Happy X-Mas - War Is Over (If You Want It)

Happy X-Mas to you all!

We want it!

R.I.P, John!

Holy Modal Rounders - Alleged In Their Own Time (1975)

The Holy Modal Rounders were almost the very definition of a cult act. This isn't a case of a group that would be described by such clichés as "if only they got more exposure, they would certainly reach a much wider audience." Their audience was small because their music was too strange, idiosyncratic, and at times downright dissonant for mainstream listeners to abide. What makes the Rounders unusual in this regard is that they owed primary allegiance to the world of acoustic folk -- not one that generates many difficult, arty, and abrasive performers.
"It wasn't until 1970 that we started Rounder Records but one of the reasons for the name was the Holy Modal Rounders. It was they who introduced us to Charlie Poole. Since we started, 'Rounders On Rounder' was one of the things we wanted to do the most. Another is a Ramblin' Jack Elliott record. It gets kind of confusing when both sets of Rounders are together since everybody's talking about the Rounders but it's not always clear about which set. We wanted to do a Stampfel and Weber album but Robin was there and he wrote Euphoria and was legendary, and Peter brought friend Luke Faust up and it grew and grew. Weber was kind of out of it most of the time, unfortunately. Well, it's finally here. We don't have much else to say right now, at least about this."
- The Rounder Collective

Tracklist:

01 Low Down Dog
02 Don't Seem Right
03 New Reuben's Train
04 Voodoo Queen Marie
05 Chitlin' Cookin' Time In Cheatham County
06 Nova
07 Sally In The Alley
08 She's More To Be Pitied
09 Rocky Road
10 Across The Alley From The Alamo
11 Synergy
12 Red Rocking Chair
13 Random Canyon
14 Monday Morning
15 Shoot That Turkey Buzzard


Holy Modal Rounders - Alleged In Their Own Time
(224 kbps, complete cover art inlcuded)

The New Orleans Rhythm Kings - The Cradle Of Jazz

.

"The New Orleans Rhythm Kings" were a big influence on many of the white bands and musicians of the 1920s.

In 1920, Paul Mares and George Brunies were working on the Mississippi riverboat S.S. Capitol when it stopped in Davenport, Iowa, where they teamed with Leon Roppolo on clarinet. They eventually added Elmer Schobel on piano, Frank Snyder on drums, Alfred Loyacano on bass and Louis Black played banjo.

They got a gig at the Friar's Club in Chicago in 1922. At first they called themselves "The Friar's Society Orchestra", after the club the Friars Inn at 1834 Wabash Street at Van Buren in Chicago, but they changed their name to "The New Orleans Rhythm Kings" in 1923 after losing that gig.

Unlike Nick LaRocca, the leader of the "Original Dixieland Jazz Band", Paul Mares did not try to deny the African-American roots of Jazz. The New Orleans Rhythm Kings were heavily influenced by "King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band" and became the first group to put out a "racially mixed" Jazz record in 1923 with "Sobbin' Blues", featuring Jelly Roll Morton. Morton went on to record five more tunes with the band. "The New Orleans Rhythm Kings" were in existence from 1922 to 1925 when Paul Mares left the music business and went back to New Orleans to work at the family fur business. In 1934 and 1935 two recording sessions took place that revived the "New Orleans Rhythm Kings" name, but George Brunies was the only original memeber of the band to take part in the sessions.

Here´s a compilation of some of their fine recordings:

link dead

Luciano Berio / Cathy Berberian - Recital I for Cathy / Folk Songs / Three Songs By Kurt Weill (1995, 3 Kurt Weill Songs)

Cathy Berberian, singer and wife of Luciano Berio, was one of music's true originals. Equally adept at Monteverdi and the wildest effusions of the avant-garde, her performances brought her husband's music to new and appreciative audiences, while permitting Berio to create some of his most gripping work at the same time.

Folk Songs is exactly what the title says - a collection of folk songs from around the world which gives Berberian the opportunity to demonstrate her ability to sing in different languages and styles. Recital 1 is something else again - a monologue for soprano that reveals the slow disintegration of her personality. It's a nervous breakdown in music. Berberian performs everything on this disc brilliantly.

"Recital I for Cathy" (1971) typifies his "collage" technique. Recital includes a Monteverdi aria, more or less straight, a mock-Baroque aria Berio had written in the Forties, various phrases from Mahler, Schubert, Verdi, Prokofieff, Purcell, Schoenberg, and others, all set against a swirly, scintillating background. Berio requires his ex to turn from one to another after as few as three notes. This sort of thing could easily become pointless, but Berio provides a dramatic situation. A mezzo rehearsing for a recital waits for her accompanist to show up and becomes unhinged, skittering from one item in her repertoire to another. The work becomes a modern equivalent of the operatic "mad scene," a toothsome duck soup to Berberian. She certainly knows how to act while she sings, although less so when she speaks or sprechstimms – that is, speaks on approximate pitches in a specified rhythm. Consequently, the work succeeds best when Berio gives her actual pitches. For me, however, the main attraction is Berberian, rather than the work, which strikes me as too easy. It's Berberian who gives it class.

"Folk Songs", from 1964, yet another collage, this time mixes settings written over roughly two decades together in one work. Purists will find the work misnamed. It includes folk tunes, fake folk, and pop – 11 in all – from the United States, France, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. To me one of the most beautiful vocal works of the post-war era, Folk Songs uses a chamber instrumentation of flute, clarinet, harp, viola, cello, and percussion. It begins with a fiddler "playing himself in" as the singer begins "Black is the color of my true love's hair" and moves into "I wonder as I wander," both by John Jacob Niles. Simple though these tunes may be, they are artfully simple. Berberian brilliantly catches their flavor by turning herself into a concert version of "mountain soprano" Jean Ritchie, thinning out the tonal heft while remaining sweet and true. As in Recital I, largely traditional settings are put into avant-garde environments. Yet, the tunes keep their vernacular character. The Italian set (including Sicily and Sardinia) surprised me the most, since most of them sound Falla-Spanish to me. The Sardinian "Motettu de tristaru" and the French "La fiolairé" (from Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne) receive the most extreme treatment. Berio, to his credit, throws the spotlight on the basic material, rather than on his contributions per se. Nevertheless, it remains, in its post-modern eclecticism, a resolutely contemporary, even prophetic work. Throughout, Berberian virtuosically changes her vocal colors to suit the music and the text. In the French "Rossignolet du bois," she becomes a young girl on the edge of first love. In the Italian "A la feminisca," she becomes possessed by Spanish duende. In a second song from Canteloube, where Berio essentially translates Canteloube's orchestra to chamber proportions, "Malurous qu'o uno fenno" (roughly, "Women! Ya can't live with 'em, ya can't live without 'em"), Berberian manages to dance through sass, cynicism, and merriment. One of the finest performances by a singer who routinely turned out great ones.

The disc ends with three songs by Kurt Weill, two of them classics: "Ballad von der sexuellen Hörigkeit" (ballad of sexual dependency) from Die Dreigroschenoper, "Le grand Lustucru" (Lustucru the Great) from Marie Galante, and "Surabaya Johnny" from Happy End. Berio, for some reason, orchestrated these. After all, Weill, a master of instrumental color, orchestrated them himself. Berio differs from Weill, essentially offering up more wholesome timbres than the originals. I prefer Weill's sourer sound, reeking of spilled whiskey, urinal cakes, and stale cigarettes. Berberian sings both German items in English, translating them herself. She provides credible lyrics. I prefer Blitzstein's version of the "Ballad," but at least Berberian avoids the trap academic translators fall into, essentially so concerned with literal meaning that they forget Brecht's zip and wit. Again, these tracks' reason for being comes down to Berberian's performance. She has carved out her own niche with these songs, apart from Lotte Lenya, Gisela May, and the lesser Ute Lemper. For one thing, she sings them without the throaty rasp. However, what puts her in the exalted company of Lenya and May is once again the fact that she is such a splendid singing actress.


