Joseph Schmidt - 1904 - 1942 (BelAge)

Joseph Schmidt was a tenor who lived in the first half of the twentieth century, whose glorious sound and way with a song made him a hugely popular radio star and recording artist; he was also the first singer the Nazis banned from Berlin radio.

Few tenors of his era evoked as much affection as Joseph Schmidt, the tiny tenor who in spite of his diminuitive stature, became a beloved figure in both German opera and cinema. Schmidt was born in 1904 in the small Romanian provincial town of Davidende. A child of musical parents from a cosmopolitan community, he was influenced by many cultures and was proficient in Romanian, French and German. His first vocal training was as a classic Hebrew singer in the local synagogue in Cernowitz. His first recital at the academy in Cernowitz included arias by Puccini, Verdi, Rossini and Bizet. At twenty he was sent to Berlin where he studied both piano and voice with Frau Dr. Jaffe and Professor Hermann Weissenborn. He was conscripted for military service from 1926 until 1929. and after his discharge accepted a position as cantor at the synagogue in Cernowitz, soon establishing a reputation that attracted the attention of Cornelius Bronsgeest, a renowned Baritone.

He was engaged soon after to sing the role of Vasco da Gama in a German radio broadcast of Meyerbeer's L'Africaine, and thus began a successful international career. He recorded many albums, mostly for Odeon/Parlophone as well as many films and radio broadcasts. Popular mostly with German and English speaking audiences his career was to run headlong into the emergence of the Nazi party and their hatred of the Jews. Ironically, his popularity was at its zenith at the same time the Nazi's were taking control of the Government and instituting cultural bans on Jewish artists, writers and performers. Richard Tauber did his best to shield Schmidt and scheduled a series of concerts with Tauber as conductor.

In 1937 Schmidt toured the United States, appearing with other eminent opera figures in a concert held at Carnegie Hall and performing in solo recitals across the country. By this time he was forbidden to appear in Germany and Austria, but was warmly welcomed in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1939 he returned to Cernowitz for a final visit with his recently widowed mother. As war erupted he tried to make his way to America, but made it only as far as a Swiss refugee camp in Gyrenbad. In 1940 he suffered a heart attack and was taken to the camp infirmary. He was quickly released, his complaints interpreted as excuses to escape the hard work of the camp. Forced to return to ditch digging he soon succumbed to a second heart attack and died. He was thirty-eight years old.

This album contains some of Joseph Schmidt´s great recordings for movies and as a Temple singer.

Joseph Schmidt - 1904 - 1942 (BelAge)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Sun Ra - Pictures Of Infinity (1971)

Although no precise date is given, these five cuts are thought to have been documented circa 1967-1968 by Sun Ra (piano) and his Arkestra in New York City, where the band was in residence at the time. There is a mixture of older works as well as newer selections on 1971's "Pictures of Infinity".

That said, even the established compositions - most notably the full-throttled reading of "Saturn" that commences the collection - are given fresh sonic visages. Tenor saxophonist John Gilmore is particularly potent with his flawless fluidity running melodic yet hard bopping lines over top of the solid rhythm section. He gives a hearty personality to his interjections as they dart in and out of the spiraling mile-a-minute arrangement. Bassist Ronnie Boykins is commanding, especially as his solo emerges out of drummer Nimrod Hunt's rapid-fire timekeeping. "Song of the Sparer" is an exquisite and rarely documented tune that begins with some intricate phrases from Ra before evolving into a languid and practically dirgelike improvisational piece. "Spontaneous Simplicity" is highlighted by some warm and inviting interplay between a flutist - presumably either Danny Davis or Pat Patrick - and Ra, whose strident piano accompaniment is remarkably suited to the earthy nature of the woodwind's ethereal, alternately liberating and plaintive sound. Immediately contrasting the more rural expressions is the aggressive extended free jazz attack heard on "Somewhere There." The bombastic percussion and practically sadistic sax-and-drum onslaught thrash about in an almost definitive example of the sheer power possessed by the Arkestra. The "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" chant concluding this long-player is similar to other versions and remains an affirmative statement juxtaposing an inescapably dissonant introduction with the playful nature of the singalong quality of the verses.                

Tracklist:

A1		Somewhere There	15:10
A2		Outer Spaceways Incorporated	7:02
B1		Saturn	6:08
B2		Song Of The Sparer	4:22
B3		Spontaneous Simplicity	7:56

Sun Ra - Pictures Of Infinity (1971)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

The Golden Gate Quartet - The Essential - Historical Recordings From The Forties And The Fifties

Pioneer Virginia gospel/pop quartet of the '30s and '40s. Calling their innovative approach to sacred hymns "jubilee" singing, the Golden Gate Quartet, propelled by Willie Johnson and William Langford, enjoyed massive acceptance far outside the church.

Their smooth Mills Brothers-influenced harmonies made the Gates naturals for pop crossover success, and they began recording for Victor in 1937. National radio broadcasts and an appearance on John Hammond's 1938 "Spirituals to Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall made them coast-to-coast favorites.

