Ray Charles - At Newport (1958)

Ray Charles was the musician most responsible for developing soul music. Singers like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also did a great deal to pioneer the form, but Charles did even more to devise a new form of black pop by merging '50s R&B with gospel-powered vocals, adding plenty of flavor from contemporary jazz, blues, and (in the '60s) country. Then there was his singing; his style was among the most emotional and easily identifiable of any 20th century performer, up there with the likes of Elvis and Billie Holiday. He was also a superb keyboard player, arranger, and bandleader. The brilliance of his 1950s and '60s work, however, can't obscure the fact that he made few classic tracks after the mid-'60s, though he recorded often and performed until the year before his death.
For his appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 5, 1958, Ray Charles pulled out all the stops, performing raucous versions of "The Right Time," "I Got a Woman," and "Talkin' 'Bout You."

Tracks:
01. The Right Time (N. Brown, O. Cadena, L. Herman)
02. In A Little Spanish Town (M. Wayne, S. Lewis, J. Young)
03. I Got A Woman (R. Charles)
04. Blues Waltz (R. Charles)
05. Hot Rod (R. Charles)
06. Talkin' 'Bout You (R. Charles)
07. Sherry (B. R. Crawford Jr)
08. A Fool For You (R. Charles)

Ray Charles - At Newport (1958)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

VA - Taking Liberties (1994)

The complete title of this long deleted double CD is: "Unity - Be Aware - Fight Back - Taking Liberties - The Criminal Justice And Public Order Act 1994 Is The Death Of Democracy".

The album features exclusive tracks and mixes compiled in 1994 to aid the fight against the civil-liberty threating Criminal Justice Bill that was being passed in the UK back then. All proceeds went to Liberty, Squall, Advance Party & The Freedom Network.

It includes a rare Aphex Twin track, under the Caustic Window alias and a stunning unreleased 14 minutes mix of Blue Room by The Orb, in fact all of the 16 mixes are exclusive to this album. As with the 'Unity' compilation released on t´Totem Records, the cover artwork is by Jamie Reid, the famed artist who designed the "Never Mind The Bollocks" sleeve.

CD1
01. Dreadzone - Fight The Power
02. Orbital - Are We Here (Rabbit In The Moon Edit)
03. Test Dept - Critical Frame Of Mind (Criminal Edit)
04. System 7 - Depth Disco (Live)
05. Caustic Window - Phlaps
06. Loop Guru - The 3rd Chamber (Part 7 - Kalahari Dawn)
07. Tribal Drift - Land Rights And Birth Rights
08. Fun-Da-Mental - Mr Bubbleman

CD2
01. The Orb - Blue Room (Blue Lamp Mix)
02. Trans-Global Underground - Voyager (Trans Migration Mix)
03. Ultramarine - Trace Element
04. Galliano - Travels The Road (Junglist Dub Mix)
05. The Drum Club - Drums Are Dangerous(Stand and Fight Mix)
06. Zion Train - European Convention Dub
07. The Shamen - Persephone's Quest
08. The Prodigy - Their Law (Feat. P.W.E.I.)


VA - Taking Liberties (1994) CD 1
VA - Taking Liberties (1994) CD 2
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Le Chant Des Ouvriers - Ballades et Complaintes Syndicalistes

...and here´s this years tribute for tomorrow´s Worker´s Day.

"Le Chant des Ouvriers" is a dobule album by Marcel Mouloudji, Francesca Solleville, Les Octaves, Georges Coulonges, A.Wolfromm, Evelyne Gellert and the "Ensemble madrigal de l'ile de France". It was released in 1972 and collects french interpretations of political songs from different countries like France, Spain, USA, Great Britain, Soviet Union, Chile, Germany, Cuba, Italy and Poland.

Tracklist:

Album 1
Side A

* Frère... Entends-tu ?... (Trad. France) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* Sans pain et travailler (Trad. Espagne) par Les Octaves.
* Bella Ciao (Trad. Italie) par Francesca Solleville.
* Le curieux satisfait (J.F. Piron) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* Le train du syndicat (Trad. USA) par Les Octaves.
* Mineur sois solidaire (Trad. USA) par Francesca Solleville.

Side B

* Angleterre debout (Trad. Angleterre) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* La femme du mineur (P. Koulak Sezian) par Les Octaves.
* Nous ne bougerons pas (d'après "We Shall Not Be Moved") (1972) (trad. USA) par Les Octaves.
* Vous êtes tombés, camarades (Trad. soviétique) par A. Wolfromm.
* Casey Jones (Trad. USA) par Les Octaves.
* Bouffe-la (Trad. Espagne) par Francesca Solleville.


Album 2
Side A

* Le chant de la pampa (Trad. Chili) par Francesca Solleville.
* Nous tournerons (Trad. USA) par Les Octaves.
* La varsovienne (Trad. Pologne) par A. Wolfromm.
* Bandiera rossa (Trad. Italie) par Francesca Solleville.
* Appel du Komintern (Trad. Allemagne) par A. Wolfromm.
* La corvée d'eau (Paul Vaillant-Couturier/Georges Auric) par Marcel Mouloudji.

Side B

* Le chant des marais (Trad. Allemagne) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* L'armée de l'Ebre (Trad. Italie) par Francesca Solleville.
* Questions et réponses (Trad. Angleterre) par Les Octaves.
* Guantanamera (Trad. Cuba) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* Le chômage (G. Coulonges/Francis Lemarque) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* Le front des travailleurs (B. Bretch/H. Eisler) par Francesca Solleville.

Le Chant Des Ouvriers - Ballades et Complaintes Syndicalistes
(160 kbps - please post if anyone has got a higher bitrate! - , cover art included)

Arlo Guthrie - Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys (1973)

.
In the midst of the singer/songwriter era, Arlo Guthrie chose to become his generation's true folk singer, closer in spirit to Pete Seeger than to James Taylor, more an interpreter than a prolific songwriter.

