what Frank is listening to #45- CHRIS MONTEZ – Time after Time – (A&M) – 1966
Boy voiced Chris Montez had been a rocker before hooking up with Herb Alpert and hitting the big time with some MOR Latin flavoured lounge pop.
I like my lounge and my pop (and my Latin) but I'm undecided about boy voiced singers (Montez is very soft in "the high tenor range" according to wikipedia).
Chris was the great hope of the LA Hispanic rock community after the death of Ritchie Valens and he did bridge the gap between Ritchie's death and the rise of Tex Mex rock with Sam the Sham and the Sir Douglas Quintet etc. His step sideways to Latin flavoured pop was certainly popular and despite "Latin" being a a variety of distinct styles in its own right (Mariachi, Bossa Nova, Salsa, Samba and a multitude of variations on the theme) it also infected rock and popular music generally. In the 1960s, Elvis (the entire "Fun in Acapulco" soundtrack), The Beatles (Don't Bother Me), Johnny Cash (Ring of Fire), Frank Sinatra (the "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim" LP) and countless others had Latin flavoured tracks.
This album was a quick follow up to the Montez album of the previous year which had a couple of Top 40 tracks and had reached #33. "Time after Time" reached #106 only.
This and his other two albums from the 60s are cultish and for lovers of lounge pop.
The arrangements are excellent and the music certainly swings in a kind of full band, cool jazz, way.
Best tracks:
- Time after Time – the Sinatra song from the 40s.
- Sunny – the oft recorded Bobby Hebb track.
- The Girl from Ipanema – a great track – can anyone do a bad version of this?
- Lil Red Riding Hood – the Otis Blackwell R&B grind watered down but still suggestive.
- Going out of my Head – the Little Anthony track – and a good version. It builds up to quite a emotional climax.
- Yesterday – yup, the Beatles track.
All the tracks are good. The arrangements and Montez's voice almost make an other worldly sound … in fact it's all very dreamlike.
I might keep this one.
Sound:
Website:
(originally posted: 12/06/2009)