By 1941 the Gates were recording for Columbia minus Langford, and movie appearances were frequent: Star Spangled Rhythm, Hollywood Canteen, and Hit Parade of 1943, to name a few. Some experiments with R&B material didn't pan out during the late '40s, and Johnson defected to the Jubilaires in 1948.

The group emigrated to France in 1959; led by veteran bass singer Orlando Wilson, the Golden Gate Quartet's vocal blend is as powerful as ever. 

The Golden Gate Quartet - The Essential - Historical Recordings From The Forties And The Fifties
(256 kbps, front cover included)

   

Mills Blue Rhythm Band - 1933 - 1936

This fine big band was originally formed by drummer Willie Lynch as the Blue Rhythm Band in 1930 and as the Coconut Grove Orchestra, provided backup to Louis Armstrong on some records. In 1931, Irving Mills became their manager and the group was renamed the Mills Blue Rhythm Band.

Lynch's departure later that year resulted in Baron Lee fronting the band until Lucky Millinder took over in 1934. The big band recorded frequently during 1931-1937 (all of the recordings have been reissued on five Classics CDs) and, although the orchestra never really caught on or developed its own personality, its recordings did document many fine performances.

Among the sidemen were pianist Edgar Hayes, altoist Charlie Holmes, Joe Garland on tenor, drummer O'Neil Spencer, and by 1934, trumpeter Red Allen, trombonist J.C. Higginbotham, and clarinetist Benny Bailey. Later editions included altoist Tab Smith, pianist Billy Kyle, and trumpeters Charlie Shavers and Harry "Sweets" Edison. When the group broke up in 1938, Lucky Millinder formed his own big band.    

Many of the Mills Blue Rhythm Band's recordings are now considered jazz classics by collectors. Original records regularly appear on auction lists (which indicates that they did sell records over their lifespan), and recent reissue and remastering projects have made their recordings more widely available.

Mills Blue Rhythm Band - 1933 - 1936 pt. 1
Mills Blue Rhythm Band - 1933 - 1936 pt. 2
(256 kbps, front cover included)
       

Country Joe McDonald - Thinking Of Woody Guthrie (1969)

During the reigning years of San Francisco headband Country Joe and the Fish, singer and songwriter Joe McDonald took some time out to head to Nashville and record a pair of solo albums with the city’s top session men.

Released on the iconic Vanguard Records, these two albums saw McDonald take a broad left turn, away from psychedelia and deep into the traditional folk and country music that had helped inform his earlier years as a radical-political folksinger.

Indeed, the first of these two albums, Thinking of Woody Guthrie, was a heartfelt, play-it-straight tribute to the daddy of them all (the radical-political folksingers, that is). It is an album that does justice to the man who wrote all of the songs on it. Joe McDonald conveys all of the ranges of Woody's line of sight, from the migrant's resigned take on life ("Pastures Of Plenty"), to the dust-storm-beset people of Gray, Oklahoma ("So Long, It's Been Good To Know Yuh")to a guarded endorsement of the (then) major strides in technology for the greater good ("Roll On Columbia"). McDonald sings all of them with conviction and is backed by Nashville pros with talent to burn. Even "This Land Is Your Land" gets a vitality to it that's totally unexpected but great to hear.

 

Country Joe McDonald - Thinking Of Woody Guthrie (1969)

(256 kbps, front cover included)

Woody Guthrie - Dust Bowl Ballads (1940)

Sixty years after the recordings were first released, Woody Guthrie's odes to the Dust Bowl are presented in their third different configuration.

RCA Victor Records, the only major label for which Guthrie ever recorded, issued two three-disc 78 rpm albums, "Dust Bowl Ballads, Vol. 1" and "Dust Bowl Ballads, Vol. 2", in July 1940, containing a total of 11 songs. ("Tom Joad" was spread across two sides of a 78 due to its length.).
Twenty-four years later, with the folk revival at its height, RCA reissued the material on a single 12" LP in a new sequence and with two previously unreleased tracks, "Pretty Boy Floyd" and "Dust Bowl Blues," added.
Thirty-six years on, the Buddha reissue division of BMG, which owns RCA, shuffles the running order again and adds another track, this one an alternate take of "Talking Dust Bowl Blues."

But whether available on 78s, LP, or CD, "Dust Bowl Ballads" constitutes a consistent concept album that roughly follows the outlines of John Steinbeck's 1939 novel "The Grapes of Wrath". (Indeed, "Tom Joad" is nothing less than the plot of the book set to music.) The story begins, as "The Great Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster)" has it, "On the fourteenth day of April of 1935," when a giant dust storm hits the Great Plains, transforming the landscape. Shortly after, the farmers pack up their families and head west, where they have been promised there is work aplenty picking fruit in the lush valleys of California. The trip is eventful, as "Talking Dust Bowl Blues" humorously shows, but the arrival is disappointing, as the Okies discover California is less than welcoming to those who don't bring along some "do[ough] re mi."
Guthrie´s songs go back and forth across this tale of woe, sometimes focusing on the horrors of the dust storm, sometimes on human villains, with deputy sheriffs and vigilantes providing particular trouble. In "Pretty Boy Floyd," he treats an ancillary subject, as the famous outlaw is valorized as a misunderstood Robin Hood. Guthrie treats his subject alternately with dry wit and defiance, and listeners in 1940 would have been conscious of the deliberate contrast with Jimmie Rodgers, whose music is evoked even as he is being mocked in "Dust Pneumonia Blues."

