Josh White - The Story of John Henry - 25th Anniversary Album (1957)

Josh White had a talent for self-reinvention, and his career - which began in the 1920s and stretched essentially uninterrupted all the way into the '60s - is an amazing story of adaptability and survival.

Slick, sly, and fiercely intelligent, White began as a Piedmont blues player, but became a sort of pre-Harry Belafonte black sex idol, complete with a leftist social and political agenda, during his so-called cabaret blues period in the late '40s, and when the McCarthy era led to his blacklisting, he rebounded into the folk revival with several carefully assembled albums for Jac Holzman's newly created Elektra label that recast him as a folk balladeer. 

This set, originally released as an LP in 1957, was the first of those albums for Elektra. Few performers could make the folk-blues straddle the line between being rustic on the one hand and artfully urbane on the other like White was able to do, and while to some extent it was a stage act, there is no doubting White's ultimate devotion to his material. 

The key track here is the first one, an epic 23-plus-minute version of "John Henry" that was the center of White's live performances during his folk period and was somewhat of a signature song for him. Although some doubted White's authenticity as a folk-blues performer (they really shouldn't have), the fact remains that White was an excellent acoustic guitar player and a subtle and versatile singer who carefully selected his material, well aware of how it made him appear. 

Listeners should definitely check out some of White's early Piedmont-styled 78s from the '20s, though, like "Blood Red River" and "Silicosis Is Killin' Me," to really hear this intelligent performer at his best.


Tracklist:
1. The Story Of John Henry... a musical narrative   23:33

2. Black Girl   2:58

3. Free And Equal Blues   3:49

4. Live The Life   2:22

5. Sam Hall  2:58

6. Where Were You, Baby?   3:38

7. Delia's Gone   3:49

8. Run, Mona, Run   1:37

9. You Don't Know My Mind   3:52

Josh White - The Story of John Henry - 25th Anniversary Album (1957)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Paul Graetz - Heimweh nach Berlin

In the late 1920s, Berlin was the world´s third-largest city and a metropolis of culture and science with a vibrantly diverse population comprised of immigrants and native Berliners. In the aftermath of the Nazi regime´s rise to power in 1933 and the terror of the 1938 November Pogroms, an appalling number of men and women who had contributed to the diversity of Berlin´s cultural and social landscapes were persecuted and driven into exile - many others were deported and murdered.

As the "most quintessential of Berlin´s comedians", Paul Graetz was among the most popular German cabaret performers in the years before 1933.

Graetz, who was a Jewish artist and had warned against the threat posed by the Nazis, fled Germany after the Reichstag fire.

After working in London as an actor, he emigrated to New York and then to Hollywood, where he died in 1937, "heartbroken at the loss of his native Berlin", as a fellow-artist reported.

Paul Graetz - Heimweh nach Berlin
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Woody Guthrie - Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child (1956)

Some of the last songs written and recorded by Woody Guthrie were his children's songs.

Their strength, shown in "Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child", is an unusually strong identification with actually being a child, in all its simplicity and charm, along with the ability to win over listeners. Good examples here are "Rattle My Rattle" and "I Want My Milk." Guthrie is an acquired sonic taste worth acquiring. Ages 3-5.

Tracklist:

1	Grassy Grass Grass (Grow, Grow, Grow)	1:35
2	Swimmy Swim	1:53
3	Little Sugar (Little Saka Sugar)	1:22
4	Rattle My Rattle	1:11
5	I Want My Milk (I Want It Now)	2:17
6	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8	1:11
7	One Day Old	1:33
8	Wash-y Wash Wash (Warshy Little Tootsy)	1:34
9	I'll Eat You, I'll Drink You	1:40
10	Make A Blobble	2:05
11	Who's My Pretty Baby (Hey Pretty Baby)	1:43
12	I'll Write And I'll Draw	2:27
13	Why, Oh Why	3:27
14	Pick It Up	1:51
15	Pretty And Shiny-O	1:28
16	Needle Sing	2:15
17	Bling-Blang	2:41
18	Goodnight Little Arlo (Goodnight Little Darlin')	3:16

Woody Guthrie - Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child (1956)
(Ca. 145 kbps, cover art included)

The Fall - Dragnet (1979)

Mark E. Smith, the irascible frontman of Manchester post-punk band the Fall, has died at the age of 60 on Jan 24, 2018. Rest in peace!

The Fall's second album was also one of the hardest to find in later years, getting only sporadic represses and reissues. Though some opinions would have it that there was a good reason for this - namely, that it was something of a dead end sonically - it's not as bad as all that. It's true that more than a few tracks come across as Fall-by-numbers (even then, already better than plenty of other bands), but there are some thorough standouts regardless. There's also another key reason to rate "Dragnet" - it's the debut album appearance of Craig Scanlon, who picked up on the off-kilter rockabilly-meets-art rock sensibilities of the initial lineup and translated it into amazing guitar work.

No less important is the appearance of Steve Hanley, who would soon take over fully on bass from Marc Riley, who in turn moved to guitar, forming one heck of a partnership with Scanlon that would last until Riley jumped ship to form the Creepers. Generally the songs which work the best on "Dragnet" throw in some amusingly odd curves while still hanging together musically. The full winner is unquestionably "Spectre vs. Rector," an amazing combination of clear lead vocals and buried, heavily echoed music and further rants, before fully exploding halfway through while the rhythm obsessively grinds away. Another odd and wonderful cut is "Muzorewi's Daughter," which starts out sounding like stereotypical Hollywood music for Native American tribes before shifting between that and quicker choruses. "Dice Man," with its rave-up melody and slower vocal- and guitar-only chorus, not to mention the weird muttering elsewhere in the mix, says it all in under two minutes and has fun while doing it.

Through it all, Smith rants and raves supreme, spinning out putdowns, cracked vocals, and total bile with all the thrill and energy one could want from a good performer.       

Tracklist:

A1	Psykick Dancehall	3:40
A2	A Figure Walks	6:05
A3	Printhead	3:05
A4	Dice Man	1:45
A5	Before The Moon Falls	4:20
A6	Your Heart Out	2:45
B1	Muzorewi's Daughter	3:40
B2	Flat Of Angles	4:50
B3	Choc-Stock	2:36
B4	Spectre Vs. Rector	7:49
B5	Put Away	3:24

The Fall - Dragnet (1979)
(320 kbps, cover art included)