Thursday, April 08, 2010

"Twenty Pints No Problem, Your Honour"

The Sandpipers Cantan en Español: Guantanamera y Louie Louie (7" single)

Quiénes son los Sandpipers? No los conozco, pero me gusta mucho ese disco. OK, I will stop pretending to be able to communicate in Spanish now. This double a-side 7" has been lurking in Panda Mansions for months and months. A present I have only now got round to playing it. I think when I got it first we had still not unpacked the stereo after moving in, and then I forgot all about it. Listening to it now, I find it very appealing. 'Louie Louie' is of course one of the greatest songs of all time, but once you get away from The Kingsmen and the Rice University Marching Owls Band* new versions have very little to offer. This somewhat Latin-tinged recording is rather languid, which makes it suitably different from the more up-tempo versions. 'Louie Louie''s origin as a Cuban tune (the da-da-da de-da da-da-da riff comes straight from some dance tune from that island) makes for an appropriate pairing with an equally languid folk-tinged version of 'Guantanamera'.

*at least that's what I think they are called

An inuit panda production

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