In this role, he kept songs alive that may have been forgotten or were never known, and recorded songs from the pens of his contemporary peers. "Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys" follows a formula similar to its predecessor, "Hobo's Lullaby", with one exception - there is no hit single à la "City of New Orleans."

However, this release has some very strong material woven into its mix. Guthrie gives his father's "Gypsy Davy" a bouncy Caribbean feel, breathing new life into this tale of wanderlust in a way probably not envisioned by Woody Guthrie. He also pays tribute to Hank Williams with a yodeling rendition of "Lovesick Blues," and delivers his customary Dylan song. This time it's "Gates of Eden," featuring the fingerpicked electric guitars of Clarence White and the bottleneck slide of Ry Cooder. The album also contains two of Guthrie's finest original songs, "Last Train" and "Cooper's Lament."

Arlo Guthrie - Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys (1973)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

These Arlo albums are posted with special greetings to a special person. You know who you are...

Big Mama Thornton - Stronger Than Dirt (1969)

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton only notched one national hit in her lifetime, but it was a true monster. "Hound Dog" held down the top slot on Billboard's R&B charts for seven long weeks in 1953. Alas, Elvis Presley's rocking 1956 cover was even bigger, effectively obscuring Thornton's chief claim to immortality.

That's a damned shame, because Thornton's menacing growl was indeed something special. The hefty belter first opened her pipes in church but soon embraced the blues. She toured with Sammy Green's Hot Harlem Revue during the 1940s. Thornton was ensconced on the Houston circuit when Peacock Records boss Don Robey signed her in 1951. She debuted on Peacock with "Partnership Blues" that year, backed by trumpeter Joe Scott's band.

But it was her third Peacock date with Johnny Otis' band that proved the winner. With Pete Lewis laying down some truly nasty guitar behind her, Big Mama shouted "Hound Dog," a tune whose authorship remains a bone of contention to this day (both Otis and the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller claim responsibility), and soon hit the road a star.

But it was an isolated incident. Though Thornton cut some fine Peacock follow-ups -- "I Smell a Rat," "Stop Hoppin' on Me," "The Fish," "Just like a Dog" -- through 1957, she never again reached the hit parade. Even Elvis was apparently unaware of her; he was handed "Hound Dog" by Freddie Bell, a Vegas lounge rocker. Early-'60s 45s for Irma, Bay-Tone, Kent, and Sotoplay did little to revive her sagging fortunes, but a series of dates for Arhoolie that included her first vinyl rendition of "Ball and Chain" in 1968 and two albums for Mercury in 1969-1970 put her back in circulation (Janis Joplin's overwrought but well-intentioned cover of "Ball and Chain" didn't hurt either). Along with her imposing vocals, Thornton began to emphasize her harmonica skills during the 1960s.

Thornton was a tough cookie. She dressed like a man and took no guff from anyone, even as the pounds fell off her once-ample frame and she became downright scrawny during the last years of her life. Medical personnel found her lifeless body in an L.A. rooming house in 1984.

Tracklist:

A1 Born Under A Bad Sign
A2 Hound Dog
A3 Ball And Chain
A4 Summertime
A5 Rollin' Stone
B1 Let's Go Get Stoned
B2 Funky Broadway
B3 That Lucky Old Sun
B4 Ain't Nothin' You Can Do
B5 I Shall Be Released


Big Mama Thornton - Stronger Than Dirt (1969)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Ernst Busch singt und spricht Erich Kästner & Erich Kästner liest Erich Kästner (Pläne)

Erich Kästner was a pacifist and wrote for children because of his belief in the regenerating powers of youth. He was opposed to the Nazi regime in Germany that began on 30 January 1933 and was one of the signatories to the Urgent Call for Unity. However, unlike many of his fellow authors critical of the dictatorship, Kästner did not emigrate. Kästner did travel to Meran and to Switzerland just after the Nazis assumed power, and he met with exiled fellow writers there. However, Kästner returned to Berlin, arguing that he could chronicle the times better from there. It is probable that Kästner also wanted to avoid abandoning his mother. His epigram "Necessary Answer to Superfluous Questions" ("Notwendige Antwort auf überflüssige Fragen") in "Kurz und Bündig" explains Kästner's position:

I'm a German from Dresden in Saxony
My homeland won't let me go
I'm like a tree that, grown in Germany,
Will likely wither there also.

The Gestapo interrogated Kästner several times, and the writers' guild excluded him. The Nazis burnt Kästner's books as "contrary to the German spirit" during the infamous book burnings of May 10, 1933, which was instigated by the then Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Kästner witnessed the event in person. Kästner was denied entry into the new Nazi-controlled national writers' guild, the Reichsschrifttumskammer, because of what officials called the "culturally Bolshevist attitude in his writings predating 1933." This amounted to a gag order for Kästner throughout the Third Reich. Instead, Kästner published apolitical, entertaining novels such as "Drei Männer im Schnee" (Three Men in the Snow) (1934) in Switzerland. Kästner received an exemption to write the well-regarded screenplay "Münchhausen" under the pseudonym Berthold Bürger in 1942.

Tracklist:

1. Helden in Pantoffeln
2. Die Tretmühle
3. Stimmen aus dem Massengrab
4. Sergeant Waurich
5. Kennst du das Land
6. Das Führerproblem
7. Die andere Möglichkeit
8. Fantasie von übermorgen
9. Denn ihr seid dumm
10. Der eingeseifte Barbier
11. Hymnus auf die Bankiers
12. Der gordische Knoten
13. Brief an meinen Sohn
14. Der Busen marschiert
15. Wiegenlied, väterlicherseits
16. Dem Revolutionär Jesus zum Geburtstag
17. Der Oktober
18. Elegie mit Ei
19. Epigramm a - Kästner, Erich
20. Epigramm b - Kästner, Erich

Ernst Busch singt und spricht Erich Kästner & Erich Kästner liest Erich Kästner (Pläne)

(256 kbps, cover art included)

Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Put It In Your Ear (1976)

Paul Butterfield was the first white harmonica player to develop a style original and powerful enough to place him in the pantheon of true blues greats. It's impossible to overestimate the importance of the doors Butterfield opened: before he came to prominence, white American musicians treated the blues with cautious respect, afraid of coming off as inauthentic.

