VA - Die Zwanziger Jahre - Musik zwischen den Kriegen

"Die Zwanziger Jahre" is a compilation with sinfonic music written between 1924 and 1929 in the time "between the wars". It was released in 1988 on the Thorofon label. "This edition represents an attempt to provide ... an overview of the ... musical scene in Berlin of the 1920's and 1930's",


Tracklist:

Franz Schreker : Kleine Suite für Orchester; RSO Berlin / Dirigent: Hans-Georg Ratjen Grete von Zieritz : Präludium und Fuge für Klavier; Horst Göbel, Klavier Ernst Krenek : Symphonie für Blasinstrumente und Schlagwerk op. 34; RSO Berlin / Dirigent: Hans-Georg Ratjen Karol Rathaus : Sonate für Klarinette und Klavier op. 21; Alois Brandhofer Klarinette / Horst Göbel, Klavier Kurt Weill : "Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen"; Staats- und Domchor, Berlin/ Dirigent: Christian Grube Hanns Eisler : "Palmström" Studien über Zwölfton-Reihen; Junko Ohtsu-Bormann, Sopran / Orchester Akademie des BPhO Hans Pfitzner : Sechs Liebeslieder op. 35; Katharina Richter, Sopran / Holger Groschopp, Klavier VA - Die Zwanziger Jahre - Musik zwischen den Kriegen  (192 kbps, cover art included)

VA - New Orleans Rhythm & Blues - Good Rockin' Tonight

Half a century after holding jazz over the baptismal font, New Orleans breathed new life into Black popular music when the time came for rhythm & blues. 

In the wake of the great pianists – from a city whose culture was decidedly rainbow-coloured (Professor Longhair, Archibald, Champion Jack Dupree) –, a new generation of singers appeared post-war and tackled a conjugation of swing and blues with incomparable verve. Along with Fats Domino, who was the figurehead of the new wave, a multitude of creators came to light: shouter Roy Brown, bandleaders Dave Bartholomew and Paul Gayten, crooner Larry Darnell, adolescent duo Shirley & Lee, not to mention Guitar Slim, a flamboyant guitarist capable of electrifying the crowds whose first recordings were made with Ray Charles.

Tracklist:  

1	Mardi Grass in New Orleans (1949)	Professor Longhair		2:55
2	Heavy Heart Blues	Champion Jack Dupree		2:37
3	Careless Love	Fats Domino		2:22
4	Crescent City Bounce	Archibald		2:33
5	Her Mind Is Gone	Professor Longhair		2:41
6	She Won't Leave No More	Little Joe Gaines		2:31
7	Growing Old	Smiley Lewis		2:26
8	Good Rockin' Tonight Trompete: Tony Moret (1947-07) drums: Robert 'Bob' Ogden (1947-07) Altsaxophon: O'Neil Jerome (1947-07) Posaune: Clement Tervalone (1947-07) vocals: Roy Brown (blues musician) recording of: Good Rockin’ Tonight (1947-07) Komponist(in): Roy Brown (blues musician) (1947-07) Texter: Roy Brown (blues musician) (1947-07) Herausgeber: Knox Music, Inc. und Trio Music Co., Inc. spätere Version: I Heard the News (Jesus Is Coming Again) spätere übersetzte Version: Et la voix d'Elvis	Roy Brown		3:00
9	Black Bitin' Woman	Chubby Newsome		2:12
10	Good Jax Boogie	Dave Bartholomew		2:47
11	Where You At?	Lloyd Price		2:22
12	Long About Midnight	Roy Brown		3:15
13	For You My Love	Larry Darnell		2:39
14	The Fat Man	Fats Domino		2:49
15	Country Boy recording of: Country Boy Komponist(in): Dave Bartholomew und Antoine Dominique Domino Texter: Dave Bartholomew und Antoine Dominique Domino	Dave Bartholomew		3:06
16	3 x 7 = 21	Jewel King		1:52
17	I'll Never Be Free	Paul Gayten		3:09
18	Stack-A'Lee	Archibald		4:30
19	Bald Head	Professor Longhair		2:34
20	Lawdy Miss Clawdy	Lloyd Price		2:35
21	I'm Gone	Shirley & Lee		2:24
22	The Things That I Used to Do	Guitar Slim		3:05

VA - New Orleans Rhythm & Blues - Good Rockin' Tonight
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Richard & Mimi Fariña ‎– Reflections In A Crystal Wind (1965)

The Farinas' mix of unusual instrumentations and Dick's gift for words made them a formidable duo in the mid-sixties, his writing alternating and mixing the political, satirical, and poetic . This album showcased both's songwriting and singing talents, and backed by most of Dylan's off-duty session players, the music sounds as fresh today as then.

