Clifton Chenier, Mance Lipscomb, Lightning Hopkins - Live! At The 1966 Berkeley Blues Festival (1966)

In 1966, Chris Strachwitz, the force behind Arhoolie Records, brought these amazing Texas-Louisiana legends to an appreciative West Coast audience. Chenier, the father of modern zydeco, plays red-hot accordion with some drum support, while bluesman Hopkins is cool and witty, twanging and sliding on his electric guitar. But the most amazing performance is by the transcendent Texas songster Mance Lipscomb, the oldest musician of the three. His thumb thumps the bass line on his acoustic guitar, while his index and middle fingers pick out syncopated phrases. On "Take Your Arms From Around My Neck, Sugar Babe," he seethes with irony and veiled malice.

Recorded live on KAL radio in Berkeley, CA on April 15, 1966, this presents roughly equal shares of material from Mance Lipscomb, Clifton Chenier, and Lightnin' Hopkins, performing at the 1966 Berkeley Blues Festival. The sound is not state-of-the-art, but decent considering the vintage. The material is not going to surprise anyone familiar with the artists, which is good news if you're in love with their music and want typical excerpts of their sets, but bad news if you think you might have enough of them and you're considering whether to investigate further. Lipscomb does good-natured, rhythmic country blues, both of his own composition and otherwise, covering "When the Saints Go Marching In," "I Ain't Got Nobody," and "The Sinking of the Titanic," which has slide guitar and is perhaps the most interesting of his songs on the CD. Chenier's performance might be of the greatest historical interest of the three artists on this disc, since it was his first appearance before a "a mostly young, white, relatively sophisticated concert audience," as Chris Strachwitz writes in the liner notes. It's just him, his accordion, and drummer Francis Clay, mostly on original tunes, as well as zydeco arrangements of Slim Harpo's "Baby Scratch My Back" and Ray Charles' "What'd I Say?." Clay also plays drums as the sole other musician on Lightnin' Hopkins' portion which, with its electric guitar, has a nice, mild electric R&B-rock feel.  Half of this album was previously available on Arhoolie LP 1030, but 11 of the 23 songs on the CD were previously unreleased.

Tracklist:

       1. Stop Time - Mance Lipscomb

2. I Ain't Got Nobody - Mance Lipscomb

3. Downtown Blues - Mance Lipscomb

4. Shake, Shake, Mama - Mance Lipscomb

5. The Sinking Of The Titanic (God Moves On The Water) - Mance Lipscomb

6. Take Your Arms From Around My Neck, Sugar Babe - Mance Lipscomb

7. When The Saints Go Marching In - Mance Lipscomb

8. Intro & Louisiana Shuffle - Clifton Chenier

9. French Zydeco - Clifton Chenier

10. Clifton's After Hours - Clifton Chenier

11. Scratch My Back - Clifton Chenier

12. Everybody Calls Me Crazy - Clifton Chenier

13. What'd I Say? - Clifton Chenier

14. Old Country Waltz - Clifton Chenier

15. Louisiana Rock - Clifton Chenier

16. Clifton's Boogie Woogie - Clifton Chenier

17. If You Don't Want Me - Lightning Hopkins

18. I Feel So Good - Lightning Hopkins

19. Last Night - Lightning Hopkins

20. Goin' To Louisiana (Mojo Hand) - Lightning Hopkins

21. Black Cadillac - Lightning Hopkins

22. Short Haired Woman - Lightning Hopkins

23. Lightning's Boogie - Lightning Hopkins

   

Clifton Chenier, Mance Lipscomb, Lightning Hopkins  - Live! At The 1966 Berkeley Blues Festival

(320 kbps, cover art included) 

Lightnin Hopkins - Mojo Hand (1960)

Sam John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist, and occasional pianist, from Centerville, Texas. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.
The musicologist Robert "Mack" McCormick opined that Hopkins is "the embodiment of the jazz-and-poetry spirit, representing its ancient form in the single creator whose words and music are one act".

This album, recorded for Fire Records, is especially interesting because it casts Hopkins in a more R&B-flavored environment. This obvious effort to get a hit makes for some excellent blues; moody and powerful performances play throughout. There's even a charming novelty Christmas blues, "Santa."                

Tracklist:

1	Mojo Hand
2	Coffee For Mama
3	Awful Dreams
4	Black Mare Trot
5	Have You Ever Loved A Woman
6	Glory Be
7	Sometimes She Will
8	Santa
9	Shine On, Moon!
10	Shake That Thing
11	Walk A Long Time
12	Last Night
13	Just Pickin'
14	Bring Me My Shotgun
15	Mojo Hand (Live At 1965 Newport Folk Festival)

Lightnin Hopkins - Mojo Hand (1960)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Gary Clail - Another Hard Man EP

Gary Clail began his career in Bristol where he worked improvising raps on tapes released by On-U artists.

He was taken in by the label to work with Tackhead and the On U Sound System in the late '80s, resulting in a series of 12" releases from 1985-87 before his first full-length split release for Nettwerk, "Tackhead Tape Time" by Gary Clail & Tackhead.

