Community - Louisiana/ Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast

 

Fernando Arbex of Los Brincos does his bit for the Community

Label: Spark

Year of Release: 1973

I've always found it perplexing how many non-American acts have chosen to sing full-heartedly about US towns, states and cities they can surely have only had a fleeting relationship with. Two factors seem to be at play here - the fact that the US has often been perceived as a land of exotic promise, therefore a topic likely to appeal to casual record buyers, and the distant hope of a transatlantic smash.

No luck here on either count, sadly, but a very interesting person does at least seem to have been involved in the process. The author of the A-side Fernando Arbex (confusingly credited on the label as two different people) was the leading creative force in Spanish pop group Los Brincos, as well as their drummer. Their tracks "Passport" and "Nobody Wants You Now" are two of the finest sixties offerings from that country, showing a group who had the maturity and ability to become a truly global act. Not for nothing was their LP "Contrabando" regarded as their "Sergeant Pepper".

By the time the Los Brincos jig was up, Arbex formed a short-lived act called Alacran, then finally relocated to Britain to form Barrabas, who managed to release nine LPs of a largely funky Latin flavour between 1972-1983. Not wishing to rest on his laurels, he also put his songwriting skills to use elsewhere too, perhaps most famously (and least credibly) for Middle of the Road, for whom he penned the hit "Soley Soley".

"Louisiana" was also one of his, and it's yet another "Left and to the Back" example of seventies sunshine pop, albeit with the Americana amped up as far as possible. The track clips along merrily with powerful orchestral blasts, celebrating someone's return to Louisiana; although what they're going back for isn't made altogether clear. Somewhere in the hurricane of celebration, though, it's possible to hear a bit of what made Arbex such a fascinating pop songwriter in the sixties; elements of this are like "Nobody Wants You Now" being given a proper cinematic arrangement. If, like me, you'd prefer to hear his work at a lighter, softer level, that's fine - but "Louisiana" is proof that he was an incredibly adaptable songwriter.

The group Community, on the other hand, don't seem to have left as impressive a trace. They had another single out in France called "Stand By Me" (not related to the Ben E King number), another in the Netherlands called "The Answer", then one other single out in the UK besides this one, "God Bless Whoever Sent You". The fact their earliest releases were non-British ones does suggest that they might not have been from this country, but there's very little information to go on. If you know more, you know what to do.

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