Mittwoch, 20. Dezember 2017

Atahualpa Yupanqui - L´Integrale, Vol. 5

Atahualpa Yupanqui was a legendary Argentine folk musician and philosopher whose fame was revived during the politically charged "nueva cancion" movement of the 1960s.

He became one of the most valuable treasures for the local culture. As a child living in the small town of Roca, province of Buenos Aires, Héctor Roberto Chavero was seduced by traditional music, especially by the touching sound of the acoustic guitar. After taking violin lessons, the young man began learning how to play guitar, having musician Bautista Almirón as his teacher. For many years, Atahualpa Yupanqui traveled around his native country, singing folk tunes and working as muleteer, delivering telegrams, and even working as a journalist for a Rosario newspaper. In the late '30s, the artist started recording songs, making his debut as a writer in 1941 with Piedra Sola, later writing a famous novel called Cerro Bajo. I

n 1949, the singer/songwriter went on tour around Europe for the first time, including performances with France's Edith Piaf. During the following decades Atahualpa Yupanqui achieved an impressive amount of national and international recognition, becoming an essential artist, a distinguished Latin American troubadour, and influencing many prominent musicians and Argentinean folk groups. 

Atahualpa Yupanqui passed away in France in May, 1992.                 

Here´s the final part of the "L´Integrale" set:


Tracklist:
1.El Payador Perseguido41:20
2.Poema Para Un Bello Nombre5:47
3.Vidala Del Silencio6:03
4.Fin De La Zafra4:34
5.Testimonio Final1:52



Atahualpa Yupanqui - L´Integrale, Vol. 5
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Freitag, 15. Dezember 2017

Daniel Viglietti - En Vivo desde Argentina 1971 - 1973 (1978) - Rest in peace!

Daniel Viglietti died October 30, 2017 in Montevideo at age 78 due to complications from surgery. Rest in peace!


Daniel Alberto Viglietti Indart (born 24 July 1939, Montevideo) is an Uruguayan folk singer, guitarist, composer, and political activist. He is one of the main exponents of Uruguayan popular song and also of the Nueva Canción or "New Song" of the 1960s and early 1970s.

He founded, in 1971, along with other musicians like José "Pepe" Guerra, Braulio López, the music scholar Coriún Aharonián (the only founding member who is still active), Myriam Dibarboure, María Teresa Sande and Notary Public Edgardo Bello, the recognized independent record label Ayuí/Tacuabé in order to promote and support valuable Uruguayan musical expressions.

He has performed the works of Cuban Nueva Trova stars Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés and Brazil's Chico Buarque and Edu Lobo, has worked with Cuban composer and arranger Leo Brouwer. His recordings are widely available, especially "Trópicos" (1972).

Viglietti was imprisoned in 1972 by his own government. He was supported by the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre as an international man of conscience, a voice for peace, and an opponent of the fascism and tyranny that plagued South America in the 1970s. Rumors about possible mistreatment against him forced the authorities to bring him out in front of television cameras to show that, in particular, his hands were fine. However, Viglietti spoke out that his treatment in police custody was much better than what other political prisoners received. He was a peer of the late Chilean poet and folk singer Victor Jara and composer and activist Violeta Parra.

Tracklist:
01. Nuestra Bandera [Daniel Viglietti] (2:53)
02. El diablo en el Paraíso [Violeta Parra] (2:47)
03. De noche en casa [Raimon – Trad. Daniel Viglietti] (2:28)
04. Vamos, Estudiantes (Del film “Me gustan los estudiantes”, Uruguay 1968) [Daniel Viglietti] (2:09)
05. Que no encuentre ni el rocío [Poema Quechua, traducido por S. Salazar Bondy – Daniel Viglietti] (2:28)
06. A desalambrar [Daniel Viglietti] (2:34)
07. Cielito del calabozo [Daniel Viglietti] (3:41)
08. Por todo Chile [Daniel Viglietti] (3:02)
09. Canción para mi América [Daniel Viglietti] (2:36)
10. Anaclara [Daniel Viglietti] (3:53)
11. Otra voz canta [Circe Maia – Daniel Viglietti] (2:55)
12. La senda está trazada [Jorge Salerno] (3:34)

