The Album Club: "Mambo!" by Yma Sumac
 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...-Yma-Sumac.jpg

Neapolitan's next pick. Vote, discuss, debate yadda yadda you know by now...

Before we start I just want to clarify

The only thing up for discussion is why this is unassailable

Thank you in advance for handling with proper respect

Probably cos it's not a boat.

I can appreciate the talent in her vocal range but her vocals just sound more like a novelty shtick to me here. She's all over the vocal map not because the music on this album calls for it (which it doesn't) but just because she can. It wears thin on my ears rather quickly. A voice made for opera squandered on a pop album.

5/10

Her debut album "Voice of the Xtabay", with Les Baxter, is her masterpiece.

Honest question: are you going for the "pretentious hipster" album review or "the wet blanket cause it's too much of a party album for you to handle" album review?

Nah, Popera >

Do you also feel that Ornette Coleman had a sax made for a marching band squandered on a Jazz album?

The opera thing could also be said about diamanda galas

There has always been plenty of proficient opera singers

I don’t know if I can just accept that the Les Baxter record is better. This one is fun and coherent. You might be right but this is still super cool.

Classy stuff. Not sure if its unassailable or not....you'd have to beat out Dream Theater's 'Images & Words' for me thar and that's a tall order on par with those long-tailed drink names you hear at Starbucks.

As for Yma Sumac herself, she's great here...but you guys should check out that album she did in the early 70's, Miracles. Late 60's/early 70's psychedelic hard rock with dat voice...its just awesome.

9 out of 10

The opera thing could also be said about nina hagen

There has always been plethitude of proficient opera singers

This album feels kind of like listening to a guitar shred album of some sort: A lot of chops put in service of questionable music that seems designed to show off more than be good in a more musical sense. Here, it's the vocalist showing off, not the instrumentation. The music sounds like it was from a cheesy TV show or something. Didn't find a single track here that didn't strike me as a novelty tune (stole that word from Psy-Fi, but only because I think it fits like a glove).

"Chilken Talk", "Five Bottles Mambo" and "Goomba Goomba" would, in retrospect, be all I would have needed to hear to know what to think of this album. Just impossible for me to get on board with. It's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard. This stuff belongs at some kind of Las Vegas show where a bunch of rich, old *******s have some expensive drinks before they go back to the roulette tables.

Don't take anything I said as an attempt at being mean spirited. I'm just trying to convey how this music rubs me the wrong way so hard I'm shooting static lightning out of my finger tips. This **** is like nails on chalkboard to my ears.

I only listened to this album once and it was an ordeal. My least favorite album club album yet, and that's sadly how I really feel.

That says a lot coming from a high society Yacht Member Associate.

I think I know what your thinking.
l Condor Pasa (Original) - YMA SUMAC (1971)

Any sort of familiarity with this album/artist, or are both entirely new to you? None whatsoever
Expectations (if any): I really don't know. I'm not a huge fan of salsa style music, but you never know...
Initial impression: Unsurprisingly, sounds initially like something out of one of those old Rock Hudson movies or something. The brass in the opener sounds just like the theme to the series Sapphire and Steel! :laughing:
Favourite track(s): n/a
Least favourite track(s): n/a
Overall impression: Meh
Chances of listening to further material from this artist? Zero
Rating (not mandatory): I won't be cruel and give it a seriously low rating, in fact I won't rate it at all, cos I'm sure it's a great album, just not for me. I will vote “disliked”. Cos I did.
Comments: She undoubtedly has a great voice, and the band is excellent at what they do, but this is so far removed from what I normally listen to, it's hard for me even to make any meaningful comment on it. Yeah, sorry I just really have no interest in this. At all.

I think you should revisit her stuff in the future trolls

Even if it’s just one song on a playlist here and there

She’s fun

She’s also good in small doses

Maybe. It just didn't do anything for me.

Sometimes you’re so damn stubborn

Hah! That's rich.

You wouldn't give second chances to anything you didn't connect with at first either. Imagine this being some... thing, posted by me. You'd happily ignore it forever after first hearing it, no matter what I said in it's defense.

It doesn't make it less (or more) dismissable that you happen to like it.

This music has survived for 60 years. I don’t dismiss music that has withstood the test of time that easily.

Yes that's true. It didn't somehow stop existing. But people also still like being anti-semites. I don't know if that means much.

Good point

Anti-semites make terrible music though.

Never could get into this album. Found it boring.

What's stubborn about "Maybe"?? If I'd said "No, I've no intention of trying it again", then yeah. But that's not what I said. I left the possibility open that I might at some point give it another shot. You're impossible sometimes. :rolleyes:
Longevity doesn't equal quality. There is music made in the forties, fifties and even sixties that I would still not consider listening to. That's a crazy argument. Just because it's been around doesn't mean it's good OR bad. As MicShaz says, it ain't about to vanish just due to the passage of time. You think in thirty years a future OH will be pushing the music of Justin Bieber or One Direction using that same argument?
:beer:
https://media1.tenor.com/images/d26d...itemid=5740815

He obviously means longevity of status. "There is music made in the forties, fifties and even sixties that I would still not consider listening to" is the real crazy argument here.

