Dirty Beaches - True Blue [Zoo Music 2010] - Cat# ZM006
Alex Zhang Hungtai (Dirty Beaches to you and me) takes a step back from his usual Suicide at Sun Studios schtick, to salute the magic of The Ronettes with this gorgeous slice of vinyl sadness. True Blue is built around a loop of the first 8 seconds of Keep on Dancing by The Ronettes, over which Alex has added a mournful guitar line. He's also half inched the vocal melody of Be My Baby which he croons in his best Roy Orbison (complete with falsetto) voice.
Lyrically it's that old chestnut of a lonely guy pounding the streets, pining for lost love. On paper it all sounds like the sort of thing I'd usually run a mile from, but this isn't just some present day attempt at sounding retro. So while it might sound like some old dusty single, it's actually quite modern what with the sampling and all that. It's over almost before it begins, but for the short space of time it's with us True Blue is just so heartbreakingly beautiful. Be warned, there will be tears.
Limited to just a 1,000 copies this 7" only release is already a bit of a collectors item. But fret not since both this and the flip side (the aces Sweet 17) are both on the easy to find Badlands LP, which was one of my favourite records of last year.
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