It was hot and the record store was small and bright. Jazz filled the room as I flipped through bins, side-eyeing price tags on ‘80s records. That’s what they want for the Go-Gos? I thought. That’s the kind of record you get from your relatives who went digital ages ago. In fact, at least one of my Go-Gos records came to me in exactly that way. I don’t even want to see the Fleetwood Mac prices here. 

I headed over to the dance bin, just in case there was something that looked interesting. And there was. It was a copy of “Vamos a la Playa” with a $4.99 price tag on it. That’s weird, I thought. I can’t tell you how long “Vamos a la Playa” has been in the L.A. ether, but it’s one of the Italo disco jams that everyone seems to know. If you play it a club— and I think most of us DJs have done so many, many times— you can hear the crowd singing out on the floor. At least, they sing along with the chorus, “Vamos a la playa, oh-oh-oh-oh.” They usually don’t get all into the verse about radioactive winds blowing through your hair. It’s a strange song by today’s standards, but deceptively cheerful ditties  about nuclear annihilation were totally a thing in the 1980s. Don’t believe me? This is probably the only time in my life that I will ever recommend listening to “99 Luftballoons” in English. 

Anyhow, back to this “Vamos a La Playa” record. I gave the price tag a double-take because I couldn’t believe that Righeira would be so cheap at a store where super basic albums— as in Billboard chart hits from the heyday of vinyl— are $20+. Then I looked just above the tag and saw that this wasn’t Righeira. It’s a group called The Miamis, featuring Lou. Well, that explained the low price. I strained my eyes to read the small print on the label and recognized the writing credits as Righeira and La Bionda, so it was the same song. The release date was 1983, around the same time as the version of “Vamos a la Playa” that I know. That was a good sign.

If this were a 1989 release, I would have assumed it was a terrible pop-house cover and put the record back into the bin. But, 1983 is a good year. I surmised that this might be a situation like “Self-Control,” where Raf, who co-wrote the song, and Laura Branigan both released fire versions of it. I bought the record and, when I got home, I realized that my assumption was likely correct.

I was instantly smitten with The Miamis’ version of “Vamos a la Playa.” The original version on this release is about five-and-a-half minutes long and plays out like an extended mix. The intro is long enough to mix into a set and there are multiple parts of the song where you can mix out of it. Lou’s vocals are similar to the Righeira version, but not identical. The music is a bit grittier, with more echo. I thought, this would probably work better with “Blue Monday” than Righeira’s version does. 

There’s also a very ‘80s “scratch mix” on this 12”, which, honestly, isn’t as cheesy as one might assume. On the flip side is the extended mix, which is over six minutes long. I noted that this mix would sound killer with “Hey Hey Guy,” which I have yet to procure on vinyl. 

Then I started searching for information. There’s very little out there, aside from Discogs and some YouTube clips that look like they came from the European releases and don’t sound like the 12” I have. There’s also a post on a now-defunct ska blog that’s mostly concerned with the B-side, “The Blop,” which doesn’t appear on the release that I bought. What I can glean is that the Lou who is featured on the track is the late Belgian singer Lou Deprijck, who was very active in the 1970s and 1980s and known for both Latin disco as part of Two Man Sound and ska with Lou and the Hollywood Bananas. He also co-wrote Plastic Bertrand’s hit “Ça plane pour moi” and is said to be the actual singer on the recording. In his obituary, The Brussels Timesnoted that he sold 20 million records in a career that went back to 1963, making him one of the Belgium’s best-selling artists. 

That’s all some fascinating information if you’re a nerd about these things, but there was something else I noticed. This 12” was a U.S. release from a label called Baja Records. From what I gathered, that was a tiny label, really a subsidiary of another label called TSR, that existed in L.A. in the late 20th century. Amongst their other releases were a very electro Kid Frost record from 1984 and Magazine 60, the French group responsible for the perennial L.A. party hit “Don Quichotte.” Baja looked like it was a label geared towards club and party DJs. Plus, the extended mix is credited to Victor Flores, a producer/engineer who, according to Discogs, also has a credit for a JDC mix from around the same time, which is another connection to local dance music. 

Now, if all this information is correct, it’s reasonable to wonder if early ‘80s L.A. DJs were actually playing The Miamis version of “Vamos a la Playa.” The credits lineup with everything I’ve learned from years of asking people questions about L.A. nightlife, partially out of general curiosity and partially for stories like “JDC Records: The San Pedro Record Shop That Gave Us the Party Sound of ’80s L.A.,” which I wrote for KCET a few years ago. 

Plus, this record sounds like it would fit with what was played in L.A. during the 1980s, a vibe that’s a little new wave and a little freestyle. All this makes me want to talk to someone who was involved with releasing this 12” or who played it in their DJ sets in 1980s L.A. because I think it’s important for DJs to know the stories behind the music we play. And, I definitely want to play The Miamis’ cover of “Vamos a la Playa.” You’ll have to wait, however, until the next time I play an all-vinyl set. 

Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs.

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