Richard Farina was a great poet in the great tradition of the troubador. His life ended too early as the result of a motorcycle accident. Nonetheless, he and his partner/wife Mimi Baez (sister of Joan Baez) created one of the great albums of the "beat" and new folk movement, "Reflections In A Crystal Wind". Songs on it such as "Children of Darkness" and "Raven Girl" metaphorically describe the sense of personal torment and social destruction experiemced by a whole generation during the Vietnam Era


Tracklist:                                                     

A1	Reflections In A Crystal Wind	3:30
A2	Bold Marauder	4:24
A3	Dopico	3:58
A4	A Swallow Song	2:51
A5	Chrysanthemum (Instr.)	2:27
A6	Sell-Out Agitation Waltz	2:50
A7	Hard-Loving Loser	4:32
B1	Mainline Prosperity Blues	6:25
B2	Allen's Interlude	2:50
B3	House Un-American Blues Activity Dream	3:10
B4	Raven Girl	5:07
B5	Miles (Instr.)	2:53
B6	Children Of Darkness	4:00

Richard & Mimi Fariña ‎– Reflections In A Crystal Wind (1965)
(256 kbps, cover art included)
        

Fabrizio De André - Vol. 1 (1967)

Fabrizio Cristiano De André (18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter.
Known for his sympathies towards anarchism, left-libertarianism and pacifism, his songs often featured marginalized and rebellious people, Romani, prostitutes and knaves, and attacked the Catholic Church hierarchy.

Fabrizio De André was in many ways already a seasoned veteran when he released his first album in 1967. He was 27 years old, he had a wife and child, and he had been writing and recording singles for the small Karim label since 1961. While recognition took a while, by late 1966 De André was hot news. His last singles had done well, Mina was about to record one of his songs, and Karim was quick to put out an LP compilation of his early songs, "Tutto Fabrizio De André". In the meantime, De André broke with Karim and signed a record deal with renowned producer Antonio Casetta, who offered him much better production values, as well as proper national distribution. De André was even given his choice of musical producers, and he picked top Ricordi arranger Giampiero Reverberi. Casetta's gamble paid off, with "V.1" reaching number two in the Italian charts, and winning the Italian Music Critics' Album of the Year award. Since most of his early material was being released almost simultaneously in the Karim compilation, De André was forced to write entirely new material for his debut album - something that didn't always came easy for the hardly prolific Genovese songwriter. Indeed, "V.1" included two Georges Brassens translations and a previously released song co-written with Paolo Villaggio to complement the seven brand new De André originals.

Having to come up with new material may ultimately have made the album stronger, since many of the new songs shared similar themes and De André was always at his best when making concept- or theme-based albums. Whether it was intended or not, the album seemed designed for maximum controversy, with every song questioning or mocking established values of the Italian conservative bourgeoisie, notably on the issues of religion and sex. Even the sequencing contributes to this impression, as "V.1" seems to comprise two mini-suites: songs one through four deal with Catholic doctrine's taboos (including suicide, the desacralization of marriage, and the humanity of Christ), while songs five through eight propose casual sex and prostitution as better, or more sincere, alternatives to the stifled sexuality of bourgeois marriage. Among the latter songs are the classics "Bocca di Rosa" and "Via del Campo," both offering a glimpse into one of De André's favorite galleries of characters, the world of prostitutes, their customers, and the town's zealous bigots. The first is a raucous tarantella and the second a solemn waltz: these two songs constitute an excellent example of De André's range of expression as he manages to examine the same subject from the compassionate to the farcical. The highlight of the record, however, is a stunning rendition of Georges Brassens' "La Marche Nuptiale." In his exquisite Italian translation, De André replaces the gentle irony of the original with a mixture of world-weariness and sympathy for humanity that renders the song achingly moving. De André was the first to recognize that he had a veritable Brassens obsession, and the influence of the legendary French songwriter in De André's early work is unmistakable. In this light, "Marcia Nunziale" is one of those instances when the disciple surpasses the master.

