Poesie & Musik - Francois Villon (1976)

"Poesie und Musik" was a trio ensemble consisting of Orlando Valentini, Andreas Vollenweider and René Bardet. Between 1974 and 1983 this ensemble was publishing inspiring records that combined poetry and music based on texts by Francois Villon, Heinrich Heine, the indian Chief Seattle and Pablo Neruada.

François Villon, pseudonym of François de Montcorbier or François des Loges, (born 1431, Paris—died after 1463), was one of the greatest French lyric poets. He was known for his life of criminal excess, spending much time in prison or in banishment from medieval Paris. His chief works include Le Lais (Le Petit Testament), Le Grand Testament, and various ballades, chansons, and rondeaux.

Perhaps the most deeply moving of French lyric poets, Villon ranges in his verse from themes of drunkenness and prostitution to the unsentimental humility of a ballade-prayer to “Our Lady,” “Pour prier Nostre-Dame,” written at the request of his mother. He speaks, with marvelous directness, of love and death, reveals a deep compassion for all suffering humanity, and tells unforgettably of regret for the wasted past.

His work marks the end of an epoch, the waning of the Middle Ages, and it has commonly been read as the inspiration of a “lost child.” But as more becomes known about the poetic traditions and disciplines of his day, this interpretation seems inadequate. It is probably either too early or too late fully to understand Villon’s work, as one critic has suggested; but although the scholar must still face a variety of critical problems, enough is known about Villon’s life and times to mark him as a poet of genius, whose work is charged with meaning and great emotional force.


Tracklist:

A1 Waldschratt (1:25)
A2 Ballade für den Hausgebrauch im Winter (3:45)
A3 Bettelballade für meinen armen Bruder Jean Cotard (3:35)
A4 Ballade von der treulosen Cylaea (4:55)
A5 Ballade von den Vogelfreien (2:40)
A6 Liebesballade für ein Zigeunermadchen (7:45)

B1 Ballade, mit der Meister Villon seine Mitmenschen um Verzeihung bittet (4:10)
B2 Sommerballade von der armen Louise (4:40)
B3 Neue Ballade, gedichtet für Mira L´Ydolle (4:40)
B4 Notwendige Nachschrift, mein Begräbnis betreffend (5:15)
B5 Kleine Ballade von Ddem Mäuslein, das in Villons Zelle Junge bekam (6:45)


Poesie & Musik - Francois Villon (1976)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Matching Mole - Little Red Record (1972)

Released later in the same year as their debut, this 1972 album was the band's last. The punningly titled band (an English pronunciation of the French translation of Robert Wyatt's previous band, "Soft Machine") broke up just after it was issued.

This outing is a bit more experimental than its predecessor, favoring a range of sonic experiments, such as "Gloria Gloom." This also marked the debut of one of Wyatt's most gorgeous enduring songs, "God Song."

The album title refers to Chairman Mao's Little Red Book (1964). This reference is also carried over to the faux-Chinese style of the album cover, which is reminiscent of posters created during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Its quiet bearing actually points the way for his classic solo albums that followed a few years later ("Rock Bottom" and "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard"). Produced by Robert Fripp, this album presents the more intellectual and introspective side of the era's British progressive bands. It has aged very well over the decades and is an important chapter in Wyatt's varied career and output.  

Tracklist:
                                                   

A1	Starting In The Middle Of The Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away
A2	Marchides
A3	Nan True's Hole
A4	Righteous Rhumba
A5	Brandy As In Benge
B1	Gloria Gloom
B2	God Song
B3	Flora Fidgit
B4	Smoke Signal

Matching Mole - Little Red Record (1972)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Legendary Sir Lancelot - Calypso of the West Indies and Ballads of the Caribbean

Chances are that unless you're an old movie buff, you've never heard of Sir Lancelot. Beginning in 1940, however, and for the next 16 years until Harry Belafonte came along, he was the most popular calypso singer in the world and a singing star in the United States. Belafonte himself has described Sir Lancelot as a major influence on his own work and career, and as his inspiration.

Born Lancelot Victor Edward Pinard in Cumuto, North Trinidad, the son of a government official, he began singing at the age of six in a one-hour recital. By the time he was finished with high school, his voice had matured into a perfect tenor instrument, but music didn't seem to be available to him as a career choice - rather, his father sent him to New York to study medicine. By sheer chance, he was heard singing and invited to try a two-week engagement at the Village Vanguard, which turned into a year-long booking. In 1941, he went out west to play engagements at colleges in California and Oregon, and following a concert in Los Angeles, Sir Lancelot was contracted to make his first screen appearance, in the Pat O'Brien/Janet Blair vehicle Two Yanks in Trinidad. This appearance, in turn, led to his being booked on tours of Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean.

