Given that my wife and I literally run a mile when on holiday, at even the slightest suspicion that the traditional Greek favourite and 'tourist participation required' "Zorba The Greek" might be about to happen and ruin everybody's evening, maybe Bouzouki & Brass-The Golden Fingers might seem like an odd purchase for me. But just look at the cover, it looks really hip. And the boast "Today's Songs With Tomorrow's Sound" which is printed both on the front and back covers, seduced me into parting with the hardly ex-zorba-rent £1.99, and quickly getting home to lock myself in my listening cave to masticate this disc of feta cheese and olives.
Aquarius-Let The Sunshine In The moody and minimalist intro got me all excited. Maximum cool electric bass, doubled by delicate electric organ. Wonderful. Reverberating percussion reminds me of Pet Sounds era Brian Wilson productions. Evocative bouzouki strums with mariachi horns adding vibrant sweeps of colour. And then the brass and tempo suddenly catapult into lunacy, completely undermining the languid, brooding mystery of the earlier musical scenes. And just when I wanted this split end of a track (get it? Hair?) to shed, all goes cool again. Back to the fore are the cool bass and organ interplay of earlier.
Suddenly the man on the bongos attempts to work his lunch off, and we segue into an eccentric reading of the "Let The Sunshine In" chaotically quickening tempos a la Greek Wedding, with bouzouki strings flying across the studio floor. A genuinely avant garde album opener. I can't wait to hear the next track.
Nostalgia Nothing nearly as interesting on this far more standard Greek taverna style tune. Waiter, bring me more wine, much more wine.
If You Go Away as with track 1, this one opens in a deceptively spare and understated way. With chimes, piano and of course bouzouki, sensitively feeling their way through this Jacques Brel classic. And then that damn brass band invade our personal space again, with brash, mousaka spraying flourishes. And then, almost as if the restaurant proprietor throws them out of his establishment, the calm of the opening sections mercifully returns. But like the hapless tourist who feeds the ferrel cat from the cafe table, only to have the skeletal specter paw at him for the rest of the meal, so the brass collective are destined to return once more, to finally and definitively destroy any potential left in the production. Lock the doors and pull down the blinds, these creeps are ruining our record.
Golden Fingers I would never go to a club of that name, but as an album title it'll do just fine. And once this tune gets into its groove, fearless bouzouki pilot John Stamatis certainly earns the right to the title "Golden Fingers." Furiously fast and adept playing, accompanied by a far more sympathetically arranged brass section this time. And whilst not a tune I will ever listen to again deliberately, in the context of this project, it's a fine centerpiece and showcase for the one and only bouzouki king Mr Stamatis.
Matsoukas (Greek Rhapsody) I'm getting bored now. The constant rhythm changes, and the ever chirpy bouzouki, like mosquito bites on a sunburned limb.
Side 2
Matsoukas Syrtaki God help me, this actually starts like Zorba The Greek. The baklava tastes stale...
Good Morning Starshine Much better, now we're back to the musical "Hair." The groovier less predictable changes of this, then contemporary pop, gives Golden Fingers and his chums more scope to make interesting music, at least from this ouzo drenched reporter's viewpoint. Not as triumphant as the album opener but this is still prime, Class A lounge music, versus the demonic package holiday hell of the tracks with Greek sounding titles.
Lovers Hasapiko I can't comment on these type of tracks anymore. Like seeing one ant in your hotel room, then seeing 5 then seeing 500. Time to run.
Don't Ask The Sea Starts off with a cool seaside sample, with boats chugging by etc. A nice touch, and I find the changes of this composition a little more arresting. Less in your face bouzouki. An unexpected bluesy/jazzy middle, with cool picked bass.
Those Were The Days Ancient Greece gave us philosophy, Homer gave us the Illiad and The Odyssey. Golden Fingers hands this down to the successive generations to cherish and study. Horrifying.
Details:
Artist: The Golden Fingers featuring John Stamatis
Album: Bouzouki & Brass The Golden Fingers
Label: Mediterranean Records Stero LPMS 779
Year: 1969
