Stories That Should Be Told (7) Arcesia
Arcesia [US, Psychedelic Rock 1972] White Panther He had managed, yes, he had managed very well to make himself forgotten.
John Arcesi, the son of Italian immigrants in America, had become famous as Johnny D'Arcy, John Darcy, or Don D'Arcy, but he also recorded for Capitol under his real name.
He had been a child prodigy, then he became a "lounge singer," a crooner, an entertainer; his role models were characters like Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra. And he had some decent success; between the '40s and '50s, it really seemed like he was about to break through. It was said that his voice had a "certain" effect on the female audience.
And indeed, during a performance at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas, a woman in the audience went "into ecstasy" listening to his voice.
Only it was a setup.
More than the scandal, it was the embarrassment. No matter how much he swore he knew nothing about it, that it had been a (very stupid) idea of his manager, no one believed him.
His career ended there.
For a while, he continued to produce vocal groups and write songs under other names: Tony Conti or Chick Johnson.
Then in 1961, he said enough and went to Europe. Upon his return, he moved to Palm Springs with his wife and made sure to be forgotten for good.
Until 1972.
In 1972, Arcesi published (published! There were just over three hundred copies...) this "Reachin" under the name Arcesia.
Why? Perhaps the fact that his wife had died a few months earlier can help explain it, who knows!
But the fact is that this record is insane; imagine a "Tilt" (from that other great guy Scott Walker) more psychedelic and distorted. What transformed Arcesi into Arcesia? The lounge singer from the Las Vegas hotel into a hallucinatory psychedelic rocker at the age of 54? He hadnāt sung for over twenty years, and you can hear it, but the record has an abysmal emotional intensity.
It's impossible to know, because the album goes completely unnoticed, and John disappears again, this time for good.
He will die there in Palm Springs in '83.
Luckily, One Little Indian has the crazy idea to reissue "Reachin" in '97.
An obscure and mysterious album like few others.
Could I have done without it?
