"Sounds Of The Unexpected: Weird & Wacky Instrumentals From Pop's Final Frontiers" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – 24 Single and Album Tracks spanning 1959 to 1972 (2 from 50ts, 19 are 60ts, 3 from 70ts) by Gabor Szabo, The Tornados, Bo Diddley (featuring Lady Bo on Guitar), The 101 Strings, Leonard Nimoy, The Imps, The Astros, Travis Wammack, Martin Denny, Jean Jacques Perrey, The Upsetters, Timmy Thomas and more (August 2017 UK Ace Records CD Compilation – Third In A Series of Compilations by Vicki Fox - Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Music To Watch Space Girls Go By..."

 

Weird and Wacky is right, but 'tis also Fab and Brill too. 

 

This is the third and probably final CD compilation made by and for VICKI FOX – a warmly remembered personality lady associated with the Rock On Record Shop in London's Camden Town when Ace Records was formed back in the mid Seventies. Vicki and label owner/founder Ted Carroll had a 30-year friendship before she lost a six-year battle with cancer in 2016. Vicki had a hand in artwork for some of Ace's compilations (pictured in the lovely 24-page booklet), had a ginormous record collection, consummately great taste and was a huge fan of 45s from every odd and off the-beaten track genre (see list of three comps below).

 

So Fox's CD compilations are left-field - but so damn cool too for it – chock full of discoveries worth making. Easy Listening nestles alongside Sound-Effects Pop, Organ grinding covers, Theremin space weirdness, guitar tremolo flash, lounge lizard bongos with a Martini and even a little Psych for Now People. The first CD was focused on Cats in Songs (2008), number two on Trains coming and going (2015) and this one – number three from 2017 - is all about Space and Sputnik frontiers thereabouts. Every cut on "Sounds Of The Unexpected..." is an Instrumental of sorts - two from the 50ts, 19 from the 60ts and three from the 70ts (rare B-sides included, some first time on CD I believe). And all of it is imbibed with a sense of fun and sonic adventure. It doesn't all work for sure (4-stars), but make no mistake, this is a rather brill little listen and the clever revelations Fox highlights are a solid blast. There's a wad to wade through, so let's have at Spock's Logs, Watusi Zombies, Savage Girls and B'Wana Bongos (oh behave)...

 

UK released 25 August 2017 - "Sounds Of The Unexpected: Weird & Wacky Instrumentals From Pop's Final Frontiers" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1505 (Barcode 029667084024) is a 24-Track CD Compilation put together by VICKI FOX (of Ace Records fame) that plays out as follows (59:10 minutes):

 

1. Watusi Zombie - JAN DAVIS (October 1964 US 45-single, Holiday 1219, A-side)

2. Savage Girl - FELIX And HIS FABULOUS CATS (1964 US 45-single, Enith International 1272, A-side)

3. Mad Train - ANDRE BRASSEUR and HIS MULTI-SOUND ORGAN (March 1966, BELGIUM 45-single, Palette 40.248, A-side)

4. War Of The Worlds - THE ATLANTICS (March 1964, AUSTRALIA 45-single on CBS Records BA 221088, A-side)

5. Funky Me - TIMMY THOMAS (October 1972, US 45-single, Glades 1703, Instrumental B-side of "Why Can't We Live Together" - February 1973 UK on Mojo 2027 012)

6. Caravan - GABOR SZABO (March 1967 US LP "Jazz Raga" on Impulse AS-9128 in Stereo)

7. Hot Pot - THE TORNADOS (February 1964, UK 45-single, Decca F. 11838, A-side)

8. Aztec - BO DIDDLEY (April 1961, US 45-single, Checker 976, B-side of "Not Guilty" - the track doesn't feature BD at all but his wife Peggy Jones known professionally as LADY BO)

9. R.F.D. Rangoon - THE FORBIDDEN FIVE (May 1959, US 45-single, Capitol F4205, A-side)

10. Watusi Freeze Part 1 - BIG WALTER And HIS THUNDERBIRDS (April 1962, US 45-single, Myrl 409, A-side)

11. Flameout - THE 101 STRINGS (1968 US LP "Astro-Sounds From Beyond The Year 2000" on Alshire S-5119 in Stereo - Jerry Cole Lead Guitar) 

