Calin with Fantastic Plastic Machine : Samba de Minha Namoradinha

Fantastic Plastic Machine is the stage name for Tomoyuki Tanaka, a Japanese musician and DJ, who put together a series of critically acclaimed albums in the late 90's and early 2000's. He is one of the progenitors of the Shibuya-kei movement, which is sort of an electronic take on easy listening.

I believe Calin is the singer, but I could find nothing about her.

The tune kicks off with a scat on a jumpy little melody. It sounds very circular, but it's very groovy, and it reappears a few times throughout the song, which is good, because it's fun. There follows an organ-based jam over a samba beat percolating under some pretty, poppy Japanese lyrics. It's a light, fun little record, and is great to play in the car on a sunny day with your windows rolled down.

In the background you can hear a guy popping in with a quick, familiar-sounding 'mahna mahna'. That's a nod to a tune called 'Samba Mah Nà' from Piero Umiliani's soundtrack to Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso, which is itself a variation on Piero's classic, "Mah Nà Mah Nà". In case you were wondering.

This particular song comes from a compilation Shibuya-kei music, the awkwardly named Sushi 3003 from 1996.  It's full of other groovy, electropop gems and is a solid buy if you like this sort of thing.

[You can listen to Calin with Fantastic Plastic Machine's "Samba de Minha Namoradinha" by navigating to the post "Song063" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Mandingo : Manhunter

Mandingo is a weird band. First of all, I'm not sure they were actually a band per se, but rather a set of studio musicians who did library music for some of the British production companies, although I read somewhere it was actually the Geoff Love Orchestra. They played music that was composed primarily by folks who wrote for soundtracks and production companies, like Brian Fahey and Mike Vickers.

The music is a cross between the pop orchestras of yore and the funk of the day. It's full of brass, strings and percussion (though I suppose you could say the same of the Love Unlimited Orchestra), but it's anchored by a funk backbeat, some heavy bass and even some rock guitar, which tends to make it sound like the soundtrack to a 70's cop show, which is to say, it sounds awesome. Plus it's really percussion heavy. In one interview, Mike says they had four drummers and seven percussionists in the studio at once.

"Manhunter" is the kick-off song for the album, and rightfully so. It's some seriously heavy funk, anchored by the tight bass-line and the rhythm guitar. The horns carry the tune with full-on intensity and the whole thing is buoyed throughout by the non-stop barrage of percussion. Apparently, Mandingo LPs were the go-to records for hi-fi salesmen back in the day. When you 'drop the needle' on this one, you'll see why.

The records were on EMI and were released primarily in the UK. Also, they used to release in quad as well as stereo and I can only imagine how this would sound remixed for 5.1 surround. You can find "Manhunter" on Mandingo's 1975 release Savage Rite. Their albums have been repackaged as 2-for-1 deals, which is a pretty good deal, except they don't seem to be in print any longer. And I was first introduced to Mandingo on the excellent Sound Gallery compilations, both of which are worth owning, although they too seem to have passed on.

[#43]

Ted Heath & His Music : Light My Fire

There are a lot of covers of "Light My Fire" out there. Just a ton. It's one of those songs that somehow became an easy listening staple, and every pop orchestra that ever tackled a rock song managed to cover it.

Actually, I know why. It turns out, the bands aren't covering the Doors, they're covering José Feliciano's Grammy-award winning cover from 1969. Usually you can tell, because they include José's little three-on-two breakdown at the end, as they do on this version.

The songs starts out soft, with some acoustic guitar, vibes and bongos. After a bit, the rest of the band comes in, nice and easy, but like Ike & Tina, Ted takes the beginning nice and easy, but ends the song nice and rough.

Well, as rough as you can get with this crowd.

The horn work is great, and there's not one, but two bongo solos, with another acoustic guitar break halfway through. Also, there's a little bit of organ to spice it up at the end. The arrangement is just impeccable; there's a little bit of everything to make you happy.

"Light My Fire" is off Ted's 1970's release, The Big Ones, which includes excellent covers of "Spinning Wheel" and "Nights in White Satin" among others. The record came out on the Phase 4 Stereo label. There are a number of excellent records on this label & they are distinctly recognizable by the big 4 on the cover. You can't really go wrong with one of these.

[You can listen to Ted Heath & His Music's "Light My Fire" by navigating to the post "Song036" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Ben Vaughn : Avanti

Ben Vaughn has been writing and recording since the mid 80's, and is probably best know for his theme to 3rd Rock from the Sun. He's been in a rock band, as well as dabbled in songwriting, soundtracks, production and, of course, his own projects. He is apparently well-known for being able to faithfully recreate the sound of past decades in his recordings.