Sixty years later, listeners may hear these songs through the music Guthrie influenced, particularly the folk tunes of Bob Dylan. Either way, this is powerful music, rendered simply and directly. It was devastatingly effective when first released, and it helped define all the folk music that followed it.

Woody Guthrie was born on July 14th, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma, so this year we can celebrate his 100th birthday!

Woody Guthrie - Dust Bowl Ballads (1940)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Dave Van Ronk - Sings Ballads, Blues and a Spiritual (1959)

"Although I can appreciate the ‘white approach’ to Negro folksongs and enjoy the work of many of its adherents, I still reserve the right to sing these songs in the style to which I am accustomed, partly because of habit, and partly, I confess, because I feel that my way is the ‘right way'." - Dave Van Ronk

As heard on this, his debut album for Folkways Records, Dave Van Ronk's approach to performing traditional folk songs and blues tunes is sufficiently unusual to require a sleeve note from the singer to justify it. Unlike other white, Northern, urban folksingers, who perform such material but do so in their own natural voices, Van Ronk takes much of his style from the black, Southern, rural singers who have performed it before him.

Pete Seeger, Folkways' flagship artist, also sings "John Henry," for instance, but he sounds like the well-educated, polished performer he is, and renders the song rather than investing himself in it emotionally. Van Ronk sings the same song as if he were a black blues singer. His justification is that he first encountered such songs as performed by such singers, citing Furry Lewis, King Solomon Hill, and Leadbelly, and noting "when I tried to sing these songs I naturally imitated what I heard." Of course, Seeger, who actually knew Leadbelly, could have taken the same approach had he wanted to. Van Ronk reveals more of his stance by referring to the "white approach" (the quotation marks are his), which he contrasts to his way, the "right way" (again, his quotes). Actually, listening to this album, it's hard to imagine Van Ronk even being able to take the white approach, even though he is himself white, since his voice is such a gravel-filled croak. By aping black singers, he is able to use his limited instrument to expressive effect, practically whispering one moment and roaring the next. So, it may be that the way he "naturally" took to performing is really that; he couldn't sing like Seeger if he wanted to, but he can sing in a way that serves the material and, despite the attempt at imitation, comes off as his own individual sound.       

This 1959 release was Van Ronk’s first record. It was also released on LP as Gambler's Blues and as Black Mountain Blues. All these releases are out of print.

Tracklist:

A1	Duncan And Brady
A2	Black Mountain Blues
A3	In The Pines
A4	My Baby's So Sweet
A5	Twelve Gates To The City
A6	Winin' Boy
A7	If You Leave Me Pretty Momma
B1	Backwater Blues
B2	Careless Love
B3	Betty And Dupree
B4	K. C. Moan
B5	Gambler's Blues
B6	John Henry
B7	How Long

Dave Van Ronk - Sings Ballads, Blues and a Spiritual (1959)  
(ca. 192 kbps, cover art included)   

Brownie McGhee - Brownie´s Blues (1962)

 
Brownie McGhee's death in 1996 was an enormous loss in the blues field. Although he had been semi-retired and suffering from stomach cancer, the guitarist was still the leading Piedmont-style bluesman on the planet, venerated worldwide for his prolific activities both on his own and with his longtime partner, blind harpist Sonny Terry. Together, McGhee and Terry worked for decades in an acoustic folk-blues bag, singing ancient ditties like "John Henry" and "Pick a Bale of Cotton" for appreciative audiences worldwide. But McGhee was capable of a great deal more. Throughout the immediate postwar era, he cut electric blues and R&B on the New York scene, even enjoying a huge R&B hit in 1948 with "My Fault" for Savoy (Hal "Cornbread" Singer handled tenor sax duties on the 78).               

"Brownie's Blues" was originally released by Bluesville Records in 1962. Supported by his longtime accompanist Sonny Terry, as well as second guitarist Benny Foster, Brownie turns in a nicely understated record that's distinguished by surprisingly harmonically complex and jazzy guitar work. Among the highlights are versions of "Killin' Floor," "Trouble in Mind" and "Every Day I Have the Blues," as well as the boogieing "Jump, Little Children" and "I Don't Know the Reason."     