"Put It In Your Ear" was issued in 1975 & features David Sanborn, Eric Gale, plus Garth Hudson & Levon Helm from The Band. When Levon Helm and Garth Hudson were working on Muddy Waters' Woodstock album in Albert Grossman's Bearsville studios in 1975, the pair also took the time to play on Butterfield's "Put It in Your Ear". The album features pianoman Rick Bell, who would join the reformed Band in the late '80s.

"Put It in Your Ear" was the effort of a Butterfield who wanted to chart a course very different from all of his preceding works. There was a more mature sound to the album and Butterfield was clearly treading on new ground, this time actively trying to reassert himself as a vocalist, with mixed results. On songs like "The Breadline" and "I Don't Wanna Go" he finds his niche, and the former features some plaintive harp playing that's evocative of the lyrics' social commentary. But his vocal efforts fall flat on "If I Never Sing My Song" and "Watch 'Em Tell a Lie"; he hadn't lived in these tunes and their complex chord changes long enough to get the feel down, or achieve a strong vocal presence, and neither has the bluesy feel that always worked best for him. The charts are excellent and the arrangements on some of the cuts are terrific, but all-in-all Put It in Your Ear comes across as a mixed bag. And there's just not enough harp playing. Critical reaction indicated a lot of confusion. What should have been a musical event - the first solo album by one of the great American bluesmen - fell flat. It would be years before another Butterfield album would arrive.

Tracks:
You Can Run But You Can't Hide (Paul Butterfield/Henry Glover)
(If I Never Sing) My Song (Fred Carter, Jr.)
The Animal (Hirth Martinez)
The Breadline (Henry Glover)
Ain't That A Lot Of Love (W.D. Parker/H. Banks)
I Don't Wanna Go (Fred Carter, Jr.)
Day To Day (Henry Glover)
Here I Go Again (Bobby Charles)
The Flame (Paul Butterfield)
Watch 'Em Tell A Lie (Henry Glover)

Paul Butterfield - Put It In Your Ear (1976)
(ca. 200 kbps, cover art included)

Fasia - Portrait (Pläne, 1976)

Fasia Jansen was a German political songwriter and peace activist, born 20 June 1929 in Hamburg.

The illegitimate daughter of the Liberian Consul General Momulu Massaquoi and the German chambermaid Elli Jansen experienced as a child discrimination due to their skin color and due to their illegitimate birth.
She grew up in a worker quarter of Hamburg and lived through the discrimination of an obviousliy "nicht-arischen" woman in the time of the fascist dictatorship. Her hope, oriented at Josephine Baker, to cover her life with music and dance  was destroyed as she was thrown out of a dance school at the age of 11 years. Three years later she was forced to work in the kitchen of the KZ Neuengamme. The fifteen-year experienced the brutality of the SS and the despair of the prisoners - experiences, which shaped her life crucially.

In the early years of West Germany after the NS dictatorship she tried to cope with the experiences from the camp and to keep the memory of the victims and their ideals alive. She once again started to make music, first as a choir member in Hamburg, with own songs. Jansen moved to the "Ruhrgebiet" and engaged herself in the political fights of the time. She performed at a lot of "Ostermärschen" (part of the peace movement), for example in 1966 together with Joan Baez. She supported the large strikes before the factory gates of Krupp, Hoesch or Thyssen and sung at the "Weltfrauenkonferenz" of the UN in Nairobi and at the "Burg Waldeck Festivals".

She died on December 29, 1997 in Oberhausen.

The album "Portrait" was recorded in September and Oktober 1975 in Hamburg and Köln and released on the Pläne label in 1976.

Fasia - Portrait (Pläne, 1976)
(320 kbps, front cover included)

Fiedel Michel - Von Zeit zu Zeit (1978)

"Fiedel Michel" from Münster, who had first appeared in 1972 as the "Rambling Pitchforkers", playing a set of Scottish and Irish folk, won first prize for German songs in the 1973 Interfolk Festival in Osnabrück. The Interfolk Festival (or "Internationales Folklorefestival") combined "authentic" folk music and an intimate atmosphere. With artistic quality and the non-commercial orientation of the performers, Interfolk remarkably withstood the trend toward mass-oriented festivals.

In the mid-1970s, Fiedel Michel were alsongside Elster Silberflug (from Heidelberg) and Liederjahn (from Hamburg) one of the leading German folk groups. On their albums, they combined dance tunes, traditional music and socially critical "Volkslieder". They were part of the folk and "Liedermacher" movement looking for new possibilities for a musical culture with a political awareness after the collaps of the 1968 student movement. In the face of political impotence, it was now time for the radical youth to give up the slogan "Gitarren in die Ecke" and to once agian let the songs do the talking. By this it meant the political song scene should not forgo its radicalism, but should adapt to the new conditions of the 1970s.

Fiedel Michel - Von Zeit zu Zeit (1978)
(320 kbps, front cover included, vinyl rip)

Lightnin´ Hopkins - Nothin´ But The Blues (From The Vaults Of Everest Records Vol. 4)

An interesting collection of stray Lightnin' sides from 1959 and 1960. On some, he's playing alone and acoustic, on others he's playing electric with a small band, even turning in chaotic instrumentals like "Guitar Lightnin,'" "Shake Yourself," and "Talk of the Town."

Most of these are studio tracks, but there's some live stuff on here as well, most notably "Big Car Blues," the by-now-familiar version which shows up on a lot of other Hopkins anthologies. The most interesting track here is "Shaggy Dog," featuring a rhythm section that follow him every step of the way with a trombone player playing right along - and it all works! For a hodgepodge of leftovers, there's a lot of great Lightnin' on here.

