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t took me a little while to place tonight’s song, such is its varied take on the original, but once I realised what it was, I truly appreciated this version! In the Youtube comments section where I located the track, I loved how somebody had described this song by saying, “Wow. Straight from a psychotic spaghetti western, with Flipper..” Haha!! With Flipper!!! This did make me chuckle!! It’s true though, now I can’t unhear Flipper in the background. It is also a very valid point that this rendition has, indeed, taken this song into the Spaghetti Western realms and I love that!
Released as the b-side to a song called Bonne Année, Douce Nuit, today’s song was issued in 1967 by French musician, composer, record producer and sound engineer, Jean-Pierre Massiera (better known as J.P Massiera) – (for more on this J.P Massiera, you can read all about him on my post here).
The translation of this title is slightly different to the original and converts in English as, “Drunkenness of the Depths”, which is another angle I’m enjoying! What J.P Massiera has done with this track is pretty cool and as cliche as it sounds, he has ‘made this song his own.
The original version of this track was released in 1959 by a band called The Islanders. Entitled The Enchanted Sea, this is a gorgeous instrumental beauty and it just so happens that I featured this track a couple of years ago. I’ll paste the original below for your comparison convenience, but will also send you to my page, just in case you want to read more about The Islanders – find this here.
J.P Massiera has transformed this track in places and about halfway through there is an unexpected change of pace. First comes the sound of windswept chimes as everything subsides, the lull is defined by these monstrous vocals and then everything steps up! The rhythm quickens as an array of groovy guitar solos and rolling drum beats explodes in this feast of sound!…It’s an unexpected but rather yummy dynamic! Check it out above and hear the original below.
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