Tracklist:

A1	Jump, Little Children
A2	Lonesome Day
A3	One Thing For Sure
A4	The Killin' Floor
A5	Little Black Engine
B1	I Don't Know The Reason
B2	Trouble In Mind
B3	Everyday I Have The Blues
B4	Door To Success

Brownie McGhee - Brownie´s Blues (1962)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Witthüser & Westrupp - Der Jesuspilz (1972 German Prog Acid Folk)

After their ultimate acid folk classic "Trips & Träume", the duo is back with an other surprising effort whose concept is to convince (within a satirical dimension) that the bible is all about drugs. However it doesn't matter for those who don't speak German, let's be focused on the music which is one more time brilliant and gorgeously pastoral, delicate and trippy. The introduction part (Liturgie) is a humorous little composition written in a very folkish vibe. "Schöpfung" is among my favourite Witthuser & Westrupp pieces: it starts with acoustic, dreamy like, quasi magical guitar parts. It also features narratives in German and a very poetical, mystical sense of harmony. "Erleuchtung" is a luminous, druggy psych folk tune wich includes a variety of acoustic instruments (voluptuous flute lines, folk guitars, percussions), an effective, dancing chant in German and children choirs...a really intimate, beautiful song. "Besuch aus dem Kosmos" is a ravishing spaced out folkish excursion for deep organic chords and acoustic guitars...it also include vocals in German. A lovely, living, dying soundscape with a magnificant classical (almost flamenco) introspective guitar melody. Among my favourite kraut-folk compositions. The instrumental sections are more achieved than on the previous recordings (notably the guitars). Really german folk music with an evident taste for old, odd music, popular counts, mysteries and dark medieval age...at the top of 70's psychedelic folk music.

Line-up / Musicians
- Bernd Witthuser / vocals, guitar, banjo, kazoo, triangle, tambourine
- Walter Westrupp / vocals, organ, harmonica, flute, ukelele, congas, tambourine, triangle
- Dieter Dierks / Mellotron, bass, vocals
- Gille Lettman / vocals, Mexican & Indian recorder

Songs / Tracks Listing
1. Liturgie (2:00)
2. Schöpfung (8:25)
3. Erleuchtung und Berufung (4:50)
4. Versammlung / Bekenntnis / Die Aussendung (10:21)
5. Nehmet hin und esset (3:33)
6. Besuch aus dem Kosmos (9:45)

Total Time: 38:54

Witthüser & Westrupp - Der Jesuspilz
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Raoul Journo - Jewish-Arab Song Treasures

Since 2006, Buda Musique in Paris is re-releasing a series of albums in the series "Trésors de la Chanson Juéo-Arabe" ("Treasures of Jewish-Arab song"). These albums are featurening recordings by popular Jewish singers from Tunisia and Algeria, such as Raoul Journo, Line Monty, René Perez, Reinette l´Oranaise, Alice Fitoussi and Blond-Blond.

This culture has left a deep mark on the soul of the Maghreb Jews. It still resounds in the hearts and uprooted souls of Israel s immigrants; it rings in their music, their songs, their folklore, and their rituals, with a feeling of homesickness. The culture is that which Jews and Muslims shared, nurtured, practiced, and sustained together for over ten centuries. Most Jewish-Arab singers were born in the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia), and many of them lived in France, in decors evoking the 1930s 60s: the years of all creative daring.           

They all cultivate flowers of rhetoric that draw their essence and fragrance from the blessed times of Andalucia, the nerve centre of the Mediterranean cultural ferment where Jews, Christians and Muslims respected and fraternised with one another.

Tracklist:

Journo, Raoul - Orkos Ya Rakassa	5:16
Journo, Raoul - Ya Samra	3:47
Journo, Raoul - Tal Elouahch	5:57
Journo, Raoul - Targuiya	4:05
Journo, Raoul - Forguet Lahbab	5:57
Journo, Raoul - Ana Ettargui	5:39
Journo, Raoul - Aala Khadek Bousset Khal	5:37
Journo, Raoul - Maktoub	4:56
Journo, Raoul - B'nat Essahra	5:44
Journo, Raoul - Khallouni eih	3:06
Journo, Raoul - Ya Mahfel Ritouche Khdija	5:14
Journo, Raoul - Salma	4:29
Journo, Raoul - Alache Kalbi	5:45
Journo, Raoul - Ya Nass Elfarah	6:21

Raoul Journo - Jewish-Arab Song Treasures
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Sun Ra - Calling Planet Earth (1971)

"The Paris concert was supposed to be the last of this ill-fated tour -- but at the last minute, Sun Ra decided to go to Egypt. Someone had tipped him off to cheap airfare from Copenhagen to Cairo and a handful of gigs in Denmark were cobbled together to pay for a trip to the Land of the Pharaohs (see Campbell & Trent p.178). Egypt was a place of obvious spiritual importance to Sun Ra, but half of the rapidly shrinking Arkestra bailed out and returned home. Nevertheless, the core musicians dutifully carried on with the shoe-string adventure. As it turned out, the Danish promoters failed to pay, and Sonny financed the trip by selling a batch of tapes to the Black Lion label, the desperate transaction taking place on the tarmac as the Cairo-bound plane awaited its departure (Id. p.179; Szwed p.292). Among those tapes was a recording from Odense on December 3, 1971 but never issued (has anyone heard this?) and the December 5th concert from the Tivoli Theatre in Copenhagen, which was finally released by the DA Music/Freedom label as Calling Planet Earth in 1998.