12. Music To Watch Space Girls By - LEONARD NIMOY (1967 US LP "Presents Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space" on Dot Records DLP 25794 in Stereo)

13. Uh-Oh - THE IMPS (1962 US 45-single, Do-Ra-Me 1414, A-side)

14. Waltz In Orbit - RAY CATHODE (April 1962, UK 45-single, Parlophone R 4901, B-side of "Time Beat")

15. Moog Indigo - JEAN JACQUES PERREY (1970 US LP "Moog Indigo" on Vanguard VSD 6549 in Stereo)

16. Space Walk - THE ASTROS (June 1965, US 45-single, Golden State 653, A-side)

17. Hung Over - MARTINIS (September 1967, US 45-single, Bar 101, A-side)

18. The Sheik - RAY ELLIS & HIS ORCHESTRA (April 1962, US 45-single, RCA Victor 47-8023, A-side)

19. B'Wana Bongos - PRESTON EPPS (July 1962, US 45-single, Donna 1367, B-side of "Mister Bongos")

 20. Long Sentence - THE UPSETTERS (1971 UK LP "Africa's Blood" by LEE PERRY, THE UPSETTERS and Other Artists on Trojan TBL 166) 

21. It's Karate Time - TRAVIS WAMMACK (February 1967, US 45-single, Atlantic 2387, B-side of "Night Train")

22. Zocko! - THE VENTURES (1966 US LP "The Ventures" on Dolton BLP 2042 in Mono)

23. Misirlou - MARTIN DENNY (1961 US LP "Exotic Percussion: The Exotic Sounds Of Martin Denny" on Liberty LST 7168 in Stereo)

24. Russian Roulette - THE ZANIES (January 1963, US 45-single, Dore 658, A-side)

NOTES:

Tracks 3, 6, 11, 12, 14 and 23 in STEREO; all others in MONO

 

The 24-page booklet is a delight - first up with a 2-page tribute to Vicki Fox by Tony Berrington and then each track discussed by a different individual associated with Ace and Vicky - like Ted Carroll, Roger Armstrong, Liz Buckley, Spider Stacy, Alan Taylor of Pipeline Magazine, longtime liner notes writer Dean Rudland and so on. The text is of course peppered with that fab repros of rare labels, album sleeves, trade adverts, publicity photos and more (check out the sass of Lady Bo on Page 10 where Ted Carroll discusses her association with Bo Diddley and her contributions to Rhythm 'n' Blues and Rock 'n' Roll as a pioneering female guitarist. It helps of course to have colour pictures of Dr. Spock's LP where he holds a model of the Starship Enterprise as if its real, the babe on the cover of Martin Denny's "Exotic Percussion", the unbelievably rare Saxophones and Drums hanging from trees picture sleeve to the Ray Ellis track "The Sheik" or even the 1966 Belgian picture sleeve to "Mad Train" by Andre Brasseur & His Multi-Sound Organ. In her final tribute to Vicki Fox on Page 22 of the booklet, Carol Fawcett describes how Vicky would spends ages getting her track run right - wide and wild - and I think they have achieved it. The NICK ROBBINS Remasters in Mono and Stereo are as masterful as always - even on clearly homemade material that sounds like a bucket is an upgrade - this CD is a great listen. To the actual music...if indeed it is music Jim, but not as we know it.... 

 

"Sounds Of The Unexpected..." opens with a truly ear-aching wild one - the mad drums and shimmy shaking rave up that is "Watusi Zombie" by Jan Davis - rough around the homemade cake-mix aural edges for sure. Things get tremolo bar echoed organ better with "Savage Girls" by Felix & His Fabulous Cats - the sort of instrumental you would imagine would have made Joe Meek smile. Immediately then into Stereo with the rapid and so 60ts cool "Mad Train" by Andre Brasseur & His Multi-Sound Organ (I've always wanted a multi-sounding organ, but that's another story). Two nuggets in a row come in such different shapes - the home studio Soul-Funk of "Funky Me" - the B-side to the fabulous "Why Can't We Live Together" by Timmy Thomas. That is then followed by a very cool part-Santana-part-Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" vibe to the old Jazz nugget "Caravan" here given a shimmering update by the legendary Gabor Szabo. Gabor was the man who gave Santana "Gypsy Queen" on their second album "Abraxsas" which you may remember was preceded by Santana's take on the Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac track "Black Magic Woman" (it opens Side 1 as a segued twofer). Sounds to me like this "Caravan" version is where Carlos got that whole shimmering vibe.