In 1989, he had his true debut album in "Gary Clail & On-U Sound System", released by the On U Sound label. The album helped forge him a place in the Bristol electronic underground, and paved the way for his later releases on RCA, which feature a number of singles and EPs as well as one full-length, 1991's "Emotional Hooligan". He also released another full-length for Yelen Records in 1996, "Keep the Faith".
Here´s the "Another Hard Man EP", released  in 1996, produced by Adrian Sherwood. It was the first single from the "Keep The Faith" Album.

Tracklist:
1. another hard man (radio version)
2. another hard man (album version)
3. another hard dub
4. sparse mix
5. what's that sound mix
6. what's that sound dub mix

Tracks 3 & 4 were remixed by Adrian Sherwood, tracks 5 & 6 were remixed by Gary Clail and Andy Montgomery.

Gary Clail - Another Hard Man EP
(320 kbps, front cover included)

Lightnin Hopkins - How Many More Years I Got

Though he had been performing since the 1920s, Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins was a fresh face to the majority of the young folk audiences of the 1960s.

On the verge of drifting into obscurity, the singer had been rediscovered by enthusiast Mack McCormick and promoted to college crowds as a singer/guitarist in the folk-blues mold. What followed was a series of albums cut both solo and with session musicians for a variety of labels. "How Many More Years I Got" was one of the earliest. The players here are extremely loose, betraying a casual interest in the task at hand. They sound like a group of borrowed session men, but were in fact a small combo familiar both with each other and Hopkins himself. Bassist Donald Cooks, pianist Buster Pickens, drummer "Spider" Kilpatrick, and Hopkins' harp-playing cousin, Billy Bizor, all played on a number of the guitarist's dates during the early '60s. Hopkins was apparently reluctant to do second takes, however, and these recordings show it. The singer leads the group with his relaxed lines and Kilpatrick follows, further defining the tempo with the light, stiff patter of his drums. Bizor occasionally plays the role of catalyst, though his moans, hollers, and vocal/harmonica dialogues do little to increase the interest of his partners. Things pick up slightly during the album's second half, though even then the performances hardly approach the level of Hopkins' solo sides from the period, let alone his best work.        

Tracklist:

A1	How Many More Years I Got	2:58
A2	Walkin' This Road By Myself	4:48
A3	The Devil Jumped The Black Man	4:09
A4	My Baby Don't Stand No Cheatin'	2:05
A5	Black Cadillac	3:37
B1	You Is One Black Rat	2:29
B2	The Fox Chase	3:18
B3	Mojo Hand	3:30
B4	Mama Blues	5:16
B5	My Black Name	3:59
C1	Prison Farm Blues	4:35
C2	Ida Mae	5:25
C3	I Got A Leak In This Old Building	5:19
C4	Happy Blues For John Glenn	5:20
D1	Worried Life Blues	2:53
D2	Sinner's Prayer	3:45
D3	Angel Child	3:30
D4	Pneumonia Blues	3:30
D5	Have You Ever Been Mistreated	4:04

      

Lightnin Hopkins - How Many More Years I Got
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Harry Mudie Meet King Tubby's - Dub Conference Volume 2 (1977)

Here´s the second volume of sweet, soulful dubs, with Harry Mudie turning over the choicest pieces from his catalog of rhythms to the great King Tubby to dub up, and he does so in fine, fine form.

Tubby's respectful but still radical reworking of these numbers is one of our favorite, though lesser known dub sets. 


Tracklist:

1	World Dub Conference	3:18
2	Marijuana Dub	2:50
3	Heart Leap Dub	3:43
4	Dub Inside Out	2:46
5	Melody In Dub	2:37
6	Jungle Walk Dub	2:57
7	Maga Back Dub	2:43
8	Don't Play With Dub	3:21
9	Planet Dub	3:29
10	Drifting Dub	3:07

Harry Mudie Meet King Tubby's - Dub Conference Volume 2 (1977)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Lightnin Hopkins - Got To Move Your Baby (1965)

Outside of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins may be Texas's most distinctive and influential blues export. His easy, fluid fingerpicking and witty, extemporaneous storytelling are always a delight, and his performances on "Got To Move Your Baby" (aka LAST NIGHT BLUES) are no exception. The album is spare and acoustic, with Hopkins's voice and guitar accompanied by minimal percussion and Sonny Terry's harmonica.

Terry's contributions really add a lot to these tunes, threading a high, lonesome whine on the downtempo tunes and a chugging, propulsive shuffle on the faster ones. Hopkins is, of course, one of the kings of the blues boogie, but he's equally compelling on the slow blues, and he never missteps throughout this fine set. All told, this dynamite disc represents what the blues should be: stripped-down, soulful, and full of truth.

Tracklist:                                                     

A1	Rocky Mountain
A2	Got To Move Your Baby
A3	So Sorry To Leave You
A4	Take A Trip With Me
B1	Last Night Blues
B2	Lightnin's Stroke
B3	Hard To Love A Woman
B4	Conversation Blues

Lightnin Hopkins - Got To Move Your Baby (1965)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Lightnin Hopkins - Blues Train

Sam "Lightnin" Hopkins was a Texas country bluesman of the highest caliber whose career began in the 1920s and stretched all the way into the 1980s. Along the way, Hopkins watched the genre change remarkably, but he never appreciably altered his mournful Lone Star sound, which translated onto both acoustic and electric guitar. Hopkins' nimble dexterity made intricate boogie riffs seem easy, and his fascinating penchant for improvising lyrics to fit whatever situation might arise made him a beloved blues troubadour.

