I CINQUE DI ROMA AT THE POLANA, LM

Original released on LP EMI Parlophone PMCJ 12020 (1964)

This is a special collection of 24 songs from I Cinque Di Roma that have as starting point the original album "At The Polana, L.M." (only 12 tracks). Meanwhile 12 more songs were discovered and added to the original album. So, maybe you'll find some differences in the quality of the selections but I think it's fair enough to let you know all these bonus tracks. This collection was shared ten years ago on this blog, but because of many demands I thought it was time to make a new upload, and now at 768 kbps (two files).

ORIGINAL LINER NOTES:

The tourist brochures have quite a lot to say about Lourenço Marques, that little piece of Portugal in the middle of Africa. Whatever they write, it all boils down to the same thing... Atmosphere! Yes...L.M. is atmosphere... it's that "get away from it all" feeling where the charm of the continental living blends into a mellow mood of relaxation and romance.

Just like the place itself... the people of Lourenço Marques hold a fascination for the visitor... an excitement, for here is a city of fun and frolic. A place to "live it up"... and "live it up" means... The Polana... a landmark in Lourenço Marques... the tourists' paradise... where you can bask in the tropical sun... enjoy the finest continental cuisine... and hear... I Cinque di Roma... Italy's most exciting export to Africa. No visit to L.M. is complete without spending an exciting evening with these five fellas who turn an evening into an occasion. There is that continental fire in any of the host of exciting tempos in which the I Cinque di Roma specialize. The fire of the Samba, the excitement of the Bolero, the sophistication of the Cha Cha Cha and of course there is always time for twisting and the latest craze, the Bossa Nova. The evening starts with a sophistication of a night club and ends in a frenzy of a Latin American fiesta. We have captured the excitement of I Cinque di Roma, for now in your own home you can share the exhilarating musical moments and the fire of I Cinque di Roma with everyone who has been lucky enough to spend a night at the Polana. I Cinque di Roma have broadcast many times over Lourenço Marques Radio, during the late night programmes.

Os panfletos turísticos têm muito a dizer sobre Lourenço Marques, esse pequeno pedaço de Portugal no meio de África. E tudo aquilo que dizem pode resumir-se numa só palavra... Atmosfera! Sim... L.M. é atmosfera... é esse sentido do "fugir de tudo", onde o charme da vida continental se combina num misto de relaxamento e romance. Tal como o próprio lugar... as pessoas de Lourenço Marques sentem um fascínio pelo visitante... uma excitação, pois esta é uma cidade de festa e divertimento. Um lugar para "viver à grande"... e "viver à grande" significa... O Polana... um marco em Lourenço Marques... o paraíso dos turistas... onde se pode gozar o sol tropical... apreciar a melhor cozinha continental... e ouvir... I Cinque di Roma... a melhor exportação de Itália para África.

Nenhuma visita a L.M. estará completa sem se passar uma noite animada com estes cinco rapazes que a transformam num autêntico acontecimento. Existe um fogo genuíno em qualquer dos ritmos em que I Cinque di Roma se especializaram. A vibração do Samba, a excitação do Bolero, a sofisticação do Cha Cha Cha e, claro, há sempre tempo para o twist e para o último grito da moda, a Bossa Nova. A noite começa no ambiente sofisticado de um night-club e acaba no frenesi de uma festa latino-americana.

Conseguimos captar a excitação dos I Cinque di Roma, para que agora, em sua casa, possa compartilhar as divertidas músicas e a animação dos I Cinque di Roma com todos os que tiveram a sorte de passar uma noite no Polana. I Cinque di Roma têm sido transmitidos muitas vezes em programas pela noite dentro no Radio Clube de Moçambique. (Rob Vickers)

J BREL - "Quand On N'a Que L'Amour" (1957)

THE BEAT OF THE POPS - VOLUME 10

CAT STEVENS - "Catch Bull At Four"

Original released on LP Island ILPS 9206

(UK 1972, September 27)

