Don't ever assume that desperately unhip musicians are incapable of greatness.
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Artist:Eydie Gorme Y Los Panchos
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Album:Canta En Espanol
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Track:Sabor A Mi
Way back in the early Eighties Mrs. Ivylander worked briefly for an airline, so we had flight privileges - to be specific, foreign flight privileges, because she worked for a foreign airline that had reciprocal arrangments with a number of other carriers. Her job was so loathsome that the only thing making it tolerable was the prospect of jetting off somewhere or other from time to time. We were broke then, but a free flight goes a long way toward making foreign travel affordable. Plus we were pretty good at traveling on the cheap.So one night we were in Madrid at some tiny bar having a preprandial snifter, when we happened upon two women from San Diego who were spending the last of a workman's comp settlement one of them had scored. They had lots of helpful Madrid advice and were hilarious - great company. At one point, the one named Sylvia halted the conversation and said, "Hold on, listen to this song. I'll bet you'll never guess who this is."It was a really lovely rendition of that Spanish chestnut, "Sabor A Mi," with an ardent, throaty, really first-rate woman songer backed by male voices and sinuous Latin guitars. I had no idea who she was, though. After wiping the smirk off her face, Sylvia said, "It's Eydie Gorme."No. Please, no. There was a brief tinkling noise inside my head, no doubt the sound of a smug certainty shattering. How could this be the woman who used to sing those insipid "standards" on the Ed Sullivan Show while staring deep into the eyes of Steve Lawrence? How could someone so showbiz be so....well, good ?Turned out that the album from which "Sabor A Mi" was taken was, at that time, almost 20 years ago, and was still a perennial best seller in Spain. The fact that it is still readily available on CD - probably one of the few Eydie Gorme titles that is - is also telling. At the time Linda Ronstadt, still hugely popular, had just released her album of Spanish-language standards to rapturous reviews and massive sales. As Sylvia said, "Eydie made the record that Linda Ronstadt wanted to make." I cannot disagree.Another reminder that we must all strive, always, to keep our ears open....Another cut from this album in the comments.
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