This album collects classic sides from Hopkins’ 1950-1951 stint with Bobby Shad’s "Sittin’-in-With" logo. The disc’s 15 selections include two of his biggest hits, “Hello Central” and “Coffee Blues.”

Lightnin Hopkins - Blues Train
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Giora Feidman - In Jerusalem

Argentine-born and Israeli-based, Giora Feidman has become the leading interpreter and performer of Eastern European klezmer. Despite his classical training with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Feidman's clarinet playing is unrestrainedly and emphatically eclectic.

Here´s his album "Feidman in Jerusalem" from 1994 with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Shallon.

Giora Feidman - In Jerusalem 
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Nina Simone - In Concert (1964)

"Nina Simone in Concert"  was her first album for the record label Philips and was made up of three live recordings in Carnegie Hall, New York City in March and April 1964 (previously, she had recorded "Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall" in 1963 for Colpix Records). This album marks the beginning of "Nina Simone, the Civil Rights singer" in her recording career (she had already incorporated the civil rights message in her performances). Included on the album are politically laden songs, most notably the self-written "Mississippi Goddam".

This is probably the most personal album that Simone issued during her stay on Philips in the mid-'60s. On most of her studio sessions, she worked with orchestration that either enhanced her material tastefully or smothered her, and she tackled an astonishingly wide range of material that, while admirably eclectic, made for uneven listening. Here, the singer and pianist is backed by a spare, jazzy quartet, and some of the songs rank among her most socially conscious declarations of African-American pride: "Old Jim Crow," "Pirate Jenny," "Go Limp," and, especially, "Mississippi Goddam" were some of the most forthright musical reflections of the Civil Rights movement to be found at the time. In a more traditional vein, she also reprises her hit "I Loves You, Porgy" and the jazz ballad "Don't Smoke in Bed."



Tracklist:

A1 I Loves You, Porgy
A2 Plain Gold Ring
A3 Pirate Jenny
A4 Old Jim Crow

B1 Don't Smoke In Bed
B2 Go Limp
B3 Mississippi Goddam

Nina Simone - In Concert (1964)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Lightnin Hopkins - Double Blues (1973)

Lightnin' Hopkins' plaintive, soft-rolling blues style is exemplified on "Let's Go Sit on the Lawn," "Just a Wristwatch on My Arm," "I'm a Crawling Black Snake," Willie Dixon's "My Babe," and others.

Accompanied only by himself on guitar (and oh what a guitar he plays), Leonard Gaskin (bass), and Herb Lovelle (drums), Hopkins' seductive, intricate guitar picks and strums will dance around in your head long after this album has played.

His voice, which sounds like it's aged in Camels and Jim Beam, conveys his heartfelt sagas to the fullest. A prolific songwriter, Hopkins wrote every song except the Dixon tune.

All tracks were recorded May 4 - 5, 1964. Tracks 1 - 7 were originally released on the "Down Home Blues" album, tracks 8 - 17 on the "Soul Blues" album.

Tracklist:

1. Let's Go Sit On The Lawn
2. I'm Taking A Devil Of A Chance
3. I Got Tired
4. I Asked The Bossman
5. Just A Wristwatch On My Arm
6. I Woke Up This Morning
7. I Was Standing On 75 Highway
8. I'm Going To Build Me A Heaven Of My Own
9. My Babe
10. Too Many Drivers
11. I'm A Crawling Black Snake
12. Rocky Mountain Blues
13. I Mean Goodbye
14. Howling Wolf
15. Black Ghost Blues
16. Darling, Do You Remember Me?
17. Lonesome Graveyard

Lightnin Hopkins - Double Blues
(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Slits - Man Next Door (Single, 1980)

Along with the Raincoats and Liliput, the Slits are one of the most significant female punk rock bands of the late '70s.

"Man Next Door" (also known as Quiet Place or I've Got to Get Away) is a song based on Paul Witt's 1964 American hit 'A Quiet Place' and originally recorded by John Holt with his group The Paragons in 1968.

The Paragons version was produced by Duke Reid and first released on his Duke label as the B-side of "Left with a Broken Heart".

The song has been covered by numerous other reggae artists including Dennis Brown, UB40 and Horace Andy who also sang in a more electronic version of the song for the Massive Attack album "Mezzanine", with a sample of the drum riff from Led Zeppelin's cover of "When the Levee Breaks".

The song was released as a single by The Slits in 1980, when it reached number 5 on the UK Indie Chart, staying on the chart for 13 weeks.


Tracklist:

1 - Man Next Door
2 - Man Next Door (Version)

The Slits - Man Next Door (Single, 1980)
(ca. 220 kbps, cover art included)

Sister Carol - Liberation For Africa (vinyl rip, 1983)

One of the dancehall era's few successful female DJs, Sister Carol was something like reggae's answer to Queen Latifah: a strong, positive feminist voice who was inspired by her faith and never resorted to sexual posturing to win an audience. Leaning heavily on socially conscious material, Sister Carol delivered uplifting and cautionary messages drawn from her Rastafarian principles, while always urging respect for women.

She was more of a singjay than a full-time toaster, capable of melodic vocals as well as solid rhymes. Never quite a commercial powerhouse, she nonetheless enjoyed a lengthy career and general critical approval.