Tracklist:

1. Recital I For Cathy: Se I Languidi Miei Sguardi (Monteverdi)
2. Recital I For Cathy: Amor, Dov'e La Fe (Monteverdi)
3. Recital I For Cathy: 'Ah! He Hadn't Been There Before...'
4. Recital I For Cathy: 'Clarinet That's The Sound That Has Been Haunting Me...'
5. Recital I For Cathy: Avendo Gran Desio (Berio-Da-Lentini)
6. Recital I For Cathy: 'Who Hasn't Taken A Piece Out Of My Life?'
7. Recital I For Cathy: Musician Exchange: 'These 5 Men...'
8. Recital I For Cathy: Exc: Mahler, Delibes, Rossini, Etc
9. Recital I For Cathy: Calmo E Lontano: 'Libera Nos'
10. Folk Songs: Black Is The Colour...
11. Folk Songs: I Wonder As I Wander...
12. Folk Songs: Loosin Yelav...
13. Folk Songs: Rossignolet Du Bois
14. Folk Songs: A La Femminisca
15. Folk Songs: La Donna Ideale
16. Folk Songs: Ballo
17. Folk Songs: Motettu De Tristura
18. Folk Songs: Malurous Qu' O Uno Fenno
19. Folk Songs: Lo Fiolaire
20. Folk Songs: Azerbaijan Love Song
21. Song Of Sexual Slavery
22. Le Grand Lustucru
23. Surabaya Johnny

"Recital 1 For Cathy" was composed in 1971 and ecorded on September 19-25, 1972 in EMI Studios, London.
"Folk Song"s (composed in 1964) and "3 Songs by Kurt Weill" were recorded on December 21 & 23, 1968, in Webster Hall, New York City.

Luciano Berio / Cathy Berberian - Reictal I for Cathy / Folk Songs /Three Songs by Kurt Weill
(192 kbps, cover art inlcuded)

VA - Mojo Rock Steady

The term "reggae," often used to describe any music coming from Jamaica, is in reality a term that represents a whole canon of music that has grown, developed, and branched off from Jamaica's first native popular music, ska. Rock steady, the next form the island developed, is the precursor to the specific sub-genre of reggae, as well as the politically and culturally directed music that followed it called roots. In the rock steady era of the '60s and '70s, ska's blaring horns were minimized, and an electric bass and syncopated horn line carried the rhythm. The lyrics became more centered upon political and social concerns, especially the plight of Jamaica's black citizens. MOJO ROCK STEADY is an excellent introduction to this important era in the development of reggae music. Rhythmically and contextually, the songs contained herein represent important markers in reggae's growth. There are classic instrumental pieces like "Rockfort Rock" (originally titled "Psychedelic Rock" but renamed because a DJ from the Rockfort area of Kingston claimed it as his neighborhood's theme song), protean social protest songs from the Gaylads ("Africa") and the Bassies ("River Jordan"), and an example of one of reggae's lesser-known female vocalists, Denise Darlington ("Feel So Good"). You´ll find the tracklist in the comment.

Mojo Rock Steady (192 kbps)

Pete Seeger - The Royal Albert Hall (03/07/78)

More than any other individual, Pete Seeger had conceived and fostered a tradition of protest song that drew from a number of cultural roots, had significant political consequence, and reshaped the forms and content of popular music.

This is a recording for the Chile solidartiy concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, 1978.

Tracks:

Intro

You’ve Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley (trad.)
Garbage
Victor Jara
Estadio Chile
Guantanamera
The Wagoner’s Lad
Song Of A Strike
Photographer’s Ballad
Where Have All The Flowers Gone
If I Had A Hammer

Closing

Pete Seeger - The Royal Albert Hall (1978)

(320 kbps, no cover)

Three Johns - The World By Storm (1986)

Far and away the best Three Johns album. Funnier, sharper, and more focused than "Atom Drum Bop", "The World By Storm" really lets the guitars rip, creating a more manic, tuneful wall of noise behind which the Johns rant and rave.

The record featured the three best singles the band ever recorded, "Atom Drum Bop" (this is not a mistake — there's no song by this title on the LP "Atom Drum Bop"), "Sold Down the River," and the scaborously funny "Death of the European" (with its John Lydon-like opening lines, "Big mouth/open wide/open up the pearly gates of freedom").

The lyrical concerns are the same as always — mindless, conspicuous consumption, empty-headed conservatism — but here the Johns sound more in control, and that begets a ferocity and urgency that makes this a compelling record. The Three Johns cult and Mekons fans lapped this up when it came out, but it was only available in America as an import (still is, as far as I know) and sank without a trace. Too bad, as it was one of the best records of 1986.

Three Johns - The World By Storm (1986)
(192 kbps)

Maniacs vs. Sarkiat - Don´t Climb The Pyramids

Cram an electric trio and seven egyptian musicians in a little room in the heart of Cairo for ten days and see what happens. The first steps of egyptian hard core? An oriental version of end-of -the millenium electric rock`n`roll? The rebirth of arabic pop muisc?

It`s a dream Alain Croubalian, from the Maniacs (based in Geneva), and Fathy Salama, leader of Sharkiat (means "coming from the east), wanted to bring to life. They felt, more than they exactly knew, the common ground where egyptian folk music, international pop, electronic sounds and independent rock could meet. And they made it happen.

After concerts in the Cairo Opera House and a tour of swiss underground clubs they recorded 10 songs in an old studio in Shobra, the heart of popular Cairo.

Escaping the usual cliches about oriental music isn`t easy. When talking about Egypt, you automatically think of sand, camels and pyramids. But Cairo is a busy urban city where 13 million people struggle for everyday life. Traffic is hell and the pop muisc is all electronic beats twisted in a mayheim of selfish pop. This encounter doesn`t really fit your usual world music standards, where exotism counts more than reality. Maniacs and Sharkiat agree and sincerely feel this "Don`t climb the pyramids" album is as authentic as music gets; at the same time a strange encounter. At the end of the recording sessions everybody looked at each other wondering: "It`s great music ! But what is it ?" Neither of us had heard such sounds collide excepts in our wildest fantasies. Today they are reality.

.

Maniacs vs. Sarkiat - Don´t Climb The Pyramids (192 kbsp)

Up, Bustle & Out - Che Guevara ... A Dream Of Land And Freedom

With influences drawn from diverse sources all over the world — from Istanbul to Bolivia, Andalusia to North Africa — Up, Bustle and Out is one of the harder groups to pin down on the experimental breakbeat landscape. Hailing from the English town of Bristol, home also to Tricky and Massive Attack, Up, Bustle and Out comprises producers Rupert Mould and D. "Ein" Fell, who formed the group in the early '90s as an adjunct to their respective interests in non-Western musics, funk and soul, jazz, and experimental underground club styles like house, techno, ambient, and trip-hop.

Up, Bustle & Out take their romantic Latin dabblings to their most ambitious extreme with this limited 7-track CD, released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the death of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara. A must for those who appreciate good intellectual music dedicated to a man who will live in our memories for ever.

.

No link.

Swing Is Here - Small Band Swing 1935 - 1939

The mid-1930s were golden years for jazz. The music on this CD is quite exciting but much of it is issued here in incomplete fashion.

There are all four titles from Gene Krupa's Swing Band (a superb pickup group with trumpeter Roy Eldridge, clarinetist Benny Goodman and Chu Berry on tenor in additon to two Helen Ward vocals) but just three numbers from a session led by arranger Gene Gifford with trumpeter Bunny Berigan, six of the ten titles recorded by Mezz Mezzrow's bands during 1936-37 (featuring trumpeter Frankie Newton, Bud Freeman on tenor and a rare outing outside of the Jimmy Lunceford orchestra by trumpeter Sy Oliver), two jams by Frankie Newton in 1939 and seven songs from Wingy Manone.

