Thursday, October 31, 2024

Where Has This Record Been All My Life? (An Occasional Series): Special "Brussels Beat Rules!" Edition

From 1969 (and previously unheard by moi before last weekend) please enjoy Euro-pop obscurities Wallace Collection and their sublimely symphonic Mamas-and-Papas-ish Daydream.

Not to be confused with the Lovin' Spoonful song of the same name.

Heh.

In any case, like I said, I had never heard that until last Saturday. And why it wasn't as big a hit in the USA as it was elsewhere is beyond me. (BTW: You'll note that the melody is stolen, bigly, from Tchaikovksy and Swan Lake. Hey -- that was the kind of thing they were doing back then.)

I should add that, apparently. said record's been covered successfully on a few occasions since. In fact, the way I first encountered it was at my local Forest Hills watering hole -- the Keuka Kafe -- in an early 21st century sampled version by one of those crappy electronic acts the kids like, aka I Monster.

Which I won't link to, because I consider you all friends. 😎

Anyway, the 1969 version is still a great pop confection by any standard you care to mention, even if the group originally behind it was from Belgium.

[h/t Bekka Sakhno]

4 comments:

mistah charley, ph.d. said...

very likeable song - also interesting to learn that it is named after a famous museum in london -

if i make another trip to london - only in the musing stage, unlikely to move to the planning stage - i may take the chance to visit it

more recently [although still 20 years ago] than london, i've been to belgium - there i had the experience in brussels of a bank refusing to exchange dollars for euros, and giving me directions to a currency exchange booth that might oblige me

instead of attempting to follow these i just went to a different bank in the next block - no problem

i'm pretty sure the teller in the first bank just felt like inconveniencing me - i had a guess why but i could have been wrong

i had other very pleasant experiences in belgium, however

there's good and bad in every place

steve simels said...

We went to Bruges a couple of years. One of the weirdest -- sort of in a good way -- places ever.

Anonymous said...

The video reminds of a gig by The Polyphonic Spree I saw a while back. I can imagine them covering the song, too. The original is very good, though I think it drags after the verses finish at about 2:30; perhaps that's why it wasn't a hit in Hitsville.

- Paul in DK

Roadmaster said...

Hey Steve -

New to me as well. Thanks! The whole introduction of symphonics to pop/rock (and even soul, via the Rotary Connection) was a brief flourish in the late '60s that - not surprisingly - reflected the Beatles' incorporation of strings.

This has a familiarity that goes beyond the Beatles...Still trying to place it. Perhaps "Eres Tu," which came out a few year later? Gotta think a bit more...