Label / Cat. No: CBS / MONO BPG 62822
First Released: 1966

What The Album Blurb Says…

“There is a New Sound in town and it is provided by LOS VEGAS, a gifted quintet of Mexican troubadors.” – Nick LaPole, New York Journal American

“The Los Vegas Quintet, on the Ed Sullivan Show are nothing less than sensational.” – Ben Gross, New York Daily News.

Here are Los Vegas, five tremendously talented young Mexicanos with a tasteful, exciting and swinging new sound. A gratifying blend of jazz-rock-pop-Latin, this electrifying group is “turning on” audiences from New York to San Juan. The combo included a pianist, two guitarists, a timbales-bongo player and a drummer.

Los Vegas sing with finesse; their smooth harmonies are reminiscent of North American groups like the Pied Pipers and the Four Freshmen. Their instrumental beat is groovy – the lads really swing. And wait until you hear the virtuoso sounds they get from guitars, timbales, bongo, bass and flute.

Also, the Los Vegas repertoire is well rounded. It has quality, pace and variety. The selections in this album are nicely balanced between Spanish and Yankee tunes. From People to La Cucaracha, the combo projects each and every number with polished pipes, faultless musicianship and unbridled enthusiasm.

Barry Authors of Bel-Aire Artists Corp., Ltd. brought Los Vegas to album producer Teo Macero’s attention, and your excitement is bound to match his from the moment you first hear them too. Olé!… you’re off and swinging with Los Vegas, The Newest Sound in Sounds!

What I Say

You know, they’re really setting themselves up for a fall when they call their album ‘The Newest Sound in Sounds’. For a start, what the hell does that actually mean? After all, I’ve heard pretty much all the sounds present on this album before, and a lot of them in the same mix and blend as they are presented here. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that there isn’t a single new or surprising sound to be found whatsoever on this album.

Which is a shame. I really did want to enjoy this album though I think that’s because of the claim that their instrumental beat is groovy – the lads really swing. I’m not sure that I’d call this album ‘groovy’ or ’swinging’. The word I think I’d use is ‘dull’. And ‘cliched’. I know people don’t always want to push barriers, and if you want a nice, gentle, unthreatening album of mid 60s latin tinged easy listening, then I’m sure that this would represent a good investment.

The problem for me though is that this promised so much. I mean, come on, there’s a Timbales-Bongo player. That surely means that things are going to ROCK. We’ve been promised a heady blend of “jazz-rock-pop-Latin”. Throw in prog and country and you’ve got the whole bally set. This should be music that tears down those staid barriers, sticks two fingers up to ‘the man’, and presages punk by a decade. But it isn’t.

If you recall, there’s a scene in the ‘Blues Brothers’ where Jake & Elwood go to find Donald ‘Duck’Dunn, and he’s playing bass in a jazz lounge band. The Brothers are appalled that such an incredible musician should be playing such wallpaper fripperies. This is what this album reminds me of – cocktail lounge jazz at its blandest. Just listen to ‘I Wish You Love’ to see exactly what I mean.

Where there are songs that I should recognise, they are so draped in Mexicana that it’s impossible to dig out the original tune. Even ‘La Cucaracha’, which is a Latin song is so Mexicaned-up (is that a word?) that it’s in danger of collapsing in on itself under the weight of bongos.

I think that Barry Authors of the wonderfully corporate sounding Bel-Aire Artists Corp., Ltd. thought that because the five members of The Fantastic Los Vegas had matching Tuxes, bow-ties and cheesy grins, that they would be a saleable commodity.

I’d like to think that we’re all a bit older and wiser now. But I doubt it. Westlife anyone?

Tracks

Side 1

1. Sunshine
2. People (From “Funny Girl”)
3. La Cucaracha
4. A Poor Millionaire
5. A Taste Of Honey
6. The Sinner

Side 2

1. The Shadow Of Your Smile
2. Hidden Place
3. Cuando Calienta El Sol (Love Me With All Your Heart)
4. I Wish You Love
5. What You Will Do

Final score:

1 out of 10 for describing these gentlemen well on their way to middle age as ‘lads’.

Label / Cat. No: World Wide Recordings BG 2932
First Released: 1970

What The Album Blurb Says…

On July 7, 1967, Billy Graham crossed the Yugoslav border above Trieste, en route to his first public meetings in Eastern Europe. We well remember the enthusiastic reception he received in Zagreb. During his EURO 70 Crusade, the evangelist “returned” to the same city when it joined 35 others to be linked with Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle, in Europe’s largest ever, closed circuit TV network.

