Full of top-shelf songs, this disc gets at the heart of what a culture-based compilation should be. It is eclectic enough to adequately represent a nation's worth of musicians and singers, but unified enough to present a cohesive listening experience. It is a testament to Alan Bishop and Mark Gergis' skills as compilers that Thai Pop Spectacular does not come off as an absolute mess. Ambitious compilations usually fail miserably by trying to accommodate vastly different artists into some non-existent big tent. Cramming surf instrumentals, disco, film music, and sentimental crooning into the same CD is no mean feat, even if all of happened to be made in Thailand. But Thai Pop Spectacular's eclectic playlist is its greatest asset. Far too many collections of foreign rock and pop music are tailored towards genre bound completists. The songs here are too good on the whole for its individual songs to be ghettoized as a novelty in some rare psych or funk compilation.
During the '60s and '70s it seems like the entire world discovered the joys of wah-wah guitars, horn stabs and drum breaks. Thailand is no exception. The two disco tracks glide along with standard issue hi-hat rhythms and brass fanfares. Minus the Thai vocals and lower fidelity production, the songs are not too different from disco heard anywhere. Likewise Johnny Guitar's surf instrumental "Fawn Nego" is great organ and guitar churner, only the pentatonic scales that reveal its South Asian origins. Despite the pervasive use of western instruments and styles, it would be a grave mistake to assume that the music here is just rote copying. More often the artists skillfully mix pop idioms and folk styles into a hybrid that retains the best aspects of its separate ingrediants. "Roob Lor Thom Pai (There Are Many Handsome Men Out There)" blends indigenous mouth organ, funky drumming, and blazing sax work into a slinky ode to female lust.
Many of the songs here are taken from films, TV shows and comedy records. Judging by what is available here, Thai entertainment must have been quite surreal during the '60s and '70s. Odd spoken interludes and skits often break up the music. The intro track, "Welcome to Thailand," is a ridiculous dialogue between two announcers. One throws the random English expressions while the other responds quizzically, until the first asks "Do you speak Thai?" Apparently this is hilarious beyond belief, and they break into maniacal laughter. "Lung Dee Kee Mao (Uncle Dee is Drunk)" lives up to its lascivious title. Mid song, two men begin to snicker lecherously together, like a particularly attractive woman has walked by. It sounds like Uncle Dee is not the only one getting drunk.
Thai Pop Spectacular sets a high bar for the already excellent Sublime Frequencies label. In these days of file trading, online distros, and iTunes, it's easy to forget that there is still a mountain of music out of reach to only but the most adventurous listeners. It's even more remarkable that such a heavily visited place such as Thailand overlooked as vital culture in its own right, instead of a simple purveyor of delights for Westerners. The songs here are far from being just a collectors fetish item, but are examples of how the best music can sometimes be ignored, even in the most obvious of places.
samples:
- Kampee Sangthong - Mai Na Lork Gun
- Kabuan Garn Yor Yod Yung Yong - Gang Geng Nai Krai Lab
- Buppah Saichol - Roob Lor Thom Pai
