PYY
Pop Yeh Yeh, Psychedelic Rock from Singapore and Malaysia – 1964-1970 – Yes, this is just as cool as you imagine it would be, 26 slabs of very old-sounding psychedelic sounds, mostly sung in Malay, some songs with a distinct Indian feel to them, but all with wild guitar sounds, some cool organ, general grooviness. Yeah! “Budi Bahasa” by Adnan Othman and the Rhythm Boys is slow and grinding, “Kisah Disampang” by M Osman and Orkes Nirwana (love the band names) is slicker and based on a cool guitar riff. “Aku Kechewa” by Roziah Latiff and the Jayhawkers starts off with some beautiful guitar riffing before going into some hauntingly beautiful female vocals. Stunning!! “Oh Teruna” by Fatimah Amin and the Clans picks up where the previous song stops – quickening the pace a notch, with a similarly beautiful female voice. Nice. “Jangan Goda” by Afida Es and the Singlap Boys is cool, funky psychedelia, also with a female lead singer making it extra spicy. “Oh Ya Ya” by Rajah Ahmad and Dengan Dendang Irama is like the title suggests – boppy and happy, this time with male voice and chorus. “Temasah Ria” by M Said and Les Remaja has some seriously distorted fuzz going for it, very cool in an MC5 sort of way!! “Bersiar Siar” by Babians Boys featuring Halipah is a rock number with a little boy singing, with lots of “la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la”, it’s so-so. “Dara” by M Osman and Les Fentones is poppy and breezy. “Syurga Idaman” by Azizah Mohamed and Orkes Nirwana are back with a nice number with a swampy, surfy beat and more little boy vocals. Nicer, maybe a bit Arabic here. “Jauh Pandangan” by Halim “Janda-Ku” Yatim and the Sangam Boys is chanty with chorused singing. “Nelayan Bersampan” by Zaleha Hamid and the Black Cats is a more minimal song, with plenty of emphasis on female voices singing mainly in chorus. “Kasih Tak Sudah” by A Ramlie and the Rhythmn Boys (nice typo) is a cool old rock tune that rambles on and on with sentimental tones.
“Berisiar Di Taman Hiboran” by Salim I & The Wisma has great funky guitar work, and a wailing Middle Eastern voice. Nice. “Bimbang” by A. Rahman Hassan & Orkes Nirwana is a bit gloomier, but has a nice upbeat bridge. “Mula Bertemu” by M Rahmat & The Teruma is a nice rock number, while “Revolusi” by Adnan Othman & The Wanderers goes off on some great organ and fuzz guitar, it’s a roaring rock number. “Ayah.. Kini Ku Bercinta” is a beautiful wailing tune by Nur Azilah & Desa Bersaudara that is particularly haunting. “Kembali Lagi” by A. Halim & De’Fictions is a very cool, driving psychedelic rock song that needs to be heard to be believed – it has it all! “Rindu” by Siti Zaiton & The Twilites is a rare sax-led song that has beautiful female vocals. Nice. “Bertemasha” by Zaleha Hamid & Orkes Zindegi is traditional-sounding Middle Eastern guitar pop that has cheesy children’s laughter in it, but also great long instrumental bits, as well as a bit of sax. The prominent siren-like voice is a bit grating, actually… “Sidia Siapa” by Noor Hamzah & Band Mesra has some cool guitar riffs at the beginning, and some cool male vocals – pure guitar pop, sweet and heavy. “Surat Ku Untuk Mu” by J Sham & The Wanderers starts off with some wedding keyboard and then gets into a low-key little keyboard-driven pop (and that keyboard gets a bit annoying after a while…). “Kan Hilang Nanti” by A. Halim & De’Fictions starts off with some wicked Hendrix-like guitar bending, making it among the more psychedelic numbers here, the song is also a conventional local pop song at heart, with heartful, echoing singing. “Tak Mengapa” by A. Rahman Hassan & Orkes Nirwana is a nice, sombre rock/pop song with cool vocals. “Bintang Pujaan” by Hasnah Haron & The Spiritual 70s is a cool female-led guitar pop song, of the type that we’ve heard a few times so far – it does sound familiar. But it is cool nonetheless. Love!
While there’s only one CD, the packaging is awesome with two fold-out panels full of old pics of Singapore and Malaysia, inserted into the set are also two lovingly-created (if poorly laid out) booklets of about 40 pages. Wow! The first one recounts the history of Pop Yeh Yeh in a long essay by Pop Yeh Yeh scholar Carl M Hamm, who copyrighted his essay in 2012. The essay gives a lot of zeitgeist, also talking about the politics of the era, the connection to Western music (tentative – they got the music and the clothes, but not the attitude, the politics or the outspoken-ness). There are great pics, such as the transistor radios of the time (that often served as amps for the equipment), the bands themselves, era-pieces such as Hofner guitars, Cliff Richard discs, album covers and other memorabilia. There’s a “fast forward to today” section, and a word about the record labels of the day. Then there’s also a whole section for the lyrics of all songs, translated into English. The second booklet runs through bios and histories of every group and recording artist featured in the set, although for some information is scant. Nice!