Sister Carol was born Carol East in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1959, and grew up in the city's Denham Town ghetto. Her father worked in the music industry as a radio engineer, and in 1973, he moved the family to Brooklyn in search of work. Carol got involved in New York's thriving Jamaican music scene, and tried her hand at singing; however, music wasn't a career prospect yet, as Carol earned a degree in education from CCNY and gave birth to the first of four children in 1981. Not long before the latter event, she met Jamaican DJ Brigadier Jerry, who inspired her to try her hand at dancehall-style DJ chatting rather than singing. She developed rapidly under Jerry's mentorship, winning talent competitions in both New York and Jamaica, and toured as an opening act for the Meditations. Her first album, "Liberation for Africa", was released in limited quantities on a small label the following year. Recorded for the Jah Life label, 1984's "Black Cinderella" was the album that established Sister Carol in the international reggae community, featuring the title track (her signature song) and "Oh Jah (Mi Ready)."

Carol subsequently formed her own Black Cinderella label, which gave her an immediate outlet for single releases in the years to come. Most notably, she cut a cover of Bob Marley´s "Screwface" in tandem with onetime I-Three Judy Mowatt, who issued the single on her own Ashandan label. It took Carol several years to come up with another LP, however, as she briefly turned to an acting career; she earned supporting roles in two Jonathan Demme comedies, 1986's "Something Wild" (which included her soundtrack cut "Wild Thing") and 1988's "Married to the Mob".

Sister Carol -Liberation For Africa (1983)
(160 kbps, front cover included)

Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu of Ethiopia (1972, vinyl rip)

Mulatu Astatke (surname also spelled Astatqé) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger. He is known as the father of Ethio-jazz.

Born in 1943 in the western Ethiopian city of Jimma, Mulatu was musically trained in London, New York City, and Boston, where he was the first African student at Berklee College of Music. He would later combine his jazz and Latin music influences with traditional Ethiopian music.

"Mulatu of Ethiopia" was released in 1972 on Worthy Records. Mulatu Astatke does some pretty amazing work on this album with it's unique "Roy Ayers meets Sun Ra with a hot dose of African funk" sound.

Tracklist:

A1 Mulatu 5:00
A2 Mascaram Setaba 2:40
A3 Dewel 4:00
B1 Kulunmanqueleshi 2:05
B2 Kasalefkut-Hulu 2:25
B3 Munaye 3:15
B4 Chifara 7:00

Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu of Ethiopia (1972, vinyl rip)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Male - Clever & Smart (7´´, 1979)

The german punk band Male was found in December, 1976 in Düsseldorf by Jürgen Engler, Bernward Malaka and Stefan Schwaab.

Male was one of the first punk rock bands with german lyrics and a prototype of the arising "Neue Deutsche Welle".

Here´s their single "Clever & Smart", recorded in 1979 at Rondo studio in Düsseldorf.

Male - Clever & Smart (1979)
(192 kbps, complete cover art included)

Donny Hathaway - Live (1972)

Donny Hathaway was one of the brightest new voices in soul music at the dawn of the '70s, possessed of a smooth, gospel-inflected romantic croon that was also at home on fiery protest material. Hathaway achieved his greatest commercial success as Roberta Flack's duet partner of choice, but sadly he's equally remembered for the tragic circumstances of his death — an apparent suicide at age 33.

His 1972 "Live" album is one of the most glorious of his career, an uncomplicated, energetic set with a heavy focus on audience response as well as the potent jazz chops of his group.

The results of shows recorded at the Troubadour in Hollywood and the Bitter End in New York, the record begins with Hathaway's version of the instant soul classic "What's Going On," Marvin Gaye's original not even a year old when Hathaway recorded this version. His own classic "The Ghetto" follows in short order, but stretches out past ten minutes with revelatory solos from Hathaway on electric piano. "Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)" is another epic (14-minute) jam, with plenty of room for solos and some of the most sizzling bass work ever heard on record by Willie Weeks.

Any new Donny Hathaway record worth its salt also has to include a radical cover, and "Live" obliges nicely with his deft, loping version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy."

The audience is as much a participant as the band here, immediately taking over with staccato handclaps to introduce "The Ghetto" and basically taking over the chorus on "You've Got a Friend." They also contribute some of the most frenzied screaming heard in response to any Chicago soul singer of the time (excepting only Jackie Wilson and Gene Chandler, of course). Hardly the obligatory live workout of most early-'70s concert LPs, "Live" solidified Hathaway's importance at the forefront of soul music.

Donny Hathaway - Live (1972)
(ca. 200 kbps, cover art included)

No link.

Calypso War - Black Music In Britain 1956-1958

Calypso was considered the people's newspaper in Trinidad, and these mid-'50s recordings chronicle the adaptation of Caribbean immigrants to the U.K. during the mid- to late '50s.

The excellent liner notes provide much detailed information on artists and the social context, the last batch of songs before Jamaican sounds took over and the next generation went dreadlocks Rasta in the '70s.

Homesickness is part of that equation, and a fair number of these tracks are remakes of older calypsos popular in Trinidad. "Not Me" is thinly veiled rewrite of "Man Smart, Woman Smarter," (the melody recalls a revved-up take on "Meet Da Boys on De Battlefront" by the Wild Tchoupitoulas) given a jivey reading by the dismissible, exaggerated crooner Ben Bowers — luckily he only has three tracks.