Tracklist:                           

1	So Long Baby
2	Santa Fe Blues
3	Mojo Hand
4	Little Wail
5	Cotton
6	Take Me Back
7	Nothin' But The Blues
8	Hurricane Betsy
9	Guitar Lightnin'
10	Woke Up This Morning
11	Shake Yourself
12	Big Car Blues
13	Shaggy Dog
14	I'll Be Gone
15	Talk Of The Town

Lightnin Hopkins - Notin´ But The Blues
(192 kbps, small front cover included)

Sun Ra ‎– The Antique Blacks

"The Antique Blacks" is a great live date, recorded in 1974 but not released until 1978. This is a smallish band, and features the first recorded evidence of prominent electric rock guitar in the Arkestra, attributed only to "Sly."

"Song No. 1" is a groovy sort of space bossa nova, with Sun Ra on rocksichord supported by great percussion as the other players join in. "There Is a Change in the Air/The Antique Blacks" is a Ra poem recited with musical accompaniment as is "The Ridiculous 'I' and the Cosmos Me."

"This Song Is Dedicated to Nature's God" is actually a different tune than "To Nature's God" on "Live in Egypt, Vol. 1", but is the same sort of upbeat, swinging singalong. "Would I for All That Were" is a short interlude with Moog craziness over an ominous march, which leads into a rousing version of "Space Is the Place."

"The Antique Blacks" is notable for the recited poetry, as well as for the presence of the extroverted Sly, who adds a totally new dimension to the Arkestra sound. This one will be tough to find, but well worth it.        

Tracklist:

1	Song No.1	8:51
2	There Is Change In The Air	10:58
3	The Antique Blacks	3:39
4	This Song Is Dedicated To Nature's God	3:58
5	The Ridiculous "I" And The Cosmos Me	4:43
6	Would I For All That Were	2:56
7	Space Is The Place	8:10
8	You Thought You Could Build A World Without Us	9:11

               

     
Sun Ra ‎– The Antique Blacks
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Billie Holiday - An Evening With Billie Holiday (1953)

The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever. More than a half-century after her death, it's difficult to believe that prior to her emergence, jazz and pop singers were tied to the Tin Pan Alley tradition and rarely personalized their songs; only blues singers like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey actually gave the impression they had lived through what they were singing.

Billie Holiday's highly stylized reading of this blues tradition revolutionized traditional pop, ripping the decades-long tradition of song plugging in two by refusing to compromise her artistry for either the song or the band. She made clear her debts to Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong (in her autobiography she admitted, "I always wanted Bessie's big sound and Pops' feeling"), but in truth her style was virtually her own, quite a shock in an age of interchangeable crooners and band singers.               

The 10´´ EP "An Evening with Billie Holiday" features studio recordings by jazz singer Billie Holiday and was released in 1953.

It is only 25 minutes long, but in those 25 minutes Ladyday takes you on a trip of pretty much every emotion we can feel as humans. From love to hate, from joy to blues, from heartbreak to loneliness, from longing to desire.


Tracklist:

A1		Stormy Weather
A2		Lover Come Back To Me
A3		My Man
A4		He's Funny That Way
B1		Yesterdays
B2		Tenderly
B3		Can't Face The Music
B4		Remember

Billie Holiday - An Evening With Billie Holiday (1953)
(256 kbps, front cover included, now track 7 is included!)

I Roy - Straight To The Heart

Along with U-Roy, Dennis Alcapone, and Big Youth, I-Roy was one of a quartet of DJs that reigned supreme over the Jamaican music scene during the early to mid-'70s.



Of the four, I-Roy was the most eloquent, and his toasts were littered with references to pop culture, from movies to historical figures.

He was also one of the most prolific, cutting scores upon scores of singles, and dozens of albums.

Although the DJ's sun began to set at the end of the decade, I-Roy continued to record sporadically up to the '90s, by then, though, his life had taken a tragic turn.

Tracklist:

1. Natty Down De
2. Dread In The West
3. From The Top
4. I Self
5. No Turning Back
6. Every Mouth Must Be Fed
7. Medley For The Kids
8. Straight To The Heart
9. My Food Is Rations
10. Tempa
11. Heart
12. Me Girl In Dub
13. Wet Wet In Dub
14. Echo Dub
15. Every Night In Dub

I Roy - Straight To The Heart
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Floh De Cologne - Profitgeier Live

This is the reissue of the 3rd album by the German outfit "Floh De Cologne", originally issued in 1971 on the OHR label: "Outrageous and purely innovative, Floh De Cologne, since their inception in 1966 as a student cabaret and music band, constantly surprised, puzzled and always deliberately broke convention. Their elaborate stage shows, socio-political theatrical productions and pure musical innovation lead to obvious comparisons with the similarly radical Mothers of Invention. Yet, while the Mothers were chiefly the vehicle of one musician, Floh de Cologne were a collective unit of creative musicians and actors, who continually dared to take chance, provoke and surprise their audiences via a blend of rock, satire and theatre. In this album, they aptly developed a more rock song based formula, and were also in a more aggressive mood."

The group was one of the best known of the German political rock scene. Few countries had so many politically active bands as Germany. Floh De Cologne was originally a radical theatre performance group of students that performed cabarets at the universities of Cologne from 1966 onwards. A natural target for political agitation at that time was the Vietnam War, and "Vietnam" (1968) became the title of Floh De Cologne's first album, the result of a collaboration with Dieter Suverkrup (recorded several political rock albums for Plane). All royalties gained were transferred to a foundation for helping the Vietnamese. They appeared at the Essen song festival in Autumn 1968.

With their blend of political lyrics, (German) humour and lunacy they became known as the German answer to The Fugs and Mothers Of Invention. Not surprisingly they were signed to the number one underground label then: Ohr records. "Fliessbandbabys Beat Show" was released in the Summer 1970. It was the first of the legendary Ohr LPs. This was a somewhat unique rock cabaret where the group parodied different rock styles. A highly entertaining effort containing much silliness and a sort of Bonzo Dog-like nostalgia, only that Floh De Cologne were as German as the Bonzos were English! It was all produced by Julius Schittenhelm in Cologne during April 1970. The sleeve showed a 19 point step by step guide on how to become politically active. I wonder if anyone converted to Marxism on the strength of this record?
Their next project was "Profitgeier" (1971), ('profit vultures'), that dealt with all of the disadvantages of the capitalist system. The record itself was pressed on glowing red vinyl, as if the group's political standing point wasn't evident from the agitated texts. Musically this was a highly imaginative rock opera, including even more parodies and silliness, perhaps the closest the band came to The Fugs and Mothers Of Invention. The group members acted as different characters or proclaimed political views on the class divided society, speaking with funny or strained voices. This was executed at a furious tempo, making the plot difficult to understand for non-Germans. Anyway, this was the essence of Floh De Cologne, captured on a peerless album.

