Rock Me, Amadeo

A pair of tracks from Maltese lounge singer Amadeo Carmel today, both sides of his third single, something I was overjoyed to find in the warehouse of a house clearance company in North Wales recently.

 

Who is (or was) Amadeo Carmel? I cannot tell you much: he has zero presence on the internet, and a trawl of online newspaper archives in the UK, US and Malta revealed nothing either. His discs turn up fairly frequently though, often in the States (and almost always autographed), so I feel it’s safe to assume that Amadeo worked as a singer in the cabaret bar of a hotel on the island, signing copies of his mediocre warblings for tourists grateful for any souvenir from their trip that did not come with the obligatory Maltese Cross emblazoned upon it.

 

Despite being one of the most inept lounge singers of all time, Carmel issued at least four singles, all of which are stunningly bad. Search them out: this is the man for whom the phrase ‘flat as a pancake’ was invented.

 

It seems as if Amadeo only ever had two photographs taken during his career, one where the young man looks not unlike the late Stuart Adamson - and which appears on the rear cover of his singles – and a more formal shot, with our boy affecting a Rat Pack-esque air, used on the front of each sleeve. In fact, apart from the song titles, the only thing that differentiates one disc from another is the background colour: his debut, Wonderful Illusion coupled with Begin the Beguine (MLT 257) appeared in a blue sleeve, then came MLT 258, All Or Nothing At All backed with Dream (in a fetching green), MLT 259, So Young backed with his rather unique take on the classic Try a Little Tenderness (the very yellow one that appears here), and the only other disc I have seen so far, MLT 261, My London backed with So Young (in orange). 

It’s reasonably safe to assume that there was a fifth release, MLT 260, but I have yet to uncover any details of that particular coupling, should it have ever seen the light of day.

 

All of Carmel’s releases come from Melita Records of Paola (or Pawla, as it is known locally) and all come in near-identical sleeves. Melita Records was a small operation, possibly Amadeo’s own vanity label. No other discs have surfaced on the label and all of the discs were pressed in France or the UK. Melita’s address, 23 Nazzarene Street, does not exist. There is a 23 Nazarene Street (one less ‘z’), and a company, Charles Vella And Sons Limited, that has existed at that address since at least 1985. It's a tiny street that does not even appear on Google maps. Did Amadeo have an office or even reside at that address, or was it just a useful rented mailing address?

 

I have nothing else, although there appears to be a UK connection: Amadeo’s own compositions, including My London and So Young were copyrighted to a publishing house based in Honiton, Devon, the Daylight Company. That same company ran a studio in the town for a period from 1979, which leads me to wonder if his recordings were made there, rather than on Malta? The discs are all undated, but were clearly manufactured in the early 1980s.

 

Anyway, here for your delectation, are both sides of the third single from Malta’s Amadeo Carmel: So Young and Try a Little Tenderness. Enjoy!

Download Young HERE

 

 Download Tenderness HERE