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)

Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes (1968)

The band's debut album, "Os Mutantes", is far and away their best — a wildly inventive trip that assimilates orchestral pop, whimsical psychedelia, musique concrète, found-sound environments — and that's just the first song!

Elsewhere there are nods to Carnaval, albeit with distinct hippie sensibilities, incorporating fuzztone guitars and go-go basslines. Two tracks, "O Relogio" and "Le Premier Bonheur du Jour," work through pastoral French pop, sounding closer to the Swingle Singers than Gilberto Gil.

Though not all of the experimentation succeeds — the languid Brazilian blues of "Baby" is rather cumbersome — and pop/rock listeners may have a hard time finding the hooks, Os Mutantes' first album is an astonishing listen. It's far more experimental than any of the albums produced by the era's first-rate psychedelic bands of Britain or America.

Os Mutantes - Same (1968)
(320 kbps, front cover included)

VA - No volveremos atrás (Chile, 1973)

This year it was 45 years ago that General Pinochet launched a bloody CIA-assisted coup against the democratically-elected socialist President Allende of Chile.

On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet and his right-wing supporters in the Chilean military and government staged a brutal coup d’etat that overthrew the democratically elected and socialist-leaning administration of Salvador Allende.
They did so with substantial assistance from the Nixon administration and the CIA, which had been supporting anti-socialist forces throughout Chile following the election of Allende in 1970 and his efforts to nationalize some key industries including the phone company, whose majority owner was the U.S.-based International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT).

Following the coup - in which tens of thousands were arrested and imprisoned in Chile’s football stadiums, untold numbers were tortured, executed, or “disappeared,” and Allende shot himself inside the presidential palace following his farewell speech - the Chicago Boys who had been trained in Friedman’s brand of neoliberalism, previously rebuffed in the 1970 election, were now suddenly given the keys to the Chilean economy by the Pinochet regime.
This came on the heels of a proposal published on the day of the coup by the Chicago Boys to restructure Chile as a kind of laboratory of neoliberalism.

During the airforce bombardment of the Presidential palace, La Moneda, Allende addressed the nation one final time. These were Allende’s famous last words, delivered after personally engaging in a bitter hours-long firefight with Pinochet’s treasonous military forces, and just moments before taking his own life with a rifle given to him as a gift by Fidel Castro:

"Surely, this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes. My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May there be a moral punishment for those who have betrayed their oath: soldiers of Chile, titular commanders in chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself Commander of the Navy, and Mr. Mendoza, the despicable general who only yesterday pledged his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has appointed himself Chief of the Carabineros [paramilitary police]. Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign!
Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever. They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.
Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. At this definitive moment, the last moment when I can address you, I wish you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition, the tradition taught by General Schneider and reaffirmed by Commander Araya, victims of the same social sector who today are hoping, with foreign assistance, to re-conquer the power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.
I address you, above all, the modest woman of our land, the campesina who believed in us, the mother who knew our concern for children. I address professionals of Chile, patriotic professionals who continued working against the sedition that was supported by professional associations, classist associations that also defended the advantages of capitalist society.
I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act.
They were committed. History will judge them.
Surely, Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.
The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will once again be opened through which free man will pass to build a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, there will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.
Santiago de Chile,
11 September 1973"

Chile is - 40 years after the bloody overthrow of the socialist Allende government - focus of this year's "Festival Musik & Politik" in February. Besides a lot of other interesting events with music, discussion and film there will be a concert "Victor Jara presente" with Quilapayun and others on February 24, 2013. More information via http://www.musikundpolitik.de/.

We will present in the following month some albums remembering the struggle of the people in Chile and the brutal coup d’etat that overthrew the democratically elected and socialist-leaning government in Chile 40 years ago.

This LP, released by DICAP, is emblematic of the Chilean Unidad Popular and the way of making music in the service of popular political struggles. With most of the songs by Quilapayun, the idea of the work was to support the political campaign for the UP elections in March 1973.

Tracklist:

01 - Este es mi lugar [Quilapayún]
02 - Por siempre muy juntos [Quilapayún]
03 - No vamos hoy a bailar [Quilapayún]
04 - Conchalí [Bonnie-Baher y Quilapayún]
05 - Cueca negra [Quilapayún]
06 - Nuestro amor [Bonnie-Baher y Quilapayún]
07 - Onofre sí, Frei [Quilapayún]
08 - Al centro de la injusticia [Isabel Parra] (versión 1973
09 - El desabastecimiento [Víctor Jara]
10 - Frei, ayúdame [Quilapayún e Inti-illimani]
12 - Cueca roja [Quilapayún]

VA - No volveremos atras (Chile, 1973)
(160 kbps, front cover incuded)

The Fall ‎- A Part Of America Therein, 1981 (1982)

"From the riot torn streets of Manchester, England to the scenic sewers of Chicago" begins the hoarse American MC introducing The Fall to an audience of appreciative, but probably confused, stateside audience.

Of the early live albums, "A Part of America Therein 1981" might be one of their best. The sound quality and band mix is fine, though a slight distortion suggests a poor source tape or a vinyl remaster. Above all, the band is in top form, Mark E. Smith amusing in several audience asides while focused and possessed of vitriol in the treatise-like songs ("The N.W.R.A." and "Cash 'n' Carry") that make up a majority of this set. "Totally Wired" can't help but be a lashing out of the scene surrounding him, as Smith changes the lyrics to attack the faux punks in the audience. And the line "When the going gets weird/the weird turn pro" could be The Fall's motto. The double-punch of Craig Scanlon and Marc Riley's guitars add to the fury.

Tracklist:

	North Side:
A1	The N.W.R.A.	10:50
A2	Hip Priest	7:35
A3	Totally Wired	4:08
A4	Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul	3:05
	South Side:
B1	Cash 'N' Carry	6:35
B2	An Older Lover	6:40
B3	Deer Park	4:24
B4	Winter	7:25

The Fall ‎- A Part Of America Therein, 1981 (1982)
(192 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)