Louis Killen - Ballads & Broadsides (Topic, 1965)

A dynamic singer of great individuality and integrity, Louis Killer has long been regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the mid-Twentieth century British folk revival.

Born and raised in the heart of the industrial North East of England of Irish descent, Killen grew up in a musical family and carne early to a love of folk music. In 1958 he founded "Folk Song and Ballad, Newcastle" - one of the first folk clubs in Britain. He recorded two EPs for Topic in 1962 - and Northumbrian Garland. The following year he participated in the Trade Union sponsored "Centre 42" concerts, which led to an invitation from A L Lloyd to contribute to the important themed collections "The Iron Muse", "Farewell Nancy" and "Tommy Armstrong of Tyneside".

Louis Killen's first full-length solo recording, "Ballads & Broadsides", was published in 1965. The recording sessions look place in Bill Leader's Camden Town flat, when Killen was just thirty and had been a professional musician for two years. The album is a classic; one of the first solo recordings from Killen's generation of revivalists and has been an important influence on younger singers for over four decades.

Tracklist:
01 Young Edwin in the Lowlands
02 As we were a-saìling
03 The flying cloud
04 All things are quite silent
05 One may morning
06 The cock
07 The bramble briar
08 Thorneymoor woods
09 The banks of sweet Primeroses

Louis Killen: vocals, concertina

Louis Killen - Ballads & Broadsides (1965)
(ca. 192 kbps, cover art included)

Gone Fishin!

…so, no blog posts in the next two weeks.  Have a good time, greetings!

Harun Farocki is dead - Rest in peace!

Renowned German filmmaker and video artist Harun Farocki died on Wednesday at 70-years-old. Galerie Ropac confirmed the artist’s passing to the German magazine Monopol.The gallery has represented Farocki since 2007.

 

Born in 1944 in present day Czechoslovakia, but what was then part of Germany, the artist make over 90 films during his lifetime. He studied at the German Academy of Film and Television from 1966 to 1968, developing a unique documentary style that was deeply critical of the media and ways in which images have shaped contemporary life and ideology.

 

From 1974 to 1984 Harocki served as the editor of Munich-based film journal Filmkritik. He moved to California during the 1990s where he taught at UC Berkeley. Farocki began greater engagement with the art world in the 2000s. He took part in Documenta 12, presenting Deep Play (2007), which broke down footage from the 2006 World Cup, held in Germany, across 12 monitors.

 

He has enjoyed solo museum shows at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, New York’s MoMA, Cologne’s Museum Ludwig, and London’s Tate Modern, among others.

Aside from Galerie Ropac, Farocki is represented by Galerie Barbara Weiss in Berlin and Greene Naftali Gallery in New York.

 

Maybe you want to check out some of his films on the wonderful Arsenevich blog.

Word, Brass & Steel - Same (1976)

The disco group Wood, Brass & Steel recorded a selftitled album for Turbo/All Platinum Records, the label of Sylvia and Joe Robinson, in 1976.

The album spawned a pair of minor hits in the form of "Always There" (a Ronnie Laws cover that did well in the U.K.). Bassist Doug Wimbish and guitarist Skip McDonald played a lot of music together, in clubs and colleges around New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Three years after that, Skip and Doug teamed up with Keith LeBlanc and they became the house band for the Robinsons’ new label, Sugar Hill Records. The trio subsequently played on seminal early rap hits such as The Message and White Lines (Don’t Do It) with Grandmaster Flash.
Later they relocated to the U.K. and formed Tackhead as well as Fats Comet with Adrian Sherwood.   

Tracklist:

Funkanova	5:35
My Darling Baby	4:00
Theme Song	3:00
Working On A Dream	3:04
Say What You Want To Say	3:37
Same Ol' Me	3:25
My Lady	3:25
Without You	6:30
Welcome To The Party	3:30
Always There	5:25

Word, Brass & Steel - Same (1976)       
(320 kbps, front cover included)       

Reneshoua

Jillem, thanks a lot for all your musical gifts, we miss you and your wonderful blog! Hope to see your blog again soon!

