Zoo bi zoo bi zoo

I suppose not too many people would associate “funk” or “groove” with French music. Well…that’s their loss.

“Groove is in the heart”, as ye olde Deee-Lite adage goes.

French band Zoo were an exception. Initially a 9-piece group, with Joël Daydé as lead singer in 1969, who quickly left the band to pursue his own solo career (as “Daydé”), Zoo certainly had the grooves, the heart and the soul.

In 1970 and to replace Daydé, the band put up an ad for a singer in Brit mag Melody Maker. Subsequently, British singer Ian Bellamy stepped in and a year later, Zoo put out their most successful single in history, “Hard Times, Good Times”. Here’s the scopitone!

But whoa, hoooold on there! “Tupamaros”, the single’s instrumental B-side, kicks this already amazing tune on its derrière! A few people noticed too, like NYC’s WABC-FM, who took on “Tupamaros” as theme song for its Soul music show.

Zoo went on to play with French superstars Eddy Mitchell and Nicoletta, amongst others, and released two LPs, until 1972.

Recently, the band reformed in France, playing a live show in January 2010, which will soon be available on CD.

In the meantime, here’s Tupamaros!:

Zoo – Tupamaros

String Beat!

In 2007, my husband Otis and I lived in the Polish neighborhood of Toronto, right next to a Goodwill. We would venture there about once a month, and always headed straight to the record bins. One day, a particular record caught our eye: “String Beat”. Now, we are record collectors, but we don’t know much about Polish Jazz, only that it is indeed a great, underrated country (at least in these parts) for Jazz. We were completely floored when we listened to this record once we got home: it was outstandingly good! A little research made us realise that this was also a rare, sought after funk/jazz record, too. Wow.

The only downside to this near perfect album, is the unbearable cover of the already unbearable “Obladi-Oblada”. The album was originally released in 1975, and Henryk Debich, the famed Polish director and arranger behind this album, unfortunately passed away in 2001. I have no idea if this has been reissued or blogged ad nauseam about. All I know is: we paid 0.50$ for it.

Here it is in full, with two sample cuts.

Henryk Debich – String Beat: Bez Metalu
Henryk Debich – String Beat: Badz Wieczorem W Diskotece

Henryk Debich – “String Beat” full LP (zip)