From a vinyl record production standpoint, the 60s and 70s were rich with numerous collections of so-called "lounge" or "easy listening" music in the form of compilations and/or covers, often associated with sexy iconography: Hit Parade Chanté, Top Of The Pop, Super Hits... For the most part, these records are quite dispensable, but on closer inspection, there's sometimes something worth saving. This is the case with Fausto Papetti's Sexy Slows.
Sticky ears
Fausto Papetti is the Italian specialist in saxophone-covered slow jams, something so syrupy it makes your ears stick. Leading his orchestra, he must be responsible for a good number of Italian babies from that period. Just imagine: over 150 albums and as many compilations, that's a few liters of spit spat into the brass! Listening to an entire one of these records is honestly a challenge for any normally constituted person. So why this almost magnetic attraction?
Forgotten graphic designer
The covers, of course! A thorough study of our Fausto Papetti copies shows us that most of the photos were taken by a certain Robert Dehesdin in his studio located on Place Vendôme. Model selection, lighting, composition: congratulations Mr. Dehesdin, your photos are very successful. But there's something extra that makes these covers identifiable at first glance: the use of this superb font and the systematic choice of two colors that are both contrasting and complementary. Another brilliant graphic designer forgotten by music history.
Some will say that the quality of the artist is inversely proportional to the amount of nudity exposed on the cover. As Perceval would say in Kamelott: that's not wrong. But, 40 years later, one can also see in this series a testament to an era that Femen under 20 cannot know, and thus measure the progress made.
