Let's Dance Latin

With The Trio San Jose

All music has rhythm; the music of Latin America is rhythm! Rhythm is on top and melody fills in the gaps.

It is the music of lazy movement in a warm climate, made up of sounds that reflect the rhythms of nature - the whirr of the grasshopper, the reluctant clop of a mule's hooves on cobble stones, the erratic croaking of frogs in the swamps at night, the strangely vocal pipings of native birds like the cenzontle - the native thrush of Guatemala.

One still feels in the sultry beat, the spirit of the jungle where the drum was a means of communication, and the impulse behind strange religious rites and dances. In those remote days, and even nowadays in the jungles of South America, where civilisation is still discovering pockets of primitive life, the instruments used were as weird and exotic as the music they produced. Llama skulls, jaguar claws, deer hooves, dried butterfly cocoons and human bones. The shapes and sounds survive in the modern rhythm instruments, now mass produced in city factories. Even in the most sophisticated Latin American music one feels the impulse of the primitive spirit, perhaps more than in any other modern musical language.

The final veneer was added by the Spanish conquerors who brought their exotic flamenco rhythms, the sultry poetry, and the strong influence of their guitar-strumming, castanet-clicking music. A great deal of erudition is expended on sorting out the diverse elements of Latin American music, Indian, Negro and European. It's indolent vitality is the heart-beat of a continent; a throbbing pulse of which the whole world has become aware. It's intoxicating qualities are guaranteed to excite an Eskimo just as much as a native born Mexican.

Even the names of the dances and songs are rhythmical and evocative. Some of them are worth rolling around the tongue just for the fun of it - marinera, sanjuanito, zamacueca, chacarera and guaracha. The briefest and snappiest seem to have appealed most to European ears, the tango, rumba, samba and conga.

This record is designed for universal pleasure. But it has all these subtle elements involved and it would be an insensitive soul that, while revelling in the rhythmical exuberance of a delightful number like O Pancha, failed to feel something of the primitive excitement beneath it all.

Peter Gammond

An Ariola Recording. - Cover photograph by courtesy of Rose, Morris & Co Ltd.

The Word Record Club Limited

Parkbridge House

Little Green

Richmond

Surrey

Para Viga Me Voy
Babalu
La Novia
Rumba Tambah
Perfidia
O Pancha
Maria Delores
Moliendo Cafe
La Violatera
Angel D'Amore
Asi-Asi-Asi
Cucurrucucu Paloma
Mi Bella Flor
Adios

T 314 - no year given

Golden Latin Brass

The Lush Stereo Sound of
Golden Latin Brass
Played by The Royal Latin Orchestra

Before the conquest of South America in the 16th century there were large highly developed civilisations where Brazil and Mexico now lie. Their customs and cultures were quite different from those of the Spanish who conquered them and who subsequently imposed their own customs. The Spanish also brought negro slaves from Africa to work on the plantations. The musical sum of these conflicting influences is the unmistakeable sound of Latin American music, depending largely on it's intricate cross rhythms and strong syncopations for it's uniqueness. In fact, Edmundo Ross, one of the first men to introduce the music of Latin America to this country insists that "The melody section is unimportant. It can still be effective played on a broken down piano so long as the rhythm section is strong."

The first of the Latin dances to become popular was the Tango, which swept the world just prior to World War One. But it was when the Rhumba arrived in the ballroom straight from it's native Cuba in the early 1930s that Latin-American music and rhythms became firmly entrenched as international favourites. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced 'The Carioca', from Brazil came Carmen Miranda, the Brazillian Bombshell, and with her came The Samba. The Conga established itself as a favourite party dance.

Latin American orchestras flourished, Xavier Cugal, Roberto Inglez, The Lecuona Cuban Boys and then, in the 1950s, along came the great Perez Prado who added to the standard Latin American instrumentation a biting brass section that was strongly influenced by the swing bands of the U.S.A. From this combination came the Mambo and the irresistable Cha-Cha-Cha.

This is the sort of sound you will hear in this album - all the wild heat and tingling excitement of "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White", "Patricia", "Mambo Jambo" and many other favourites captured in vivid stereo. If thid doesn't get you, you'd better reserve your place in the cemetary before it's too late!

Side One

1. Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White (Luoiguy)
2. Mambo Jambo (Prado)
3. Mucho, Mucho, Mucho (Spina)
4. Patricia (Prado)
5. Mambo No. 8 (Prado)
6. Cu-Cu-Ru-Cu-Cu Paloma (Mendez)

Side Two

1. Mambo No. 5 (Prado)
2. Chivirico (Marquez)
3. La Virgen De La Macarena (Monterde)
4. Sweet And Gentle (Portal)
5. Frenesi (Dominiguez)
6. La Comparsa (Casado)

MFP STEREO 1359 - 1968

Focus On Phase 4 Stereo

14 sound spectaculars - each track a unique experience in sound, specially chosen for the thrill of listening. A thrill that has placed Phase 4 Stereo firmly at the top; a position maintained through constant pioneering of the latest technological innovations.