Swing Is Here - Small Band Swing 1935 - 1939 (192 kbps)

Laurel Aitken & Girlie - Scandal In A Brixton Market (1969)

Known as "the Godfather of Ska," Laurel Aitken was Jamaica's first real recording star. He was a pioneer in many other respects as well: he was one of the first artists ever to release a ska record, the first to work at promoting his music in the U.K., and one of the first to record for the seminal Island label, itself a major force in the international popularity of Jamaican music. Cutting his teeth on the sort of jump blues and boogie shuffles popular during the early days of American R&B, Aitken recorded numerous hits for a variety of labels over the years, enjoying his heyday during the '60s. His continued presence in the U.K. made him an elder statesman to the Two Tone ska revival movement of the punk era, and he continued to tour even into the new millennium.

"Scandal In A Brixton Market" was released in 1969 on the Pama label.

Tracks:

Side 1:
Laurel Aitken & Girlie: Scandal In A Brixton Market
Laurel Aitken & Girlie: Madame Streggae
Laurel Aitken: Stupid Married Man
Laurel Aitken: Tammering
Laurel Aitken: Have Mercy
Laurel Aitken: Night Cricket

Side 2: Laurel Aitken: Run Powell Run
Laurel Aitken: Teddy Bear
Laurel Aitken: Mr Soul
Laurel Aitken: Woke Up This Morning
Laurel Aitken & Rico Rodriguez: Babylon
Laurel Aitken & Rico Rodriguez: Stop The War In Vietnam

Laurel Aitken & Girlie - Scandal In A Brixton Market (1969)
(192 kbps)

Ari Up - Rest In Peace! - The Slits Debut 12" (Island, 1979)

ARI UP (SLITS) - On stage 1977

Ari Up, member of the Slits, died on Wednesday at age 48. Up’s stepfather, the Sex Pistols’ John Lydon, announced her death from a “serious illness” on his website. Up, a.k.a. Arianna Forster, formed the Slits with Palmolive (Paoloma Romero) and Viv Albertine when she was just 14, and the band’s mix of punk, reggae, and politics made them trailblazers. Meanwhile, the Slits’ last video, “Lazy Slam,” has been released posthumously according to Up’s wishes.
There’s no denying the importance of the Slits, especially their 1979 album "Cut". The group’s dizzy blend of dub rhythms, post-punk artiness, punk attitude and unpracticed enthusiasm was thrilling and unique, both when it first came out and 30 years later as well. On top of the glorious clatter and bounce of the music were Ari Up’s vocals. Yes, they may have wandered, they may have grated at times, but her style was perfect for the band and perfect for the times.

After "Cut", both the band and Up went through all kinds of changes that led to some interesting music at times - espcially her work with the Adrian Sherwood-produced, avant-garde reggae group the New Age Steppers.

Up’s death this week at the tragically young age of 48 gives us pause, and spurs us to remember just how influential, and fun, the Slits were at their peak.

To honour Ari Up we post the debut 12″ release from The Slits on Island records in 1979 with the wonderful tracks "Typical Girls" and "Grapevine".

Tracks:
01. Typical Girls / Brink Style
02. I Heard It Through The Grapevine / Liebe And Romanze

The Slits - Debut 12 Inch (Island, 1979)
(128 kbps, cover art included)

Rest in peace!

Children Of September

The PinkPudelCrew is lucky to present the film "Children Of September" next tuesday, (October, 26) at "Größenwahn", Kinzigstr. 9, 10247 Berlin.

"Children Of September" is a documentary film about the military putsch in Turkey on 12th September 1980 from the view of five eyewitnesses.

Five young people, four cities (Berlin, Copenhagen, Zurich and Paris). Everyone of them was born in a different region of Turkey. What their biographies have in common is the fact that their families had gone through the violence of the putsch on 12th September 1980.

How do the children who hanging on to their families apron strings had to emigrate to those countries live today? Are they, as were their parents, involved in politics? Do they have some special characteristics which make them the “Children of September”?

One of the directors and one of the protagonists will take part at the screening and invite you to a discussion about the topic and the film. The entry is free and you are welcome!

Johnny Cash - The Sun Demos & Outtakes

Though Johnny Cash went from total unknown to Number 1 charting artist (“I Walk The Line”) during his time with Sun Records, it’s easy to forget that it all happened pretty quick and he was only with the label for two years, from 1955 to 1957, before he moved on to greener pastures at Columbia Records. The music that he made during this time, however, is truly timeless and in its grit and fatalism marked a new kind of country music with songs more than embracing sadness and loss, songs that turned a cold, brooding eye on the stark realities of life and love.
Before massive fame and excess and later producers got their hands on Cash’s songs and sound and tricked up the accompaniments and arrangements, for the most part it was just Johnny and the Tennessee Two, Luther Perkins on guitar and Marshall Grant on upright bass with added drums and maybe piano or pedal steel. This collection of demos and more polished and complete outtakes—which should be named “Some Sun Demos & Outtakes” because there are quite literally hundreds of hours of extant recordings from the time—is a priceless snapshot of a pivotal period in the history of popular music. Artwork is included.


Tracklist:

1. Wide Open Road (Cry, Cry, Cry)
2. Rock & Roll Ruby
3. You're My Baby
4. Get Rhythm
5. I Walk The Line
6. Train Of Love
7. One More Ride
8. Folsom Prison Blues
9. Wide Open Road (Cry, Cry, Cry)
10. Goodnight Irene
11. My Treasure
12. I Love You Because
13. Leave That Junk
14. Country Boy
15. Come In Stranger
16. Oh Lonesome Me
17. You're The Nearest Thing To Heaven
18. Don't Make Me Go
19. Give My Love To Rose
20. The Ways Of A Woman In Love
21. Thanks A Lot
22. Fools Hall Of Fame
23. I Just Thought You'd Like To Know
24. I Forgot To Remember To Forget
25. Always Alone
26. The Story Of A Broken Heart

No link.

Willie Dixon - "The Quiet Knight" - Live Chicago, January 24, 1974

Willie Dixon's life and work was virtually an embodiment of the progress of the blues, from an accidental creation of the descendants of freed slaves to a recognized and vital part of America's musical heritage. That Dixon was one of the first professional blues songwriters to benefit in a serious, material way — and that he had to fight to do it — from his work also made him an important symbol of the injustice that still informs the music industry, even at the end of the 20th century. A producer, songwriter, bassist, and singer, he helped Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and others find their most commercially successful voices.

He probably wrote some of the most common known blues songs. To name a few, most of them included here: "Spoonfull", "Little Red Rooster", "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Down in the Bottom", "Back Door Man" & "Wang Dang Doodle".

His songs have become standards for blues players of all stripes and generations and you could argue that bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones wouldn’t have existed as they did if it wasn’t for the great big Chicago bass player. He is to blues what George Gershwin is to jazz.

Here´s a classic, exellent sounding Blues show of the great Willie Dixon with his Allstar Band, broadcasted by WXRT-FM Chicago & recorded by Bob Craig to reel.

Setlist:

01-Intro Boogie

02-Crazy ´bout my Baby

03-Rock Me

04-I don´t trust nobody(when it comes to my Girl)

05-29 Ways

06-Wang Dang Doodle

07-Hoochie Coochie Man

08-Little Red Rooster

09-I think I got the Blues

10-My Baby

11-Spoonfull

12-Closing Boogie

No link.

Ranking Trevor & Friends - Roots Of All Roots (Micron, 1979)

Ranking Trevor has been largely ignored by the archivists, a peculiar oversight, as the DJ was a major force in the sound systems on both sides of the Atlantic during the roots age. Most of his recordings remain infuriatingly out of print, and his singles and albums, now with hefty price tags attached, are much sought after by collectors. Born Trevor Grant in Jamaica on January 20, 1960, the toaster to be fell under U-Roy's spell in childhood. He never completely shook the Originator's influence, but no matter, for Ranking Trevor had an equally sharp sense of timing and relaxed delivery that never went out of fashion in this period. Eager for success, Grant was barely into his teens when he began professionally DJing, honing his skills at the Socialist Roots Sound System. He was all of 15 when Jo Jo Hookim took him into the studio for the first time, where he cut 1975's "Natty a Roots Man." Over the next few years Trevor recorded a steady stream of singles for Hookim, all backed by the Revolutionaries, with his popularity increasing proportionally.

