You'll Get It Even If You Don't Understand It
You Got What You Got by Lashio Thien Aung
Its amazing, but here is some of the best sounding vintage garage pop music I think I've ever heard, and it comes straight out of Myanmar.
Here's some worldbook facts: Myanmar, formerly called Burma, is a small country in Southeast Asia, lying along the Bay of Bengal, with mountains surrounding the country on the other three sides, Myanmar is bordered by China, Thailand, Laos, India and Bangladesh. The people of Myanmar are called the Burmese, the majority of whom are Buddhists and live in villages on the delta and in the Irrawaddy Valley.
Myanmar is the world's second largest producer of illicit opium.
This song is by Lashio Thien Aung, aka "Jimmy Jack" or the "Burmese Texan" - he was recording primarily in the early 70s, and played all over the country doing covers of cowboy songs and other pop styles - this comes from a compilation called Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar, Vol. 2, put together by Alan Bishop for Sublime Frequencies. Its a genuinely amazing comp of garage and psych rock, folk blues ballads, and country-western styled tunes from Shan and Pa'o musicians, all recorded in the early 70s on reel to reel tape in makeshift studios throughout the northeast Shan state. Apparently most of the tracks came directly from cassette tapes, as there's a brisk trade in dubbed tapes there. As a result the audio quality of some of the songs is pretty bad, but still, its such an interesting document of the period in a country that is totally foreign to me.
This song in particular is amazing - the way the song starts off with just the guy (I assume Jimmy Jack) singing is great, but when the woman comes in on the chorus its so uplifting and magical... I honestly freaked out a bit when I first heard this CD because of this song. There are many other tracks on it that are really good too, but this one stood out and is my favorite. Guitars of the Golden Triangle comes out on September 27th, at which point you can buy it direct from the label here.