Daniel Viglietti - En Vivo desde Argentina 1971 - 1973  (1978)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Mittwoch, 13. Dezember 2017

Silvio Rodriguez - Antologia (1978)

Silvio Rodríguez Domínguez is a Cuban musician, and leader of the nueva trova movement.
He is considered Cuba's best folk singer and known for his highly eloquent and symbolic lyrics. Many of his songs have become classics in Latin American music, such as "Ojalá", "Playa Girón", "Unicornio" and "La maza". Among his other well-known songs are "Fusil contra fusil" and "Canción del Elegido". He has released nearly 20 albums.
Rodríguez, musically and politically, is a symbol of the Latin American Left. His lyrics are notably introspective, while his songs combine romanticism, eroticism, revolutionary politics and idealism. He has been referred to as "Cuba's John Lennon."

Rodríguez was born on November 29, 1946 in San Antonio de los Baños, a fertile valley in Havana Province known for its tobacco crop. He was raised in a family of poor farmers. His father, Víctor Dagoberto Rodríguez Ortega, was a farmer and amateur poet who supported socialist causes. His mother, Argelia Domínguez León, was a housewife. On many occasions Rodríguez has spoken how his love of music was developed by his mother, who would pass time singing boleros and songs from Santiago. Although Rodríguez had an uncle who played the bass, his mother had a far greater influence. Later, she also collaborated with him on a few musical works.

When the Revolution led by Fidel Castro triumphed in January 1959, Rodríguez was only 13 years old, and, like most Cubans of his generation, became involved in the new Revolutionary enthusiasm. He participated in the Literacy Campaign held in 1961, and then started working as a comics designer in a magazine. During this period a friend of his, Lázaro Fundora, taught him how to play the guitar.
Guitar playing took a major role in his life while he was doing his military service in the army, during 1964, but it wasn't until 1967, with his first television experience, that he started to become well known and influential among Cuban revolutionary youth. With pro-revolution yet very independent lyrics (together with his very informal dress code), Rodríguez soon attracted the animosity of some members of the new Culture Ministry, which was devoted to the eradication of the United States' influence in Cuban culture. In this context, a very important role was played by the cultural institution Casa de las Américas and its then director Haydée Santamaría, the former a respected revolutionary who participated in the Moncada barracks assault of 1953 and sister of Abel Santamaría, who was tortured and killed after the failure of the assault. Haydée Santamaría became a protective mother-figure of the young composers and of several of his colleagues at the time. Casa de las Américas became the home not only for the new Cuban trovadores but also for many other Latin Americans on the left. It was in this institution that Rodríguez met Pablo Milanés, and Noel Nicola, who along with Rodríguez would become the most famous nueva trova singers and composers.

In 1969, for almost five months, he worked as part of the crew on the fishing boat Playa Girón, and during this fertile episode he wrote 62 songs, among which are the famous "Ojalá" and "Playa Girón." The lyrics and music of these songs became a book named Canciones del Mar. In 1976, he decided to join Cuban troops in Angola, playing for the soldiers.

After more than 40 years of artistic work, Rodríguez has now written a vast number of songs and poems (said to be between 500 and more than one thousand), many of which have never been set to music and probably never will be. Although his musical knowledge has been continuously increasing (counting among his teachers the famous Cuban composer Leo Brouwer), he is more widely praised for the poetry in his songs than for the accompanying music. His lyrics are a staple of leftist culture throughout the whole Spanish-speaking world, and he has been banned from the media during several of the dictatorial regimes that ruled Latin America in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