Floh De Cologne - Profitgeier Live
(192 kbps, ca. 53 MB, front cover included)

The wonderful WMFU´s Beware Of The Blogs has a three minute video of "Floh De Cologne" that puts a bit of the Fugs into focus: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/08/xhol_caravan_an.html

Billie Holiday - Music For Torching (1955)

"Music For Torching" is a studio album by jazz singer Billie Holiday, released in 1955 by Clef Records. It is her first 12 inch LP of original material, after four 10 inch LPs for the same label.

The music was recorded over the course of two sessions in Los Angeles, two days apart, which also resulted in all the material for her followup album Velvet Mood
The overall feeling on this 1955 recording is strictly after-hours: the party is long over but a few close friends remain for nightcaps and, is that the sun peeking through the window? Lady Day's renderings  of "It Had to Be You" and "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" are timeless gems.



Tracklist:
                           

It Had To Be You	4:03
Come Rain Or Come Shine	4:25
I Don't Want To Cry Anymore	3:56
I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You	4:29
A Fine Romance	3:34
Gone With The Wind	3:25
I Get A Kick Out Of You	5:42
Isn't This A Lovely Day?	4:17

Billie Holiday - Music For Torching (1955)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

100 Jahre Deutsches Arbeiterlied - Eine Dokumentation (Eterna 1967)

This set of two longplayers was originally released in 1967 on "VEB Deutsche Schallplatten / Eterna" in the DDR, published by the "Akademie der Künste". It collects highly interesting material giving a good overview about the history and the development of working class songs in german language between 1844 and 1945.

The historic recordings are completed with spoken word explanations to the featured songs.

You will find a tracklisting in the comment section.

Thanks to a helpful person over at groovyfab forum some years ago we can present you this strongly recommended vinyl rip.

VA - 100 Jahre Deutsches Arbeiterlied - Eine Dokumentation (Eterna, 1967) 

(192 kbps)

Radical Dance Faction - Borderline Cases

Formed from the ashes of UK anarcho reggae outfit "Military Surplus", "RDF", as they were commonly abbreviated, started in 1987.

Their line-ups were erratic but were based around the one constant, lyricist and vocalist Chris Bowsher. Using beat poetry, with its imagery of modern decay and capitalism gone wrong, their chosen musical outlet was reggae and ska.

Bowsher was a veteran of the early punk explosion, and was particularly enamoured of bands such as the Clash and Ruts who attempted to bridge the gap between rock and black music. Alongside the Levellers, they became prime movers in the media-christened ‘crusty’ movement (i.e., their following comprised largely the dispossessed and homeless, bonded by a political consciousness that has its roots in hippiedom, beatnik romanticism and early 80s anarcho-punk).           

RDF's music combines punk, dub, and ska, while Bowsher's lyrics, spoken rather than sung, dealt mainly with political issues, such as the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in the song "Chinese Poem". Bowsher also witnessed first hand the Hungerford massacre, describing his experience in the song "Hot on the Wire".
RDF were a regular act on the UK free festival scene prior to the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, and were part of the crusties and anarcho punk movement until they called it day in the mid 1990s. The band reformed in 2006, and played various festivals around the UK during 2007.
At the height of their fame in the early 1990s, the band made at least two tours of Germany. One tour was as the support act to Rebel MC but they also supported Ziggy Marley at one point. RDF appeared at the huge Summerjam festival in July 1993.
They appeared at The Bearded Theory festival in Derby on Sunday 20 May 2012. The band commenced a short tour in October 2012 to promote their new album - Ammunition.

Radical Dance Faction - Borderline Cases
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Tribute To Neil Young (1970, Bootleg)

"Manic Depression" was one of those Italian labels that appeared at the end of the '80s selling hard-to-find live concerts on CDs for the first time. This was among the earliest CSNY CD bootlegs with a professionally designed cover and quite a nice selection of rarities all in very good sound.

The main part of this bootleg was a CSNY concert from June of 1970 that is supposedly at Lakehurst in New Jersey. It is a nice soundboard with very good to excellent sound.

The label wanted to showcase Neil Young's talents from the beginning and included early demos, work with his band The Squires and Buffalo Springfield. Whoever was the source offered pretty high quality tapes, the seven 1965 demos that Young will hopefully release on his archive set and even a couple of Buffalo Springfield acetates and demos.

Even Buffalo Springfield's performance at Monterey Pop, left off the official release, shows up here. This incomplete show has never been released even after 40 years. Only one track, For What It's Worth, was finally released in June 2007 on a Razor & Tie Monterey Pop collection.

The CSNY show has seven Young songs out of the show's 18. The Young medley of The Loner, Cinnamon Girl and Down By The River boasted his talent as guitarist and soloist. The 13-minute long Southern Man closed the show in fine hard rock tradition. With Neil Young, CSN gained a harder sound to offset their folky image.