Although Mr. Graham has not yet visited Czechoslovakia, members of the team have taken his personal greetings to Christians there. They have confirmed my own conviction that God’s people in Eastern Europe can be more closely identified with those described in the Book of Acts than any others we have seen.

This record, introduced by Cliff Barrows leading congregational singing in Prague, captures something of the victorious spirit of these our fellow members of the Body of Christ. It is presented with the hope that it will encourage Western Christians to pray for them, as they pray for us, and thus strengthen the ties which bind our hearts in Christian love.

Dave Foster, Eurovangelism

What I Say

What an oddity we have to mark the “long-awaited” return of , a 1970 souvenir of Billy Graham’s tour to Europe. I have to admit something of a vested interest here, in that in 1984 I saw Billy at Ipswich Town Football Stadium where his doom mongering, predictions of an imminent nuclear war and obvious showmanship had the opposite effect on me than that intended.

For me, the most striking thing about this record is that half of the front cover is taken up with the stark warning “Phongraphic RECORD – DO NOT DROP OR CRUSH. KEEP AWAY FROM EXCESSIVE HEAT”. I’m not sure if Mr. Graham’s records are more prone to being dropped or crushed, but by 1970 I’m pretty sure most people with phonographic reproduction equipment were pretty au fait with vinyl handling techniques. I’m tempted to analyse further, but good taste and decency prevents me…

Anyway, first thing to note is that this ‘Billy Graham’ album contains no actual Billy Graham. Not a bit of it. The spoken introduction and final prayer are from his ‘music and program director’, Cliff Barrows. While I’ve got nothing against Cliff (well, apart from the fact that he made a film with Cliff Richard which would prejudice you against most people), you buy a Billy Graham album, you expect a bit of Billy action. I’m tempted to complain of false advertising here…

Cliff’s proselytizing bookends the musical content of the album, Christian music sung by a variety of Eastern European choirs and organisations. There’s some diversity here, from the almost but not quite Welsh stylings of the Prague Male Voice Choir, to the instrumental pieces which sound like the soundtrack to a piece of avant-garde Soviet animation.

However, my clear favourite by a country mile is the Bratislava Youth Ensemble. While the rest of the album provides foreign language versions of Western favourites or tunes embedded in Romantic folk, the Youth Ensemble are giving it large in a very 1970s Eastern European understated way. The songs are just that little bit more chirpy than the Wesleyan sounding hymns, and there’s the acoustic guitar, so beloved on Christian Youth Groups. During ‘Mary Magdalene’, there’s even a bass guitar, and you can tell that the bassist is just itching for an excuse to burst into ‘Jazz Oddysey’. Thirty seven years on, their exciting, youthful glee sounds like every other progressive Christian Youth Group of the last couple of generations, only in Slovak.

The rest of the album is…. curious. It’s like trying to watch ‘The Weakest Link’ in a language you don’t understand. You understand the format and the mechanics, but lack the comprehension. I have the tune of ‘What a Friend We Have In Jesus’ ingrained on my memory from years of Sunday School, but the novelty here is that it’s in Czech. Almost like a cover version. Which reminds me, I have an excellent version of ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’ by the Smiths sung in German. Nothing to do with Billy Graham, but then again, nor has this album really.

Tracks

Side 1

1. Greetings and congregational singing of Blessed Assurance (Cliff Barrows and congregation of Baptist Church, Prague)
2. Jerusalem The Golden (Baptist Choir, Bratislava) Slovak
3. His Eye Is On The Sparrow (Rumanian solo)
4. The Head That Once Was Crowned With Thorns (Male Voice Choir, Prague)
5. Mary Magdalene (Youth Ensemble, Bratislava) Slovak
6. Wonderful Name Of Jesus (Euro 70 Choir, Dortmund) German
7. Doxology (Male Voice Choir, Prague) Czech

Side 2

1. What A Friend We Have In Jesus (Male Voice Choir, Prague) Czech
2. Roll Jordan Roll (in English) (Male Voice Choir, Prague) Czech
3. This Little Light Of Mine (Unique Instrumental Duet) Czech
4. What Is He To You? (Youth Ensemble, Bratislava) Slovak
5. Surely Goodness And Mercy (Baptist Choir, Zagreb) Yugoslavia
6. Just As I Am (with final prayer by Cliff Barrows) (Baptist Choir, Bratislava) Slovak

Final score:

3 out of 10 for incomprehensible (to me) cover versions..