By 1977, the teen star was shaking up the British reggae chart as well, with "Cave Man Skank," "Three Piece Chicken & Chips" (a humorous riposte to Trinity's "Three Piece Suit"), and "Anti-Lulu" all hitting the Top Ten. "Pure & Clean" and "Rub a Dub Style" followed them up the chart in 1978. By then, the DJ had signed a deal with Virgin's Frontline imprint, the resulting "In Fine Style" album, which arrived that same year, proving wildly popular. Beyond hits like "Rub a Dub Style" and "Masculine Gender," it also included splendid versions of "Satta Massa Ganna" and "Queen Majesty." Meanwhile, back in Jamaica, Hookim also unleashed the "Three Piece Chicken & Chips" split set, which set Trevor head to head with Trinity himself. The former won that round, as Hookim stuffed it with Trevor's latest hits - the title track, "Lulu," "Love Yu Sister," and, best of all, "Answer Me Question," a retort to Lone Ranger's "Question."

In 1979, Trevor linked up with singing producer Linval Thompson, resulting in the following year's "Repatriation Time", a set again recorded at Channel One and backed by the Revolutionaries. The following year, Prince Jammy remixed a clutch of Thompson, Wayne Jarrett, and Trevor recordings for the simmering "Train to Zion Dub" set. For Repatriation, Trevor took on a new moniker, Ranking Superstar, which explains why producer Sugar Minott titled the DJ's excellent next set Presenting Ranking Trevor. Both Minott and Thompson were featured alongside the DJ on the "Roots of All Roots" set released by Micron later in the decade.

.

Ranking Trevor & Friends - Roots Of All Roots (Micron, 1979)

(192 kbps, front cover included)

The World Of Terry Jacks and the Poppy Family (London Records, 1976)

It's been a long time since "Seasons in the Sun" became a monster hit for Canadian Terry Jacks, but the syrupy 1974 single is still top dog among all best-sellers issued by Canadian acts. The release spent more than three months on the U.S. charts and more than four months on the charts in Jacks' native country. Its accumulated sales topped more than 11 million copies. Jacks, who moved on to producing for artists such as the Beach Boys, Nana Mouskouri, DOA, and Chilliwack, reaped the good life from the monster hit's royalties, which he acknowledged by naming his power boat Seasons in the Sun. Royalties also spill in from "Which Way You Goin' Billy?" He and former wife Susan Pesklevits recorded the song under the name the Poppy Family in 1969. The release hit number two in the U.S. and topped the Canadian charts, raking in four Juno Awards and selling more than two million copies.

Power boats and hit singles aside, life hasn't all been smooth sailing for Jacks. His marriage to Pesklevits dissolved in 1973. A second marriage produced a daughter, Holly, and later charges of spousal abuse. According to Canada's CNEWS, when officers in Sechelt, British Columbia, arrived at Jacks' home in 2001, they leveled a charge of improperly storing a firearm against him in addition to the abuse charge, although the rifle was not related to the alleged assault.

As a youth, Jacks resisted family pressures to turn him into an architect. Favoring music instead, he joined the Vancouver-based Chessmen, playing guitar and providing vocals on a pair of singles released by London Records and on two more released by Mercury Records during the mid-'60s. Jacks met his first wife through the Chessmen's appearance on Music Hop, a Canadian television program. Eventually the pair formed the Poppy Family after recruiting guitarist Craig McCaw and Satwant Singh, who played the tabla.

Before "Which Way You Goin' Billy" landed the group in the spotlight, Jacks and the Poppy Family released two singles that didn't go anywhere, "What Can the Matter Be" and "Beyond the Clouds." Later they scored two lesser hits, "Where Evil Grows" and "That's Where I Went Wrong." But Jacks did not take well to performing live. That aversion, coupled with the pressures of stardom, led to his decision to break up the band. In 1973, he produced his wife's eponymous debut album and wrote one of the songs, "I Thought of You Again," which garnered a Juno Award nomination. Despite their working relationship, or perhaps because of it, Jacks and his wife split that year.

A major concern for the musician is environmental pollution, and he has transformed himself into something of a major obstacle for large-scale pulp and logging companies that are suspected of noncompliance with Canadian pollution laws. To that end, he established an organization called Environmental Watch.

"The World Of Terry Jacks and the Poppy Family" was released on Londn Records in 1976. The meticulous songwriting, production and arranging skills of guitarist/mastermind Terry Jacks lift these recordings above the work of many of the group's better-known contemporaries. Singer Susan Jacks has a beautiful voice that sometimes sounds like (but predates) Karen Carpenter, but is eminently more soulful. Although characterized in the liner notes as a "soft pop" band, the Poppy Family was also capable of a somewhat tougher sound that sometimes recalled Surrealistic Pillow-era Jefferson Airplane and folkier material in the Kenny Rogers & the First Edition/Roger McGuinn vein. Throughout, Jacks frames the songs with creative, if often dated, arrangements that compare favorably to his obvious influences, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Phil Spector.

Tracklist:
seasons in the sun
i`m gonna love you too
today i started loving you again
remember the rain
the love game
shadows on my wall
sail away
where evil grows
if you go away
rock n roll
of cities and escapes
someone must have jumped
i`m so lonely here today
a good thing lost
concrete sea
Thanks to http://akashaman.blogspot.com/!

No link.

Jazz Classics In Digital Stereo Vol.3 - New York

On the third of four CDs in the Robert Parker series that reissues a cross section of early jazz recordings from a regional area, the music ranges from the famous (Jelly Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith and Duke Ellington) to the lesser known (Charlie Johnson's Paradise Ten, Lloyd Scott and Freddy Jenkins).

Veteran collectors will prefer to skip this sampler and get the complete sessions elsewhere but listeners just beginning to explore early jazz should find these early recordings (which range from pre-swing to some heated jams) worth investigating.

Jazz Classics In Digital Stereo Vol. 3 - New York
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Sylvan Morris & Harry J - Cultural Dub (1978, vinyl rip)

Harry Johnson, or Harry J as he's better known to fans around the world, was a prolific producer of top-notch reggae, and continues to run one of Jamaica's most legendary studios. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1945, after leaving school Johnson worked as an insurance salesman. Interest in music, however, led him to schedule time at Studio One in 1968 to record the vocal group the Beltones. The resulting single, "No More Heartaches," was a hit, the first of many. Lloyd Robinson's seminal — and much versioned — "Cuss Cuss" arrived the following year, as did a slew of sizzling instrumentals from Johnson's studio band, the Harry J All-Stars. Their first, 1968's "Smashville," mashed up the sound systems, but it was the phenomenal success of "Liquidator," a number that stormed into the Top Ten of the British chart in late 1969, that cemented his reputation. The British reggae label Trojan promptly handed Johnson his own imprint, Harry J, and a slew of the All-Stars' instrumentals saw release. Although none of them repeated "Liquidator"'s success, the songs went down a storm with the skinhead crowd. Of course, the instrumentals were actually backings of vocal cuts, spiffed up by soloing organs or brass, and those vocal numbers were exciting plenty of attention, too. During these early years, Johnson oversaw excellent singles from the Cables, Winston Jarrett & the Flames, Joe White, Bob Andy, and Marcia Griffiths. When the latter two artists joined forces in duet, Johnson's fortune was made, with Bob & Marcia's cover of "Young, Gifted and Black" sailing into the U.K. Top Five, with "Pied Piper" following it up the chart.