"Avanti" is a throwback to the go-go easy listening sound that the big bands took up in the early 60's in order to keep themselves "hip" with the burgeoning rock & roll consumers. They never quite got it, but created some beautiful bastardizations while trying. Stay tuned for some of those in the future. Meanwhile, Ben has captured that era in all its groovy glory. There's the swinging backbeat, the trademark Vincent Bell guitar sound, the funky Hammond, and of course the female chorale 'doo-be-doo'ing their way through the wordless vocals. It sounds like something that would be right at home in a 60's soft porn or exploitation flick. In fact, it sounds a bit like something Piero Umiliani might have written (you remember "Mah Nà Mah Nà", right?).

Anyway, "Avanti" and other pseudo-soundtrack gems can be found on Ben's 2005 release, Designs in Music. It's a solid album and a fun listen.

[You can listen to Ben Vaughn's "Avanti" by navigating to the post "Song032" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Stanley Black : Temptation

In the 50's, after the GI's came home from the Pacific Rim and we adopted Hawaii as our 50th state, there was an explosion of tiki culture in America. Everything remotely related to the Pacific, and by extension anything oriental and even Indian, was considered fascinating. This was true in music as well, as literally thousands of tiki-themed albums were released.

"Temptation" is another of those classic easy listening songs that appears on a bazillion LPs and it's especially popular amongst the tiki crowd, along with "Bali Ha'i", "Moon of Manakoora", "Quiet Village" and others. Stanley Black (real name: Solomon Schwartz) was a British composer and arranger who released a number of easy listening orchestral albums, most of which are top notch. It's hard to go wrong with a Stanley Black album.

Exotic Percussion is a great album, and, as it's name implies, it's chock full of old favorites spiced up with eastern-sounding horns, jungle drums and lots and lots of great percussion. Plus most of the tracks have a female chorus oohing and ahhing along, which just makes the songs doubly awesome. "Temptation" is no exception, kicking off the record with the percussion and horns pounding away, the vocals weaving delicately in and out, and all of the instruments showing off their stereo prowess. They proceed to march through a series of Bolero-like crescendos, ending in a final flourish of horn, drum and voice. Stanley knows how to wring the excitement out of a tune and he definitely pulls out the stops here.

"Temptation" can be found on Stanley's Exotic Percussion album, which you can grab from Amazon off a 2-LP-1-CD deal, or actually get the vinyl. I'd go for the vinyl.

* Art by Shag. He's awesome.

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Marden Hill : Slalom

There is a weird subset of songs that are from Christmas albums but that aren't per se about Christmas or even winter. Sometimes they don't even have jingle bells. Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" is probably the most famous example, inextricably linked to Christmas via A Charlie Brown Christmas for the rest of time.

"Slalom" is from a band called Marden Hill. I couldn't find much out about them, except that they are apparently Él label stalwarts. It sounds like these guys did Shibuya-kei influenced easy listening. As I do research for this essay, I realize, I need to learn way more about these guys and this label.

Regardless, the piece is a bright piece of vocal fluff, along the lines of the Manhattan Transfer, the Swingle Singers or Anita Kerr at her best. The harmonies are sweet and pretty, like a high school crush, and the song does somehow invoke a wintery feel. There are jingle bells in the first few seconds, and an occasional high piano trill to help you imagine falling snow, so it'd probably make a good soundtrack for a romantic evening sleigh ride.

The piece can be found on the Él Records winter compilation, Él Christmas: The World in Winter. You can grab it from Amazon, or directly from the label (scroll down), although I think the "9.95" might be pounds, not dollars.

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Si Zentner : The Man with the Golden Arm

"The Man with the Golden Arm" is one of those themes, like "The Third Man Theme" or anything by Henry Mancini, that turns up on hundreds of easy listening LPs. This is primarily because it's an awesome tune, one of the many classic themes penned by Elmer Bernstein (some others being "The Magnificent Seven" and "Gunsmoke"). It's a spy-jazz masterpiece, although it wasn't written for a spy movie. The Man with the Golden Arm is about a heroin-addicted drummer who tries to stay clean after being released from prison. It starred Frank Sinatra as Frankie Machine, the drummer, and apparently was one of the first films to deal seriously with the taboo issue of heroin addiction.

Si Zentner was a trombonist and a big band leader in the early sixties and released a couple of albums before rock & roll put him out of business. From Russia with Love is one of my favorites because it's chock full of "crime jazz"; that is, big band tunes with a driving bass, a touch of swing and a horn section that just chugs along. Think "The James Bond Theme" or "Peter Gunn" (both of which are on this album, as is "The Third Man Theme," oddly enough). Or this tune.

The tune kicks off with a sneaky little riff, a baritone sax over a shuffling back beat. Then a horn kicks in and lays the initial groundwork. Pretty soon though, all the horns are chiming in, punching in loud and proud, playing off each other and tearing it up. It rocks.

