VA - Poets In New York - Federico Garcia Lorca (1986)

Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads during the Spanish Civil War.

His collection "Poeta en Nueva York" ("A poet in New York", published posthumously in 1942) explores alienation and isolation through some graphically experimental poetic techniques and was influenced by the Wall Street crash whichhe personally witnessed. This condemnation of urban capitalist society and materialistic modernity was a sharp departure from his earlier work and label as a folklorist

This album was released due to the fifth anniversary of his execution. It gatheres artist from different countrys to honour the great artist.

Tracklist:

1 - Take This Waltz (Leonard Cohen)
2 - Negres Els (Lluís Llach)
3 - Grid to Roma (Angelo Branduardi)
4 - Birth of Christ (Victor Manuel)
5 - Your Childhood in Menton (David Broza)
6 - Asesinato (Paco de Lucia and Pepe)
7 - The Dawn (and Chico Fagner)
8 - Blacks Dancing to Cuban Rhythms (Georges Moustaki and Mikis Theodorakis)
9 - Unsleeping City (Donovan)
10 - Kleines Gedicht Unendlich (Manfred Maurenbrecher)
11 - Oda a Walt Whitman (Patxi Andión)

VA - Poets In New York - Frederico Garcia Lorca

Thanks a lot to Nikos for this album!

Loleatta Holloway - Love Sensation (Salsoul)

Loleatta Holloway was born in Chicago, Illinois in November 1946, and began her career singing gospel music with the Queen of Gospel, Albertina Walker and the Caravans. In 1976 she began singing on disco productions (mainly on Salsoul Records), and was responsible for some classics like "Love Sensation" or "Relight My Fire" by Dan Hartman. In 1984, Holloway left Salsoul Records and began to work on an album, "Crash Goes Love". Unfortunately it was never completed and only two singles were released for Streetwise, the title track and "Heartstealer". During the following years, many of her old hits were adapted by House producers like Black Box who used the original acapellas of her songs over new melodies. According to her, she never earned a penny of most of these productions. The only time she was paid and credited was on the Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch song "Good Vibrations" (1991), which also sampled some of her vocals for "Love Sensation". Loleatta Holloway is still performing on stage and if you ever get the chance to see her, don't miss it!"Love Sensation", the album, features the fantastic title track in three guises, although two are virtually indistinguishable. That this song has been sampled in so many ways so many times is a testament to its appeal. Holloway's vocals are in full bloom here (and in Black Box, and in Marky Mark, etc etc), but the complexity of this Dan Hartman composition is lost in the sampling. It is a rousing dance floor classic that seems not to have been included in many of the "Best-Of" disco lists that grace the appendices of the burgeoning popular dance books out lately. I think perhaps it should.

The album as a whole is, like Holloway's previous "Loleatta," an assortment of dance tracks, bluesy ballads, and a few midtempo ballads. Bobby and Cecil Womack's "Short End of the Stick" is a fine uptempo piece, too short at 3 1/2 minutes. There are several other Womack pieces, eccentric projects that the singer throws herself into.

There are several Norman Harris, Philly-based tracks. Holloway belts them out in robust fashion.
"Love Sensation" grew out of the Holloway-Hartman collaboration that also produced his "Relight My Fire." There are no other Hartman-produced songs on the album. A Shep Pettibone remix of "Love Sensation" shows the songs' timelessness but does not equal the original Tom Moulton mix.

This is a re-release of her original 1980 album, with 2 additional tracks. The listing for tracks 2 to 8 is completely incorrect on the release, below is the correct sequence of titles (they follow the original LP's A-side + B-side).


Tracklisting:

01 Love Sensation (6:05)
02 Long Hard Climb To Love (4:35)
03 Short End Of The Stick (3:25)
04 I've Been Loving You Too Long (4:43)
05 Two Became A Crowd (5:22)
06 Dance What 'Cha Wanna (5:11)
07 My Way (5:26)
08 I'll Be Standing There (4:50)
09 Love Sensation (A Tom Moulton Mix) (6:33)
10 Love Sensation (Remixed By Shepp Pettibone) (7:46)

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Pressure Drop - Elusive

There are few who can lay claim to making such innovative and quintessentially music, with their roots buried deep in reggae, soul, funk, hip hop and the warehouse party culture that spawned the UK dance scene - Pressure Drop are true originals.

Somewhat overlooked and ignored by the greater public, the Blood Brothers partnership of Dave Henley and Justin Langlands, has survived a decade plus of genre-bending, fickle sub-set audiences. Paying more than a token gesture to a dietary upbringing of dub and reggae, this is one of their finest and richest works, a theatrical festival of lush strings and culturally tuned lyrics mixed with an abundance of different and varied instrumentation. Taking basic structures from a mainly downtempo palette of soul, lovers, hip-hop and emotional orchestration, Pressure Drop have produced a mature album that flows consistently, painting cinematic landscapes that disregard convention and fashion. With a large portion of the album comprised of Anita Jarret and Galliano's Constantine's singing, Henley and Langlands flex their producers' skills to the max, allowing the vocals to breathe amongst the rich array of sounds that surrounds them. A highly listenable album that demands critical applause for its originality and depth.

"Elusive" is a mix of electronic, jazz, soul and classical instrument sounds, underpinned with the deepest darkest bass notes. These thread together the eclectic tracks in this collection like a gorgeous charm bracelet, but each track on its own is polished, sophisticated, and oozes quality. For me, the soundscapes powerfully evoke images: a quiet seascape at night ("Foetus"); a poem performed in a smoky basement lounge somewhere in the small hours ("Sounds of Time"); a jungly tropical island paradise in hot sun with crashing surf ("Dusk", anomalously).

As a whole, "Elusive" transcends anything of a similar genre - comparisons are useless, because quite simply it does everything better than everything else. It's a mystery why this album hasn't reached wider publicity. Beg, borrow or steal a copy of "Elusive" and savour the joy of having unearthed a secret gem.

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