Various | Thai Beat A Go Go Volume 3 |Subliminal Sounds | Thailand

It’s not very difficult to gauge the effect that American GI’s had on the Thai rock n’ roll scene, yet very little is actually known about the music and its disparate musicians. Leave it to a Swedish label (Subliminal Sounds) to shed more light on this intriguing blend of Western rock and Asian funk, mixed with a little bit of everything in between.

Thai Beat A Go Go Vol. 3 picks up where the previous two volumes left off, and howls forth with even more funk and disco than the previous two compilations. Jiraphand Ong-Ard starts things out with a slammin’ funk ode to the art of Thai boxing, which sounds straight out of 70s blaxploitation films. From there we are treated to a trippy, upbeat cover of “Hang on Sloopy,” here retitled as Cham Chai. The Royal Sprites capture in psychedelic reverence, Carlos Santana’s “Evil Ways” and Sakarin Boonpit channels the best Thai Elvis you will ever hear on his version of “Heartbreak Hotel”.

What makes these compilations stand out is the obvious dedication to finding and preserving the extremely hard to pinpoint musical phenom that occurred in Thailand throughout the 60s and into the early 70s. The traditional Thai influences blend beautifully to the groovy, boogie woogie, rock n’ roll, and disco funk from the West. Each track resonates with an otherworldly quality not though lost throughout time.

As one would expect with a compilation of this caliber, there are a few choice mysteries to be had. The Thai funk band Erawan, is a definite stand out, with their original track “Khon Muangkhan” providing searing guitar lines, backed with plodding basslines and a Fela Kuti –esque horn section. There is no mention in the liner notes, to the artist simply named Don, who gives us “Soul Dracula”, which has epic wah-wah guitar, and creep show vocals. Yet the strangest cut on the album is “Paradise in Bangkok” by The Law & The Sandy, a band with a name as perplexing as their sound. There are obvious elements of surf guitar, which has always translated well within the context of traditional Thai music. On top of that is island exotica, complete with tribal drumming, muted horns, and Siamese cat meows; a fitting climax to an exquisite curatorial feat.

Almost every track presented here is party-licious exotica from a lost era of groovy a go go. It’s pretty amazing to see that the folks at Subliminal Sounds are able to continue to put out consistent compilations in this extremely engaging, and vibrant series of “Groovy Sounds from the Land of Smile”.

Reviewed by Dustin Drase