Listen: The Girl From Ipanema (Single Edit) / Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz
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‘The Girl From Ipanema’ may have created the Space Age Bachelor Pad musical sub genre on it’s very own, quite by accident. What started out as rather lengthy bossa nova jazz rendition by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, with an Astrud Gilberto vocal feature rather far into the song’s album version, was eventually rearranged and edited down to a brilliant worldwide hit.

Seek out the single version, streamed above. It’s concise and in my opinion, far superior to the long full length counterpart. Then there’s the near extinct picture sleeve. Don’t ever pass that up.

Several years back, Astrud Gilberto played a night at SOB’s in NY’s West Village. I’d seen the listing, and lazily intended to attend, until day of. Suddenly, getting home and sinking into the sofa sounded way better. For whatever reason, I thought, just do it already. So last minute, left the Island office and walked across town, only to find the club oversold. Now the juices were flowing. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Two days later, Island’s King Sunny Ade & His African Beats were scheduled. Without shame, I pulled out my Island office ID and forcefully played the guilt card.

She was fantastic.

Listen: The More I See You / Chris Montez
The More I See You / Chris Montez

It was as if the guy who recorded ‘Let’s Dance’ a few years earlier was a completely different person. That song fit easily into both the surf and farfisa bubblegum spaces perfectly. A fit that suited The Ramones just fine, they covered it from nearly day one.

Along comes ‘The More I See You’ in ’66, and the first time I remember hearing it was at Carmen’s Barber Shop, the little dive my Dad took me for haircuts. The hour or so we’d spend there was rather fascinating, with me trying to figure out some of the coded adult talk amongst them all, yet with most attention being paid to the MOR station Carmen had permanently affixed on his little sound system. I believe the station call letters were WSEN or WSYR, but can’t be sure. What I am sure of is it would make for industrial strength hipster listening if only some of those shows had been air checked. Lots of Julie London, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jackie Trent with husband Tony Hatch. Seems they were the British Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, and most of their singles, both together and separately, are worth picking up if you stumble on them.

Tony Hatch in fact wrote ‘Call Me’, not only the Chris Montez single that preceded ‘The More I See You’, but the title of the album from which it came.

Turns out when switching to his A&M label in ’65, Herb Alpert suggested this more soft rock sound, possibly looking for his own version of Astrud Gilberto, who despite the slight technicality of being a different sex and therefore looked much better, sounded quite similar.

Listen: Cast Your Fate To The Wind / Shelby Flint ShelbyFlint.mp3

Even though Sounds Orchestral’s instrumental version was the bigger hit, Shelby Flint stakes claim to the classic version of ‘Cast Your Fate To The Wind’. It was her vocal version that filled the void left by Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto’s ‘The Girl From Ipanema’, well sort of. She’s still around, and living in North Hollywood, exactly here she grew up. How great is that?

Listen: The Girl From Ipanema / Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto AstrudGilbertoIpanema.mp3

Why? Why is he posting this ubiquitous single? That’s totally what you’re thinking. At least I hope it is. A few reasons: a) it’s seminal b) where the fuck do you hear it these days and c) if and when you do – is it ever this single edit? NO. All those oldies stations with their digitally remastered, stereo perfect versions of ‘Homeward Bound’ or ‘Good Vibrations’. Come on. First of all, who needs someone to program these songs to us EVER again? We’ve been inundated with them for decades already, so much so that one simply needs to think about the track, and it plays in your head. Even worse, those lame stations don’t have a clue how to recreate that magical moment. AM hits, in mono, heard through transistors radios, accompanied by that beautiful crackle and treble-y eq – that’s what it was about. These bozos have it all wrong. Music through the laptop speakers actually works better for oldies than passe car FM. It’s one of the reasons listenership has plummeted.

So here it is, the mono, edited ‘Girl From Ipanema’, from my lovingly played 7″ vinyl, just as you remember it, no perfectly remastered stereo, no long jazz intro. Straight to the vocal and the hook.

Go see Astrud live. I did. She still has those bangs.