The Mighty Terror tightropes along the dodgy divide of sexism and machismo — the stay-home-and-mind-the-baby-while-I-go-off-in-the-world theme of "Brownskin Gal" is pretty irredeemable, but "Woman Police in England" is funny as hell in its own way. It's pretty revealing of cultural differences in attitude, and so is "Patricia Gone With Millicent," where Terror gets abandoned for another woman but seems more puzzled than vindictive about it. Terror is a strong singer who cuts through crisp, clean arrangements built around jazz guitar and bongos.

The "Heading North" commentary on racism (South African apartheid and U.S. civil rights heating up are the focus) sound naïve in retrospect, not the least for ignoring the U.K. But "T.V. Calypso" is a great social snapshot of the moment television became a fixture in modern life, s well as a source of status and family pressure. Lord Invader wrote "Rum and Coca Cola," and was fresh from a victorious, ten-year battle for royalties from the songs when he began recording in Britain. His calypsos are gently mellow, featuring flute and bongos, and at first seem confined to lightweight themes like "Prince Rainier" (the famous wedding to actress Grace Kelly) or "Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar." "My Experience on the Rieperbahn" is a hilarious cultural collision as our innocent Invader gets confused by a transvestite encounter in Hamburg's red-light district. But "I'm Going Back to Africa" is a surprisingly pointed repatriation song with jazzy guitar and bongos, and Invader sounds genuinely angry singing "Teddy Boy Calypso," updating his own 1945 calypso to 1958 U.K. street violence.

It's Lord Ivanhoe who delves most often into hard social commentary here. "Africa Here I Come" is a pointed statement of pan-African consciousness (the end of the European colonial era in Africa looming on the horizon in the late '50s), while "New York Subway" is a deceptively mild-mannered critique about getting lost and cabdriver racism. "Lift the Iron Curtain" is a sincere plea with a sly dig at Britain ("I think the Russians are selfish/In a way, they are like the British/For no man can get inside/To see what Moscow has got to hide") and a chorus referencing Khrushchev and satellites.

It's an interesting, if not essential, collection, and valuable for documenting the last round of U.K. calypso creators before Jamaican sounds took over in the Caribbean community there.

Calypso War - Black Music In Britain 1956-1958

(192 kbps, front & back cover included)

Lee Wiley - Sings Songs By Rodgers & Hart (1940)

Her husky, surprisingly sensual voice and exquisitely cool readings of pop standards distinguished her singing, but Lee Wiley earns notice as one of the best early jazz singers by recognizing the superiority of American popular song and organizing a set of songs around a common composer or theme - later popularized as the songbook or concept LP. She was also a songwriter in her own right, and one of the few white vocalists with more respect in the jazz community than the popular one. Even more tragic then, that while dozens of inferior vocalists recorded LPs during the late '50s and '60s, Wiley appeared on record just once between 1957 and her death in 1975.

Lee Wiley pioneered the "songbook" concept, for which a singer exclusively interpreted the work of one composer.

Her Gershwin and Cole Porter projects of 1939-40 were major successes, as is the music on this album with songs by Rodgrs & Hart. In a fairly straight but strangely sensuous manner, Wiley sings eight songs by Rodgers & Hart while backed by a variety of all-star players associated with Eddie Condon, including pianist Joe Bushkin, trumpeters Max Kaminsky, Billy Butterfield and Bobb Hackett, tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman, and Ernie Caceres on baritone and clarinet.

Although many of these songs have been interpreted countless times since, few singers have reached the emotional peaks that Lee Wiley scaled in her versions of "A Ship Without a Sail," "Let's Fall In Love," "I've Got the World On a String," "Down With Love" and especially "Glad to Be Unhappy." This set belongs in every serious jazz collection.

The inside cover reads" " This little musicale was a lot of frolic in the making. Dick Rodgers, in the breathless middle of two new scores, dropped everything to help us work it out. Paul Whiteman lent us the best two man rhythm section in the business, Artie Shapiro and Stud Wettling, better known as the Rider. Bradford Gowans, who was building a rotor boat on the shores of an estuary near North Reading, Mass. forgot all about that and caught the Merchants back to write four of the orchestrations. For the other four Tommy Dorsey kindly lent us the services of Paul Wetstein, Jr., his brilliant young arranger. Lee sang the songs over and over. And finally we went to the studio and made the records. Let me tell you we had a good time I'm Sure you're going to enjoy it too. Ernie Anderson February, 1940."
These eight songs were published in 1940 on the Gala label on four 78 RPM discs.

Tracklist:

1A Here in My Arms
1B Baby's Awake Now
2A I've Got Five Dollars
2B Glad To Be Unhappy
3A You Took Advantage of Me
3B A Little Bird Told Me So
4A As Though You Were There
4B Ship Without A Sale


Lee Wiley - Sings Songs By Rodgers & Hart (1940)
(320 kbps, front cover included)

Neil Young & The Gate Crashers - Macky Auditorium, Boulder, 27th January 1971

"Neil Young & The Gate Crashers" is a bootleg of his 1971 "Journey Through The Past" solo tour, recorded in Boulder, Colorado, Macky Auditorium, University of Colorado, 27th January, 1971. It is a typical acoustic set with 11 tracks. This is Pprobably not the complete show (complete setlist is uncertain). This one is clearly from vinyl because there's the typical scratching you hear from those old fashioned albums. This acoustic (piano/guitar) concert was released on different bootlegs, for example "Rocky Mountain Review".

