In The Trashcan Records
GARBAGE54
"Exotica or
world music? From the Belgian Copacabana to the Flemish Brazilian connection
through some Mediterranean countries you can find party music to spice up
your boat trips without having to listen to Barry Manilow..."
The best known orchestra leader from Belgium in the 60s and 70s Francis Bay recorded dozens of 45s and albums. In this swinging latin instro Mexico’s most famous beach Copacabana gets a better treatment than in Barry Manilow’s hit recording.
I have absolutely no clue about the year of this bongo beatin’ exotic tune; actually I don’t have any info at all. Only that both sides are fantastic exotic novelty dance tunes.
And you could meet Valentino in Copacabana or perhaps even one every day. This B-side of “Babylone 21-29 allo Brigitte” (also a great version which I might use for a future volume of this series) starts as an instrumental latin dance tune, but at the end the band starts singing in French.
A Belgian recording with the orchestra of Al Van Dam and sung in Spanish. The Iberian influences are everpresent on this recording. Who was Carlos Roberto? Not to be confused with the football star Roberto Carlos…
I don’t know many cha-cha-cha recordings with a trumpet as prominent. Danny Davis recorded “Lonesome trumpet” for the flipside.
A rather surprising (almost) instrumental version of the classic Ritchie Valens smash hit. When was it recorded? By the sound of the heavy guitar I’d think early 70s. Another great tune of his is “The bull and I” which you can find on vol 52.
And from the EP ”Viens danser le twist” comes another trumpet tune. Trumpet Boy recorded many excellent tracks, but if you’re a fan of Brigitte Bardot I suggest you check out volume 23 and also the version by Antonio Del Playa also on this volume.
Another Belgian release, this time on the budget label of Stella. On vol 23 you can find 4 more versions of this party tune. The b-side is “Em Rio De Janeiro”, a similar tune. And again: who was Antonio Del Playa?
Astrud Gilberto will always be remembered as the sexy voice behind so many Brazilian mambo recordings, but certainly for “The girl from Ipanema” with Stan Getz, written by her husband Joao Gilberto (as Garota De Ipanema). This is a French version of Tim Hardin’s “Misty roses” while the B-side ”Le sourire de mon amour” is a French version of “The shadow of your smile”.
This '69 instrumental sounds like a TV tune to me. Also on the album “Jung! The Big Band Syndrome” on Command RD944SD just like the a-side “Joan’s song”.
He was 28 when recording this mysterious Napolitan tune. Together with his quartet he recorded hundreds of songs that appeared on so many 45s, most of them on the Italian label of Durium and sometimes in France as well on Vogue. More Marino Marini entries on volumes 28, 43 and 50.
It’s a great version of the Lonnie Mack’s classic. And it’s got nothing to do with George Michael. This instrumental should be on either a future Strummin’ Mental volume or on Las Vegas Grind.
The flip of “Vorrei sapere”. Comes in a great foldout sleeve (although most copies I’ve seen are just regular sleeves) with a great inside picture of Fabio at sea in 1968 and also the lyrics of both songs. It’s an uptempo bossa love song about walking on the beach with your loved one at a delightful summer night.
This is a superb instrumental version of “The Incrowd” by an Italian combo as flipside to “Monia”. It’s less than two minutes long with a great organ solo and female backing vocals to make it even a little bit sultry.
A Spanish combo singing about Italian food and released on a French label and thus also sung in French and some Arabian and English. This song should have been selected for the Jungle Exotica compilations. I’m not sure about the origins of this band, but I don’t think it’s the same Spanish band that recorded some cool tunes in the mid-60s.
”Nem vem que nao dem” by Wilson Simonal was a minor hit in 1970, but it became a hit in the French version by Brigitte Bardot: “Tu veux ou tu veux pas” and also the one by Zanini, also from 1970. The Belgian band The Strangers were masters in translating hit songs into the Antwerp dialect. This one is very hard to find on 45. You should hear their version of “Mah-na mah-na” as “Amai amai” or their “Ca plane pour moi” cover as “Punk”. Also the b-side “‘k gon t’rug nor ons moe”, is a translation of the 1970 Eurovision contest entry “All kinds of everything”.