His first credited film appearance was in the atmospheric Val Lewton chiller "I Walked with a Zombie", where his songs provided ironic commentary on the action of the movie. He later played a dramatic role in Lewton's "The Ghost Ship" and "Curse of the Cat People"; "Eve Knew Her Apples", starring Ann Miller, "To Have and Have Not" with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and "Brute Force" starring Burt Lancaster. He was well-known enough by then to play characters simply known as "Sir Lancelot" in pictures as different as the comedy "Linda Be Good" and "The Unknown Terror".

Sir Lancelot's singing appearances on radio and television, on shows hosted by Ray Anthony, Ed Sullivan, and Dinah Shore (where he sang the praises of sponsors Ford, Elgin watches, Coca-Cola, and Borden's Milk, and often got more fan mail than Shore herself) planted the seeds of the calypso boom that led the way to Belafonte's rise to fame at the end of the '50s. In 1955, he left the United States for an extended tour of Europe and the Middle East, but returned to Hollywood three years later to appear in "The Buccaneer", a big-budget widescreen historical drama starring Yul Brynner and directed by Anthony Quinn. He continued singing and recording, and made occasional television appearances as late as 1968, when he turned up in a non-singing role in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, and continued to record at least through 1973.

The album "Calypso of the West Indies and Ballads of the Caribbean" is a Caribbean music treasure, 14 songs from Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Haiti, Cuba, and Martinique, sung in Sir Lancelot's pleasing, rich tenor voice, in high spirits and boundless joy, backed by everything from a simple guitar to a steel band. Recorded between 1946 and 1973, in surprisingly good sound (only 1946's "Ugly Woman" - track 12 - sounds compressed, transferred off of a 78 rpm disc). The 1958 tracks (tracks 1 - 9, recorded in Hollywood) feature the Mac Niles Caribe Carnival Band, Steel Drummers, and Singers, and the repertory includes the originals "Jump in the Line" and "Tied-Tongue Mopsy," classics like "Run Joe," "Matilda," and "Jamaica Farewell". Amazingly, the 1973 vintage track, "Double Indemnity" (track 10 - as charming and delightful as the movie of that name is dark and depressing), shows Lancelot's voice in astonishingly good shape, and hardly different at all from its 1946 incarnation.

The Legendary Sir Lancelot - Calypso of the West Indies and Ballads of the Caribbean
(192 kbps, no cover art included)

Sun Ra - The Nubians Of Plutonia (1967)

In the late '50s, Sun Ra emerged from big band to modern/progressive big band status, began to employ electronics, and used a more Afro-Centric percussive focus. This recording perfecly demonstrates those qualities, and more. There are several definitive themes from The Arkestra included, such as "Plutonian Nights," "Nubia," "Africa," "Watusa" and "Aethiopia." Dig for this one on vinyl from the Impulse LP reissue if you can (the cover art is stunning,) but it is nigh impossible to find on Saturn Research. The tracks were recorded in rehearsal, Chicago, either 1958 or 1959.

"The Nubians of Plutonia... evidence an Arkestra moving into ever looser, more abstract ground. The percussion becomes more varied and moves ever closer to the foreground. 'The Golden Lady' seduces with a swaying groove created by a combination of simple parts: hi-hat, cow bell, wood blocks, rolling floor toms and bass. Ra then sets up a dark melodic theme, and then the Arkestra proceeds to weave a series of jaunty, blues-tinged solos into the fabric of the groove. 'Nubia', 'Africa' and 'Aiethopia' continue this excursion into more mystical, rhythm-based territory. The Arkestra utilizes the same ominous, simmering percussion beds, now augmented by more exotic instruments like Pat Patrick's 'space lute', which gives a playfully sinister sound to 'Africa'.... This powerful, multi-faceted music is a great place to start if you are just beginning to travel with Sun Ra, or a great way to continue the journey." - Mathew Wuethrich

Tracklist:

Plutonian Nights	4:20
The Lady With The Golden Stockings (The Golden Lady)	7:44
Star Time	4:17
Nubia	8:12
Africa	5:06
Watusa	2:33
Aiethopia	7:13

Sun Ra - The Nubians Of Plutonia (1967)
(320 kbps, cover art included)        

Kurt Weill - Down In The Valley (1950) - Lady In The Dark (1941) (RCA Victor) - Gertrude Lawrence

"The Kurt Weill Classics: Lady In The Dark / Down The Valley" is a 12 Inch album, releasend in 1964 in the RCA Victor 'Vintage Series'. It has the complete 10" recording from 1950 on one side along with a 1941 recording of "Lady In The Dark" featuring Getrude Lawrence on the other.