Tracklist: Ohio, See The Sky About To Rain, Don't Let It Bring You Down, Dance, Dance, Dance, Sugar Mountain, Old Man, Journey Through The Past, Heart Of Gold, A Man Needs A Maid, Love In Mind, The Needle And The Damage Done

Here´s a review from http://druglessdouglas.com/ that lifts the secret about the Gate Crashers:

"This show was in the beautiful Mackey Auditorium on the University of Colorado campus. (I ended up going to college there, and I took my chemistry exams there, too. Ugh!) I went with my friend, Charlie Stice (see Passion For Radio), who was a big Neil fan -- he turned me on to Buffalo Springfield.

Neil played solo -- acoustic guitar and piano. This was over a year before "Harvest" was released, but Neil played several songs from that upcoming album. There was no warm-up act.

During the show, we couldn't figure out why there were so many dishes being broken out in the lobby. At the end of the show, we were asked to leave through the side doors. We found out then that those "breaking dishes" were actually breaking windows -- there was a riot by those who didn't have tickets. So much for peace, love and tie-dye."

Neil Young & The Gate Crashers - Macky Auditorium, Boulder, 27th January 1971
(224 kbps, cover art included)

Lightnin Hopkins - Country Blues (1959)

While Hopkins in his prime could crank out as many albums as there were days in the week (and sometimes more), some dates were more inspired than others and this casual recording is happily one of those times.

In 1959, armed with nothing more than a single microphone mono tape recorder, folklorist Mack McCormick recorded Hopkins in an informal setting in hopes of catching some rough-edged performances that he felt were lacking from the bluesman's then-recent studio efforts. That he succeeded mightily is evidenced in this 15-song collection, almost casual in the way Lightnin' tosses off themes, lyrics, and emotion in a most cavalier fashion.

Even with a thorough Sonic Solution No Noise process cleansing, these tapes still contain vocal and instrument distortion in spots where Hopkins got too close to the microphone. But none of it matters in the end, for here is Lightnin' truly in his element, playing for his friends and his own enjoyment, minus the comercial overlay of the times or the imposed "folk blues" posturing of his later acoustic recordings. Not the place to start, but a real good place to visit along the way.

Tracklist:

A1	Long Time
A2	Rainy Day Blues
A3	Baby!
A4	Long Gone Like A Turkey Thru The Corn (Long John)
A5	Prison Blues Come Down On Me
A6	Backwater Blues (That Mean Old Twister)
A7	Gonna Pull A Party
B1	Bluebird, Bluebird
B2	See See Rider
B3	Worrying My Mind
B4	Till The Gin Gets Here
B5	Bunion Stew
B6	You Got To Work To Get Your Pay
B7	Go Down Old Hannah
B8	Hear My Black Dog Bark

Lightnin Hopkins - Country Blues (1959)
(320 kbps, cover art included)           

Franz Josef Degenhardt - Rumpelstilzchen (1963)

"Rumpelstilzchen" was the first album by the German poet, satirist, novelist, folksinger, songwriter and lawyer Franz Josef Degenhardt.

From the early 1960s onward, in addition to practicing law, Degenhardt was also performing and releasing recordings. He is perhaps most famous for his song (and the album of the same name) "Spiel nicht mit den Schmuddelkindern" ("Don't Play With the Grubby Children," 1965), but has released close to 50 albums. His first record was originally released as "Zwischen Null Uhr Null und Mitternacht" ("Between 00:00 and Midnight," 1963), renamed "Rumpelstilzchen".




Tracklist:

A1 Rumpelstilzchen
A2 Zwischen zwei Straßenbahnen
A3 Manchmal, dann sagst du zu mir
A4 Armer Felix
A5 Sentimentaler Hund
A6 Drei Kugeln

B1 Armer Jonas
B2 Der Bauchladenmann
B3 Manchmal des Nachts
B4 Tarantella
B5 Weintrinker
B6 Wiegenlied


Franz Josef Degenhardt - Rumpelstilzchen (1963)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Rainer Lemke - Daffke - Jiddische Lieder

This is a fine album with recordings of "Jiddische Lieder" with Enrique Ugarte (accordion), Claudio Puntin (clarinet), Dimitry Reznik (violin), Bettina Kahl (recorder), Werner Hucks (guitar), Helmut Kandert (percussion), Karl-Friedrich Wahler (double bass), Katarina Malzew (cello), Rainer Lemke (vocals), Johannes Nitsch (piano), Peter Schneider (guitar), Johannes Nitsch (accordion).

The subtitle is an important comment: "dennoch, trotzdem, jetzt erst recht".

The album was released in 1995 on Hänssler.