With the money amassed from those two hits, Johnson opened his own 16-track Kingston studio on Roosevelt Boulevard. A series of masterful albums emerged across the rest of the decade, all overseen by Johnson himself. The Heptones' Book of Rules and Cool Rasta, I-Roy's Crisus Time and Heart of a Lion, Zap Pow's Revolution, the Melodians' Sweet Sensation, Delroy Wilson's Last Thing on My Mind, Dennis Brown's So Long Rastafari, and Sylvan Morris' Cultural Dub and Jah Jah Dub sets are just some of the highlights. The Wailers recorded their first four albums for Island at Harry J's, with Burning Spear and Augustus Pablo among the many other top-drawer artists who set up shop there. However, it was a young emerging singer who returned Johnson to the U.K. pop chart at the end of the decade. Sheila Hylton first hit with "Breakfast in Bed," and her follow-up, "Bed to Big Without You," was even bigger. In the new decade, the producer was working mainly with DJs, overseeing excellent material from Charlie Chaplin, Uglyman, and Little John, with Computer a fine roundup of these more digitized-sounding productions. By then, Johnson's interest in production was waning, or perhaps he just couldn't find the time anymore, so busy was he looking after the studio, which remains a mainstay of the Kingston music industry.

Sylvan Morris & Harry J - Cultural Dub (1978, vinyl rip)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Neil Young & The Stray Gators - Norfolk, Virginia 1973 (Soundboard)

.

Over three months, Neil Young planned to visit 65 cities and stop for a break at the end of March. The "Time Fades Away"-tour would resume in August and shift to Europe in November, playing seven shows in the UK. Then back to America to play the final dates in New York, Boston, two shows in Ohio, Chicago and finally in Berkeley.

The Stray Gators lasted only till end March and were replaced by the Santa Monica Flyers for the rest of the tour. It is also well-documented that by March, Young’s voice was shot and he asked Linda Ronstadt, David Crosby and Graham Nash to join him to offer vocal support. This is also the famous tour where the band asked and received a hefty salary increase. "Harvest" had become a multi-million seller and the money was rolling in. Young was furious but paid them anyway. Perhaps he felt guilty about the way he had dismissed the late Danny Whitten, with $50 and a plane ticket. Whitten used the money, scored heroin and died of an overdose.

Young had figured correctly. He opened with an acoustic set, playing the ballads from "After The Goldrush" and "Harvest", winning the audience completely and setting the stage for his electric set with the Stray Gators. By then, the crowd was waiting for rock ‘n’ roll and Young delivered some new songs ("Time Fades Away", "Look Out Joe", "New Mama", "Don’t Be Denied") with some of his well-loved rockers "The Loner", "Southern Man" and "Cinnamon Girl". Everybody went home happy. The critics praised his shows. The only unhappy man was Neil Young - at his band, at his voice and at the audience. According to David Downing’s "A Dreamer Of Pictures", Young "found the audiences too loud during his acoustic set, too quiet in the electric portion of the show. He started screaming at them to wake up." Young was obviously stressed out.

Everything came crashing down at the final show in Oakland, March 31. If you know the "Citizen Kane Junior Blues" show, you can listen to Young explain how it all ended:

"I was singing away - Southern Man, better keep your head, don’t forget what the good book said - and this guy in the front row, he was about as far away as you are from me, he jumped up and yelled, ‘Right on, right on, I love it!’ He felt really good, I could tell. And all of a sudden, you know, this black cop just walked up to him, you know, and it just was the scene the way he looked at him, and he just crunched him."I just took my guitar out and put it on the ground and got in the car and went home…" Rock ‘n’ roll was not making him happy and Young felt disconnected from his fans. This unhappy period is documented on "Time Fades Away", the album. No doubt it remains unreleased because Young wants to forget. It would take the successful 1976 tour with Crazy Horse to lift his spirits and set him in a new direction as a rock ‘n’ roll survivor.

Of all the shows from the ’73 tour, this is one of the best in sound quality. The vocals are upfront and Young sings well. There’s also the rare "Here We Are In The Years". The drums and guitars are properly balanced and offer a solid backing to the singing. So is this a professional recording? This show was taken from a torrent site. According to the seeder, it was copied from a vinyl bootleg, "The 1973 Tour", re-pitched and remastered. The sound is excellentfor the acoustic portion but is a bit muddy during the electric set. You can hear the clicks and pops here. Quite hissy at loud volumes. Never officially released.
- Professor Red, bigozine2.com

No link.

Unknow Cases - Masimba Bele (12 Inch, 1983)

"The Unknown Cases" was a german music project by Helmut Zerlett and Stefan Krachten.

Special Guest on the all-time-dj-track "Masimba Bele" was Reebob Kwaku Baah on vocals and percussion.

This 12 Inch was released in 1983 on Rough Trade.

1. (00:05:52) The Unknown Cases - Masimba Bele
2. (00:04:20) The Unknown Cases - Oëkikawai
3. (00:03:55) The Unknown Cases - Masimba Bele '96 (Radio Edit) [Bonus Track]

The Unknown Cases - Masimba Bele (12 Inch, 1983)

Safi Allah Abdullah - Afrika Is Burning And The Black Man Is Doing The Freak (1980, vinyl rip)

I´m definitly touched by this tune, so I decided to share it on this blog.

Thanks a lot to http://rippammell.blogspot.com for bringing this tune to my ears. This single was introduced with the following words on this very interesting blog - and there is nothing to add:

"Apocalyptic song but it really describes the situation! Musically, I think is beatiful, danceable but also very conscious and intense!! I reported all the data that were on the cover because I think that behind this production there is a huge staff!!!
Make your this perfect tune..."

Side A:
Afrika Is Burning And The Black Man Is Doing The Freak (Vocal - 6:53)

Side B:
Afrika Is Burning And The Black Man Is Doing The Freak (Dub 6:53)

Vocals: Safi Allah Abdullah
Music: Safi Allah Abdullah
Lyrics: Safi Allah Abdullah
Arrangement: Eugene Gray
Recorded At: Right Track Recorders, N. Y. C. - Franos, Brooklyn, N. Y. C.

Safi Allah Abdullah - Afrika Is Burning And...
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Michael Bakunin - Selected Works

"Replacing the cult of God by respect and love of humanity, we proclaim human reason as the only criterion of truth; human conscience as the basis of justice; individual and collective freedom as the only source of order in society." - Michael Bakunin

Contents:
Aldred, Guy A. - Michel Bakunin, Communist.pdf
Bakunin - God and the State.pdf
Bakunin - Integral Education.pdf
Bakunin - Integral Education2.pdf
Bakunin - Marxism Freedom and the State.pdf
Bakunin - Power Corrupts The Best.pdf
Bakunin - Revolutionary Catechism.pdf
Bakunin - Rousseau's Theory of the State.pdf
Bakunin - Selected writings.pdf
Bakunin - Stateless Socialism = Anarchism.pdf
Bakunin - THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM.pdf
Bakunin - The Commune, the Church & The State.pdf
Bakunin - The Immorality of the State.pdf
Bakunin - The Organization of the International.pdf
Bakunin - The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State.pdf
Bakunin - The Policy of The International.pdf
Bakunin - Where i stand.pdf
J. M. W. - Mikhail Bakunin (The Torch of Anarchy).pdf

Michael Bakunin - Selected Works (2 MB)

Killamanjaro vs Super Saint & Black Scorpio 1988 (Dancehall Soundtape)

This is an original vintage dancehall classic:

A clash of three jamaican soundsystems in the year 1988: Killamanjaro vs. Super Saint & Black Scorpio.

Jeremy Lee was the selector with performances by Ninja Man, Shabba Ranks, Papa San, Sanchez, Little John, Hopeton James, Flourgan, Red Dragon and Don Angelo.
It´s a classic tape, so the sound is not as we know it from recent productions.

No link.

Tony Matterhorn Live @ Jamrock Amsterdam Mix-CD

Tony Matterhorn is known as the #1 dancehall selector in the world, he won several "World Clashes" and worked with every big name in the dancehall & reggae scene.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Tony Matterhorn was drawn to the sound system and selector (or DJing) business in high school, and soon after made a name for himself as part of the duo King Addis and his ability to deliver an energetic and exciting live show.
Performing in clubs all over North America, Matterhorn's style of hardcore dancehall began winning him accolades, including a victory at the dancehall "World Cup" in 2000. He finally broke through to mainstream American audiences in the summer of 2006 with his song "Dutty Wine," which was heavily played on R & B and rap stations around the country.