Recording details:
A: with Quartet and Orchestra, Leonard Joy conductor. Recorded Feb. 23, 1941.
B: Marion Bell, soprano; William McGraw, baritone; Kenneth Smith, Ray Jacquemot, bass-baritones; Richard Barrows; Robert Holland, tenor; Roy Johnston, bass; Jeanne Privette, soprano; Carole O'Hara, contralto; Ralph Teferteller.
Charles Polacheck, dramatic director. Recorded Jan. 25, 1950.


Tracklist:

Lady In The Dark

A1 Glamour Music Medley
A2 One Life To Live
A3 This Is New
A4 The Princess Of Pure Delight
A5 The Saga Of Jenny
A6 My Ship

Down In The Valley

B1 Down In The Valley

Kurt Weill - Down In The Valley (1950) Lady In The Dark (1941) (RCA Victor) - Gertrude Lawrence
(256 kbps, cover art inclued)

Ulrich Hundt & Schroeder - Auf freiem Fuß...!!! (1977)

The band "Schroeder Roadshow" probably originated with members of the projects "Die jeilen Träumer" and "Zarah Zylinder". The political rock clown band first appeared in 1975 under the name "Ulrich Hundt und Schroeder", and was renamed shortly afterwards as "Schroeder Roadshow". They offered biting ironic and political texts as well as an eclectic musical style. The band attacked more or less everything, including themselves.

Musically their main focus was saxophone-heavy rock, but with elements from many other styles. The band was part of the  political left West German underground scene, they were assigned to the squatter and anarchist scene. They also wrote ballads, such as "Tanz mit mir hinaus" and "Wir sind die Brüder der romantischen Verlierer". They worked with Wolf Maahn as producer, Wolfgang Niedecken, and Christian Wagner (solo producer).

When Uli Hundt and Rich Schwab left in 1984, the band cut the "Roadshow" from their name. They also appeared twice in the "Rockpalast": in 1982 as "Schroeder Roadshow", and in 1985 as "Schroeder".

Through all the changes in the band they continued to be active on the political rock festival scene. One of the biggest of these was the 1986 festival in Burglengenfeld, against the atomic reprocessing plant in Wackersdorf; in front of 120,000 spectators the band lined up in two parts, some performing as "Die Firma" and the others as "Uli Hundt und die Betablocker".

Then the band went quiet, recording no more LPs, until the comic artist Brösel's "Werner" comic was brought to life when he lined up with his Horex Motorbike "Red Porsche Killer" on a specially closed motorway against the Porsche of his friend. Then the recording of the band's appearance at the accompanying festival, in front of 200,000 spectators, became Schroeder's last album, and their last appearance for some years was a year later at Werner's Revival party. In 2008 a short reunion with a new cd and a live tour took place.

Here´s their debut album, released in 1977 on Zarah Zylinder Records.

Tracklist:

1.	Bundesstraße 1 revisited	3:47
2.	Die Ballade der Geruchsfetischistin Susi Schnüffelzinken	3:50
3.	Die Bullen schlagen wieder zu	4:56
4.	Amok	5:22
5.	Der erste Tag	5:02
6.	Klaustrophobische Latzhosen-Paranoia	5:14
7.	Miss Trend	3:52
8.	Türkis Türkis	4:32
9.	Ich bin so schwul (Strichjungenwalzer)	7:19
10.	Deutschlandlied	1:11

Ulrich Hundt & Schroeder - Auf freiem Fuß...!!!
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Hilmar Thate singt Brecht (LITERA, 1968)

Born in 1931, he made his stage debut at a theatre in Cottbus in 1949, after studying acting at the Schauspielschule in Halle. Later he was an ensemble member at East Germany's most respected theaters, the Maxim-Gorki-Theater (1952 -1959), Berliner Ensemble (1959 -1971) and Deutsches Theater (1971 -1980). He was chosen East German "Stage Actor of the Year" twice.

