-say") is a 1979 disco project thrown together by sexy and renowned jazz-fusion percussionist Alphonse Mouzon, who worked with Larry Coryell on some of The Eleventh House LPs a few years earlier. You can read all about Alphonse Mouzon, see his discography, and find out what famous musicians he's worked with on Wikipedia here, though they somehow forgot to mention all the time he spent playing with Poussez. I'd love to make more jokes, but it's hard to focus on "poo-say" when half of Japan just got wiped out by a giant earthquake and tsunami.

[ Alphonse Mouzon ]

Tarik Bulut and His Ensemble

Artist: Tarik Bulut and His Ensemble

LP: In An Egyptian Garden

Song: "Cifte Telli"

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Now that Egyptians have toppled the corrupt and repressive government of President Hosni Mubarak, it won't be long before the women of Cairo will be found lounging in sensuous abandonment in the city's public gardens, dressed in golden bikinis and eating seedless grapes by the bunches. For info on talented Turkish musician Tarik Bulut, click here.

Yumi Arai

Artist: Yumi Arai

LP: The 14th Moon

Song: "Chuo Freeway"

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Born in Hachioji, Japan in 1954, singer/songwriter/pianist Yumi Arai got started in the music business while in her early teens by hanging out at Chianti, a popular Italian restaurant frequented by artists like Yukio Mishima, Akira Kurosawa, Taro Okamoto, and Hiroshi "Monsieur" Kamayatsu, who ended up producing Yumi Arai's first record. Nicknamed "Yuming" by her Chinese lover, Yumi released four LPs under her birth name of Yumi Arai in the early-to-mid 1970s ("The 14th Moon" from 1976 was the last) before marrying musical collaborator Masataka Matsutoya in 1976 and changing her professional name to Yumi Matsutoya. You can read all about the life and ongoing career of Yumi Arai—aka Yuming—aka Yumi Matsutoya on Wikipedia here, and watch a neat but oddly edited 1973 Yumi Arai music video here:

Yumi Arai on YouTube:

[ "Kamihikô-ki" ]

La Flavour

Artist: La Flavour

LP: Mandolay

Song: "Can't Kill the Beat"

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Here's something else I found at Jive Time Records over the weekend. Started in Massillon, Ohio by the Nervo twins and their classmates Craig and Gino back in 1967, the group was previously called The Noblemen, The Blues Soul, and Ragweed before they finally hit it big as La Flavour with the release of their "Mandolay" LP in 1980. By then they had added Rusty and Rick to the lineup, they had become one of the hottest dance bands in the region, and they had developed a penchant for gourmet ice cream. The group signed to MCA for their followup release, but since the disco craze had begun to wane, the label changed their name to Fair Warning and steered the band in a pop/rock direction. The song "She Don't Know Me" was chosen as their first single, but then some upstart rock band swiped it out from under their noses, stuck it on their own album, and the Fair Warning LP was eventually shelved by MCA. Undaunted, La Flavour continued to tour on the strength of their "Mandolay" single, eventually embellishing their live shows with appearances by Franklin and Nick—a pair of dueling, drunken, and outspoken puppets who sent audiences into hysterical fits of stitches with their outrageous and inappropriate remarks. You can read all about La Flavour here, find each member's personal bio here, buy your own La Flavour apparel here, and find out where the group will be performing next right here.

Prahba Devi

Artist: Prahba Devi

LP: Sitar Goes International

Song: "Georgy Girl"

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In my ongoing effort to make room for new vinyl acquisitions while still being able to walk upright through my apartment, I sold off a load of LPs to Jive Time Records in Fremont this past weekend. As usual, I wasn't able to leave the place empty-handed, and one of the things I took home was this lovely and bizarre Prahba Devi record on which she performs popular western hits of the era on her sitar. That's like learning Chinese in order to speak English! I'm sure nobody would have enjoyed hearing a sitar interpretation of this movie theme more than Georgy Girl herself. The talented Ms. Devi is accompanied by Girin Das on tabla and guitar accompaniment is provided by Barry Curtis, who was born in my hometown of Yakima, was a member of The Kingsmen, and now he's evidently living and performing right here in Seattle!

 [ Lynn Redgrave as "Georgy Girl" — 1966 ]

Luigi

Artist: Luigi

LP: 7" single

Song: "Inutile de Dire Je T'aime"

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What do you call this handsome French singer when he's sitting alone at home, unable to think of anything he feels like doing? Answer: "Luigi bored." Anyway, this is one of the singles I recently ordered from France. When I opened the box, the records all smelled like French cigarette smoke and I was thrilled.

Keld & the Donkeys

Artist: Keld & the Donkeys

LP: Det Er Så Skønt

Song: "Det Er Så Skønt"

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Here's a lively tune from a 1967 Danish record I picked up at 2nd Avenue Records during my brief Portland getaway last month. In the late 1970s, Keld evidently traded in his Donkeys for some gal named Hilda and they've been making hits together ever since. You can read about that here, join the Keld & the Donkeys Facebook group here, and click the video link below to hear someone's interpretation of a popular Keld & the Donkeys song as played on a Yamaha PSR-S900.

Keld & the Donkeys on YouTube:

[ "Ved Landsbyens Gadekær" ]