Here´s the man mashing up Jamrock @ the Brasil Bar in Amsterdam on August, 22, 2005:

No link.

Roots Doctor - Heavy Weight Stylee Vol. 1 Mix

Greetings to all roots reggae lovers from Italy!

After several tests here is the first mix by the Italien reggae sound "Roots Doctor".

It is a 100 % vinyl set inna heavyweight style!

No link.

Syl Johnson - Back For A Taste Of Your Love

A rollicking vocalist and gifted harmonica player, Syl Johnson has forged a career in both blues and soul. The brother of bassist Mac Thompson and guitarist/vocalist Jimmy Johnson, Syl Johnson sang and played with blues artists Magic Sam, Billy Boy Arnold, and Junior Wells in the '50s before recording with Jimmy Reed for Vee-Jay in 1959. He made his solo debut that same year with Federal. Johnson toured with Howlin' Wolf from late 1959 until 1962, when Willie Mitchell signed him to Hi Records.

Johnson recorded for both Twilight and Hi in the late '60s and early '70s, clicking with the dance/novelty cut "Come on Sock It to Me" and crackling message track "Is It Because I'm Black?" He had his biggest hit with "Take Me to the River" in 1975, reaching number seven on the R&B charts. Johnson later recorded for Shama and Boardwalk. He reappeared on a collaboration with his brother Jimmy in the summer of 2002, humorously titled "Two Johnsons Are Better Than One".

Here´s one of Syl's Hi LPs, and one in which he moves his hard Chicago soul groove over to Willie Mitchell's production style, which has a bit more of a mellow tip to it. Syl wrote a number of the tracks, and the titles include "I'm Yours", "Feelin' Frisky", "I Hate I Walked Away", and "The Love You Left Behind".

No link.

Desmond Dekker - This Is Desmond Dekker (Trojan)

Desmond Dekker (July 16, 1941 – May 25, 2006) was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer and songwriter

Together with his backing group, The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the first international Jamaican hits with “Israelites”. Other hits include “007 (Shanty Town)” (1967) and “It Miek” (1969). Before the ascent of Bob Marley, Dekker was one of the most popular musicians within Jamaica, and one of the best-known musicians outside it.

Here´s his classic album "This Is Desmond Dekkar":

Desmond Dekker - This Is Desmond Dekkar

(192 kbps, front cover included)

Palestine - Music of the Intifada (1989)

In our post 9-11 world, one can’t imagine a major label issuing a (great) compilation called "Palestine: Music of the Intifada".
Yet in 1989 that’s exactly with Virgin Records did.

From the linernotes:

"Music of the Intifada is a popular celebration of the current struggle. It points out issues and symbols central to the Palestinian resistance such as the people, the land and freedom. Not only does it summarize Palestinian aspirations but also it reflects the radical social changes that are being brought about by the daily struggle against occupation."

The tracks in arabic language were recorded in 1988 in West Berlin.

01 Sabaya Al Intifada - Min Al Mukhayyam Toulad Al Ru’aya
02 In A’d Rifaki - Al Raba’yye
03 In A’d Rifaki - Al Kassam Al Filistini
04 Al-Amal Ashabi - Jirah Lan Tamout
05 Abnaa El-Balad - Ajrass Al Intisar
06 Palestinian Student Karmel Group - Al Intifada Was Jabal Al Thawra
07 In A’d Rifaki - Kulluna Fil Tareeq
08 Palestinian Student Karmel Group - Watani Laysa Hakiba
09 Muhiddine Al Bagdadi - Al Fajir
10 Sabaya Al Intifada - Jabal Al Zaytoun
11 Al-Amal Ashabi - Bism Ilhurriya
12 Sabaya Al Intifada - Ummi Al Habiba
13 Muhiddine Al Bagdadi - Al Hegran
14 In A’d Rifaki - In A’d Rifaki

Palestine - Music Of The Intifada (1989)

Memphis Slim - Chicago Recordings 1940/41

Memphis Slim (born as John Chatman on 3 September 1937 in Chicago) was a huge and imposing blues singer and pianist. He brought an air of sophistication to barrelhouse and boogie-woogie piano which, after all, came out of the lumber camps and honky-tonks of the southern states of the USA
After an early career in Memphis, where he emulated barrelhouse piano players like Roosevelt Sykes and Speckled Red, he made his own unique contribution to the style and took it to Chicago and signed with Okeh Records in 1939 and also recorded for Bluebird Records. He played piano as Big Bill Broonzy´s partner until 1944.
In 1944, he set out with his own jump blues band, recording his most famous numbers on Hy-Tone Records. In later years, he had memorable partnerships with guitarist Matt Murphy and legendary bassman Willie Dixon. After a 1961 European tour with Dixon, he left the United States in 1962 and moved permanently to Paris and acted as an ambassador for the blues. There he made sure that the audience not only enjoyed his music but also understood its history.
Memphis Slim died on February 24, 1988 in Paris France at the age of 72. During his lifetime, he cut over 500 recordings and influenced blues pianists that followed him for decades.
Here are 24 fine recordings he did in 1940/41 in Chicago:

Memphis Slim - Chicago Recordings 1940/41
(mp3, 160 kbps, ca. 77 MB)

Aufstand des Gewissens - Dokumentation über den deutschen Widerstand gegen Hitler

This is a historic documentation about resistance in Germany against the nazi dictature and the brutal repression by the state, released in 1961 on Ariola Schallplatten.

Even if this does not represent nowadays knowledge about the different parts of the resistance, it is an interesting historic recording with a lot of original sound samples.

01. Roland Freisler im Volksgerichtshof am 8.9.1944
02. Joseph Goebbels in Berlin am 25.3.1933
03. Gefängnispfarrer Harald Poelchau im Rundfunk (nach 1945)
04. Otto Wels im Reichstag am 23.3.1933
05. Adolf Hitler im Reichstag am 23.3.1933
06. Hermann Göring im Reichstag am 23.3.1933
07. Adolf Hitler im Reichstag am 13.7.1934
08. Pastor Martin Niemöller in der Annenkirche Berlin-Dahlem am 7.4.1937 (1961 nachgesprochen)
09. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler im Rundfunk 1936
10. Adolf Hitler vor „alten Kämpfern“ Januar 1937
11. Adolf Hitler vor Gauleitern auf der Ordensburg „Sonthofen“ 1937
12. Ulrich-Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld vor dem Volksgerichtshof (August 1944)13. Joseph Goebbels am 25.10.1941
14. Roland Freisler im Volksgerichtshof (Herbst 1944)
15. Michael Kardinal Faulhaber in der Münchener Frauenkirche am 3.11.1943
16. Heinrich Himmler vor Gauleitern in Posen am 3.8.1944
17. Alfred Jodl vor Gauleitern März 1944
18. Adolf Hitler vor Wehrwirtschaftsführern in Berlin Ende Juni 1944
19. Adolf Hitler im Rundfunk am 21.7.1944
20. Unbekannter Angeklagter vor dem Volksgerichtshof 1944
21. Joseph Goebbels im Rundfunk am 27.7.1944
22. Ernst Remer am 20.7.1944
23. Adolf Hitler im Rundfunk am 21.7.1944
24. Heinrich Himmler vor Gauleitern in Posen am 3.8.1944
25. Vernehmung Erwin von Witzlebens durch Freisler vor dem Volksgerichtshof am 7.8.1944
26. Vernehmung Helmuth Stieffs durch Freisler vor dem Volksgerichtshof am 7.8.1944
27. Oberreichsanwalt Ernst Lautz im Volksgericht am 15.8.1944
28. Adolf Hitler im Rundfunk am 21.7.1944
29. Heinrich Himmler vor Gauleitern in Posen am 3.8.1944
30. Vernehmung Graf Helldorffs durch Freisler vor dem Volksgerichtshof am 15.8.1944
31. Oberreichsanwalt Ernst Lautz im Volksgerichtshof am 15.8.1944
32. Dr. Leonhard Schwarz (Pflichtverteidiger des Grafen v. Üxkuell-Gyllenband) im Volksgerichtshof am 14.9.1944
33. Roland Freisler im Volksgerichtshof am 14.9.1944
34. Pastor Martin Niemöller in der Annenkirche Berlin-Dahlem am 7.4.1937 (1961 nachgesprochen)

Aufstand des Gewissens (in german language)

Paragons - Golden Hits (Treasure Isle)

 

The Paragons, who, along with contemporaries like the Heptones and Ken Boothe, helped to define the transitional rocksteady sound that led from ska to reggae, had an impact on the development of reggae music that was out of all proportion to their recorded output.