After songwriter Wolf Biermann was stripped off his citizenship by the East German government in 1976, Thate and his wife Angelica Domröse joined a group of artists, protesting against the decision. Four years later, they finally emigrated to West Germany.

Here´s his album recorded at the Berliner Ensemble with songs and ballads by Bertolt Brecht from "Arturo Ui", "Mutter", "Die Tage der Commune" and many more in compositions by Dessau, Eisler, Brecht and Hosalla.

Hilmar Thate died September 14, 2016 in Berlin, age 85.

Hilmar Thate singt Brecht (LITERA, 1968)
(192 kbps)

Brühwarm & Ton Steine Scherben - Entartet! (1979)

Ton Stein Scherben were formed in 1970 by the vocalist, guitarist and frontman Rio Reiser, R.P.S. Lanrue, Kai Sichtermann (bass guitar), Wolfgang Seidel (drums). They are considered to be among the most notorious German kraut polit-rock next to bands such as Floh de Cologne. During the 70's the band was known for their social and political critics but also for their amazingly challenging live performances.
They were engaged in the German gay-movement, so they released two LPs in cooperation with theatre group "Brühwarm".

The album "Entartet"" features songs from the "Brühwarm" show "Nymphomania, recorded at the David Volksmund Studio in Fresenhagen. The vocals are by Claus, Corny, Ernst, Götz, Ralf and Thomas. Cabaret with music by Ton Steine Scherben and texts from daily gay life. There’s no false modesty, but plenty of emotion. The album was issued in a plastic sleeve with the album title printed on it and a 4-page foldout insert on thick paper with lyrics on the inside.


Tracklist:
01 Sie ham mir ein Gefühl geklaut
02 Komm zu mir
03 Raus
04 Grete Heiser und Zara Frustra: "Mädel, was bist du progessiv!"
05 Wann, wann, wann
06 Heute blasen wir den Marsch
07 Bisex-Boogie
08 Heterrorist
09 Shit-Hit

Brühwarm & Ton Steine Scherben - Entartet! (1979)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Archie Shepp - Four For Trane (1964)

From 1964, Archie Shepp's first date as a leader featured -- as one would expect from the title -- four tunes by John Coltrane, his mentor, his major influence, and his bandleader. The fact that this album holds up better than almost any of Shepp's records nearly 40 years after has plenty to do with the band he chose for this session, and everything to do with the arranging skills of trombonist Roswell Rudd.

The band here is Shepp on tenor, John Tchicai on alto, Rudd on trombone, Trane's bassist Reggie Workman, and Ornette Coleman's drummer Charles Moffett. Even in 1964, this was a powerhouse, beginning with a bluesed-out wailing version of "Syeeda's Song Flute." This version is ingenious, with Shepp allowing Rudd to arrange four solos for himself and Tchicai up front and Rudd punching in the blues and gospel in the middle, before giving way to double time by Workman and Moffett. The rawness of the whole thing is so down-home you're ready to tell someone to pass the butter beans when listening. 

Rudd's arrangement of "Naima" is also stunningly beautiful: He reharmonizes the piece for the mid-register tone of Shepp, who does his best Ben Webster and adds a microtonal tag onto the front and back, dislocating the tune before it begins and after it ends, while keeping it just out of the range of the consonant throughout. Wonderful! 

The only Shepp original here is "Rufus (Swung, His Face at Last to the Wind, Then His Neck Snapped)." It's not a terribly sophisticated tune, but it works in the context of this band largely because of the soloing prowess of all the members -- particularly Tchicai-- here. There is barely any melody, the key changes are commensurate with tempo shifts, and the harmonics are of the sliding scale variety. Still, there are the blues; no one can dig into them and honk them better than Shepp. When it came to sheer exuberance and expression, he was a force to be reckoned with in his youth, and it shows in each of the tunes recorded here. "Four for Trane" is a truly fine, original, and lasting album from an under-celebrated musician.


Tracklist (all compositions by John Coltrane, except where noted):

"Syeeda's Song Flute" – 8:30
"Mr. Syms" – 7:41
"Cousin Mary" – 7:14
"Naima" – 7:09
"Rufus (Swung His Face At Last To The Wind, Then His Neck Snapped)" (Shepp) – 6:24


Archie Shepp - Four For Trane (1964)
(ca. 200 kbps, cover art included)

Neil Young - A Perfect Echo, Vol. 1 (1967 - 1976)

"A Perfect Echo" is a series of compilations of live soundboard live tracks from 1967 to 2006.

