Thai Pop Spectacular 1960s-1980s

Thai Pop Spectacular
Reviewed by Sadie O., 10/31/07
Pop/funk/psychedelia/?? From Thailand, 1960’s-1980’s. Comparisons with Dengue Fever are obvious, as the vocals come from a similar tradition, and the music has elements of extreme Go-Go instrument abuse in common as well. This is all original, and has both male and female lead vocals. The beats often feel like they’re meant for something with three or more feet, and it all sounds both familiar and very strange to Western ears, but it’s compelling – oh my word yes, it’s compelling.
I dunno about FCCs, but apparently there’s a song about underpants.
Everything with 3 stars is killer, everything else is worth playing too.
1. 0:46 Huge, blaring fanfare, and inane conversation. Eesh!
2. 2:55 **bongos, twangy guitar and odd horns, a bit off for rock and roll, but some great high female vocals.
3. 2:35 **downtempo, a bit sultry, quite nice alto female vocals.
4. 1:39 **On the one! Funky midtempo limping strut with male vocals. Bit of goofy spoken interchange for last several seconds.
5. 2:08 ****dragon dance meets surfer stomp. Deeply and severely skewed. Bass solo, farfisa and some kind of clackers.
6. 3:34 ****electronic squeep intro, then uptempo and energetic gogo dance with a smidge of funk and reedy female vocals with rolled “r”s. Very jolly tune for a death wish song.
7. 2:56 ***midtempo strut with lots of horns and somewhat eccentric male vocals – reminds me a bit of Eek-a-Mouse. Bass way up front in mix, and guitar solo has tons of reverb.
8. 3:02 *seems to be a comic song, midtempo march stops for odd spoken bits and starts again. Male vocals.
9. 2:04 ***uptempo super disco with odd male vocals with too much echo – amazing!
10. 3:37 *a bit downtempo sweet love song (male vocals) with wah wah (for no good reason, I might add)…
11. 3:23 **Hendrix/Curtis Mayfield guitar effects, tons of hi-hat, nondescript male vocals. Intensely distressing solos by various instruments.
12. 3:18 **strange horns and equally odd vocals of indeterminate gender. Brilliantly off-key guitar solo.
13. 4:16 ***funky midtempo lopsided sashay with group male vocals.
14. 4:04 ***psychedelic march with lots of horns, gruff male vocals.
15. 3:02 **downtempo with quavery keyboards (?) and clackers, pretty and sultry female vocals.
16. 2:15 **super groovy Swinging ‘60s downtempo strut with odd, probably comic male vocals.
17. 0:35 keyboards and bit of dialog
18. 2:50 ***midtempo fuzz guitar and horns and male vocals. Great, and fairly annoying, noise. Ends in a complete mess.
19. 1:52 ***twangy bass and spoken word. Wonderful chorus. What’s he talking about? Wish this was longer!
20. 3:40 ***definitely got the Curtis Mayfield thing going, with farfisa and high female vocals. Gnarly gnarly gnarly.
21. 2:32 ****high speed psychedelic romp with wah wah guitar AND farfisa! And wah wah farfisa!