Magical Nights: Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul 1964-1966 in Bloomington, MN

During the mid-'60s, South Vietnam had a thriving music scene, with singers and bands filling stages all over Saigon belting out their takes on American styles like jazz and blues, not to mention rock & roll. One singer stood out from the rest, thanks to her incandescent vocals, but also due to the unique sound she and her collaborators came up with. Making a rousing blend of surf, R&B, and early rock & roll dubbed action music,
Phuong Tam
could belt like
Wanda Jackson
, growl like
Brenda Lee
, croon wistfully like
Connie Francis
, and put over a ballad like
Dinah Washington
. While she did this, the musicians behind her made a glorious racket on the rockers made for dancing and poured sweet syrup over the romantic slow numbers.
Magical Nights: Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul 1964-1966
is the result of dedicated efforts to recover
Tam
's musical legacy and is a treasure trove of music that was thought to be lost forever.
's daughter and a crew of collectors/preservationists did an exhaustive search of Vietnamese thrift stores to try and find clean copies of the ultra-rare vinyl; they also had some luck on auction sites. In the end they managed to track down and clean up enough music to present
's career as the brilliant convergence of styles and sounds that it is. Much of the disc is made up of dance songs designed to get people doing the twist or hully gully, working up a sweat while being treated to
's elastic exhortations. The guitars are spiky, the rhythm section ounces like a welterweight and the horns cut through the decades of static like a clarion call. Add
to the mix and it's some crackling rock & roll fun. She shines too on the slower songs; whether they are jazzy vamps, string-laden heartbreakers, or creepy crawly twists, her vocals are always the shining cherry on top of the perfectly arranged songs. There is some novelty value to hearing music with such an interesting backstory and sometimes it's a letdown once the music begins to play and it's all backstory and no substance. That's certainly not the case with
. She's the real deal, with all the skill and charisma to make these songs jump and shake with life. Check out "Tinh Mo" for proof that she could rock, "Neu Co Xa Nhau'' that she could deliver slinky pop, or "Ngay Phep Cua Linh" that she was at home in a swanky supper club as she was in a sweaty night club. Pick any track on
Magical Nights
and one will discover a singer whose name should be up there with the greats of her era. It's a little sad that her time on stage and record didn't last longer, but it is amazing that this collection exists to shed light on a singer and music scene nearly lost to the ravages of war and time. ~ Tim Sendra