The homemade stereo recording was made from the stage (probably by Tommy Hunter), and while it sounds fine, there is some distortion during the loudest parts and you can hear the seams of a hasty editing job. Hunter’s voice (likely recorded in the hotel room afterwards) announces the date and venue before cutting into a brief turbulent percussion jam, which serves as an introduction to “Discipline 5.” The through-composed sequence of sweet-n-sour harmonies rises and falls over the busy percussion section, yielding to an unaccompanied alto saxophone solo by Danny Davis, and returning for the reprise. Kwami Hadi remains as the only brass player, but the saxophone section is full and lush: besides Davis, mainstays Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, Danny Thompson, and Eloe Omoe and newcomers Larry Northington and Hakim Rahim are all present and help to flesh out the intricate arrangement. “Discipline 10” is more groove-oriented, propelled by Ra’s barbequed organ comping over which the Arkestra riffs on a handful of big-voiced chords. Ra solos interestingly on organ while Patrick grinds out a stumbling bass line until Gilmore enters with a fiercely overblown solo on tenor sax. Unfortunately, he’s way off-mic and hard to hear. Even so, you can tell he’s really blowing his ass off! After a return of the head, Ra steers the band into a nicely sung rendition of “Enlightenment." A severely truncated version of “Love in Outer Space” ends what would have been side one of the LP, fading out just as things start to come to a boil.

“Discipline 15” begins with a fugue-like organ solo, outlining the highly chromatic harmonic areas of the piece. Then the ensemble enters tentatively with the richly orchestrated rubato theme, dark, reedy saxophones contrasted with airy flute and trumpet. Ra takes a dramatic unaccompanied organ solo before suddenly shifting gears, launching into “The Satellites Are Spinning” which is taken up by June Tyson and Gilmore in a sung duet. After the urgent chanting of “Calling Planet Earth,” the Arkestra slams into “The Outers,” some high-energy free jazz skronk: the horns wail, the drums bash, and Sonny attacks his electronic keyboards with fists and elbows. This goes on for a while, until Sun Ra takes over for good with an agitated mad-scientist-style solo on organ. A deft edit drops us into the floating space-groove of “Adventures Outer Planes” (mis-titled “Adventures Outer Space” on the CD), a two-chord vamp supporting a wandering melody for flute and trumpet that never quite seems to gel. Ra again leads the way with a genially meandering organ solo, while the Arkestra takes up small percussion instruments. A second time through the composition sounds a bit more confident than before, although there are some weird (and possibly wrong) notes strewn about. The track fades out inconclusively. Hmm. According to Campbel & Trent, this piece was only performed this one time (p.811); too bad as it definitely had potential. It is astonishing to discover so many tantalizing but rarely performed works scattered throughout the discography!

While there is some interesting music here, the Arkestra sounds hesitant on the newer material and some of the more exciting improvisational music has obviously been edited out from a much longer performance, making this album less than totally satisfying to me. Then again, I’m spoiled. Any good-sounding Ra music from this vintage should be heartily welcomed. Next stop: Egypt."
 - Thanks to NuVoid for the review.

Sun Ra - Calling Planet Earth (1971)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Woody Guthrie - The Early Years (feat. Cisco Houston & Sonny Terry)

Woody Guthrie was the most important American folk music artist of the first half of the 20th century, in part because he turned out to be such a major influence on the popular music of the second half of the 20th century, a period when he himself was largely inactive. His greatest significance lies in his songwriting, beginning with the standard "This Land Is Your Land" and including such much-covered works as "Deportee," "Do Re Mi," "Grand Coulee Dam," "Hard, Ain't It Hard," "Hard Travelin'," "I Ain't Got No Home," "1913 Massacre," "Oklahoma Hills," "Pastures of Plenty," "Philadelphia Lawyer," "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Ramblin' Round," "So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh," "Talking Dust Bowl," and "Vigilante Man." These and other songs have been performed and recorded by a wide range of artists, including a who's who of folksingers.

The tracks found on this collection (which also features Cisco Houston and Sonny Terry) were recorded in the mid-'40s for Folkways Records and have been available in countless configurations over the years under varying titles, including editions for the Tradition, Legacy, Prism, and Collectables record labels. The best way to get this material is through the four-volume "Asch Recordings" from Smithsonian Folkways, which has the most thorough annotation. But anyway, this is a nice introduction into the inspiring music of Woody Guthrie.

Tracklist:

1		Hey Lolly Lolly	2:45
2		Buffalo Skinners	3:24
3		John Henry	2:42
4		Gypsy Davy	2:51
5		Worried Man Blues	3:03
6		More Pretty Girls Than One	2:18
7		Ain't Gonna Be Treated That Way	3:29
8		Rangers Command	2:55
9		Poor Boy	2:51
10		Lonesome Day	2:53
11		Pretty Boy Floyd	3:05
12		Hard, Ain't It Hard	2:43
13		Stackolee	2:43
14		Cumberland Gap	2:18
15		Old Time Religion	2:32
16		Sourwood Mountain	2:57
17		Long John	2:35
18		Lost John	4:06
19		Columbus Stockade	2:25
20		Bury Me Beneath The Willow	2:45

Woody Guthrie - The Early Years (feat. Cisco Houston & Sonny Terry)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Muddy Waters - At Newport 1960

For many back in the early '60s, this was their first exposure to live recorded blues, and it's still pretty damn impressive some 40-plus years down the line.