His debut album was Días y flores, launched in 1975. Al final de este viaje and Cuando digo futuro feature songs he composed before Días y flores. He reached international popularity in the early 1980s with Rabo de nube and, in particular, Unicornio. In the early part of his career his work displayed a fair amount of revolutionary optimism. Mujeres, released in 1979, is in contrast a romantic and highly intimist album. In the middle of his career, Silvio Rodríguez experimented with sounds and rhythms departing from his trademark acoustic guitar, accompanied by the group Afrocuba (e.g. in Causas y azares). At maturity, Silvio Rodríguez thoroughly purified his sound through a return to acoustic guitar, great care and sophistication in the voice, and exclusive control of the production process from beginning to end. His lyrics became more introspective, at times even self-absorbed or self-justifying, expressing melancholic longings about the shortcomings of real-life socialism in Cuba while vindicating idealism and revolutionary hope amongst the youth. The trilogy, called Silvio, Rodríguez, and Domínguez (his first name, his father's last name, his mother's last name) displays sound artistic talent. The doubts, absent in the early part of his career, also correspond to the fall of communism worldwide and the so-called Special Period in Cuba. An unnoticed recurrent theme in the lyrics of the early part of his career is that of death, particularly although not only as associated with guerrilla warfare. In contrast to the explicitness of his early songs and political positions, there was a displacement of emphasis in his later years toward fantasy and dreams. Both, however, are about an alternative that is not present but is called for, or what Laclau would call a longing for a "missing fullness". This is true politically, romantically, and existentially. In a similar way, the unusual confessional tone of many of his songs allows for an unorthodox combination of transgression, eroticism, longing, and at times (probably accurate) self-deprecation in many of his lyrics.

The entire work of Silvio Rodríguez offers an intimate and introspective window into the life cycle of the artist. If the lyrics of the early part of his career are about revolutionary enthusiasm, love encounters and disappointments, as well as sensual desire, and if the middle-aged Silvio is more self-questioning, often looking backward; his most recent albums, such as Cita con ángeles, talk in part about his life as a grandfather and has a certain focus on children, while Érase que se era is the release (with all the means that come with being an established artist) of songs written early in his youth but never previously recorded. Mariposas also featured two classics composed in his youth.
Silvio Rodríguez stands out in the Spanish-speaking world for the intimacy and subtlety of his lyrics, as well as for his acoustic melodies and "chord picking." He is particularly popular amongst intellectual circles of the left in Latin America and Spain. He has also often served as Cuban cultural emissary in events of solidarity, whether in Chile (Silvio Rodríguez in Chile, 1991) or Argentina (En vivo en Argentina, recorded in 1984), both massive concerts given shortly after the fall of the right-wing dictatorships. Cuban flags are always conspicuous in the crowd during his concerts.
In 2007, he received a doctorate honoris causa from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru.

Tracks:

01. Canción del Elegido (3:01)
02. Te doy una canción (3:09)
03. Madre (2:16)
04. Pequeña serenata diurna (2:53)
05. Mariposas (6:08)
06. El papalote (5:27)
07. Fusil contra fusil (3:15)
08. La era esta pariendo un corazón (2:57)
09. El rey de las flores (2:17)
10. Esto no es una elegía (3:25)

Silvio Rodriguez - Antologia (1978)
(256 kbsp, cover art included)

Sonntag, 10. Dezember 2017

The Sextet Of Orchestra USA - Mack The Knife And Other Berlin Theatre Songs Of Kurt Weill (1964)

Third Stream, Gunther Schuller's well-intentioned but commercially doomed idea of forcing contemporary classical (i.e. serial) composition music to cohabit with hard bop, produced but a handful of fine recordings, most notably the classic 1960 Atlantic Jazz Abstractions and this 1964 sextet outing under the stewardship of trombonist Michael Zwerin.

The choice of Kurt Weill's sleek and elegant compositions was astute: the bittersweet harmonies of Weill (who ultimately emigrated to the U.S. from Germany) lend themselves particularly well to jazz soloing, and accordingly, an outstanding rhythm section featuring the Modern Jazz Quartet's John Lewis (an enthusiastic advocate of Third Stream from its inception) and Connie Kay. Bassist Richard Davis is on hand to support some splendid horn work from Thad Jones, Nick Travis, Jerome Richardson, and most notably Eric Dolphy, whose wild bass clarinet leaps on "Alabama Song" are a pure joy to hear, and proof that the saxophonist's harmonic concept, while undeniably "out" for the standard-based harmonic repertoire of bop, was most definitely "in" the wider scheme of musical thought that Third Stream aspired to.               

