Sound of Siam 1964-1975
Reviewed by Sadie O., 2/10/11
Eclectic and strange crossovers between Thai (non-royal and non-temple) popular music and western musical styles and production. Most tracks have a significant “what the f---?” component. Vocals all in Thai language and style – it’s not nearly as western rock/pop influenced as many of the other similar comps we have. Fascinating stuff.
There may be FCCs, but you’d have to speak Thai dialencts to know….
Everything’s awesome – those with 4 stars a bit more so…
1. 3:41 **midtempo, lilting, female vocals. Style is a sort of folk Thai/Laotian hybrid, but with more modern instruments and production.
2. 3:53 ****midtempo with a bit of reverb on the guitar and echo on the (same female) vocals. Apparently about how she wants her boyfriend to get a divorce an leave his family. Some fun vocal gymnastics.
3. 2:37 ***downtempo lopsided march with sweet female vocals, quirky guitar riff.
4. 2:28 ***midtempo, male vocals, tinkly exotic piano line, spoken interchanges between laughing man and woman. Odd.
5. 4:35 ****sparse, a bit downtempo and extremely weird, perhaps psych-lounge-trad? Wispy high female vocals. Supposedly a Thai take on Bollywood!
6. 3:19 ****determinately middle-eastern-exotic oboe and slide bass riff, male vocals. Perplexing but compelling mashup.
7. 2:50 ***midtempo, squeebly (like lounge with theremin), a bit goofy. Apparently about animals gone bad.
8. 3:01 ***solo stringed instrument into (sounds for all the world like “Desert Blues”) then driving midtempo march with very trad sounding strings and very western rhythm section.
9. 2:32 ****kinda 60’s rockin’, midtempo, male vocals – apparently all about sex. Whee!
10. 4:04 ***very long solo male vocal intro, very trad sounding, then a rather downtempo limping march featuring horn section and weebly guitar. Huh!
11. 4:08 **some sort of accordion/pump organ instrument and female vocal intro, then a rather jaunty midtempo 60’s rockin’ groove.
12. 4:10 ****Jumping Jack Flash guitar intro, then rather downtempo rock groove with bits of quark, strangeness and charm, and quavery female vocals and strings. Deeply odd.
13. 3:06 ***circus march intro, very upbeat midtempo funky-mambo-rock thing, male vocals (criticizing women). Jazzy trumpet solo.
14. 2:28 ****uptempo rubber band and horns, male vocals upbraiding a woman for being barefoot and pregnant. Pauses to make big spoken statements.
15. 3:30 ***weebly and folky – sounds rather like a Breton folk band! Upbeat and uptempo instrumental.
16. 5:00 ****long, strange, quavery female vocal and bowed instrument intro. All about wishing well to her townsmen being sent off to work as border guards (unduly nice, given how mean some of the men’s songs have been!) More then halfway through a funky bass-led wobble comes along to help out.
17. 3:35 ****60’s pop groove with horns and vibes. Drinking song, horns are a bit jazzy and vibes a bit trad.
18. 3:07 ****groovy walking bass line, then big metal bangs and loungey-jazzy flute and percussion. Downtempo and rhythmically formless in a sort of be-bop way, but profoundly and deeply strange.
19. 3:54 **downbeat limping groove with odd, weepy guitar and very simple and repetitive rhythm section.