Muddy, with a band featuring Otis Spann, James Cotton, and guitarist Pat Hare, lays it down tough and cool with a set that literally had 'em dancing in the aisles by the set closer, a rippling version of "Got My Mojo Working," reprised again in a short encore version. Kicking off the album with a version of "I've Got My Brand on You" that positively burns the relatively tame (in comparison) studio take, Waters heads full bore through impressive versions of "Hoochie Coochie Man," Big Bill Broonzy's "Feel So Good," and "Tiger in Your Tank."

A great breakthrough moment in blues history, where the jazz audience opened its ears and embraced Chicago blues.

Tracklist:

01.  I Got My Brand on You

02.  I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man

03.  Baby Please Don't Go
04.  Soon Forgotten
05.  Tiger in Your Tank
06.  I Feel So Good
07.  I've Got My Mojo Working

08.  I've Got My Mojo Working, Part 2

09.  Goodbye Newport Blues

Muddy Waters - At Newport 1960
(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Clancy Brothers - The Rising Of The Moon - Irish Songs Of Rebellion (Tradition, 1956)

"The Rising of the Moon" was the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem's first appearance on wax as a group. Recorded in 1959, in the kitchen of Kenneth S. Goldstein (co-creator of the Tradition label with Paddy Clancy), the album is a largely austere collection of fight songs and ballads that trace the fighting history of Ireland.

It features the singing of Paddy, Liam, and Tom Clancy; Makem sings as well, adds his tin whistle, and even plays rousing, military-style percussion on tracks like "Men of the West." While Makem and the Clancys' vocals are rich and melodic throughout the set, "Rising of the Moon" might be most striking for its instrumentation. Besides the input of Makem, the album features expressive guitar and harp, courtesy of Jack Keenan and Jack Malady, respectively. Both musicians help to lend "Rising of the Moon" its intimate, fireside feel; it's a sound that the Clancys and Makem would move away from on later, more crowd-pleasing releases, but here it helps imbue these songs with a respectful air.

 "Eamonn an Chniuic" is supported by the plucked harp like raindrops on a stubbornly wavering flower petal, while the instrument adds color to the guitar's urgent rhythm during "Foggy Dew." "Whack fol the Diddle" introduces one of the group's most famous singing techniques, while Makem's whistle livens up the title track's melody. But it's "Wind That Shakes the Barley" that could best combine aesthetic instrumentation with heartfelt emotion.             

Tracklist:

Side One:

O'Donnell Aboo
The Croppy Boy
The Rising of the Moon
The Foggy Dew
The Minstrel Boy
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
Tipperary Far Away

Side Two

Kelly the Boy from Killanne
Kevin Barry
Whack Fol the Diddle
The Men of the West
Eamonn An Chnuic
Nell Flaherty's Drake
Boulavogue

The Clancy Brothers - The Rising Of The Moon (1956)
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Sleeve notes in the comment section...

Pavel Haas, Karel Berman - Composers from Theresienstadt, 1941 -1945

Tomorrow will be the 26rd "Tag der Erinnerung und Mahnung" with different activities against racism, neo-nazism and war.

Inspired by that event we feature the album "Pavel Haas, Karel Berman - Composers from Theresienstadt 1941 - 1945". Pavel Haas wrote the "Lieder" on this album for Karel Berman, who premiered them in Theresienstadt. The recordings were done in Prague in 1985.

Theresienstadt concentration camp, also referred to as Theresienstadt Ghetto, was established by
the SS during World War II in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín (German name Theresienstadt), located in what is now the Czech Republic. During World War II it served as a Nazi concentration camp staffed by German Nazi guards.
Tens of thousands of people died there, some killed outright and others dying from malnutrition and disease. More than 150,000 other persons (including tens of thousands of children) were held there for months or years, before being sent by rail transports to their deaths at Treblinka and Auschwitz extermination camps in occupied Poland, as well as to smaller camps elsewhere.

The Czech composer Pavel Haas was born to a Jewish family in Brno on 21 June 1899. The Haas family encouraged the young Pavel’s increasingly evident talent, and by the age of fourteen he had already produced his earliest attempts at formal composition. At the Brno conservatory, Haas studied from 1920-22 with the eminent composer Leoš Janáček, who was a decisive influence on his compositional style. While Czech composers in general, and Janáček in particular, played an important role in shaping Haas’ artistic sensibility, however, he also drew inspiration from a diverse range of sources including Moravian folksong, Jewish synagogue music, and art music composers such as Stravinsky, Honegger, Milhaud, and Poulenc. His mature style is evident particularly in his opera Šarlatán (The Charlatan), which premiered in Brno on 2 April 1938.