Tracklist:

1 Alabama Song 5:22
2 Havanna Song 6:16
3 As You Make Your Bed 5:26
4 Mack The Knife 5:04
5 Bilbao Song 3:47
6 Barbara Song 5:04
7 Pirate Jenny 3:34
8 Mack The Knife (Alternate Take) 4:50
9 Bilbao Song (Alternate Take) 3:45
10 Pirate Jenny (Alternate Take) 4:23


The Sextet Of Orchestra USA - Mack The Knife And Other Berlin Theatre Songs Of Kurt Weill (1964)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Samstag, 9. Dezember 2017

Joe Gibbs & The Professionals‎ – African Dub - Chapter 2

The second volume in this vintage four-disc series of instrumental dub from Joe Gibbs' studio finds him still working with members of the Soul Syndicate and We the People bands, and utilizing the formidable mixing talents of Errol Thompson.

What sets this volume somewhat apart from the other three is the number of rhythms it carries over from the rocksteady era: "Chapter Two" is a remix of the Techniques' late-'60s classic "Queen Majesty"; "Peeping Tom" reworks the Melodians' "You Have Caught Me"; and "My Best Dub" is an instrumental and nicely dubbed-up recut of the early Wailers track "Hypocrites." But it also includes some heavyweight rockers and one-drop material, including "Angola Crisis" (based on a familiar rhythm later used for such roots reggae hits as "Uptown Top Ranking" and "Three Piece Suit") and an absolutely brilliant dub mix of Bob Andy's "Chained," here rendered in dark, minimalist tones with drastic dubwise effects and retitled "Third World."

Along with the third volume, this is one of the most impressive of the four discs in the African Dub series.                

Tracklist:
1Chapter Two
2The Marriguna Affair
3Angola Crisis
4Peeping Tom
5Outrage
6Idlers Rest
7My Best Dub
8Third World
9Heavy Duty Dub
10Musical Arena
11Mackarus Serenade
12Jamaican Grass


Joe Gibbs & The Professionals‎ – African Dub - Chapter 2                                   
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Samstag, 25. November 2017

Jorge Ben - África Brasil (1976)

This 1976 album is undoubtedly one of the greatest classics of Brazilian popular music, with Jorge Ben mixing funky samba, Afro-Brazilian beats, and crunching guitars to create one of the most fascinating sounds ever recorded in Brazil.

The album kicks off with the raw, energetic "Ponta de Lança Africano," and from there on it never slows down, but continues to pile up one fiery, funky gem after the other. The samba soul and samba funk scenes of the '70s in Brazil produced many great artists and many great recordings, fully comparable with the best soul and funk music recorded in the U.S. during the same period. Jorge Ben was the most prominent figure of this scene and "África Brasil" is probably the most famous of his '70s recordings. For any person who is interested in the music of Jorge Ben, or indeed Brazilian funk in general, there is no better sample of it than "África Brasil".

Tracklist:

A1Ponta De Lança Africano (Umbabarauma)3:58
A2Hermes Trismegisto Escreveu3:04
A3O Filósofo3:30
A4Meus Filhos, Meu Tesouro3:53
A5O Plebeu3:18
A6Taj Mahal3:10
B1Xica Da Silva4:00
B2A História De Jorge3:53
B3Camisa 10 Da Gávea4:18
B4Cavaleiro Do Cavalo Imaculado4:43
B5África Brasil (Zumbi)3:48

Jorge Ben - África Brasil (1976)
(320 kbps, cover art included)             

Dienstag, 21. November 2017

Nina Simone - Broadway Blues Ballads (1964)

There's a lot more Broadway and a lot more ballads than blues on this, which ranks as one of her weaker mid-'60s albums. Almost half the record features Broadway tunes on the order of Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hammerstein; most of the rest was composed by Bennie Benjamin, author of her first-rate "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," which the Animals covered for a hit shortly afterwards (and which leads off this record).

The other Benjamin tunes are modified uptown soul with string arrangements and backup vocals in the vein of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," but aren't in the same league, although "How Can I?" is an engaging cha cha. Besides "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," the album is most notable for the great "See-Line Woman," a percolating call-and-response number that ranks as one of her best tracks. The CD reissue includes the strange bonus cut "The Monster," an odd attempt at a soul novelty tune.