Uncommon in Italy at the time, "V.1's" sleeve included the songs' full lyrics, thus reinforcing the image of De André as a "singer-poet." Again, this was pretty much an unheard of concept in Italy back then, where music, and particularly, vocal prowess (a heritage of opera) normally took precedence over lyrics. While not the only one starting to work in that vein, (the names of Gino Paoli, Francesco Guccini, or Luigi Tenco also come to mind; Tenco committed suicide; one of the songs on "V.1" is dedicated to him). De André's provocative yet cultivated style was immediately perceived as uniquely different, if not revolutionary. If controversy was his original goal for his debut album, he more than successfully achieved it, as several of his pieces were banned by the RAI. Furthermore, the song "Carlo Martello" was briefly brought to trial on charges of obscenity because of its irreverent portrait of the hapless King Charles Martel coming back from the war horny as a toad. Nothing came out of the trial but excellent publicity for De André as the enfant terrible of the new Italian song. In fact, "V.1" was instrumental in modernizing Italian popular music and establishing the singer/songwriter (cantautori) genre that would dominate the 1970s and beyond.    

Tracklist:

Preghiera In Gennaio
Marcia Nuziale
Spiritual
Si Chiamava Gesù
La Canzone Di Barbara
Via Del Campo
Caro Amore
Bocca Di Rosa
La Morte
Carlo Martello Ritorna Dalla Battaglia Di Poitier

Fabrizio De André -  Vol. 1 (1967)
(320 kbps, cover art included)    

Count Ossie‎ - Remembering Count Ossie: A Rasta "Reggae" Legend

With club owner and producer Harry Mudie picking up almost all songwriting credits and adding "overdub percussion and sound effects," it seems like something fairly fishy could be going on here. But here's the big warning: this music is way far removed from any early preview of the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari grounantion chants that would make Count Ossie a rasta reggae legend. Call it proto-ska if you like, with Ossie as the lead drummer on roughly recorded, 2 1/2-3-minute songs that include 13 unreleased tracks. They were probably cut in the pre-Skatalites late-'50s or early-'60s, since the copyright is 1961, and recognizable '50s R&B touches pop up in some vocal tracks.

It wouldn't be surprising if Count Ossie was just part of the backing band on many songs, since the drums don't dominate the set, and Rico Rodriguez's trombone and Big Bra Gaynair's tenor sax are the chief solo voices. It is pretty fascinating, though, to hear proto-Rasta lyrics so early in the Jamaican music game on "So Long (The Negus Call You)" and "One Bright Morning." "Leaving This Land" hits the religious theme again with percussion driving, and "Swinging for Joy" is actually "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" done Rasta/JAH-style done with a very strong Rodriguez solo and nice responses from Gaynair. You can almost hear the Mystic Revelation stage coming in the ragged vocal celebration and repeated chorus of "Going Home to Zion Land" or the devotional lyric to "Serve Him and Live" with its '50s R&B melody quote.

"Hello Sharon" continues in that vein (someone even shouts out "Do it, Dadd-i-o!" before the solos) but it's teen romance all the way, and "I Would Give My Life" doo wops on out JAH-style with smooth Gaynair and brassy Rodriguez. (You gotta wonder what Count Ossie would think of these songs being released now under his name). Mudie's maneuvers on the effects' front don't really damage "Fire Engine" or "Gun Fever (Remix)," but they do cheapen "Herb I Feel" in its obvious quest for the ganja anthem audience. On balance, Remembering Count Ossie is no lost treasure trove for casual listeners or seekers of early Nyabinghi percussion chants. The music has some historical value, and it's a pleasant enough listen, but is probably best left to historians of Jamaican music.      