As it did for so many Jewish musicians across Europe, the Nazi onslaught brought about dramatic changes to Haas’ life and career. Performances of his works were banned, and he and his wife were forbidden employment. On 2 December 1941, Haas was sent on a transport from Brno to Theresienstadt, where he continued to compose. His first composition in the ‘model ghetto’ was the choral work Al S’fod (Do not lament), based on a Hebrew text by David Shimoni, followed by the Study for Strings (1943), and the Four Songs on Chinese Poetry (1944), both of which were performed by prisoners in Theresienstadt itself. The bass Karel Berman performed the Four Songs in Theresienstadt in 1944, and frequently included the work in his post-war programmes.

Haas was deported to Auschwitz on 16 October 1944, and probably died in the gas chambers shortly after arrival.

 

One of the most active and popular musical performers in Theresienstadt, the bass Karel Berman was born in Bohemia on 14 April 1919. His studies at the Prague Conservatory were forcibly interrupted by the Nazi invasion, and in 1941 he was deported to Theresienstadt, where he distinguished himself as a versatile musician in a range of activities from stage directing and conducting to composition and performance: as a pianist and, most notably, as a bass. Berman’s many opera performances in the camp included Czech composer Smetana’s The Bartered Bride and The Kiss, as well as Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute. He was also featured as a soloist in the renowned performance of Verdi’s Requiem in the ghetto, under Rafael Schächter’s baton. He gave frequent solo recitals, incorporating standard repertoire, Czech compositions, and works by young Theresienstadt composers. An extant programme from a concert on 22 June 1944 includes, for example, works by Beethoven and Dvorák alongside Pavel Haas’ Four Songs to the Text of Chinese Poetry, a work that Berman continued regularly to include in his post-war programmes. In addition to his prolific performance activities, Berman also became conductor of a girls’ chorus in Theresienstadt, and conducted one performance of the one-act comic opera In the Well by the Czech composer Vilém Blodek. He also composed some notable works, including Three Songs for high voice and piano, a suite for piano titled Terezín, and a cycle of four songs for bass and piano titled Poupata (The Rosebuds); some of these works were performed under the auspices of Viktor Ullmann’s Studio für neue Musik (Studio for New Music). In one of his most enthusiastic reviews in Theresienstadt, Ullmann described Berman as an ‘eloquent, courageous, all-round talented artist, singer, composer, conductor’.

Berman was taken to Auschwitz in October 1944, and after a few days was transferred to Kaufering, a sub-camp of Dachau. He survived a death march and was liberated by the American army in May 1945. After the war, Berman returned to the Prague Conservatory to complete his studies, and graduated in 1946 as a singer and stage director. He has since worked in both capacities, and has been particularly active as a performer in operas, oratorios, as well as solo recitals throughout Europe and Japan.

 

Pavel Haas, Karel Berman - Composers From Theresienstadt, 1941 - 1945

(256 kbps, front cover included)

John B. Sebastian - Same (1970)

"John B. Sebastian" is the debut album by American singer/songwriter John Sebastian, previously best known as the co-founder and primary singer/songwriter of the 1960s folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful. The album, released in January 1970, includes several songs that would become staples of Sebastian's live performances during the early and mid-1970s. Most notably, the album included "She's a Lady", Sebastian's first solo single (released in December 1968), and an alternate version of "I Had a Dream" which was used to open the soundtrack album of the 1970 documentary film "Woodstock". "John B. Sebastian" also featured support performances by David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash several months before that trio agreed to work together as a performing unit.

When he led the Lovin' Spoonful from 1965 to 1967, John Sebastian experimented with a variety of styles, expanding from the folk, jug band, and rock & roll that were the band's basic mixture to include everything from country ("Nashville Cats") to orchestrated movie scoring ("Darling, Be Home Soon").

Freed from the confines of a four-piece band, he stretched further on his debut solo album, including the samba-flavored "Magical Connection" and the R&B-styled "Baby, Don't Ya Get Crazy" (complete with the Ikettes on backup vocals) in addition to traditional country on "Rainbows All Over Your Blues," which spotlighted Buddy Emmons on pedal steel guitar. But there were also delicate ballads like the string-filled "She's a Lady," a stripped-down remake of "You're a Big Boy Now," and "The Room Nobody Lives In," the last performed with only a harmonium and bass guitar. And there were pop/rock songs like "Red-Eye Express," "What She Thinks About," and the utopian "I Had a Dream" that you could imagine having fitted easily into the Spoonful's repertoire.

The songs continued Sebastian's trend toward a more personal writing style, many of them containing images of travel that corresponded to his peripatetic lifestyle. Like Paul McCartney's McCartney, which followed it into the marketplace by a few months, the album was an eclectic but low-key introduction to the solo career of a former group member whose band was known for more elaborate productions, and all the more effective for that.
"John B. Sebastian" was the subject of a legal dispute between MGM records and Reprise records, with Reprise winning out, although MGM briefly issued its own version of the LP, apparently taken from a second-generation master. The MGM version is sonically inferior to the Reprise one and has different artwork, but the contents of the two LPs are identical.     

