"Belly Dance au Go-Go"
Artie Barsamian and his Orchestra,
196?
One
of the axioms of classic record collecting is that no matter how bad or
bland the music is, great album artwork will save you every time. In other
words, everything boils down to marketing. Belly Dance au Go-Go
is just you basic hodge-podge collection of Middle Eastern music; whirling
dervish stuff with and without vocals, but they sure knew how to package
it. First, they have the perfect 60's record title, invoking both the free
spirit of the decade with the "Go-Go" part and Americans desire for exotic
music by using the always tempting word "Belly Dance." This is not
exactly exotica, since exotica is usually made by western composers who
have hamoginized Far East and Pacific music styles for easy consumption.
Belly
Dance au Go-Go is the actual music of the Middle East, with no
American influences to smooth out the rough edges. We can't forget, of
course, the scantly clad dancer on the front. All great album covers need
one. And I pose one question to all you modern readers...tell me the woman
on the cover doesn't look like Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) from Star
Trek: The Next Generation. Check out a comparison here.
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