DAY 05: LOUIS PRIMA "THE WILDEST" (1956)

I know what my ears like and it all boils down to three things. 

- Voice: this is something that I can never explain in words. There are singing voices that I like and I don't. And this also depends on the genre of the song. The rest of the factors of "the voice" all rest on what I call the "magic". A couple of my favorite male voices would be Adam Levine, James Maynard of Tool and the dude from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. You wanna know what makes a voice great? If you think that a singer's voice still sound amazing when you let them sing the contents of a newspaper. 

- Style: this can be anything from a guitar riff to an extra "hey" in the song or a repeat of  the lyrics or a pattern of drum beats. If the song's got a lot a character and charm then it's an instant hit for me.

- Magic. This one right here is a deal breaker. It does not matter if the song is by an artist I like or hate or if the song does not fall to my favorite musical genre. When the magic hits, it's always unexpected and most of the time, cannot be explained. You know what I'm talking about. It's when you hear the song and you feel that you are hypnotized or under some spell. On some occasions we even feel that the song is made for us because the lyrics are so spot on.

I remember the first time I saw my dad's copy of the Stand By Me Soundtrack. I was about 8 years old and there's not that many old songs I know. I only knew the Beatles. You can just imagine the look in my face when I found out that I have a new set of songs to play with.  It was about the voices I heard, the energy, the style and of course the spell that I was in when I listened to the songs.

From then on I have this own category in my head where I file songs under it as a "Stand By Me" kind of songs. This album is like one of those. It reminds me of The Bobbettes but with a male voice. I was happy to hear a female voice in his songs. I later found out that the same girl also collaborated with Frank Sinatra.

Now, this is not the first time that I've heard of Louis Prima. When I saw Will Ferrel's Kicking & Screaming, one of my favorite songs in the movie happened to be of this man. It was Zooma Zooma. Man, I love his voice so much. When I made the connection of the voice in the song and this next album that I have to listen, I knew that I'm going to have some fun. Not only did I listened to the whole album but I also watched The Wildest Documentary for this. Yes, you can cue a brag alert! I like him so much that I did a couple of research here and there. Boy, it was so worth it!

His songs are so contagious too. I can see myself sing any line from Just a Gigolo because it's so damn good. I can switch from a male voice for Louis's part and switch to a female voice for Keely Smith's part as well.

'Cause I ain't got nobody
Oh, and just nobody cares for me
There's nobody cares for me

I'm so sad and lonely
Sad and lonely, sad and lonely
Won't some sweet mama
Come take a chance with me
'Cause I ain't so bad

Never forget this equation: Voice + Style + Magic = Louis Prima