Tracklist:

African Shuffle
So Long (Negus Can Call You)
Air Horn Shuffle
Gun Fever
Fire Escape
One Bright Morning
First Gone
Babylon Gone
Music Go Round And Round
Leaving This Land
Swinging For Joy
Going Home To Zion Land
Count Ossie Special
Sodom And Gomorrah
Serve Him And Live
Herb I Feel
Hello Sharon
I Would Give My Life
Gun Fever (Remix)

  
Count Ossie‎ - Remembering Count Ossie: A Rasta "Reggae" Legend    
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Eddie Harris - Live At Newport (1971)

Eddie Harris hit the 1970 Newport Jazz Festival head on with his satchel of electronic sax gear, funky soul/jazz track record, and a quartet with Jodie Christian now anchored on electric piano.

Naturally there would be some funk on display ("Carry on Brother") and guest vocalist Eugene McDaniels, composer of "Compared to What," comes up with a lame, hectoring sequel, "Silent Majority." Yet a good deal of this truncated edition of Harris' Newport set is pitched at a more abstract level. "Don't You Know the Future's in Space," with its tumbling drums and outbreaks of near freeform reed trumpet (a Harris invention), is already in progress when we fade into the track, and "South Side" is a rough-and-tumble jazz sprint, with Harris delivering a complex cerebral solo.

These advanced tracks didn't win him any points with the critics of the time but hindsight reveals that harmonically as well as electronically, Harris was ahead of most of the pack. As a bonus, the LP includes a short post-set speech in which Harris prophesizes that his reed trumpet will be a godsend for brass players (who, alas, completely ignored it). 

Tracklist:                                                     

A1	Children's Song	6:00
A2	Carry On Brother	5:07
A3	Don't You Know The Future's In Space	8:07
B1	Silent Majority	5:46
B2	Walk Soft	4:10
B3	South Side	8:52

Eddie Harris - Live At Newport (1971)
(320 kbps, cover art included)          

VA - American Folk Blues Festival '65

From 1962 until 1971, the American Folk Blues Festival was responsible for bringing dozens of the most celebrated American blues artists to audiences from England to Poland. For many of the musicians, these were the largest audiences they'd ever played to, and the first (and often only) decent money they ever made.

This album is a collection of studio sessions, recorded in Hamburg October 7, 1965, on the occasion of  "The American Folk Blues '65" concert tour produced and presented by Lippmann and Rau-






Tracklist:

A1	–Fred McDowell	Highway 61
A2	–J.B. Lenoir	Slow Down
A3	–Big Walter "Shakey" Horton	Christine
A4	–Roosevelt Sykes	Come On Back Home
A5	–Eddie Boyd	Five Long Years
A6	–Eddie Boyd	The Big Question
B1	–Lonesome Jimmy Lee	Rosalie
B2	–John Lee Hooker	King Of The World
B3	–John Lee Hooker	Della May
B4	–Buddy Boy	First Time I Met The Blues
B5	–Big Mama Thornton	Hound Dog
B6	–Doctor Ross	My Black Name Is Ringing

VA - American Folk Blues Festival '65 
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Lokomotive Kreuzberg - Gesammelte Werke

Lokomotive Kreuzberg was a Berlin based polit-rock band, who were launched onto the scene in early 1972 with enthusiastic help from Floh De Cologne.

They played funky krautrock with a lot of folk rock included. Gong and Mother Gong is a very good reference. The music is mainly built around the lyrics and their message to the left wing scene. The band breaks out into gospel and Canterbury prog at the twenty minutes long "Mountain Town" epic.

This "best of" compilation was released in 1994 on the Pläne label.

Tracklist:

1. Frühmorgens (3:42)
2. Leise Sohlen (3:35)
3. Fette Jahre (5:34)
4. Come Back (2:44)
5. Verfassungslied (3:00)
6. Tempo Mann (4:03)
7. Hand in Hand im Park (3:51)
8. Hey Mr. Amerika (4:46)
9. (a) Mountain Town, (b) Mountain Town Song (20:35)
10. Requiem (3:17)

Lokomotive Kreuzberg - Gesammelte Werke
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Unterm Arm die Gitarre - 15 Jahre Singebewegung 1966 - 1980 - Ein Report (Amiga 1981)