Tracklist:

1. Papirosn (4:07) 2. Belz (2:27) 3. Dos Kelbl( 4:27) 4. Unter dayne vayse shtern (3:14) 5. S´brent, brider, s´brent (2:31) 6. A yidishe Mame (3:24) 7. Eli, Eli (3:34) 8. Mir lebn eybik (2:09) 9. Oy, dortn, dortn (3:33) 10. Tum Balalayka (2:31) 11. Bay mir bistu sheyn (2:24) 12. Az der Rebe Elimelekh (2:13) 13. Sha, shtil (1:48) 14. Chiribim, chiribom (1:58) 15. Shabes.shabes (2:29)

Rainer Lemke - Daffke - Jiddische Lieder
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Nick Gravenites & Mike Bloomfield - Steelyard Blues (OST, vinyl rip, 1972)

"Steelyard Blues" is a 1973 anarchic comedy crime film starring Donald Sutherland, Jane Fonda and Peter Boyle. It concerns the lives of a group of misfits trying to find a happier life against the norms of society. Sutherland plays an ex-con with a passion for demolition derbies. He has wrecked almost every possible car, but violates his parole when confronted by a 1950 Studebaker. This embarrasses his brother, Howard Hesseman, in an unlikely respectable role. Fonda plays a prostitute with an off-on relationship with Sutherland's character. The film is notable for reprising the Fonda-Sutherland pairing of Klute. The gang tries to get an old PBY flying, and much humor ensues.

The film´s psychedelic utopianism failed to find an audience, however, and it died on release.

The tremendous soundtrack album to director Alan Myerson's film "Steelyard Blues" feels like a side project collaboration between the Electric Flag and Paul Butterfield Blues Band with added performances by Maria Muldaur and Merl Saunders. The majority of the material is written and performed by the great Nick Gravenites and Mike Bloomfield, the 14 songs really standing up on their own as a work not dependent on the film and not feeling like they are mere chess pieces to supplement a Hollywood flick. Gravenites does a masterful job of producing, with "Common Ground" resembling a great lost Electric Flag song - Annie Sampson trading off on the vocals with Gravenites as Janis Joplin did with him on "In Concert". Muldaur co-wrote "Georgia Blues" with Bloomfield and Gravenites, while they gave Muldaur and Saunders the opportunity to contribute a tune by including their "Do I Care." "My Bag (The Oysters)" adds some pop/doo wop to the affair, a nice twist, and it borders on parody. Gravenites is always able to juggle his serious side with a tongue-in-cheek wink, and this interesting and enjoyable effort deserved much wider play.

Nick Gravenites & Mike Bloomfield - Steelyard Blues (OST, 1972, vinyl rip)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Heimat, für dich unser Lied (Eterna, 1984, vinyl rip)

"Heimat, für Dich unser Lied" is an album released in 1984 on the Eterna label in the GDR featuring 16 songs with the Erich-Weinert-Ensemble of the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA).

The Erich-Weinert-Ensemble was a cultural institution in the GDR, performing all around the country and being a ideological propaganda tool for the government. It was also a stepping stone for the career of a lot of musicians, dancers and singers.

Erich Weinert (August 4th, 1890 - April 20th, 1953 in Berlin) was a German writer, Communist, and member of the KPD/SED.


Trackliste:

01 - Lützows wilde verwegene Jagd
02 - Mein Land ist gut
03 - Lukullische Soldatenträume
04 - Kein schöner Land
05 - Der offene Aufmarsch
06 - Was weiß man in den Staaten schon vom Krieg
07 - Kamen in das Land, das große
08 - Hörst du den Schritt (Solidaritätsmarsch)
09 - Ohne dich zu lieben
10 - Zärtlichkeit
11 - Das Paar
12 - Urlaubsabschied
13 - Ballade vom Kommissar
14 - An der Höhe 103
15 - Angriff
16 - Der Tag hat sich gelohnt

Erich-Weinert-Ensemble - Heimat, für Dich unser Lied
(320 kbps, cover art included)

39 Clocks - Cold Steel to the Heart (1985)

The 39 Clocks were an underground band from Hannover. Together with Nova Express, The Beauty Contest, Shiny Gnomes, Multicoloured Shades, Kastrierten Philosophen and Yellow Sunshine Underground they contributed to the German underground neo-psychedelic scene of the 1980s.

In 1976, Jürgen „J.G.39“ Gleue (guitar, bass, vocals) and Christian „C.H.39“ Henjes (guitar, orgal, vocals), both from Hannover, played together under the name Killing Rats, and later Automats (trans: "Machines"). The nucleus of the band was soon expanded with the addition of drummer Claudius Hempelmann (he later joined labelmates and new wave proponents Der Moderne Mann) and Rüdiger Klose, also known for his work with Die Kastrierten Philosophen. In the studio they were joined by, amongst others, Süsskind from Kosmonautentraum (Spaceman Dream) on the melodica, and Emilio Winschetti, singer with labelmates Mythen In Tüten, later in Mint and The Perc Meets The Hidden Gentleman, on synthesizer. In 1980, a 7" of 'DNS' was released through the independent record label, No Fun Records, as was their 1981 LP, 'Pain It Dark'. For their second record, Gleue and Henjes founded their own record label, Psychotic Promotion, through which Die Kastrierten Philosophen also released their first record. In 1983, the duo split and Henjes founded The Beauty Contest, who released records through the Hamburg label, What's So Funny.