John B. Sebastian - John B. Sebastian (1970)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

The Chad Mitchell Trio - Collection

The Chad Mitchell Trio – also known as the Mitchell Trio – were a North American vocal group who became known during the 1960s. They performed folk songs, some of which were traditionally passed down and some of their own compositions. Unlike many fellow folk music groups, none of the trio played instruments. They became popular in some quarters, and were particularly notable for performing satirical songs that criticized current events during the time of the cold war, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War, in a less subtle way than the typical folk music and singer-songwriter musicians of their time.

This 17-song compilation includes selections from the albums "Blowin' in the Wind", "At the Bitter End", and "Mighty Day on Campus" (strangely enough, arranged in reverse order of recording), among them "Leave Me if You Want To," "Blowin' in the Wind," "The Ballad of the Greenland Whalers," "The John Birch Society," "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream," and "You Can Tell The World." The sound is quite good, and the selection of tracks is very satisfying.      

 Every one of the seventeen tracks is a jewel, reflecting a different facet of the trio. The signature irreverence of the trio is reflected in "The John Birch Society," and more idealistic times reflected in "Last Night I had The Strangest Dream." Those of us of a certain age remember Hootenanies and Happenings where we did our best to emulate the trio singing "The Gypsy Rover" and "The Golden Vanity." All the magic of the Chad Mitchell Trio is here.

Tracklist:

1 Leave Me If You Want To (2:41)
2 Blowing in the Wind (2:36)
3 The Ballad of the Greenland Whalers (2:41)
4 The John Birch Society (3:47)
5 Hello Susan Brown (3:10)
6 Blues Around My Head (3:17)
7 Alberta (2:44)
8 Golden Vanity (2:52)
9 Come Along Home (Tom's Song) (2:35)
10 You Can Tell the World (2:54)
11 Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream (2:27)
12 Mighty Day (2:14)
13 The Whistling Gypsy (3:08)
14 Dona, Dona, Dona (3:22)
15 Whup! Jamboree( 1:49)
16 Johnnie (5:08)
17 Puttin' on the Style (2:21)

The Chad Mitchell Trio - Collection
(256 kbps, front cover included)

VA - American Banjo: Three-Finger And Scruggs Style

This recording was the first bluegrass LP ever released. The reissue now contains 16 additional tracks, a total of 43 tunes played by the immortal Snuffy Jenkins and others, including Smiley Hobbs. A banjo classic that runs 60 minutes in length. "...[A]s unspoiled as the day they were recorded..." — Rolling Stone

Scruggs style is the most common style of playing the banjo in bluegrass music. It is a fingerpicking method, also known as three-finger style. It is named after Earl Scruggs, whose innovative approach and technical mastery of the instrument has influenced generations of bluegrass banjoists ever since he was first recorded in 1946. It contrasts with earlier styles such as minstrel, classic or parlor style (a late 19th-century finger-style played without picks), clawhammer/frailing/two-finger style (played with thumb and nail of the first or middle finger), jazz styles played with a plectrum, and more modern styles such as Keith/melodic/chromatic/arpa style, and single-string/Reno style. The influence of Scruggs is so pervasive that even bluegrass players such as Bill Keith and Don Reno, who are credited with developing these latter styles, typically work out of the Scruggs style much of the time.

VA - American Banjo: Three-Finger And Scruggs Style

(256 kbps, cover and booklet included)

The Jazz Butcher - In Bath Of Bacon (1982)

Here´s another favourite from the 80s...: The Jazz Butcher´s 1982 debut "In Bath Of Bacon".

A true style chameleon, the Jazz Butcher is a hard act to categorize — and nowhere more so than on this album, which is primarily a one-man effort with help from assorted sidemen. The songs here are embryonic forays into styles he would explore more confidently on subsequent albums.

The title track is a punky blues number complete with squealing Elvis Costello-style organ. "Poisoned by Food" and "Sex Engine Thing" are thin, raw, folk-pop influenced numbers with an irresistibly nervous beat; the former paraphrases Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild," while the latter snitches Jonathan Richman's "Bye-bye" line from "Roadrunner." The musical feel of that Modern Lovers song is also evoked in a jazzy way on "Jazz Butcher Theme."

"Partytime" is best described as cocktail folk. "La Mer" is a faux French folk song with surreal lyrics about elephants. Clever, unusual accompaniments are put forth in "Chinatown" (flutes, glockenspiel, click track) and "Grey Flanellette" [sic] (glockenspiels, bass, organ, sandpaper blocks, click track). The songs have unusual, improvisatory nonsense lyrics that veer from the obscure to the semi-clever. The sound and playing have a homemade quality that sometimes crosses the line into sloppiness. This is still a strange yet intriguing record.

From the liner notes:

"Here it is at last! The hep young sound of todays beat élite, direct from the soul kitchen and served, still blazing, to your table! The release of this, the Jazz Butchers first long play recording, comes after months of rumour and report of a hot new act with a cool new sound that leaves the others way way behind. Now you too can hear for yourself the new groove that has set the bohemian set alight - in your own home! Words alone cannot do justice to the cordon-bleu treats of the Butcher Beat - so roll back the carpet and swoop and dive with the fab Butcher Man!"

The Jazz Butcher - In Bath Of Bacon (1982)
(192 kbps, front cover included)