Apart from such local hit singles as "Wear You to the Ball" and "On the Beach," they recorded the original version of "The Tide Is High," which would later be a huge stateside hit for Blondie.

"Golden Hits" includes all of those tracks, as well as a number of other gems, all of them featuring the Paragons' patented smooth vocal harmonies and the rock-solid rhythms of Tommy McCook's Soulsonics band, excellently produced by the legendary Duke Reid at his Treasure Isle studio.

As with so many albums on the Lagoon imprint, this one is of questionable legitimacy - it duplicates exactly the classic Treasure Isle album "On the Beach", though the program here ends with "Riding High on a Windy Day" (whereas the Treasure Isle release includes four additional tracks).

Paragons - Golden Hits (Treasure Isle)
192 kbps

Pop Will Eat Itself - Poppiecock (12 Inch EP, 1986)

Taking their name from an NME feature on the group Jamie Wednesday (later known as Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine), the archetypal grebo band Pop Will Eat Itself formed in Stourbridge, England in 1986. Comprised of vocalist/guitarist Clint Mansell, keyboardist Adam Mole, drummer Graham Crabb and bassist Richard March, PWEI began their existence as a Buzzcocks-influenced indie guitar band, and issued their self-produced debut EP "The Poppies Say Grrr" in 1986.

While recording their follow-up EP "Poppiecock", PWEI became immersed in sampling, drawing material from sources ranging from James Brown to Iggy Pop; soon Crabb emerged from behind his drum kit to join Mansell as co-frontman, and a drum machine was installed in his place. Honing a fusion of rock, pop and rap which they dubbed "grebo," the Poppies kickstarted a small revolution; by the release of their 1987 full-length debut "Box Frenzy" and the hit "There Is No Love Between Us Anymore," grebo — the name quickly given the entire subculture of similarly grimy and raunchy bands — was all the rage in the British music press.

Pop Will Eat Itself - Poppiecock (12 Inch EP, 1986)

Put It On - It´s Rocksteady (1968)

Released on the Island label in 1968, this is a fine ska, rocksteady & reggae album to start a saturday night party! Enjoy the vibes! Will spin some records in a small club tonight and this album is definitly in my case...

Tracks:

01 The Wailers - Put It On[

02 King Perry - Doctor Dick

03 The Clarendonians - Rude Boy Gone Jail

04 Delroy Wilson - Dancing Mood

05 Justin Hines - Save A Bread

06 Movin' Brothers - Darling I Love You

07 Bob Andy - I've Got To Come Back Home[

08 The Tartans - Dance All Night

09 Hopeton Lewis - Let The Little Girl Dance

10 Ken Boothe - Feel Good

11 Mr. Foundation - See Them A Come

12 Gaylads - Won't You Come Home Baby

13 Three Tops - It's Raining

14 Pat Kelly - Somebody's Baby

.

Put It On - It´s Rocksteady (1968)

(192 kbps)

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Bristol, UK, Fiddlers Club (December 4, 2002)

Gillian Welch first appeared on the folk scene as a young singer/songwriter armed with a voice and sensibility far beyond her years, earning widespread acclaim for her deft, evocative resurrection of the musical styles most commonly associated with rural Appalachia of the early 20th century. Welch was born in 1967 in Manhattan and grew up in West Los Angeles, where her parents wrote material for the comedy program The Carol Burnett Show. It was as a child that she became fascinated by bluegrass and early country music, in particular the work of the Stanley Brothers, the Delmore Brothers, and the Carter Family.

In the early '90s, Welch attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA, where she began performing her own material, as well as traditional country and bluegrass songs, as part of a duo with fellow student David Rawlings. After honing their skills in local open mike showcases, the duo began performing regularly throughout the country. While opening for Peter Rowan in Nashville, they were spotted by musician and producer T-Bone Burnett, who helped Welch and Rawlings land a record deal. With Burnett producing, they cut 1996's starkly beautiful "Revival", an album split between bare-bones duo performances — some even recorded in mono to capture a bygone sound— and more full-bodied cuts featuring legendary session men like guitarist James Burton, upright bassist Roy Huskey, Jr., and drummers Buddy Harmon and Jim Keltner.

Her sophomore album, "Hell Among the Yearlings", followed in 1998. The years following her second release found Welch involved in several soundtracks (O Brother Where Art Thou, Songcatcher), tribute albums (Songs of Dwight Yoakam: Will Sing for Food, Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons), and guest spots on other artists' albums (Ryan Adams´ Heartbreaker, Mark Knopfler's Sailing to Philadelphia). Following the success of O Brother, Welch and Rawlings found themselves in the center of a traditional American folk revival and released their third album, "Time (The Revelator)", in mid-2001. Steady touring, guest appearances, and the release of a DVD (The Revelator Collection) kept the pair busy, but in 2003 they found time to record "Soul Journey", their second release on their own Acony Records label.

This sweet soundboard from Bristol in 2002 has everything you could want from a Gillian Welch & David Rawlings show: the great songs and musicianship, the tight vocal harmonies and it covers all of their recorded work as well as providing a few choice covers.

No links.

Derrick Harriott and the Crystalites - Undertaker (1970)

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, reggae singer/producer Derrick Harriott began as a member of the Jiving Juniors (from 1958 through 1962) before embarking on his own solo career, in addition to producing other artists, including the Ethiopians, Keith and Tex.

Harriott tended to rework old R&B love songs as reggae tunes, but his best-known song, "The Loser," was an original composition. In 1971, Swing Magazine named Harriott Top Producer of 1970, as he was also one of the first to utilize the now renowned King Tubby's recording studio.

The '70s saw the release of such solo albums as "Undertaker", S"ongs for Midnight Lovers", and "Psychedelic Lovers". Although not much was heard from Harriott during the '80s in terms of solo releases, the mid- to late '90s saw the emergence of such solo efforts as "Sings Jamaican Rock Steady Reggae", "For a Fistful of Dollars", "Derrick Harriott & Giants", and "Riding the Roots Chariot".

Here´s the album "Undertaker", released on Trojan records in 1970, an instrumental album in a similar vein to the early music of The Upsetters.

Derrick Harriott and the Crystalites - Undertaker (1970)

(192 kbps)

Revernd Gary Davis - Living Room Tape, Denver CO, 1968

Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, (April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972) was a blues and gospel singer and guitarist. His unique finger-picking style influenced many other artists and his students in New York City included Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Roy Book Binder, Woody Mann, Nick Katzman, Dave Van Ronk, Tom Winslow, and Ernie Hawkins.

Born in Laurens, South Carolina, Davis became blind at a very young age. He took to the guitar and assumed a unique multi-voice style produced solely with his thumb and index finger, playing not only ragtime and blues tunes, but also traditional and original tunes in four-part harmony.

In the mid-1920s, Davis migrated to Durham, North Carolina, a major center for black culture at the time. There he collaborated with a number of other artists in the Piedmont blues scene including Blind Boy Fuller and Bull City Red. In 1935, J. B. Long, a store manager with a reputation for supporting local artists, introduced Davis, Fuller and Red to the American Record Company. The subsequent recording sessions marked the real beginning of Davis' career. During his time in Durham, Davis converted to Christianity; he would later become ordained as a Baptist minister. Following his conversion and especially his ordination, Davis began to express a preference for inspirational gospel music.

