LOST TREASURES – Alzo & Udine

Posted on 20 May 2014

LOST TREASURES

Alzo & Undine

“C’mon and Join Us”

 

Alzo & Udine

By Peter Marston

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To say Alzo and Udine are little-known is no doubt an understatement. I have, indeed, never met anyone who owns their sole album, released in 1969, other than myself. As a guy who circulates among some pretty serious record collectors that’s saying something. More importantly, though, it’s a real shame, as C’mon and Join Us! is, from beginning to end, a very enjoyable album, a charming and catchy mishmash of pop, soul, Latin and folk that is sure to get you moving.

 Alzo and Udine Back

Alzo Fronte (born Alfred Affrunti) was a New York City songwriter who paired up with his neighbor Udine (born Noor Ali Udi), who provided percussion and vocals. Their first recorded work was done under the name Keepers of the Light, with producer and Brill Building veteran Jeff Barry at the helm. After two singles produced by Barry on the Steed label failed to chart, Alzo and Udine released one self-produced single on Mercury prior to the release of C’mon and Join Us!, also on Mercury.

 

The opening track on C’mon and Join Us! sets the tone firmly. “Something Going” is equal parts Archie Bell and the Drells’ “Tighten Up,” Malo’s “Suavecito” and the Delfonics’ “La La (Means I Love You)”: funky (but simple) beat, lots of major 7th chords, congas and falsetto vocals. It’s a great track and a great formula, one that is repeated through much of the album. “Hey Hey Hey, She’s OK” adds fingersnaps and a set-up reminiscent of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. It’s also a title every pop fan should love! “Rain” is not the Beatle song, but a ballad built around the nursery rhyme, “rain, rain, go away,” etc. It begins with simple acoustic guitar strums, but builds to the same type of pop-soul arrangement found throughout. “I Can’t Believe It” features charming answering vocals in the (very brief) bridges and energetic piano glissandos in the turnarounds. “Want Your Love” is built around a baroque harpsichord and strings arrangement and virtually no swing in the rhythm section. It is one of the highlights of the record. “Drag of a Bag” is also a departure from the Alzo and Udine formula, this time featuring a prominent banjo part, harmonica and deliberately hokey country vocals and harmonies. “Lead You Down the Road” reminds me a bit of Brewer and Shipley, with tight, but understated harmonies. “This Room” utilizes a similar approach, but is musically more adventurous and perhaps the most developed composition on the album. “Speech” is not a song at all, but rather a brief recitation of the musician credits for the album, delivered with almost embarrassing sincerity and dated phrases like “out of sight” and “soul brother.” The last song is the title track, returning to the “Tighten Up” rhythm and bringing the album to a suitable close.

alzo

Two singles were pulled from C’mon and Join Us!: the title track and “Rain.” Neither hit the charts. One more Alzo and Udine single was released—“Hot Time in the City”—and their contract with Mercury lapsed. With Udine reportedly succumbing to the perils of drug abuse, Alzo continued to record as a solo artist, releasing singles on Ampex, Bell and A&M, as well as two LPs, Looking for You and Takin’ So Long, released in 1971 and 1973 respectively. No one seems to know what happened to Udine, but Alzo suffered a fatal heart attack in 2004.

 

C’mon and Join Us! has been reissued three times on CD, once as a Japanese import on Polydor in 2002, once on Rev-Ola in 2007 and as a current reissue on the Imports label in 2014. The vinyl is very difficult to find, but as with all rare records, appears from time to time. If you see a copy in any format, pick it up and give it a listen—you’ll see that, indeed, Alzo and Udine have something going!

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

WIKIPEDIA:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_d%27Abo

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:  http://www.mikedabo.com/

AllMusicGuide:  http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-dabo-mn0000485346

VIDEO:

“COME AND JOIN US!”

“SOMETHING GOING”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT”

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