Consider "Tribute To Neil Young" a fan's dream of what his archive release will be. This was a great start to the CD bootleg era. Thanks to the folks at "Manic Depression", whoever you are.
- The Little Chicken

Disc I
Track 101 Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (14.8MB)
Track 102 Blackbird (6.3MB)
Track 103 On The Way Home (7.1MB)
Track 104 Teach Your Children (8.2MB)
Track 105 Tell Me Why (8.0MB)
Track 106 The Loner Medley: The Loner/ Cinnamon Girl/ Down By The River (14.9MB)
Track 107 Black Queen (10.1MB)
Set II
Track 108 49 Bye-Byes/ For What It's Worth (10.9MB)
Track 109 Love The One You're With (5.5MB)
Track 110 As I Come Of Age (4.6MB)
Track 111 Pre-Road Downs (5.3MB)
Track 112 Long Time Gone (8.3MB)
Track 113 4 And 20 [live at Big Sur, April 1, 1969] (2.7MB)
Disc II
Track 201 Helplessly Hoping (8.1MB)
Track 202 Ohio (5.8MB)
Track 203 Southern Man (17.9MB)
Neil Young unreleased 1965 demos
Track 204 Sugar Mountain (3.7MB)
Track 205 Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing (4.0MB)
Track 206 Run Around Babe (3.6MB)
Track 207 Don't Pity Me Babe (6.8MB)
Track 208 I Ain't Got The Blues (3.6MB)
Track 209 The Rent Is Always Due (3.8MB)
Track 210 When It Falls It Falls Over You (3.5MB)
Buffalo Springfield
Track 211 Down To The Wire [1967 Gold Star acetate] (3.4MB)
Track 212 Do I Have To Come Right Out And Say It [1967 Gold Star acetate] (4.2MB)
There Goes My Babe [1966 demo; officially released on Buffalo Springfield boxset]
One More Sign [1966 demo; officially released on Buffalo Springfield boxset]
The Squires from 1963
Track 215 Sultan (3.4MB)
Track 216 Aurora (3.2MB)
Buffalo Springfield
[live at Monterey Pop Festival, June 17-18, 1967. Neil Young had left and was replaced by Doug Hastings who would later join Rhinoceros. David Crosby is said to have guested here.]
For What It's Worth [officially released by Razor & Tie, June 5, 2007]
Track 218 Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing (4.8MB)
Track 219 Rock 'n' Roll Woman (5.6MB)
Track 220 Bluebird (6.1MB)
CSNY
Track 221 Guinevere [live at Big Sur, April 1, 1969] (6.3MB)

All other tracks are live at Lakehurst, New Jersey, June 30, 1970.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Tribute To Neil Young (Bootleg, 1970)
(192 kbps, cover art included

Lord Kitchener - King Of Calypso (1965)

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Lord Kitchener (born Aldwyn Roberts) shares with Mighty Sparrow the title of the world's best known Calypso singer.

He began his career in Trinidad and won his first Road March award for singing in 1946. In 1948, Kitch emigrated to England in the company of singer Lord Beginner and newsreel footage of the time shows him singing "London Is the Place for Me."

In less than two years, he and Beginner were recording for EMI. Kitch enjoyed massive popularity in England. In the 1950s, he toured West Africa and enjoyed a big hit there with his single, "Nora."

Like many calypsonians, Kitch drifted toward soca and in 1978 hit the charts with "Sugar Bum Bum." Additonally noted for his hit single, "Give Me the Ting," he died February 12, 2000 at the age of 77.

Here is his album "King Of Calypso", released in 1965 on Melodisc.

Lord Kitchener - King Of Calypso (1965)
(ca. 320 kbps, front & back cover included)

Miriam Makeba - Makeba Sings (1965)

Maybe history will remember Miriam Makeba mostly for her activist triumphs. When it came to her music many of her obituaries dwelled on her two most famous songs, “Pata Pata” and “The Click Song,” and mentioned little else. But just as she was an important activist, in many places Makeba was as ubiquitous a pop presence as Louis Armstrong. Accordingly, she has left a huge body of recordings - including 28 studio and live albums, eight greatest hits compilations, and scores of videotaped live performances - that can be mined for lesser-known gems

The out of print RCA Victor LP "Makeba Sings" was released the same year as the Grammy-winning "An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba". "Makeba Sings" finds the bold singer in a relatively straightforward context, delivering heartwarming tunes with fluttering tropical arrangements, the kind typically reserved for Disney scores. What peels this LP away from the bland conventions of retro calypso and exotica is Makeba’s searing voice, which spans at least three languages in 35 minutes and imbues captivating tracks like “Cameroon” and “Kilimanjaro” with an almost startling intensity.


Tracklist:

Cameroon
Woza
Little Bird
Chove-Chuva
Same Moon
Kilimanjaro
Khawuyani-Khanyange
Wind Song
Khuluma
Let's Pretend
Beau Chevalier
Maduna

Miriam Makeba - Makeba Sings (1965)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Brenda Fassie - Featuring Black President (Best of)

Brenda Fassie (November 3, 1964 – May 9, 2004), was a legendary South African pop singer widely considered a voice for disenfranchised blacks during apartheid. She was affectionately known as the Queen of African Pop and her nickname amongst fans was Mabrr.

Brenda was born in Langa, Cape Town as the youngest of 9 children. She was named after Brenda Lee, an American country singer. Her father died when she was 2, and with the help of her mother, a pianist, she started earning money by singing for tourists.

In 1981, at the age of 16, she left Cape Town for Soweto, Johannesburg to seek her fortune as a singer. Brenda first joined the group Joy and later became the lead singer for the township pop group Brenda And The Big Dudes. She had a son, Bongani, in 1985 by a fellow Big Dudes musician. Brenda married ex-convict Nhlanhla Mbambo in 1989 but later in 1991 got divorced.

It was around this time that she became addicted to cocaine and her career suffered.
With very outspoken views and frequent visits to the poorer townships of Johannesburg, as well as songs about life in the townships, she enjoyed tremendous popularity. Known best for her songs "Weekend Special" and "Too Late for Mama", she was called by Time Magazine in 2001 "The Madonna of the Townships".

In 1995 she was discovered in a hotel with the body of her lover, Poppie Sihlahla, who had died of an apparent overdose. Fassie underwent rehabilitation and got her career back on track. However, she still had drug problems and returned to drug rehabilitation clinics about 30 times in her life.

Since 1996 she released several solo albums like "Now Is The Time", "Memeza" (1997, the best selling album in South Africa in 1998) or "Nomakanjani". Most of her albums became multi-platinum sellers in South Africa.