"Catch Bull at Four" began with a statement of purpose, "Sitting", in which Cat Stevens tried to talk himself into believing that he hadn't stalled, beginning to worry that he might be falling behind schedule or even going in circles. It may be that Stevens' recent experiences had contributed to his sense that he was running out of time. Though he was never a directly confessional writer, one got the sense that his disaffection with the life of a pop star was reasserting itself. And while he was touring unhappily around the world, the world was still going to hell in a handbasket. Yet Stevens was still motivated by his urge to help mankind mend its ways. Love provided some comfort, but for the most part, the singer who had seemed so excited on his last album now sounded apprehensive. Stevens set his reflections to a mixture of musical styles that included traces of old English folk songs, madrigals, and Greek folk music along with more typical rock stylings, all performed with the stop-and-start rhythms that added drama to his performances. Nevertheless, "Catch Bull at Four" was a more difficult listen than its three predecessors. Coming off the momentum of "Teaser and the Firecat", it roared up the charts to number one, but stayed in the Top Ten fewer weeks than its predecessor. Fans who had been stirred by Stevens' rhythmic tunes and charmed by his thoughtful lyrics were starting to lose interest in his quasi-religious yearnings, busy arrangements, and self-absorbed, melodramatic singing. His career still had a ways to go, but as of "Catch Bull at Four", he had passed his peak (in AllMusic)

On The Road Again - Volume 10

Original released on LP Columbia Studio2Stereo TWO 412

(UK, 1972)

"WHIPPED CREAM & OTHER DELIGHTS"

Original released as A&M SP 4110 (stereo); LP 110 (mono)

(US, April 1965)

One more classic album from Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, this time the one with that cover. Even today I don't know what I like the best: if the great music if the gorgeous lady on the cover. By the way, her name was Dolores Erickson, she was three-months pregnant and wasn't really covered in whipped cream (she wore a far less salacious gown of shaving cream). But that did not stop the image from becoming as famous as any of Alpert's previous chart-topping hits. As Esquire magazine put it in a 1989 tribute to the cover, «Here is what lust looked like in 1966». Indeed, its risqué invitation to sexual fantasy made it a must-have for intergenerational ogling by '60s fathers and sons. On first thought the Tijuana Brass audience skewed more toward parents than rock 'n' roll kids, but the tongue-wagging cover of "Whipped Cream & Other Delights" helped make it official: There were no prerequisites when it came to being a fan of the Tijuana Brass. As "Whipped Cream"'s original notes put it, «The teens were there, but so were the hippies and the squares, the little old ladies and the screen starlets, the celebrities and those who make them celebrities.» Building on the commercial success of the first three Brass records, "Whipped Cream & Other Delights" spent a total of 141 weeks in the Top 40 (and 61 weeks in the Top 10). Beginning in November of 1965, "Whipped Cream" clung to #1 for eight weeks straight. The cover, of course, was only part of the story. The music inside confirmed that Alpert's earlier Tijuana adventures weren't novelty flukes, but the baby steps of the '60s most important, and most successful, instrumental pop arranger.

FRANÇOISE HARDY: "ENGLISH 3"

This third and rare english album by mademoiselle Hardy was originally released in South Africa, by World Record (ORR 6057), in 1969, with the name of the french singer issued as "Francois Hardy". Then, in 1970, this same album appeared in the UK, Australia and New Zealand with another cover and title: "One-Nine-Seven-Zero"; and also with a third cover and title, "Alone", in Canada and in the USA.

QMS - HAPPY TRAILS

Original Released on LP Capitol ST 120

(US, April 1969)

A maior parte dos temas são gravações ao vivo efectuadas no Fillmore East and West, em Junho de 68. Album de ouro nos EUA (#27), "Happy Trails" deixará para sempre uma sensação profunda no espírito de todos os que então descobriram a liberdade e o perfume de horizontes sonoros sem fim, até então apenas reservados ao universo do jazz.

The first side of the album is composed of one song, with various extensions, additions and adaptations of ‘Who Do You Love’ by Do Diddley. Quicksilver moves from ‘Who Do You Love, When You Love, Where You Love, How You Love, Which Do You Love, and finally finishing with Part 2 of Who Do You Love, to tie it all together. It’s everything you would expect of a psychedelic release of this genre. But you won’t find the thundering guitars you might expect. The guitars are mixed low, as if you’re in a room with the ceiling no more then eight feet high. There is no lead by design, each member adds the effects and efforts of their instrument to the ambiance of the whole ... blending, mixing, playing and bouncing off of each other. There are some very fine chord changes that have a definite line of demarcation brought on by the rhythm guitar. The drumming is something else, and when you have a chance to dig Greg Elmore, a smooth smile will cross your face. No lie, Greg sounds like he’s using cardboard boxes as drums, they are perfectly understated, designed to carry the time at heartbeat level. It’s not until the beginning of the song ‘Calvary’ that he steps out at all, and even there he is restrained.

