In 1967 Philco introduced a 3 7/8 inches in diameter vinyl disc they called ‘Hip Pocket Records.’ They had a ‘hit’ song on each side and sold for 69 cents. Is this not groovy?
How did I miss this back in the sixties? As a kid, I would have loved this. In fact, I want some now.
More photos after the jump…
Martin Circus was a hugely popular French group that had a string of hits in France in the late sixties and early seventies. Their stage show was glammy and Zappaesque, but their music was your typical testosterone-free French rock. They did adequate covers of American hits and later on, bad disco. But when they were good, they could be very good, as one can see in the video of the exceptional Je m’éclate au Sénégal . It’s so good I’ve included two versions of it here; a Scopitone and a live version.
The other video is Drague Party, Martin Circus doing Jan and Dean’s Surf City but with more of that redemptive Senegalese feel, which does give the song it’s distinctive flavor.
In the early 80s the band collaborated with Serge Gainsbourg. But not even the epically badass Gainsbourg could ignite a fire in Martin Circus. They were Simcas in the muscle car world of rock and roll.
The bottom line is that if Martin Circus had been as creative in the studio as they were good live, they might have been major league artists. While the comparison to The Mothers Of Invention has been made, it doesn’t extend beyond lead singer Gérard Blanc looking strikingly like Zappa. Still, these videos are fun and I hope you enjoy them.
more Martin Circus after the jump…
Bad acting (one of the puppets sounds Jerry Lewis), lousy jokes, a macrame space ship, cheesy special effects, what’s not to like? Join Moonshine, Lester and Solar on their exciting travels through incredibly bad stock footage.
Unfuckingbelievable live videos of Vanilla Fudge. Mark Stein, Tom Bogert, Vince Martel and Carmen Appice - heavy metal thunder.
Music critics hated them, but time has proved them wrong. This shit rocks!
Turn up the volume.
Googoosh has been Iran’s reigning pop goddess for the past four decades. She recorded, toured and made movies until she was silenced by the Iranian revolution of 1979. From that moment on she was banned, as were all Iranian women, from singing or performing.
She remained in Iran until 2000. Where she currently resides is somewhat of a mystery, though it is rumored that she lives in California.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, Googoosh was on the cutting edge of pop music in Iran. And even though that doesn’t sound like much of an achievement, you’d be surprised. Her music would have held its own against any of her Western contemporaries.
In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in her music among young Iranians who circulate bootleg recordings and upload old VHS performance videos on Youtube. And while she has been touring for the past few years throughout Europe, Australia the USA and the Middle East, she still cannot perform in the country of her birth.
Here’s a collection of four songs by Googoosh. The quality of the videos are funky but considering they are illegal in Iran, it’s amazing they exist at all.
The Bangladesh film industry is located in the city of Dhaka and is playfully referred to as Dhallywood. It produces about 100 films a year, a fraction of neighboring India’s Bollywood output.
Here’s a trailer of Dhallywood’s take on The Hulk. The special effects are pretty cheesy, but by Dhallywood standards this is big budget. It can’t be any worse than Ang Lee’s version
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Frankie Smith is best know for his song ‘Double Dutch Bus’ recorded in 1981. In the song, Smith created a new style of hip-hop slang that has become a big part of the music’s culture. By putting “iz” in the middle of a word or replacing trailing syllables with “-izzle,” Smith arrived at a funky form of nonsense that was quickly absorbed into rap’s vernacular. Snoop Dogg took it to the next level.
In addition to recording his own songs, Smith wrote tunes for The Spinners, Archie Bell and the Drells, The O’Jays and Billy Paul. But, ‘Double Dutch Bus’ was his most significant achievement. Without Smith, there’d be no “fo shizzle ma nizzle.”
One of Smith’s lesser known talents was as a yo yo master. After the success of ‘Double Dutch Bus’, Frankie went looking for the next big thing and he thought the idea of combining yo yos with disco music was the ticket. In 1982, he recorded ‘Yo Yo Champ.’ It did not set the world on fire, but he managed to get some TV appearances out of the deal. One of which is included here.
The ‘Double Dutch Bus’ video is the only official video made for the song. Ironically, it was made for Dutch television.
Must see video of the Yo Yo Champ after the jump…
