Random Tracks: Inspired by Mulberry Panda’s random iPod game in his “My iPod told me I’m racist!” entry. Once in a while I’ll let my mp3-player select a random file from my collection. Then I’ll try to dig up some information on the track and share it with you here. It’s a self-educational project - I’m getting to know my own mp3 collection. No downloads, sorry (I’m a wimp). And we’re off to a flying start (I’m deep into Mellow Gold territory here):

The Hudson Brothers - Rendezvous (from “Ba-Fa”, Rocket Records - 1975, PIG-2169)

“…rendezvous o-o-o rendezvous - rendez-rendez-rendez-vous…”

Robert, it appears so far that I’m white, too… judging by this I’m actually tonedeaf as well.

When this one popped up for my project I thought ah, great! An obscurity from the 1970s that no one has offered a thought before or after its modest hit run in 1975. I’ll dig up some information snippets and enlighten the world. How wrong I was!

The three Hudson brothers have their own website, they’ve done multiple tv-shows and movies. Bill Hudson is the father of Kate Hudson. Mark Hudson has been touring with Ringo Starr, even producing on some of his records. Brett Hudson I don’t know that much about.

This shameless piece of 1970s AM bubblegum pop was produced (incredibly) by Elton John’s lyricist Bernie Taupin and co-written by Bruce Johnston, beach boy. It was released on Elton John’s label, Rocket Records, their first on the label after a run with Casablanca Records, a company that seemed to be more or less omnipresent in the 1970s.

It’s retro (mid-70s doing early-60s), has a humorous and lighthearted attitude, plenty of sweet background vocals and the first time I heard it I’d swear they threatened to burst into African-like chanting at one point. The Beach Boys doing African chants, that is.

There’s a cheap Farfisa-sounding organ ornamenting the static rhythm section on the backbeat and one slightly fuzzy guitar boogying around. On its own terms it’s catchy but it’s not really my cup of tea.

I remember my mother used to play music like this on the stereo in the 1970s - always on cassettes with all kinds of wrong Dolby settings - always way too heavy on bass and midtone…

It reached the top 30 on American charts in the summer of 1975. Bruce Johnston covered it for his solo album “Going Public”, for which he also did “I Write the Songs”, popularized by Barry Manilow. Johnston wrote that one, too! I never knew that. Amazing.

Joe Viglione on Allmusic goes over the top in amusing fashion with some off-the-wall referencing and suspicious praise (”downright groundbreaking”) in his review and offers it 4 stars.

Billboard wrote about “Ba-Fa” in 1975:  “Good set of fun rock and roll songs from the three brothers, with influences showing strongly from the Beach Boys, Bee Gees and other mid-60s British Groups. Even a classical cut included, but the main point this group is stressing is fun - and that’s something there’s all too little of in rock these days.”

The guys had been around as a group for about ten years when they had minor hits with “Rendezvous” and “So You Are A Star” in 1975. At the time of this release they starred in a live action Saturday-morning show for kids on CBS called “The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show”. They continued to work as actors well into the 1980s and 1990s.