  1. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell, Sol Marcus) - 2:48
  2. "Night Song" (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse) - 3:06
  3. "The Laziest Gal in Town" (Cole Porter) - 2:19
  4. "Something Wonderful" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) - 2:46
  5. "Don't Take All Night" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:54
  6. "Nobody" (Alex Rogers, Bert Williams) - 4:18
  7. "I Am Blessed" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:57
  8. "Of This I'm Sure" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:37
  9. "See-Line Woman" ([traditional] American folk, George Bass, Nina Simone) - 2:38
  10. "Our Love (Will See Us Through)" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 3:01
  11. "How Can I?" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:05
  12. "The Last Rose of Summer" (Thomas Moore, Richard Alfred Milliken, Nina Simone) - 3:08
  13.  "A Monster" is added as a bonus track. (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:47
Nina Simone - Broadway Blues Ballads (1964)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Montag, 13. November 2017

Georges Brassens - Don Juan - Vol. 12 (1976)

One of French pop's most poetic songwriters, Georges Brassens was also a highly acclaimed and much-beloved performer in his own right. Not only a brilliant manipulator of language and a feted poet in his own right, Brassens was also renowned for his subversive streak, satirizing religion, class, social conformity, and moral hypocrisy with a wicked glee. Yet beneath that surface was a compassionate concern for his fellow man, particularly the disadvantaged and desperate.

His personal politics were forged during the Nazi occupation, and while his views on freedom bordered on anarchism, his songs expressed those convictions more subtly than those of his contemporary, Léo Ferré.

Though he was a skilled songwriter, Brassens had little formal musical training, and he generally kept things uncomplicated - simple melodies and spare accompaniment from a bass and second guitar.

Along with Jacques Brel, he became one of the most unique voices on the French cabaret circuit, and exerted a tremendous influence on many other singers and songwriters of the postwar era. His poetry and lyrics are still studied as part of France's standard educational curriculum.       

"Don Juan" was officially his final album.

Tracklist:

1 Trompe La Mort
2 Les Ricochets
3 Tempête Dans Un Bénitier
4 Le Boulevard Du Temps Qui Passe
5 Le Modeste
6 Don Juan
7 Les Casseuses
8 Cupidon S'En Fout
9 Montélimar
10 Histoire De Faussaire
11 La Messe Au Pendu
12 Lèche-Cocu
13 Les Patriotes
14 Mélanie
Bonus :
15 Les Copains D'Abord
16 La Visite
17 Élégie À Un Rat De Cave

Georges Brassens - Don Juan - Vol. 12 (1976)
(ca. 192 kbps, cover art included)

Donnerstag, 9. November 2017

VA - Klangdenkmal für die Opfer des Holocaust - A Monument in Sound for the Victims of the Holocaust (2004)

Today we remember the anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany and Austria on 9 to 10 November1938, also known as "Novemberpogrome", "Reichskristallnacht", "Reichspogromnacht" or "Pogromnacht" in German.

Twenty six variations on a subject that one finds difficult to put into words. The incomprehensibility and the magnitude of the Holocaust can perhaps be described in facts, dates and figures - but the suffering of the victims, the regret about what happened, the consequence is especially difficult to "grasp" in terms of one´s owen life. Perhaps this is the reason for music as music is "the ability to communicate where speech has ended" (R. M. Rilke) and gives us the possivility of combining emotions and reason without a verbal setting, to allow grief and hope to flow into each other and in this manner to remember the victims in a very special way.

The "Monument in Sound for the Vicitms of the Holocaust" has been "built" by 27 composers who belong to the "Deutsche Komponistenverband" (German Association of Composers). The project was initiated in 1999 following a unanimous resolution passed by the associations´s state branch in Berlin. Composers from a variety of generations and artistic origins are involved and the starting point was the theme of a song by Coco Schumann. He was persecuted as the son of a Jewish mother and deported to the concentration camps Theresienstadt, Auschwitz and Dachau - he survived these camps and still performs on stage to this very day.

The theme of his compositon was arranged for a string quartet setting and sent to all the project´s participants in alphabetical order, one after another. Each artist then had the possibility, whilst taking the opening theme into consideration, to take up from his predecessor in terms of compostion or to carry on independatly ins or her own way. As such, after two years work, an astonishingly homogeneous musical piece of contemporary history came into being, contrary to all doubts, created by artist from a variety of musical fields - from jazz, avant garde and serious music. A musical work in which past and present flow into a spiritual entirety, as the sum of the involved composers´ personal and subjecitve experiences, each being treated in their own individual artistic manner.