Mighty Ryeders - Help Us Spread The Message

A funky treasure from the 70s - a record that hardly made waves at the time, but which has lived on strongly for years - thanks to a great sample history and key interest from generations of groove diggers! Coming on like a black hippie missionary cult (a belief bolstered by the cover photo of the band sitting atop several globes featuring each of the continents), the Ryeders' sole album is chock full of killer creative tracks mixing funk, soul and boogie-disco arrangements.



Mighty Ryeders have a sound that's clearly influenced by Earth Wind & Fire - funk with a good dose of jazz, often done with some righteous undercurrents in the lyrics - but their groove is also a bit more rough-edged too, sharing some funky 45-levels of excitement, and showing a great ear for sharply jazzy changes! This last aspect has really helped the group's sound stay fresh over the years - and the album's a treasure trove of killer cuts - from the famous "Evil Vibrations" (sampled by De La Soul on "A Rollerskating Jam Named Saturday"), right on down through other gems like "The Mighty Ryeders", "Let There Be Peace", "Lovely", "Help Us Spread The Message", "Fly Away With Me", "Sar Children", and "I've Really Got The Feeling".

Mighty Ryeders - Help Us Spread The Message
(192 kbps, small cover included)

The Best Of Chess Rock´n´Roll (1989)

"The Best of Chess Rock & Roll" gives a good portrait of the seminal record label's massive contributions to rock & roll.

Not only are landmarks like Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" and Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" covered, but cult favorites like the Moonglows and the Students are also featured. With "Johnny B. Goode," "Maybelline," "Who Do You Love," "Ain't Got No Home," "Rocket 88," and "Susie Q", it is one of the most essential single-disc rock collections ever assembled.
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The Best Of Chess Rock´n´Roll (1989)

(192 kbps, full cover art included)

Greetings!

We will be back in some days.

Greetings!

RIP Pete Seeger

Legendary folk singer, activist and icon to those that believe and fight for peace, justice, and good music, Pete Seeger passed away today at the age of 94. It's difficult to sum up a career that encompassed the better part of a century, guided some of the greatest songwriters of the 60s and 70s, and, until his death, continued to join in marches and other non-violent resistance working toward the utopian world that he dreamed of. Seeger's contributions to folk music include the seminal "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Where Have all the Flowers Gone?" But beyond on that, it was through Seeger's voice and banjo that he kept alive centuries of folk. Seeger's father was an ethnomusicologist and Seeger was a living embodiment of the commitment to the music and the people of the United States. Because, it's through music that our despair, heartbreak, joy, resistance, languished cries, and cries of freedom are given voice and heard.

 

Seeger's path wasn't easy, though. In the 1960s, he was being persecuted by the House Un-American Activities for his politics. But, Seeger carried on, performing for communities and at schools.

 

The world just got one step further away from utopia today. Rest in peace, Pete.

 

(Thanks to http://welistenforyou.blogspot.de/ for these wonderful words.)


LaserGuidedWhiteHouse wrote in the comment section:

"Off topic, bit it's already later than yesterday (it always is)....I wanted to say here some kind of thank you to Peter Seeger, who passed away yesterday in New York. He was a great man, and I'll remember him always as a most uncommon sort of person, a person who believed in the power of every single person to change the world, to make it a better place, a more humane place where every man, woman, and child would have enough. A single voice singing some meaningful and passionate words can become 20 voices, a thousand voices, 100 million voices, and he was one of the very first people to show that to everybody in this age of mass-communication. Sometimes just knowing that a person will bravely stand up to speak for you, when you don't think you have a voice, can really change your mind. You know you're not alone, that there are others; and you realize as your voices are borne aloft that no matter how much someone may be trying to squash you from above, you have the power to fight back, and win. It's just as much your world as theirs, and kindness and caring and the union of humanity are what it's all about in the end, as long as everyone speaks up, as long as everyone sings out. So let us always remember his message, especially in this new age of what appears to be some sort of quietly creeping global crypto-fascism. Lift your voices. Rest in Peace Pete."