The fourteen numbers on this record demonstrates the success that Decca's engineers have achieved, and the overall effect of utilising individual detail produces an uncanny sense of spatial realism unapproached by conventional disc standards.

Recorded Sound at it's best, this sampler disc is just an appetiser for the exciting repertoire in the Phase 4 catalogue. Everything is in Phase 4 stereo - orchestras, vocal groups, big bands, marching bands and latin bands, music from around the world, from stage and screen. From waltzes to rock 'n' roll, not forgetting the concert series of familiar classics and the many sound effect spectaculars.

Here now is your chance to experience a small part of the magnificent Phase 4 story.

Tony D'Amato (Artists and Repertoire manager, Phase 4 Stereo)

Side 1

I Love Paris (Porter) - Stanley Black
A Whiter Shade Of Pale (Reid/Brooker) - Ronnie Aldrich
El Cumbanchero (Hernandez) - Los Muchacambos
I've Heard That Song Before (StyneCahn) - Harry James
The Skaters Waltz (Waldteufel) - Will Glahe
Lover (Rodgers;Hart) - Les Paul
Washington Post (Sousa) - Band Of The Grenadier Guards

Side 2

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Trad) - The Keating Sound
La Bamba (Trad) - Edmundo Ross
Limelight (Chaplin;Parsons) - Frank Chacksfield
The Avengers (Johnson) - Roland Shaw
Two Guitars (Trad) - Werner Muller
More (Newell, Oliviero, Ortolani) - Ted Heath
Camptown Races (Foster) - Eric Rogers

BPS1 - 1968

Beatles, Bach & Bacharach Go Bossa

You probably never realised that The Beatles, Bach and Bacharach wrote some marvellous Bossa Novas! Mind you, they didn't sound quite like Bossas when first performed, although some of them very nearly did. But all the titles we chose for this album were, potentially at least, great Bossa Novas.

Alan Moorhouse, who created these very special arrangements, and directed the hand-picked musicians who played them, described this set as "Happy Bossa". After all, he said, the Brazilians who started it all were happy, carefree people, and when they played their original Bossa rhythms, all they were thinking of was a good time!

Alan and I chose three Bach, Four Beatles and five Bacharach compositions. Two of the Bach pieces must be very well known to you already. Air On A G-String accompanied a very famous tobacco advert on T.V. Minuet in G has already had a taste of honey as a smash hit called "Lover's Concerto" by The Toys. Musette in D may be new to you at first hearing, but you'll be surprised how catchy it becomes.

The Four Beatles numbers (including George Harrison's Something) are already well known to you, but they sound really fresh and inviting in their smart new Brazilian style.

As for Bacharach, a great number of his compositions could actually have been written just for this album. We've chosen Trains & Boats & Planes, Do You Know The Way To San Jose, This Guy's In Love, I'll Never Fall In Love Again and I Say A Little Prayer.

Alan has presented these famous songs in a number of refreshing new ways-mixing flute, flugelhorn and a girl's voice to produce a beautifully mellow, haunting sound; tenor sax improvising gently around the main theme; electric harpsichord lending a new and unusual timbre rarely heard in this context; and of course a full, driving rhythm section that keeps your feet tapping.

So, if your party ever looks like sagging in the middle, switch on to The Beatles, Bach & Bacharach in Bossa beat-and give the party a swinging new lease of life!

Bill Wellings

Side One

Fool On The Hill (Lennon/McCartney)
Something (Harrison)
Air On A G-String (Bach arr. Moorhouse)
Trains and Boats and Planes (Bacharach/David)
Yesterday (Lennon McCartney)
Minuet In G (Bach arr. Moorhouse)

Side Two

Do You Know The Way To San Jose (Bacharach/David)
With A Little Help From My Friends (Lennon/McCartney)
This Guy's In Love (Bacharach/David)
I Say A Little Prayer (Bacharach/David)
I'll Never Fall In Love Again (Bacharach/David)
Musette In D (Bach arr. Moorhouse)

Photography Brian Tyler - Design Clare Osborn

MFP 5206 - 1971

Skillex Ep

Come Out Tonight (Laverne) - Kenickie
c/w How I Was Made (Laverne/Du Santiago)

1995

Fierce Panda first foray for Kenickie. Not a hit, Fierce only do limited runs of breaking artists, highly collectable but not well known reaching #152!

Here we have the gang again (Lauren, Marie, Emma and X) just before breaking through and becoming media darlings.

No videos to upload but I will make some!



Listen to Come Out Tonight and How I Was Made on Last FM

That Lady

That Lady (Part 1) (The Isleys) - The Isley Brothers
c/w That Lady (Part 2)

1973

Oriinally performed in 1964 it took the Isleys nine years to record it, giving it a more latin and rock feel than previously.

Ronald, Rudolph, Ernie and Marvin Isley, O'Kelly Isley Jnr. and Chris Jasper are credited on the recording, but who knows who all the people are on the recording below!

Let's Stay Together

Let's Stay Together (Mitchell/Green/Jackson) - Al Green
c/w Tomorrow's Dream (Mitchell Green)

1971

Albert Greene released this song in the early seventies to great acclaim and success, still ranked by Billboard as 60th best song of all time.