 

Joe Meek's influence was always going to be on this compilation somewhere and instead of picking the overplayed (but never undervalued) "Telstar" - Vicki has chosen one of the follow-ups from February 1964 - the decidedly weird "Hot Pot". It's a sideways reference to the 'snuffling pig' sounds that waft in at the beginning and pop up sporadically thereafter - no doubt soon to be in the aforementioned boiling water scenario. That's followed by a gem - Peggy Jones as Lady Bo on "Aztec" - a Chess track credited to her husband Bo Diddley but upon which he doesn't play a note - she does. It's now known that the sexy and feisty Lady Bo was one of the first - if not 'the' first - Rock 'n' Roll type girl-guitarist and she plays some great slide licks here. Back to batshit nuts with "R.F.D. Rangoon" by The Forbidden Five which may actually defy description. Imagine a beginning that shimmies in like a desert mirage only to go into a hee-haw country and western banjo passage (you can someone trying to say varmit) that is then supported by theremon space aches, jungle sounds and a swirling organ - fabulous! That in turn is supported by the manic Myrl Records drums and wails of "Watusi Freeze..." by Big Walter & The Thunderbirds (an indie label out of Louisiana) - great fun. 

But then you're hit with true brilliance that is also actually cool. Taken from the album (wait for it) "Astro-Sounds From Beyond The Year 2000" - the 101 Strings forgo cheesy Pop, Lounge or anything like commercialism and go for a full-on guitar whig-out with the brill "Flameout". I don't know who the guitarist is - but he's let get full reign with pings, screeches and wild soloing that is backed by a fabulous layer of strings that give it a floating Psych feel - like a drug-trip made real. Apparently it was issued in Europe without the strings by The Animated Egg as "Sock It My Way" which is the backing track Public Enemy used on their "Do You Wanna Go Our Way??" single. "Flameout" by The 101 Strings might only stretch to 2:58 minutes, but it feels like genuinely cool Pink Floyd as the guitarist Barrett's his way through the guitar notes. As if that isn't enough, we are then given a Leonard Nimoy instrumental (actually Charles Green playing) where he covers Andy Williams' easy hit "Watching The Girls Go By" which now becomes "Music To Watch Space Girls By" - a fabulous cheesy ping-pong romp with girl backing singers oohing and aahing. 

 

Rockabilly meets 60ts Garage and Punk, the delightfully entitled "Uh-Oh" by The Imps - a band that probably featured Guitarist Wayne Moss and Piano-tinkler Mel Robbins. Fun continues with the very BBC workshop instrumental "Waltz In Orbit" - a musically clever B-side piece of catchy TV theme music punctuated with clever piano fills and sound effects - "Danger Man - Part 2" anyone? It was also not going to be long before that darling of Euro Synth Sounds Jean Jacques Perrey hit us with his very 'Switched On Bach' contribution - the cool and dare-we-say-it funky "Moog Indigo" - here in glorious Stereo. And on it goes with the vibing "Space Walk" by The Astros to the finger-clickin' guitar-pickin' heave-ho "Russian Roulette" by The Zanies - a band whose name was made to finish this mad-but-glad compilation. 

Ace Records hold a place in collector's hearts that has been hard won. Closing in on nearly five decades straight of quality reissues - they get it right so many times. And it is truly cool to see, that in the case of someone they treasured (Vicky Fox) - they hit it into the stratosphere once again. Nice one lads and ladies...

 

Vicki Fox CD Compilations for Ace Records

 

1. "Feline Groovy: 24 Purrfect Tracks For Kool Kats"

24-Track CD compilation released 31 March 2008 on Ace Records CDCHD 1168 (Barcode 029667030229)

 

2. "All Aboard! 25 Train Tracks Calling At All Musical Stations"

24-Track CD compilation released 28 August 2015 on Ace Records CDCHD 1450 (Barcode 029667073721)

 

3. "Sounds Of The Unexpected: Weird & Wacky Instrumentals From Pop's Final Frontiers"

24-Track CD compilation released 25 August 2017 on Ace Records CDTOP 1505 (Barcode 029667084024)