VA - Klangdenkmal für die Opfer des Holocaust (2004)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Dienstag, 31. Oktober 2017

VA - Wien - Zoten und Pikanterien - Rare Schellacks 1906 - 1932

Throughout the world, the rise of mass culture in the 19th century brought the music of the common man to the forefront of the popular agenda. Expressions of "high culture" no longer dominated in the big cities. The taste of recently-urbanised country migrants was increasingly catered for.

Since the turn of the 20th century popular melodies, folk songs, humorous commentaries and dance music with a hard edge gained widespread acceptance. In the suburbs of Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Leipzig and Dresden new types of urban folk singers and entertainers emerged at the cutting edge of recreation. Their songs reflected the dissonant and raucous reality of urban life in harsh and critical lyrics, but always modified by a pinch of irony and a considerable amount of humor.

The commercial recording industry recognized the mass appeal of these emergent syncretic forms and a representative sample from that early period is featured on this series.

Tracklist:
Die Erbsünd - Freddy Wellmann
Der Grillenkitzler - Karl Huber mit Lenz Quartett
Brombeerlied - Franz Niernsee mit Lenz Quartett
Der Pfannenflicker - Brder Breier mit "Neuwirth" Quartett
Wiener Lokal-Verse - Franz Mika mit Neustifter Schrammel Begleitung
Das Lied ist modern - Scheimbauer & Lenz mit Mojka-Nast Schrammelbegleitung
Roserl, wie schön bist du im Hoserl - Richard Waldemar mit Klavier Begleitung
Weil ich anstnädig bin - Fritzi Rolly mit Orchesterbegleitung
Im roten Hahn - Franz Mika mit original Lanner-Quartett
Die Müllerin - Jungbauer mit Lenz-Quartett
Wo's Wasser herrauscht - Franz Niernsee mit Schrammelquartett "Lenz"
Breier G'stanzeln - August Breier begleitet vom "Neuwirth-Quartett"
Stilleben - Mika und Drechsler mit Schrammelbegleitung "Pischinger"
Hansi Führer am Telefon - Hansi Fhrer mit Klavierbegleitung
Schnauzbart-G'stanzln - Karl Huber mit Butschetty-Quartett
I hab mei Freud mit die Vögln - Mika & Drechsler mit Schrammel-Terzett
Unterm Paraplui - Rudi Hermann mit Schrammel-Terzett
Der Landkirtag - Scheimbauer & Lenz mit Schrammelquartett Moja-Nast
Bauerng'stanzeln - Karl Huber mit "Quartett Lenz und Ernst"
Beim Heurigen in Ottakring - Mika & Drechsler mit Schrammelbegleitung "Pischinger"
Laternderl - Franz Niernsee begl. Vom Wiener Salon Orchester "D`Geigerbuben"
I hab an alten Daimler - Rudi Hermann mit Schrammel-Terzett
Das Vergissmeinnicht - Franz Mika mit Original-Lanner-Quartett
Bauerng'stanzeln - Rudolf Heller mit Klavierbegleitung
Brunnstangl - Lenz und Scheimbauer mit Schrammelbegleitung

VA - Wien - Zoten und Pikanterien - Rare Schellacks 1906 - 1932
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Montag, 30. Oktober 2017

Django Reinhardt et son Quintette du HCF - Concert A Bruxelles 1948

From the liner notes:

"This is a recording in which every Django Reinhardt admirer will be interested. It is the only public performance we know and it had been recorded on an amateur tape recorder he bought in Brussels.

When Mrs. Reinhardt played it to us after Django´s death, we immediately thought that such a rarity had to be issued, although the recording quality is poor.

So here is Django Reinhardt with his quintet on the stage of the Theatre des Galeries in Burssels in December 1948 featuring Hubert Rostaing, Louis Vola, Arthur Motta and his older son Henri "Louson" Baumgartner."