Unfortunately, this album isn't available on CD as far as I can tell. The Swingin' Eye!!!!!!!! is on a double CD with another album of his, but even though the title implies otherwise, I don't see a single P.I. theme on there. It may be a great album, but I haven't heard it yet, so I can't say. If you're ever in a thrift store and see From Russia with Love though, grab it and wow your friends at your next swank cocktail soirée.

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Jack Jones : Wives and Lovers

My wife and I have started watching Mad Men (season one: don't spoil it!), and we've often wondered how 'true-to-life' the characters are. Were folks really that blunt back then about their feelings towards women and minorities? Burt Bacharach, or probably more accurately Hal David, don't really chime in on the second count, but this song clearly weighs in on the first.

The lyrics are quaint, although somewhat chauvinist in their delivery. I mean, the song opens with "Hey, little girl, comb your hair, fix your make-up," and goes on to exhort us that wives should always be lovers too, because, you know, there are "girls at the office, and men will always be men." The whole song is directed at the lady of the house, assuming, I suppose, that the man is king of the house and beyond reproach and whatnot. Either that, or he's just a hopeless cause.

This Grammy-award winning version is crooned by Jack Jones, who also sang the theme to "The Love Boat", among, I'm sure, more stellar offerings. The music is nice but standard swinging pop orchestra with horns and strings. The song was originally from his 1963 outing fittingly titled Wives and Lovers, but I found my copy on my Burt Bacharach box set, The Look of Love.

[You can listen to Jack Jones' "Wives and Lovers" by navigating to the post "Song015" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Ralph Font : Cosita Linda

"Ay, Cosita Linda" (which I think means "Hey, pretty little thing") was written by Pacho Galan, a Columbian composer, and was made somewhat popular by a recording of the song by Nat "King" Cole on 1959's A Mis Amigos LP. I can't tell for sure, but I think this recording came out before that, most likely in the early fifties.

Ralph Font was a New York jazzster put out a couple of latin-themed albums. The music on his album Tabu is relatively generic small-combo latin jazz, and there are (literally) a thousand records that sound just like this one. But it's a peppy little record and fun listening, chock full of latin standards, like "Bésame Mucho", "The Peanut Vendor" and "Tabu", with "Cosita Linda" being my favorite.

Font kicks off his take with a nifty little piano run, into a snare hit, and then the vocals. Now the vocals (in what seems to be a running theme here) are what makes the song for me. The combo is solid. It's a fine latin-tinged cocktail-jazz workout, led by the piano and backed by a plethora of percussion instruments. There's some good horn work and a nifty trumpet solo, but what truly puts it over the top are the vocals. Every time the singers pipe in with a line, everything else stops and drops out. The vocals themselves are relatively quiet next to the bustle of the rest of the tune and they're sung in an oddly low-register falsetto. They're almost... cute. As if some shy hispanic guy just tapped a pretty lady on the shoulder and is politely asking her to dance.

As I mentioned before, this fun little ditty can be found on Font's album Tabu. If you see it in a thrift store (it's not on CD), it's definitely worth a buck. You'll at least have something fab to drop the needle on the next time you're making margaritas. And as for the cover art, well, we'll just say it's clearly the product of a bygone era, and leave it at that.

[You can listen to Ralph Font's "Cosita Linda" by navigating to the post "Song010" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Sir Julian : Caravan

Man, I love "Caravan". It's quite possibly my favorite tune ever, with the possible exception of "Brazil". You can't go wrong with a version of "Caravan". And the organ. I love the home entertainment organ. Maybe it's because my gram had one for a while, and she knew how to play it. That and it reminds me of trips we used to take to the shopping mall, on 9th and 77th, with it's 50's green and white marble-pebble facade... what do they call that stuff? You know what I'm talking about, it's in old elementary schools and post offices everywhere... Anyway...

Along with Lenny Dee, who is probably the undisputed master of the home entertainment organ, and Glenn Derringer, who no-one has heard of, but who's another of my favorites, Sir Julian could seriously rock the organ, while never leaving that safe haven of easy listening.


This is quite possibly the definitive "Caravan" for me, even more so than any version by the Duke himself. It starts with a low groove with a swinging bass line, shuffle drums and the organ dropping the main theme and punching its own accompaniment. The organ has that gorgeous fat round analog sound you just can't get from a chip. The tune slinks along for a bit, and then, around the two-minute mark, BANG! Sir Julian lets loose with a high-energy full-bore attack on the keys that makes you go weak in the knees; an organ-asm if you will.

To be fair, Sir Julian uses this trick on about a third of the tunes on the album, but it's still a suave move, and the tune seriously rocks.

"Caravan" can be found on The 13 Fingers of Sir Julian which isn't in print. It's also on RCA's History of Space Age Pop, vol. 1: Melodies and Mischief, which also isn't in print, but can be found. The History of Space Age Pop series from RCA is a fantastic compilation, and should be on any discerning music lover's shelf.

[You can listen to Sir Julian's "Caravan" by navigating to the post "Song009" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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