Bolded: still means nothing. You're the very one who says popularity is no indicator of quality. Make up your mind. As for the rest, no it isn't. I bet there's music made in the past that you would not consider listening to. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to listen to everything. What do you think I am? A vampire?

I never said that it was an indicator of quality, just that longevity can be a good reason to give something your time or revisit when you don't "get it". You're more likely to get something valuable out of something that many people have found value in for a long time than an unknown record you came across in bandcamp, right? There are no absolutes in music so don't try to manipulate my post into something obtuse like you just tried to do.

The point is I said I might, and OH called me stubborn. I didn't say I wouldn't, I said I'd think about it. If that's not good enough for him, I really don't care. This wasn't something that gave me any hope I might get into it at a later date. I usually have a decent idea of whether something is going to click with me from the first listen. Not always the case, but usually it is.

Anyhow, I've no intention of arguing with you, or anyone, about an album I didn't find particularly interesting. Much more worthwhile things to do.

OH: You should revisit her, she might grow on you a bit.
TH: BUT I DON'T LIKE IT.

Definitely not stubborn.

Yes this exactly

I said to this specifically To you TH because I respect your music appreciation skills I’m not taking issue with your opinion

My gut says there’s probably a spot in your heart for her stuff

We’ve talked enough about music to where I’d figure you’d take that into consideration

It's not so much stubbornness as it's classic passive-aggressiveness maneuvering. I highly doubt if his inability to enjoy the music of Yma Sumac has anything to do with Yma Sumac herself, her vocal style or her music. I fear his underlying prime psychological reasoning is his animosity towards me. He is subconsciously transferring his dislike of me towards my albums I select for Album Club 2017.

Riiiight, suuuuuuureee...

That's right, you got me. What can I say? When I said I loved the Elizabeth Cotten album, I was lying. I always base my appreciation, or not, of an album on the personality of the poster and my relationship with them. I'm a very bad person.

Of course, you could also say that you tend to ignore when I like your albums. Like Frownland, never a word if I praise your selections, sulking, moaning and accusations if I don't. Talk about classic passive-aggressiveness. You can't even conceive of the fact that I might just hate or not be interested in an album regardless of who chooses it, you'd rather make everything personal.

But that's fine. Like they say, whatever gets you through the day.

Look on the bright side, Nea. This has to be a record for how long a thread has stayed active in the Album Club.

Yma Sumac- Mambo (1954)

Best Tracks: Bo Mambo, Five Bottles Mambo, Carnavalito Boliviano

Weakest Tracks: Chicken Talk, Goomba Moomba

Yeah, I’m a little late but who knew this thread would be active for this long? Anyway, I was surprised to like this album. It does seem a little awkward at times; Yma Sumac sounds like an opera singer against a Billy May arrangement. It’s actually his arrangements that make this album for me. I guess, like Troll, it’s not an album I would automatically pick up, but it sounds rather nice, and I do like some of May’s arrangements with Frank Sinatra. So, with that…

7/10 (The Word has spoken :D)

Sorry man, I didn't know. Good job for liking the Millie and Andrea album as well as the clipping. one. *pats back*

My day just got this much better. :D (But don't touch me in my special place. Nothing gives you that right...) :nono: :shycouch:

I couldn't tell if were you sincere or not. I thought it was all window dressing for you to drive this point home:
Good now we are making progress, we not only have Rory Gallagher in common, now we have Elizabeth Cotten. I won't mention that we have Genesis in common cause even though you tout yourself as the biggest Genesis fan on the forum, you also take great pleasure shitting on them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Good I am glad you said that. Cause now you have to re-evaluate your position that any disgust of Tom Waits is really a personal attack against you.

There is no bright side. While it only lasted a few seconds the conversation I had with Chiomara in plug.dj was infinitely better than this hot mess. All this conversation nothing to do with Yma Sumac and her talent for singing. This is four pages trying to iron out all these interpersonal conflicts. I should buy a pipe and a couch and play psychologist whenever my albums are up for review in The Album Club 2017.

You should definitely visit a psychologist.

You thought wrong.
Genuine question: should the bolded read "now"? Otherwise I don't see how that sentence makes sense?
Nah, just Abacab. And my ****ting on that is entirely justified, from my standpoint.
Never did. Not sure where you got that. Of course, calling an artist I like talentless or vowing you'd rather listen to ten hours of some music you hate does seem more like a personal attack than a proper music opinion. But hell, you hate Waits all you want. I'm sure he's about as worried over that as I am.
Hey man, it was you who started it. All I said was the album wasn't for me. If you look, I even say I'm not going to rate it, as I'd give it a low one and that doesn't seem fair, since it's surely not a bad album, just one I don't like. You got all personal about it. Sorry you can't take criticism of your albums without bringing personality into it. If it makes you feel any better, you can **** all over my next pick, due up next.

To be fair, Abacab may in fact be the best Genesis album ever.