Tracklist:

A1Artillerie Lourde4:19
A2Micro1:57
A3Bolero3:57
A4Cadillac Slim2:43
A5Nuages3:44
B1Place De Broukere2:49
B2Improvisation2:28
B3Improvisation Sur Un Theme Mineur4:20
B4Festival 481:48
B5Minor Swing2:17

Django Reinhardt et son Quintette du HCF - Concert A Bruxelles 1948
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Donnerstag, 19. Oktober 2017

Joe Gibbs & The Professionals - African Dub All-Mighty - Chapter 3

The third (and most impressive) of four volumes of dub mixes from the studio of producer Joe Gibbs, "African Dub, Chapter 3" finds engineer Errol Thompson getting a bit more adventurous than he had on the earlier installments. More of these dub versions keep shreds and snatches of the original vocal tracks in the mix, which is almost always a plus in a dub context - little snippets of disembodied vocals float through the otherworldly musical atmosphere, lending a sometimes spooky human element to the sound and often casting new and refracted light on the meaning of the original lyrics.

And on this volume, Thompson seems to be taking a few cues from his competitor Lee "Scratch" Perry, throwing such extramusical elements as water sounds (on "Freedom Call") and ringing telephones (on "Jubilation Dub") into the mix along with the usual gossamer shreds of guitar, horn, and keyboard. Highly recommended.               


Tracklist:

Chapter Three
Rema Dub
Tribesman Rockers
Freedom Call
Jubilation Dub
The Entebbe Affair
Angolian Chant
Zion Gate
Jungle Dub
Dub Three

Joe Gibbs & The Professionals - African Dub All-Mighty - Chapter 3
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Dienstag, 17. Oktober 2017

Nico - Desertshore (1970)

While Nico was the member of the Velvet Underground who had had the least experience in music prior to joining the group (while she had recorded a pop single in England, she'd never been a member of a working band before Andy Warhol introduced her to the Velvets), she was also the one who strayed farthest from traditional rock & roll after her brief tenure with the band, and by the time she recorded "Desertshore", her work had little (if anything) to do with traditional Western pop.

John Cale, who produced and arranged "Desertshore", once described the music as having more to do with 20th century classical music than anything else, and while that may be going a bit far to make a point, even compared to the avant-rock frenzy of the Velvet Underground's early material, "Desertshore" is challenging stuff. Nico's dour Teutonic monotone is a compelling but hardly welcoming vocal presence, and the songs, centered around the steady drone of her harmonium, are often grim meditations on fate that are crafted and performed with inarguable skill and intelligence, but are also a bit samey, and the album's downbeat tone gets to be rough sledding by the end of side two. Cale's arrangements are superb throughout, and "My Only Child," "Afraid," and "The Falconer" are quite beautiful in their own ascetic way, but like the bulk of Nico's repertoire, "Desertshore" is an album practically designed to polarize its listeners; you'll either embrace it's darkness or give up on it before the end of side one. Then again, given the thoroughly uncompromising nature of her career as a musician, that's probably just what Nico had in mind. 

Tracklist:

Janitor Of Lunacy 4:01
The Falconer 5:39
My Only Child 3:27
Le Petit Chevalier 1:12
Abschied 3:02
Afraid 3:27
Mütterlein 4:38
All That Is My Own 3:54


Nico - Desertshore (1970)
(320 kbps, cover art included)             

Mittwoch, 11. Oktober 2017

Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Secrets (1978)

Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson made a lot of incredible music together and "Secrets" is no exception. Soul and Jazz come together with the brilliance that is Gil Scott-Heron's mind and the result is truly inspiring. This 1978 album from the poet/musician, an album that continues the journey started on the 1977 album, "Bridges".

"Angel Dust" warns of the dangers of drug abuse. "Show Bizness" is a hilarious look at the perils of the music business ('they'll take care of everything for only 95%'), whilst "Madison Avenue" talks of the over commercialization of western society ("buying is all that's asked of you..."). "Better Days Ahead" and "Prayer For Everybody" see Gil in a more optimistic light hoping for a better future.

Gil Scott Heron was rapping and telling it like it is long before hip hop even thought about running its course. This album was a good example of Gil's finest works.

Tracklist:
1. Angel Dust
2. Madison Avenue
3. Cane
4. Third World Revolution
5. Better Days Ahead
6. 3 Miles Down
7. Angola Louisiana
8. Show Bizness
9. A Prayer For Everybody To Be Free


Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Secrets
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Mittwoch, 4. Oktober 2017

Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht - Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Lotte Lenya, Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg, 1956)

In the mid-'50s, Lotte Lenya, Kurt Weill's widow, contracted with Columbia Records to participate in a series of new recordings of her late husband's major German works.