In the 1940s, the blues scene in Durham began to decline and Davis migrated to New York City. By the 1960s, he had become known as the "Harlem Street Singer" and also acquired a reputation as the person to see if you wanted to learn to play guitar. As a teacher, Davis was exceptionally patient and thorough, making sure students would learn and adapt his original left-hand fingerings. The folk revival of the 1960s re-invigorated Davis' career, culminating in a performance at the Newport Folk Festival and the recording by Peter, Paul and Mary of "Samson and Delilah", also known as "If I Had My Way", originally a Blind Willie Johnson recording that Davis had popularized.

Possibly this living room tape was recorded the day or evening before his performance at the 1968 Denver Folk Festival. The tape allows you an intimate look at the Revernds amazing guitar technique.

Tracklist:

Disc 1:

1 She's Funny That Way

2 Playin' The Piano

3 Maple Leaf Rag

4 Give That Ford More Gas

5 (talk and playing)

6 Nearer My God To Thee

Disc 2:

1 Civil War March

2 Old Drunken Sally

3 Sally, Where'd You Get That Liquor From?

4 Children Of Zion

5 My Grandmother's Cat

Revernd Gary Davis - Living Room Tape, Denver CO, 1968 cd 1

Revernd Gary Davis - Living Room Tape, Denver CO, 1968 cd 2

(256 kbps)

Exuma - Exuma, The Obeah Man (1970)

One of the most unique and hard to classify artists of the 1970s, Exuma was a singular talent. Mixing the infectious rhythms and folkloric qualities of Bahamian music with rock, country, and other U.S. influences and adding a sharply satiric element of social commentary, Exuma's music aimed for the heart and the feet at the same time.

Exuma was born McFarlane Anthony McKay on Cat Island in the Bahamas sometime in the early '40s (no one seems to know exactly when). Raised on traditional Bahamian folk songs and the popular music known as junkanoo, a West African-based Bahamian version of calypso or samba named after a Boxing Day festival that's the local equivalent of Mardi Gras or Carnival, McKay nevertheless planned a career as an architect and fell into life as a performer almost by accident. Moving to New York in the early '60s to attend architecture school, McKay soon found himself living in the state of near-penury that's the urban college student's life. Noting the popularity of Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence's records in the Greenwich Village folk scene, McKay began playing venues like the Bitter End and Cafe Wha?, bringing traditional Bahamian folk music to the city, first as a solo artist but quickly forming a group called Tony McKay and the Islanders.

Tony McKay and the Islanders were a popular club band, opening for artists like Richie Havens or Peter, Paul and Mary through the mid-'60s. McKay began undergoing a personal transformation by the end of the decade, absorbing political influences from the black power movement and musical influences from acts like the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Sly and the Family Stone. McKay translated this political and artistic excitement through the traditions of his homeland and re-emerged by decade's end as Exuma, the Obeah Man. (Exuma, besides being the name of one of the Bahamas' largest islands, was a spirit balanced between the worlds of the living and the dead; Obeah is an Afro-Caribbean tradition of sorcery, like Santeria in Cuba or Vodun in Haiti.)

Signed to Mercury Records in 1969, Exuma quickly released two albums, "Exuma the Obeah Man" and "Exuma II" (both 1970). Mixing powerful Afro-Caribbean rhythms with Exuma's shamanistic exhortations and vividly Obeah-inspired lyrics, these albums were conceptually similar to what Nigeria's Fela Kuti was beginning to do around the same time. Like Fela, however, Exuma was largely ignored by American press, radio, and consumers, and Mercury quickly dropped him.

Exuma's debut album was a real odd piece of work, even by the standards of the late '60s and early '70s, when major labels went further out on a limb to throw weird stuff at the public to see what would stick than they ever had before or have since. Roughly speaking, it's kind of like a combination of the Bahamian folk of Joseph Spence with early Dr. John at his most voodooed-out, though even that nutshell doesn't really do justice to how unusual this record is. Often it seems more like eavesdropping on a tribal ritual than listening to songs. Some of the tracks, indeed, have little or less to do with conventional "songs" than with tunes and lyrics; they're more akin to Mardi Gras street percussion jams airlifted to the Caribbean islands. Exuma and his accompanists make quite a spooky clamor with their various bells, foot drums, chanting, gasps, sighs, shouts, and other percussive instruments, creating a mood both celebratory and scary. He's not totally averse to using more standard song forms, though, singing about "zombies walking in the broad daylight" in "Mama Loi, Papa Loi"; devising a simple, fairly singable soul melody for "You Don't Know What's Going On," his most famous song due to its inclusion in the movie "Joe"; and setting "The Vision" to an appealing, if again quite simple, folk melody. Exuma's rough, unschooled vocals cut off any prospect of mainstream accessibility, but they get the job done in getting both his uplifting and ominous spirituality over.

No link.

Mike Bloomfield Allstars - Prisoner´s Benefit (San Francisco, April, 20th 1977)

.
Michael Bloomfield was one of America's first great white blues guitarists, earning his reputation on the strength of his work in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. His expressive, fluid solo lines and prodigious technique graced many other projects — most notably Bob Dylan's earliest electric forays — and he also pursued a solo career, with variable results.

Uncomfortable with the reverential treatment afforded a guitar hero, Bloomfield tended to shy away from the spotlight after spending just a few years in it; he maintained a lower-visibility career during the '70s due to his distaste for fame and his worsening drug problems, which claimed his life in 1981.

The performance released on the bootleg "Mike Bloomfield Allstars - Prisoner´s Benefit" was part of a multi-group benefit for the San Francisco prisoners' fund.

Tracks:
1. I Don’t Want No Wife
2. Movin’
3. You Send Me
4. Feel So Bad
5. Mr. Pitiful
6. Tell It Like it Is
7. When I Was A Cowboy
8. Women Lovin’ Each Other
9. Try It Before You Buy It
10. Too Much Monkey Business

Mike Bloomfield – guitar, vocals on tracks 7,8,9 & piano on track 1
John Cipollina – guitars
Mark Naftalin – piano
Roger Troy – bass, vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 10.
Robert Jones – drums, vocals on tracks 4, 5, 6.

Mike Bloomfield Allstars - Prisoner´s Benefit (1977, bootleg)

Robert Johnson - Cross Road Blues

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) is among the most famous of Delta blues musicians. His landmark recordings from 1936–1937 display a remarkable combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend.

Robert Johnson’s original recordings are definitely not for everyone. I’ll be the first to admit that when I first heard them I was a bit startled by their shockingly raw feel, but I also knew that was precisely what makes them great. This music has such emotional value that it inspires all sorts of musicians to continue to strive to be that real and authentic in their music. If you’re a blues lover, a rock and roller, a soul singer or any type of musician where putting your entire soul out there is your primary concern, than you owe it to yourself to check out these recordings.

I think that to be this honest and this raw in one’s music is really what it is all about. Music is about expressing emotions and conveying those emotions to your audience and making them feel them as well. Robert Johnson’s music is a great example of music that can do just that: convey powerful emotions as openly and as honestly as possible and I think that is what continues to draw new musicians to his music.

Here´s a budget-priced compilaton that serves as a reminder that Johnson recorded some of the most important sides in the history of the blues.

Robert Johnson - Cross Road Blues

Blixa Bargeld liest Bertolt Brecht - Erotische Gedichte

Blixa Bargeld (born Christian Emmerich on January 12, 1959 in West Berlin, Germany) is a composer, author, actor, singer, musician, performer and lecturer in a number of artistic fields. He is best known for his studio work and tours with the groups Einstürzende Neubauten and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Here´s a spoken voice recording by Blixa Bargeld in German of Bertolt Brecht's erotic poems - sounds of the 20s and 30s of the last century, with a lot of decadence and frivolity..

Blixa Bargeld liest Bertolt Brecht - Erotische Gedichte