Category: Picks

Listen: “Shekare Ahoo.”

Ojoubeha: “Shekare Ahoo.”

Every once in a while, we at Now-Again headquarters get an email that’s too hard to believe. Case in point, the homey Josh Marcy tells us he’s just stumbled upon a stash of Iranian 45s in the house his parents rent to an elderly Persian woman. By his estimation, there’s some heat in the stacks – not much psych, but a smattering of cool pop that he’s willing to share. A few weeks – and a pick up at Computer Jay’s studio – and there we are, wondering what the Ennio Morricone-sounding tune rolling off this Farsi-inscribed 45 could be. Well, we send the tracks to Dario at irannostalgia.com and he informs us that the record is by the group Ojoubeha. We look at our interview with Iranian legend Kourosh and find this gem:

“In Iran rock groups never used or mixed traditional or local instruments. They simply copied what was done in the West. The exception was the group Golden Ring who would write Iranian melodies and then would play them on rock instruments. They released some records like, “Ey Yar Bala.” (“Matador Come Back”.) Also the group Oujubeha, with lead singer Jamshid Alimorad who now lives in the U.S., performed songs like “Tour-Mahihaa” and “Shekar Ahoo.” “

Listen: “Theme From La Horse.”

Serge Gainsbourg with Jean Claude Vannier: “Theme From La Horse.”

The rarest of the rare Gainsbourg records. His publishing company, Hortensia, thought that they could capitalize on the icon’s score of another Gabin film, and released a promotional 7” to theater-goers. Gainsbourg’s label, Philips, did not take kindly to this affront and promptly rounded up all of the copies that the company had manufactured and destroyed them. Which is a pity, as this Jean Claude Vannier assisted instrumental stalks like the film’s heroin slinging gangsters and contains not only heavy breakbeats and a surprisingly well executed banjo (!) breakdown (a reference to the film’s provincial setting?), but Gainsbourg’s thrilling refrain on the piercing Rocksichord, When Malcolm Catto first told me about this record, I thought he was lying. Only when I finally held the hand made, pasted-on cover in my hands did I know he had been blessed to have carried the haunting memory of this song in the years prior to its official reissue.

Read Egon’s extended review of this single here in our Picks section.

Listen: “Danger.”

Serge Gainsbourg with Jean Claude Vannier: “Danger”

The Cannabis soundtrack, long a holy-grail for those mystified by Serge’s funky side, has finally seen reissue. Now, this important bookend, which follows the Gainsbourg/Vannier masterpiece Histoire De Melody Nelson, can be appreciated by all. But, while the album contains orchestral rock ballads that would make an 80s metal band blush, this beautiful bit of drama can’t be topped. Well, maybe the films opening scene of Serge, decked out in flared trousers and a fur coat that contained the pelts of dozens of small animals, walking armed amidst a sea of dead, naked women tops it. “Danger,” indeed.

The version presented here is an edit of the song, originally issued on the anthology Les Annees Psychedeliques, now, sadly, out of print.

Listen: “New Delire.”

Serge Gainsbourg with Michel Colombier: “New Delire.”

From the 7” OST to Manon 70, a Catherine Denueve vehicle. I wonder how many record collectors first bought this record because they were attracted to the goddess in her prime? Those that did were in for a treat. This exploito-Indian sitar-psych fest dances with kitsch but goes home alone, ending with a mournful tap on the tabla to cap a frenzied, Paris-by-way-of-Delhi experience. Gainsbourg, always a fan of the double-entendre, cooked up a good one: New Delire, as in “New Delirum,” or a playful nickname for the Indian capital.