Here, she is featured as Jenny Hill in a 1956 studio cast album of "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny" ("Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"), Weill's 1930 musical written with lyricist Bertolt Brecht. That allows her to sing the show's most famous number, "Alabama-Song." (Although Mahagonny is presented in the original German, "Alabama-Song" was written and is sung in English.). It is an ensemble work, not a star vehicle, with the other principal parts handled by Heinz Sauerbaum (as Jimmy Mahoney) and Gisela Litz (as Leokadja Begbick). The orchestra is conducted by Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg.

As its title suggests, Mahagonny traces the founding of a fictional American city and its evolution into a sort of modern Sodom and Gomorrah with the characters being lowlife types such as gamblers and prostitutes. It is similar in many ways to its predecessor, "The Threepenny Opera". But where that song-based work was more of a conventional Broadway-style musical, Mahagonny is more of an operetta, with extended recitatives and a larger orchestra playing more elaborate music. It is at once more ambitious and less accessible than "The Threepenny Opera" and consequently has been less often performed. This recording aims to be definitive and, with a talented cast and musicians, plus excellent sound courtesy of a Hamburg studio, it arguably achieves that goal.               

Tracklist:

Akt I
Nr. 1
1-1 Gesucht werden Leokadja Begbick 3:41
1-2 Sie soll sein wie ein Netz 3:52
Nr. 2
1-3 Rasch wuchs / Oh, show us the way 4:13
Nr. 3
1-4 Die Nachricht 4:26
Nr. 4
1-5 In den nächsten Tagen 2:04
Nr. 5
1-6 Damals kam unter anderen 2:14
1-7 Heraus, ihr Schönen von Mahagonny 0:55
1-8 Ach, bedenken sie 2:00
Nr. 6
1-9 Ich habe gelernt 1:55
Nr. 7
1-10 Alle grosse Unternehmungen 1:23
1-11 Auch ich bin einmal 3:34
Nr. 8
1-12 Alle wahrhaft Suchenden 2:44
1-13 Aber etwas fehlt 3:47
Nr. 9
1-14 Klaviersolo / Das ist die ewige Kunst 4:16
1-15 Sieben Jahre 2:28
Nr. 10
1-16 Ein Taifun! 2:21
Nr. 11
1-17 In dieser Nacht des Entsetzens 5:30
1-18 Nein, jetzt sage ich 1:50
1-19 So tuet nur, was euch beliebt 3:28
Akt II
Nr. 12
1-20 Hurrikan bewegt 3:26
1-21 O wunderbare Lösung 1:19

 Nr. 13
2-1 Von nun an war der Leitspruch 1:08
2-2 Jetzt habe ich gegessen zwei Kalber 4:00
Nr. 14
2-3 Zweitens kommt die Liebe dran! 6:18
2-4 Sieh jene Kraniche 5:02
2-5 Erstens, vergesst nicht, kommt das Fressen 0:37
Nr. 15
2-6 Wir, meine Herren 4:28
2-7 Dreimal hoch Dreieinigkeitsmoses! 2:30
Nr. 16
2-8 Freunde kommt, ich lade euch ein 7:37
2-9 Meine Herren, meine Mutter prägte 5:58
Nr. 17
2-10 Wenn der Himmel hell wird 4:09
Akt III
Nr. 18
2-11 Haben alle Zuschauer Billette? 2:01
2-12 Zweitens der Fall des Jimmy Mahoney 8:37
Nr. 19
2-13 In dieser Zeit gab es in Mahagonny 4:04
Nr. 20
2-14 Hinrichtung und Tod des Jimmy Mahoney 3:30
2-15 Erstens, vergesst nicht, kommt das Fressen 3:25
Nr. 21
2-16 Wohlt ihr mich denn wirklich hinrichten? 4:08
2-17 In diesen Tagen fanden in Mahagonny 6:29

Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht - Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Lotte Lenya, Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg, 1956) CD 1
Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht - Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Lotte Lenya, Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg, 1956) CD 2
(256 kbps, cover art included)