Side two, which begins with ‘Mona’ a piece of San Francisco musical history, and though it’s not, side two has the feel of being a live recording. There are nice sustained guitars trailing off in various directions, taking your head here and there, only to bring you back ... before they take you off on another journey. There was serious studio musical experimentation going on here, and it’s a shame that this star burned out so quickly, leaving us only three release. The group was made up of John Cipollina [guitar], Jim Murray [harmonica, guitar and vocals], Greg Elmore [drums], Gary Duncan [guitar and vocals] and David Freiberg [bass guitar, viola, and vocals]. There were various other incarnations which included Dino Valenti, Nicky Hopkins and Chuck Steaks. At the end, nearly all of these guys folded back into the group for the last release. The album has a real personal feel, as if it were an extension of yourself. They don’t need a lot of tricks, gimmicks or volume to bring this across, they just need to step up to the mike, hit the reverb, wah wah and they are off and running. This is by far the best and most concise body of work from Quicksilver Messenger Service, so if you have to pick just one ... hands down, this is the one.

(in RateYourMusic)

BLONDE, BRAINY & BEAUTIFUL

Original Released on LP Philips 6369 153
 (1972)

Now here is something quite original from the good old days in the 70's, before MTV and rock videos became the order of the day. If your recollection goes that far back, you might remember seeing a flamboyant and statuesque blonde on television in an early "rock video," wearing a black tuxedo, prancing around and belting out a song with suggestive lyrics, to put it mildly! That voice was quite a surprise and belonged to one Lynn Carey who fronted a five-piece band called Mama Lion. As I remember it, a lot of guys got hooked immediately and a lot of women probably hated her on sight! But you shouldn't judge a book by its cover alone, as the old saying goes, even though Carey worked as an actress and was featured as a Penthouse Pet of the Month in December 1972.

Mama Lion was a blues/rock quintet formed in the early seventies by Canadian bass player, singer/songwriter & producer Neil Merryweather (born Robert Neilson Lillie, 1945 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Lynn (Catherine) Carey (born 1946 in Los Angeles) after the two had released one album "Vacuum Cleaner" as a duo. Other band members included Coffi Hall (drums), Rick Gaxiola (guitar) and Jim Howard (soundtrack composer James Newton Howard). This line-up recorded this debut album "Preserve Wildlife" (1972) with the now famous gatefold with Lynn Carey nursing a lion cub!

Most of the songs were written as a collaboration between Merryweather and Carey, with a few covers thrown in for good. Not all the songs are "radio friendly" if you know what I mean. But sexual inuendo apart, there's still something in the music and singing. Gaxiola is a great guitar player and you can tell that Jim Howard was classically trained by listening to the piano-intro on "Mr. Invitation”. Top notch songs are "Be Bad With Me", "Ain't To Proud To Beg", "Candy Man", "Mr. Invitation", "Can't Find My Way Home" and "Cry". I imagine that at least nine out of ten guys that got interested in this album were attracted by the artwork. Surprisingly, the band plays honest hard rock'n'roll and Lynn Carey's vocals are far from being sweet, as one would expect from her picture. She sings (I think "yells" describes it better) in Janis Joplin's way, but with a lower pitch and a voice that sometimes resembles those of old-time blues singers. Lynn has an IQ of over 160, so it is possible to be blonde, brainy & beautiful - and sing the blues!

(SM Andersen in Amazon)

TROGGS Cellophane +

Original released on LP Page One POL 003

(UK, December 8)

The Troggs' third British LP was never issued in the U.S., where most of the tracks were unavailable for more than 20 years. For that reason, it was one of the more sought-after collector's items of the late 1960s, but the record itself isn't that great. The group followed a more subdued, soft-rock folk-psychedelic path than they had on their earlier recordings, which wasn't necessarily a bad idea, as the hit single "Love Is All Around" (included here) proved. But the songs just weren't that good, and the band sounded kind of half-hearted. Eight of the twelve tracks do show up on the Archeology collection, and the remaining four are dull, meaning that there's no reason to fork out the big bucks an original copy commands unless you need everything the Troggs made (in AllMusic).