Swingin' Singapore, back in the day.

September 26, 2007 6:20 AM

Okay, first, take a look at this collection of 60's and 70's Asian Pop Record Covers. Cause they're just a helluvalotta of fun to look at. Now, if you find your musical appetite whetted, the same fellow who brought you those wonderful jackets has a Singapore and Asian 60's Pop Music MySpace page, where you can listen to his fabulous audio playlist, see video clips and more record jackets, and get more info on this very fertile period in Asian pop music history.

Just about everything on the MySpace page playlist is well worth listening to, but a good starting point might be some of the mind-blowing cover versions of tunes you're probably already familiar with. Some of them sung (very enthusiastically) in the original English, and others redone in the local lingo: Outcast: Long Tall Sally, Sakura: Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, Melodians: These Boots Are Made For Walking, The Rangers: Mrs. Robinson, Van Dogs: I'm A Believer, Nancy Sit: Love Potion #9.

Also, please check these previous related MeFi posts: beat it and Asian progressive music from the 60s and 70s.

posted by flapjax at midnite (17 comments total)

This is wonderful. Thanks!
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 6:43 AM on September 26, 2007

Very nice post flapjax at midnite. They are some groovy covers. Also it gives me the name Joseph C. Pereira, which googles up all kinds of cool shit like.
posted by tellurian at 6:59 AM on September 26, 2007

on the myspace music link - i'm listening to 'the outcast' version of 'long tall sally.' it's vaguely familiar yes, but i'm surprised he hasn't had an aneurysm.
posted by eatdonuts at 7:03 AM on September 26, 2007

Woo hoo, this is so cool! Fun!
Thanks flapjax.
posted by nickyskye at 7:15 AM on September 26, 2007

Related: LP Cover Lover (warning! some images nsfw)
posted by mkb at 7:20 AM on September 26, 2007

Very groovy.
posted by JanetLand at 7:22 AM on September 26, 2007

Wow, yet another fantastic post! I've got to listen to these...See also the Cambodian Rocks Series of garage rock.
posted by pantufla at 7:40 AM on September 26, 2007

Very interesting. And to just jump off the subject a little; it's great to hear new versions of the oldies, don't you think?
posted by nkaujnom at 7:57 AM on September 26, 2007

Looks like we killed his radio :(
posted by pantsrobot at 8:01 AM on September 26, 2007

Oh no! Now I've landed here leading to [Before They Were Y.M.O. Parts 1, 2 and 3] pointing to [Johnny Jenkins and Apryl Fool, among others]. Must. Stop. It's. 1. o'. clock.
posted by tellurian at 8:20 AM on September 26, 2007

Wow, awesome. I lived in Singapore in the mid 80s and I had no idea it had this rich pop music history.
posted by the dief at 8:21 AM on September 26, 2007

Lovely stuff.
posted by Artw at 9:21 AM on September 26, 2007

Bye Bye nkaujnom.
posted by tellurian at 10:02 AM on September 26, 2007

The title of this one is apparently "I Want Coffee".

Based on that pose, that's not exactly what I would have guessed that she wanted.
posted by Flunkie at 4:45 PM on September 26, 2007

Hilarious. I love it!
posted by Xere at 8:07 PM on September 26, 2007

I'm fairly certain that I live very close to one of the places depicted in those Singapore-in-ye-olde-times photos in that myspace page. In fact, I'm 98% certain that one of the photos was of Orchard Road in the 60's, before they razed it all and built Takashimaya and Ng Ann City malls. Without being able to zoom in, however, I can't be too sure.

Which is a shame, really; was planning to link to a this-was-then-and-this-is-now comparison here.

An interesting post, nevertheless! Thanks for sharing.
posted by the cydonian at 8:22 PM on September 26, 2007

Great collection there. Nice to see cover art from that era.
posted by fe2dell at 8:53 PM on September 26, 2007