Visually, the band were reminiscent of the Velvet Underground, and musically, they were influenced by the American garage rock of the 1960s with a psychedelic direction and its comparable simplistic production techniques, along with a bastardised use of the English language, somewhat similar to what we know today as "Denglisch" (the German equivalent of Franglais). They were always dressed in black, wearing sunglasses, and coined phrases such as "black and white TVs show better films than colour sets." Rather than melodic psychedelic rock, they called their music "psycho-beat". Many speak retrospectively of thegroup as "the German Velvet Underground" - a comparison that the duo always rejected. The Clocks never had an entry into the Hannover rock hall of fame, however they've not quite been forgotten. For example, in 1998 one of the Clocks' songs found its way onto the soundtrack of the film, "23 - Nichts ist so wie es scheint" ("23 - nothing is quite as it seems"). In addition, many remember them as the forerunners of the German psychedelic renaissance.


39 Clocks - Cold Steel to the Heart (1985)
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Der Sound des Untergangs (The Sound of Doom)

"Der Druck war nicht zu halten, es hätte nur eine militärische Lösung gegeben." (Egon Krenz)

"Alle standrechtlich erschießen, die unsere Partei in eine solche Schmach gebracht haben!" (Bernhard Quandt)

"Wenn ich ein Idiot bin, muss die Partei darüber befinden." Wolfgang Junker

Following World War II, the area that was Germany was divided into four military sectors controlled by France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union. On May 23, 1949, the sectors controlled by France, the United Kingdom and the United States became the Federal Republic of Germany. On October 7, 1949, the sector controlled by the Soviet Union became the German Democratic Republic, which in Germany is generally referred to as the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik).
The two countries developed very different political and economic systems and, due to the political tensions in post-war Europe, there was little contact between the inhabitants of the two countries. Life in the DDR was characterized by harsh repression against political adversaries. Thousands of inhabitants were kept under intimate surveillance by the infamous East German secret police, the Stasi (Staatssicherheit). At least 137 people died trying to escape from the DDR.
On September 4, 1989 citizens of Leipzig protested peacefully against the DDR government. More so-called “Monday demonstrations” soon took place in other cities across the DDR. The protests called for political reform and to open the borders.

Quite unexpectedly, on November 9, 1989, the checkpoints between the two countries were opened and people were allowed to travel freely. This date marked the "fall" of the Berlin Wall. In no time, the GDR collapsed like a house of cards. These events lead to fundamentally political change in the GDR. Finally, Germany's unification became official on October 3, 1990.

"Der Sound des Untergangs" is a compilation of audio recordings from the last meetings of the SED Central Committee from October to December 1989: Tumultuous scenes, emotional speeches, dramatic debates, desperate rescue attempts... documents from the inner circle of the SED power before the fall of their leaders.

Der Sound des Untergangs (The Sound of Doom)
(256 kbps, front cover included)

VA - The Famous Spiritual + Gospel Festival 1965

'An Authentic Documentation of Black Church Music in Concert' - live Jan. 25th, 1965 in the Glocke, Bremen - with the Original Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, Inez Andrews And The Andrewettes and Bishop Samuel Kelsey And His Congregation From Washington D.c. ... - fantastic and rare album released in 1965 on the Fontana label - and re-released in the 1990s on CD.

Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau organized thie Gospel Festival as a counterpart to their American Folk Blues Festival tours.

Tracklist:

A1	Jesus Said If You Go
A2	Lord Send The Rain
A3	Travelling Shoes
	Preaching:
A4	Exodus, 3rd Chapter
A5	I Cried, He Delivered Me
A6	Tell Me How Long The Train Been Gone
B1	It's A Needed Time
B2	It's In My Heart
B3	What Love
B4	A God Somewhere
B5	John Saw The Number
B6	O Why
B7	Lord You've Been Good To Me

VA - The Famous Spiritual + Gospel Festival 1965
(256 kbps, cover art inlcuded)

Peter, Paul & Mary - Moving (1963)

The trio's second album is a little less distinctive than its predecessor, which doesn't mean that it isn't a beautiful record - just less obviously compelling in its melodies, and perhaps slightly less optimistic in mood.

Having expended some of their best material on their debut, the trio reached further for songs here, including the Paul Stookey co-authored "Big Boat" and Mike Settle's "Settle Down (Goin' Down That Highway)," neither of which clicked as singles, despite rousing vocals on both and some distinctive guitar virtuosity on the former. The group once again reached back to the 1940s activist folk song tradition with Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," but the track that everyone ended up knowing from "Moving" was from a very different corner of the folk tradition - "Puff, the Magic Dragon" was introduced here and rose to number one as a single (and even made the Top 10 in the R&B charts), helping to propel "Moving" to number two as part of a 99-week chart run; and in those days, it was taken as a beautiful and gentle children's song that adults could enjoy, the myth of the song's supposed "drug" message not appearing until 1966.

Other highlights include the haunting "Pretty Mary" and the startlingly intricate "A 'Soalin'," which became a highlight of their live act as well. Peter Yarrow remixed this album for reissue on CD in 1989, along with much of the rest of the group's classic Warner Bros. catalog, which has resulted in spectacular clarity and immediacy.      

Tracklist:

A1	Sette Down
A2	Gone The Rainbow
A3	Flora
A4	Prettyv Mary
A5	Puff
A6	This Land Is Your Land
B1	Man Come Into Egypt
B2	Old Coat
B3	Tiny Sparrow
B4	Big Boat
B5	Morning Train
B6	A' Soalin

Peter, Paul & Mary - Moving (1963)
(192 kbps, front & back cover included)