On the morning of 26 April 2004, Brenda collapsed at her home in Buccleuch and was admitted into the Sunninghill hospital in Johannesburg. The press were told that she had suffered cardiac arrest but later reported that she had slipped into a coma brought on by an asthma attack. The post-mortem report revealed that she had taken an overdose of cocaine in the night of her collapse, and this was the cause of her coma. She stopped breathing and suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen. Fassie was visited in the hospital by Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, and Thabo Mbeki, and her condition was front-page news in South African papers. Brenda died at age 39 on 9 May 2004 in hospital without returning to consciousness after her life support machines were turned off. According to the South African Sunday Times and the managers of her music company, the post-mortem report also showed that she was HIV-positive. Her manager, Peter Snyman, denied this aspect of the report.


Tracklist:
01.Black president
02.Too late for mama
03.Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu
04.Iam not a bad girl
05.Boipatong
06.Jail to Jail
07.Ngiyakusaba
08.I straight le ndaba
09.Yo Baby
10.Bump Bump
11.Heroes party
12.The Lord is my sheppard
13.Black president-us remix

Brenda Fassie - Featuring Black President (Best Of)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

With special greatings to a special friend!

Dennis Alcapone - My Voice Is Insured For Half A Million Dollars (Trojan)

Consisting of tracks recorded between 1970 and 1973, when the young DJ was at the peak of his popularity, this album remains the single best summation of Dennis Alcapone's art. It's true that his style owed a deep debt to U Roy, but he managed to improve on his lyricism and melodic interest; although Alcapone was primarily a "chatter" in the established tradition, he frequently lapsed into singing and was also known for his strange whoops and yelps.

"My Voice" has been reissued by Trojan before, but this issue ups the ante considerably by adding ten bonus tracks to the original program. Highlights are numerous and include the spectacular "Musical Alphabet," "Joe Frazier Round 2" (which continues a popular topic for DJs of the period), and most of all, his brilliant DJ cuts on the Ethiopians' classic "Selah" (titled "Rocking to Ethiopia") and Augustus Pablo's deathless instrumental "Java" ("Mava"). Of course, he's helped considerably by the consistently high quality of the rhythm tracks, which came to him courtesy of such top producers as Duke Reid, Winston "Niney" Holness, and Bunny Lee. This album should be considered an essential part of any serious reggae collection.


Tracklist:

1 My Voice Is Insured For Half A Million Dollars
2 Pop A Version
3 Fever Teaser
4 Power Version
5 Rocking To Ethiopia
6 Joe Frazier Round 2
7 This A Butter
8 Musical Alphabet
9 It Must Come
10 Jungle Of Crime
11 Take Your Time
12 Sons Of Zion
13 Castles & Kings
14 Mava
15 East To West
16 False Prophet
17 Out The Light Baby
18 Ball Of Confusion
19 Fine Style
20 Look Into Yourself
21 Out Of This World
22 Go Jenny Go
23 Seven Day Reggae
24 Zaka-Za-Za
25 Horse And Buggy

Dennis Alcapone - My Voice Is Insured For Half A Million Dollars (Trojan)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Village Fugs – Sing Ballads Of Contemporary Protest, Point Of Views, And General Dissatisfaction (1965 LP Folkways 304)

"The Village Fugs ‎– Sing Ballads Of Contemporary Protest, Point Of Views, And General Dissatisfaction" was the first Fugs album, released in 1965 with the instructive subtitel.

Poets Tuli Kupferberg and Ed Sanders couldn’t play any instruments, but they sure knew all about the spirit of rock & roll. Sanders edited … Full Descriptionand published a profanely titled arts magazine in post-Beat, early-‘60s Greenwich Village, and local friends, including Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders, and guitarist Ken Weaver, provide most of the music on this underground classic.

Alternately angry, beautiful, rude, and gut-bustingly hilarious, these songs, recorded in 1965, are both folk classics and among the first and best punk anthems ever recorded. Weaver’s “I Couldn’t Get High” is a garage-rocking stomper that wouldn’t sound out of place in the NUGGETS series, and Weber’s ironic masterpiece “Boobs A Lot” says more about locker-room culture in two minutes than volumes of social studies. An essential album!

Peter Stampfel (fiddle, hca, vo)
Vinny Leary, Steve Weber (g, vo)
John Anderson (bag, vo)
Ken Weaver (d, vo)
Tuli Kupferberg (per, vo)
Ed Sanders (vo)

Tracklist:

01. Slum Goddess (2:01)
02. Ah, Sunflower Weary Of Time (2:15)
03. Supergirl (2:19)
04. Swinburne Stomp (2:51)
05. I Couldn’t Get High (2:08)
06. How Sweet I Roamed From Field To Field (2:15)
07. Carpe Diem (5:10)
08. My Baby Done Left Me (2:21)
09. Boobs A Lot (2:14)
10. Nothing (4:17)

The Fugs - The Village Fugs (1965)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Billie Holiday - The Commodore Master Takes

If you're a completist who insists on having everything that Billie Holiday recorded, "The Complete Commodore Recordings" is required listening. But for the more casual listener, it's best to pass on that two-CD set and stick with "The Commodore Master Takes". While "The Complete Commodore Recordings" contains all of the alternate takes that Holiday recorded for Commodore in 1939 and 1944, this collection only concerns itself with the master takes (which total 16).

Holiday never singed an exclusive contract with Commodore - she only freelanced for the label, and the ultra-influential jazz singer spent a lot more time recording for Columbia in the 1930s and early 1940s, and for Decca from 1944-1950. But her Commodore output was first-rate, and Lady Day excels whether she's joined by trumpeter Frankie Newton's octet at a 1939 session or by pianist Eddie Heywood's orchestra at three sessions in 1944.

The album gets off to an impressive start with the controversial "Strange Fruit," a bone-chilling account of lynching in the Deep South that ended up being released on Commodore because Columbia was afraid to touch it. Holiday is also quite expressive on performances that range from "Fine and Mellow," "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues" and "Yesterdays" in 1939 to "My Old Flame,"  "I'll Be Seeing You," and "He's Funny That Way" in 1944.
For those with even a casual interest in Holiday's legacy, this superb album is essential listening.


