#13 David Tavaré, "If You Don't Know My Name (You Can Call Me Baby)"

If you don't know my name
You can call me baby

NOT "Call Me Baby (If You Don't Know My Name)," the remixed heavy beat version released as a single in France (and the version that plays in the music video in most cases, though the one above plays the proper original PG-approved version)--I'm still furious over what they did to this song.

I've been waiting for Spanish singer David Tavaré's debut album since 2006, when he released his debut single, "Summerlove" (a cover of the Underdog Project's "Remember"). He taunted me through 2007 with the release of another great single that further cemented my belief that an album from him would be all party-friendly pop dance with no concern for credibility--i.e., potentially fantastic. "If You Don't Know My Name (You Can Call Me Baby)," taken from that album--finally released in 2008--is an example of David doing that music at its and his best. I'm still convinced that it has to be a case like his "Summerlove" or "Hot Summer Night," where he basically reworked 2 Eivissa's "Oh La La," was because let's face it, the female part of this song is so classic dance song-sounding that for this song to have just suddenly sprung into the world fully formed, Athena-like, out of someone's head seems near impossible.

Whatever its origin, the song is fantastic, with one of those deep but not heavy summer grooves, some repeated nonsense syllables, and David trading vocals off with that female singer. It's all pure class, to be honest, despite the fact that I think of David as king of a certain type of summery half-trashy dance song (his official site opens with a breathy female voice pronouncing "Sex...Glamour...Fashion...Summer...and Love...Welcome to the world of David Tavaré")--a song that really could be and should be a classic. I would love to get lost to it somewhere on the beaches of Spain late one June night. Oddly entrancing, always catchy, and shockingly classy without caring that it is and despite the best efforts of the video, "If You Don't Know My Name" is a Spanish fantasy come to life.

Find it on: La vida viene y va (that's the French edition, but I can't find the album listed in any Spanish stores, and it has the original version of this song on it near the end anyway)

You're the only one I ever need

Zshare isn't letting me upload any songs at the moment, so here's the post minus uploads for the moment--I'll update this message when the songs are added in. Update: ZShare still isn't working, so I've uploaded the songs to--ugh--YouSendIt for the moment. Is it just me that can't get uploading to Zshare to work?



I've been waiting for David Tavaré to release an album since 2006, when he had one of Spain's biggest summer of 2006 hits with "Summerlove," a song I adored for its ability to perfectly capture the beachside scene its video portrayed so perfectly in musical form. And yes, it was a cover/reworking of another song, but David's version eliminated or altered the strongest, most energetic beat and a deeper two-part beat that ran underneath the song, meaning that the song lost a little of that "just dance music" feel and suddenly felt more like the pop soundtrack to a fading memory of summer. I loved the idea of an artist giving us an album full of stuff like that--summery dance-Europop that doesn't have a hugely high BPM but isn't lounge either.



Unfortunately, we had to wait a whole year before we got another song from David and, once again, it wasn't a totally original song either--this time using a sample from 2 Eivissa's "Oh La La La"--but I loved "Hot Summer Night (Oh La La La)"--only just released in France this year, and doing quite well--as well, if more reservedly so; in addition to giving me another song to enjoy, it served to increase my desire for an album from him. I had no expectations of a masterpiece, but a great summery not-quite-dance album? That, I thought, we might just get. Sure, David himself might be not much more than a frontman, a face and suitable voice, but I'll take music like this from whoever is willing to be a vehicle for it.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that most of the songs on his debut album, La vida viene y va, released this summer, use samples, are covers, or were thrown together from some bits of songs the studio had sitting around. The album abounds in vocal hooks sung by women, and in at least one case--"Centerfold"--the "hook girl" has actually released the song herself (in a non-David featuring version). Still, if the female part in the very enjoyable "If You Don't Know My Name (You Can Call Me Baby)" isn't a sample--like it sounds like it is--it's great work by the producer and a part that you could easily imagine being part of its own song.

Possibly the song that surprised me the most, though, was "I Never Go Home Without You," unassumingly situated near the album's end, shortly before what I assumed was David degenerating into covers "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" and "I Wish You A Merry Christmas" (in actual fact "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" is not the Elton John song, but actually an African-flavored dance-pop song. "I Wish You A Merry Xmas" is also not the song I thought it was, but it totally skipworthy). Maybe it was just the shock of low expectations being surpassed, but I'm in total love with the uplifting Europop/dance chorus of the song. Really, give it a try--see if this little Spanish (but English language) pop song doesn't make you smile. I'm so pleased that David gave us something like this; I don't know that it would make sense as a single, certainly not the next one, but it works fantastically as a hidden treasure.

I don't know of anywhere you can buy David Tavaré's album La vida viene y va beyond Spanish iTunes, so the best I can do is point you to 7Digital, where you can buy a digital version of his single "Hot Summer Night (Oh La La La)." If you're a sucker for male-sung light Europop/dance of this sort, though, you might want to seek out the album--it's certainly not all killer no filler, but there are several other songs on it you'll probably enjoy.

Next up: some Danish dance, I think.

Todo el mundo canta

Another singer, another subpar followup single, and another case of me being taken with it--Spanish singer David Tavaré's followup to last year's "Summerlove" (which is all sorts of great--it sounds exactly like sitting in a cabana on an exotic beach in the middle of summer) came out a month ago and I completely brushed it off at the time; it seemed hookless and dull. As time has passed, though, it's grown on me. It's clearly not as good as "Summerlove" (a cover of the Underdog Project's "Remember"), but, despite all quality control standards I might have, I've found myself liking it. Completely unnecessary though it would be, I'd actually love an album from him as well, because my taste can be trashy like that.

Hot Summer Night (Oh La La La)--if I didn't know better, I'd say this was trying to rip off "Summerlove"--there are moments you're sure it's actually going to turn into it--but it's apparently a cover of 2 Eivissa's "Oh La La La." Why this song is even credited to David, I'm not sure; the female and male backing singers probably do more work than him. Like "Summerlove," the song drips with summer, but it's a chilled nostalgia-tinged summer; even if lyrically this song isn't actually about the past (as "Summerlove" is), it sounds like it is. Dreamy, summery, and not hookless as I originally thought (the hook just mainly comes from the female singer's "oh la la la"s, which you also get in the original version of the song), "Hot Summer Night" still isn't as good as "Summerlove," but it's an acceptable followup, even if we might have hoped for an original song...and, even if it does sound reminiscent of "Summerlove" while simultaneously making you wish for "Summerlove," maybe that just intensifies that underlying musical nostalgia...nah, that's probably giving him too much credit.

(By the way, I've also seen this song credited to "David Tavaré feat. 2 Eivissa.")

You can buy David Tavaré's second single "Hot Summer Night (Oh La La La)" here (physical), but I very much recommend picking up his debut single "Summerlove" (it's hypnotizingly summery), which you can get on last year's Disco Estrella (physical) or here (digital) or from iTunes, regardless of country; for example, if you live in the U.S., go here.

Next up: maybe a Swedish singer.