''Touchy'' is a 1974 album by Luie Luie. Self-produced by the

outsider music Outsider music (from "outsider art") is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians who have little or no traditional musical experience, who exhibit childlike qualities in their music, or who suffe ...

ian and nightclub performer Luis Johnston, the album initially sold no more than 25 copies. ''Touchy'' was included in a list of the "101 strangest records on Spotify".

Album

''Touchy'' was an LP that was self-funded by Luie Luie. When ''Touchy'' was released in 1974, up to 25 copies were sold. The album included a "Touchy" button affixed to the sleeve of the LP. A listener could attach the button to their body, in a spot their dance partner could "pay special attention to" with a "Touchy" button of their own. Luie Luie painted the picture used for the album's cover. ''Touchy'' is a conceptual album aimed at getting listeners into a "touchy mood". Luie later described how people were disconnected from each other and using drugs in the 1970s—"People lost contact with reality, and at that time we saw the dancers — I was playing in the nightclubs — and there was no more romance. The heart was not involved; it was movement. They lost the touch." Luie played all of the instruments used for the album, including trumpet, guitar, drums, and Moog. Each track is prefaced with a spoken word introduction by Luie. The track "Touch of Light" has Luie playing "up to 14 trumpets". His music has been described as

and his voice has been compared to that of

Hervé Villechaize Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (; April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993) was a French actor and painter. He is best known for his role as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film '' The Man with the Golden Gun'', and his role as Mr ...

. ''Touchy'' was reissued in 2008 by Companion Records with a 20-page booklet. The reissue includes an additional track, "A Message from Luie Luie", in which he condemns "music pirates in Switzerland and New Jersey" who bootlegged his album without permission. ''Touchy'' was included in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

s 2012 list of the "101 strangest records on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

", which described Luie as a "tremendously brave trumpeter".

Luie Luie

Luie Luie is the stage name of Luis Johnston, a painter, screenwriter and multi-instrumentalist from

Victorville, California Victorville is a city in Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 134,810. History In 1858, Aaron G. Lane came to what is now known as Victorville and founded a waystation called "Lane's Cro ...

. He released a few 45s and the album ''Touchy'' in the 1970s. From the 1970s onward he toured nightclubs and bars of the United States, playing music described as a "

Mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music that dates back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, t ...

-infused lounge-bar easy-listening" blend. Johnston has described himself as "The Greatest Single Act in the World". Luie Luie and his song "El Touchy" were included in the outsider music book and compilation ''

Songs in the Key of Z ''Songs in the Key of Z'' is a book and two compilation albums written and compiled by Irwin Chusid. The book and albums explore the field of what Chusid coined as "outsider music". Chusid defines outsider music as; "crackpot and visionary music, w ...

''.

Track listing

References

{{reflist 1974 debut albums Latin music albums by American artists Outsider music albums