Tracklist

A1	Strange Fruit
A2	Yesterdays
A3	Fine And Mellow
A4	I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
A5	How Am I To Know
A6	My Old Flame
A7	I'll Get By
A8	I Cover The Waterfront
B1	I'll Be Seeing You
B2	I'm Yours
B3	Embraceable You
B4	As Time Goes By
B5	He's Funny That Way
B6	Lover Come Back To Me
B7	Billie´s Blues
B8	On The Sunny Side Of The Street

Billie Holiday - The Commodore Master Takes
(224 kbps, cover art included)

Tom Rush - Blues, Songs & Ballads (1963)

With his warm and slightly world-weary baritone voice, solid acoustic guitar playing, and gifted if hardly prolific songwriting skills, Tom Rush was one of the finest and most unsung performers to come out of the '60s urban folk revival

Consisting mostly of traditional blues covers, this early acoustic effort was cut at the same May 1963 session that led to the "Got a Mind to Ramble" LP. An excellent example of the blues/folk revival of the early 1960s. The singing, guitar, and washtub bass are great. 


Tracklist:

A1	Alabama Bound	3:10
A2	More Pretty Girls	1:40
A3	Sister Kate	3:05
A4	Original Talking Blues	4:10
A5	Pallet On The Floor	3:55
A6	Drop Down Mama	4:05
B1	Rag Mama	2:30
B2	Barb'ry Allen	6:40
B3	Cocaine	3:10
B4	Come Back Baby	2:20
B5	Stackerlee	4:35
B6	Baby Please Don't Go	2:50

Tom Rush - Blues, Songs & Ballads (1963)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Harry Mudie Meet King Tubby - In Dub Conference Vol. 3 (1978)

Producer Harry Mudie can be counted as one of the most original of reggae auteurs. He not only featured the bottom-heavy sound reggae was famous for, but he expanded on the soul sweetness of many rocksteady sides with strings and touches of Philly soul ambience, as well. His prime work from the '70s is some of the most sophisticated and lush to emerge amidst reggae's seemingly endless run of dancehall-ready sides.

Harry Mudie was born in Jamaica's original capital, Spanish Town, in 1940. He first came to prominence producing drummer Count Ossie. Ossie was one of the earliest island musicians to espouse Rastafarian beliefs, and he helped form an Afro-centric percussion style called nyahbingi drumming in the camp he set up with other Rastas during the mid-'50s. Mudie caught some of Ossie's earliest work on tape in the early '60s, at a time when the percussionist regularly performed at the producer's Spanish Town Scaramouche Gardens Club.

In the mid-'60s, Mudie put his burgeoning career on hold to travel and study abroad for five years. Upon his return to the studio in the early '70s, Mudie cut a deal with the U.K. labels Trojan and R&B to distribute his productions on exclusive imprints. On the creative end, Mudie marked this time by experimenting with strings on some of his sessions, a first for any reggae producer. And while his soulful, groove-heavy rhythms were often laid down at Studio One's "open" Sunday sessions, the strings were recorded in London. His roster during the first half of the decade included such singers and groups as John Holt, Dennis Walks, the Ebony Sisters, the Heptones, Lloyd Jones, the Eternals (featuring Cornell Campbell), and Winston Shand -- he also cut a few sides with Gregory Isaacs and Peter Tosh. Mudie's most popular sides come from this period and include Holt's cover of Ivory Joe Hunter's "It May Sound Silly," which is featured on the singer's smash album Time Is the Master, and Dennis Walks' much-versioned "Drifter." Other successes included the Ebony Sisters' "Let Me Tell You Boy," Slim Smith's "Give Me Some More Loving," the Heptones' "Love Without Feeling," and cornet player Jo Jo Bennett's "Leaving Rome."

Bennett was also an integral part of the producer's studio band, Mudie's All-Stars, which variously included vibist Lennie Hibbert, pianist Gladstone Anderson, tenor saxophonist Tommy McCook, trumpeter Bobby Ellis, guitarist Mikey Chung, and percussionist Bongo Herman.

Like the majority of reggae producers active in the '70s, Mudie augmented his vocal sides with a healthy share of DJ cuts by such young mic stars as I-Roy, Big Joe, and Count Sticky. Mudie fashioned I-Roy's name after that of first DJ star, U-Roy, and oversaw the young toasters first sides around 1970. Although the two men would have a falling out over business matters in 1971, their collaboration produced such memorable hits as "Musical Choice" and versions of "Drifting" and "Let Me Tell You Boy."

Also in line with the day's trends, Mudie worked with King Tubby to produce some of the strongest dub albums of the mid-'70s. Featuring a large dose of Mudie's strongest rhythms, the three Dub Conference albums offer a perfect blend of the producer's tasteful grooves (strings, too) and Tubby's equally astute panoply of echo and reverb-riddled mixing board effects.

After much success throughout the '70s, Mudie traveled extensively and eventually settled in Florida. He's lived in the Sunshine State for close to 20 years and makes Miami the base for his Moodisc label, which he runs with his son. The label has reissued a wealth of Mudie's material, including some of Count Ossie's earliest tracks, John Holt's Time Is the Master, several Dennis Walks releases, the Dub Conference titles, and various compilations of his vocal, DJ, and instrumental tracks. And while Mudie doesn't keep up the same pace of his '70s heyday, he still stays active re-cutting many of his hits in the current dancehall-ragga style and cutting the occasional single for Horace Andy and Tinga Stewart.

Tracklist:

A1	Where Eagles Dare	6:50
A2	With You In Mind	3:35
A3	Do This In Bed	4:03
A4	Peace Offering	3:50
B1	Nineteen Love In Dub	4:15
B2	Conference Theme	2:55
B3	Tribal Recipe	3:20
B4	Mudie's Serenade (In Dub)	4:27
B5	Dub Is Paradise	4:25

Harry Mudie Meet King Tubby - In Dub Conference Vol. 3 (1978)
(320 kbps, cover art included)