"Singe-Bewegung" and "Oktoberklub" in East Germany, part 8. On 7 October 1949, the founding of the GDR (German Democratic Republic, often called simply East Germany) was proclaimed in Berlin. At the end of the Second World War, there were already violent disagreements between the four victorious allies: the USA, England, France and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union wanted to found a socialist German state, while the Western powers wanted a democratic Germany. The political officials in the Soviet-occupied zone (as the GDR was named before its foundation) carried out the preparations for founding a state very systematically. They started up the “Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands” or SED (Socialist Unity Party) and the organisation “Freie Deutsche Jugend” or FDJ (Free German Youth). The proclamation of the constitution of the German Democratic Republic sealed the division between east and west in legal terms. Two states had arisen in Germany, both of which claimed to be the core and model for a single united Germany that was to be created in the future. With elections based on “Unity” lists of candidates, strict control and direction of government and society by the Socialist Unity Party, the GDR followed the pattern of the “people’s democracies” set up as Soviet protectorates in eastern central and southeastern European states. Today it will have been 63ears since the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The so called "Tag der Repblik" commemorates the 7th October 1949, at which the German Democratic Republic was constituted . This is a good occasion to continue our series of postings dealing with the "Singebewegung" in the GDR. This double album is a report about the "Singing movement" in the GDR, released in 1981 and giving an overview about the last 15 years. It has liner notes by Gisela Steineckert about the experiences in the years 1966 to 1980. Gisela Steineckert was a politician or functionary as well as a writer and poet, now honorary chairman of the dfb ("Democratic Women´s Association"). The "Singebewegung" was the East German variant of the Hootenanny and other folk movements and was channeled by SED and the FDJ, which does not always succeed. The songs on this album are partly shaped by this conflict between governmental control and slight irony and subversion. Unterm Arm die Gitarre - 15 Jahre Singebewegung - Ein Report (256 kbps, cover art included)  Tracklist: LP 1: 1. Oktoberklub Sag mir, wo du stehst 2. Oktoberklub Schau her 3. Singeklub "Geschwister Scholl" Wismar Lied vom Schiffsbau 4. "Gruppe Pasaremos" Dresden Dran und drauf 5. Oktoberklub Friedenslied 6. Perry Friedman Wenn die Neugier nicht wär 7. Kurt Demmler Was machen wir zu Pfingsten 8. Singeklub der Lessing-Oberschule Hoyerswerda Budjonny-Reiterlied 9. "Venceremos-Club" Berlin Es beginnt erst der Mensch 10. Oktoberklub Oktoberklub 11. Songgruppe der Tu Dresden Zugvögel 12. Kurt Demmler und der "Venceremos-Club" Berlin Lied aus dem fahrenden Zug zu singen 13. Reinhold Andert Im Treptower Park 14. "Venceremos-Club" Berlin Hüttenwerk 15. Singeklub Neubrandenburg Der Tag hat uns bei der Arbeit gesehn 16. Singeklub der N.V.A. Neubrandenburg Mein kleiner Bruder 17. Singegruppe "Spartakus" der PH Potsdam In Potsdam wird gebaut 18. Kurt Demmler Dieses Lied sing ich den Frauen (Maria) 19. Jahrgang '49 Fahnenlied LP 2: 1. Jahrgang '49 Jahrgang `49 2. Liedertheater Karls Enkel Oma Amler 3. Skiffle Schwerin Sonderschicht 4. Gruppe Schicht Gavroche 5. Oktoberklub Hier wo ich lebe 6. Oktoberklub Neutronenbombe 7. Bernd Rump und Gruppe Schicht Vor der Karte 8. Oktoberklub Wir sind überall 9. Jahrgang '49 Trassentrinklied 10. Oktoberklub Saigon ist frei 11. Singegruppe "Spartakus" der PH Potsdam Hamburg `78 12. Gruppe Schicht Regenbogenlied 13. Liedertheater Karls Enkel Sektlied 14. Singeklub der P.O.S. Maxim Gorki Salzwedel Mensch denkste denn 15. Singeklub der B.B.S. Des Wälzlagerwerkes Luckenwalde Wenn`s Uus Lehrlinge nicht gäbe 16. Singeklub der E.O.S. Carl von Ossietzky Berlin Betrachtendes Lied 17. Oktoberklub Da sind wir aber immer noch