This track opens with a twinkling sound, and a thick chord carried by harmonized vocals. It quickly builds into a ‘Mission Impossible’–like jazzy groover, with piano and bongos. Although this seems to owe a great debt to Lalo Schifrin, the overall sound is somehow very different and refreshing.
available on CD - Up! The Psycho Mellow (Schema)
27 Feb 06 ·jezandliz1: Not sure why this has been listed in the French section as Barbara Moore is, I think, English.
The whole album is fantastic though for fans of wordless female voices like Edda Dell'Orsa and a dreamy long-forgotten-summer vibe. Worth every penny of the steep import(Japanese_)cost. 28 Feb 06 ·n-jeff: Barbara Moore was the go-to gal for wordless vocals on the UK session scene, she did soem great work on things like "Sort of Soul" by Birds and Brass etc.
This is a rather ridiculous but super–catchy take on this theme to the 1967 spoof Bond movie. Performed by German session musicians, it ends up being a rather groovy mix, with viola d’amore, flute, female wordless vocals, harpsichord, and that other staple of the Baroque era, funky drums. It’s short and sweet and really very cool. The late sixties were cool for many reasons, but one of them is that they could accomodate TWO albums called 'Bacharach Baroque' - this one, and the other great Snuff Garrett-produced one by 'The Renaissance'. Both are superb.
21 Feb 08 ·leonthedog: I found the entire "Bacharach Baroque" album superb!
The "baroque" is not overdone. The arrangements are very pleasing - better than most of the hundreds of instrumental takes on Bacharach that surfaced in the 60's and early 70's. So where can I find more by the ephemeral "18th Century Corporation"?
This was actually never one of my favorite Bacharach songs, but I find this version delightful. It opens with a simple bassline and a groovy breakbeat, which are soon joined by delicate strings and woodwinds, and finally Cal's cool vibes. There are a lot of cool sounds in the mix; I think I can hear both a 12 string guitar and a hammond organ. Anyway, the track swings very nicely, and the groovy beat carries on relentlessly in the background. The all-Bacharach album this comes from is apparently disliked by purists, but I think it's really rather wonderful.
from Sounds Out Burt Bacharach (Skye), available on CD (DCC)
The album that this track is taken from was one of those strange albums that acquired mythical status in my mind. Based on a mixture of rumor and personal imagination (I could never actually find a copy), I convinced myself that this must be the coolest album ever made, a perfect fusion of moog, latin and mod sounds. A few years later I picked up the album very cheaply on ebay. Beautiful and interesting as it is, many of the tracks go slightly over the line for me.
'Dansero' is the only track on the LP that captures the blend that I was looking for. It's nice and short at under 3 minutes, and features a delightfully kooky introduction that sounds like the Jean-Jacques Perrey moog flourishes that the group Stereolab sampled on their 'Transient Random Noise Bursts...' album. The drums and moog then join up for a nice pop instrumental, catchy and bouncy. Different moog effects are piled on, but always quite effectively, making this one of the most enduringly successful moog-pop tracks in my collection.
from Genuine Electric Latin Love Machine (Command)
This short track opens the classic 1995 easy listening compilation The Sound Gallery. I'm sure it's well known to anyone with a remote interest in the whole revival scene. It's a really beautiful track, with funky drums, organ, a gentle, whispery vocal chorus, and some great jazz piano. Evocative and glamorous, this evokes a swinging party attended by people wearing sparkly dresses. For me, this is perhaps the ultimate stylish/glamorous 60s recording.
from Mah-Na-Mah-Na (Liberty) available on CD - Sound Gallery (EMI)
14 Oct 02 ·n-jeff: Its funny that it should make you think of people wearing sparkly dresses, when of course the show itself was primarily famous for having large numbers of hairy hippies naked onstage.