Original Notes from Braden (Original compiler of this collection):

"This is a compilation of soundboard recordings from 1967-2001. The term soundboard is a bit of a misnomer. By soundboard I mean, basically, not an audience recording. Some are true soundboards, while others are FM, TV, ALD, or video-sourced recordings. The recordings were all taken from CD-Rs or videos that are circulating in the trading community.

There are a total of 115 tracks (109 songs, as 6 get repeated). Some years were heavy with available recordings (1976 and 1989 come to mind). I tried to balance the set by not using too many songs from a single show. The entire 8 discs run in, roughly, chronological order.

The intent was to make a nice sampling of soundboard recordings from throughout his career. Its sort of like an expanded 'Rock 'n' Roll Cowboy', with the intent to keep the sound quality higher and more consistent."

Disc 1 - 1967 - 1971:

01. Mr. Soul (Buffalo Springfield - Hollywood, CA 11-Aug-1967)
02. Birds (CSNY - Los Angeles, CA 26-Aug-1969)
03. I've Loved Her So Long (CSNY - Los Angeles, CA 26-Aug-1969)
04. Sea Of Madness (CSNY - Big Sur, CA, 13-Sep-1969)
05. Helpless (CSNY - Houston, TX, 18-Dec-1969)
06. Country Girl (CSNY - Houston, TX, 18-Dec-1969)
07. Broken Arrow (Cincinnati, OH 25-Feb-1970)
08. Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown (New York, NY 6-Mar-1970)
09. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (New York, NY 6-Mar-1970)
10. Winterlong (New York, NY 6-Mar-1970)
11. Cinnamon Girl (New York, NY 6-Mar-1970)
12. Cowgirl In The Sand (New York, NY 6-Mar-1970)
13. On The Way Home (CSNY - Los Angeles, CA 28-Jun-1970)
14. Tell Me Why (CSNY - Los Angeles, CA 28-Jun-1970)
15. Out On The Weekend (London, England, 23-Feb-1971)
16. Journey Through The Past (London, England, 23-Feb-1971)
17. Love In Mind (London, England, 23-Feb-1971)

Disc 2 - 1974 - 1976:
01. Walk On (CSNY - Westbury, NY, 8-Sep-1974)
02. Ambulance Blues (CSNY - Westbury, NY, 8-Sep-1974)
03. Lookin' For A Love (San Francisco, CA, 23-Mar-1975)
04. No One Seems To Know (Tokyo, Japan, 10-Mar-1976)
05. Human Highway (London, England, 31-Mar-1976)
06. Cortez The Killer (London, England, 31-Mar-1976)
07. White Line (Fort Worth, TX, 10-Nov-1976)
08. Don't Cry No Tears (Chicago, IL, 15-Nov-1976)
09. Peace Of Mind (Chicago, IL, 15-Nov-1976)
10. A Man Needs A Maid (Chicago, IL, 15-Nov-1976)
11. Give Me Strength (Chicago, IL, 15-Nov-1976)
12. Lotta Love (Chicago, IL, 15-Nov-1976)
13. Like A Hurricane (Chicago, IL, 15-Nov-1976)
14. Harvest (Boston, MA, 22-Nov-1976)
15. Campaigner (Boston, MA, 22-Nov-1976)
16. Were We Are In The Years (Atlanta, GA, 24-Nov-1976)
17. The Losing End (Atlanta, GA, 24-Nov-1976)

Neil Young - A Perfect Echo, Vol. 1 (1967 - 1976)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Eric Burdon Band - That´s Live (1985)

"That’s Live" is a live album by Eric Burdon and his band, recorded live in Karlsruhe, Germany, on 8 March 1985, during a European tour. It was originally marked Limited Compact Disc Reference Edition in 1985, and achieved more widespread release in 1992.

"That’s Live" is the only recording made of this line-up (Tom Blades, Rob Burns, Mitch Harwood) which, during the immediately prior period of 1981-84, had been one of the first Western rock acts to play extensively in the Eastern Bloc, including pre-unification East Germany, where, according to bassist Rob Burns, the band were "treated like royalty".


Tracklist:
"Intro" – 0:24
"Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood" (Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell, Sol Marcus) – 6:24
"When I Was Young" (Eric Burdon, Vic Briggs, John Weider, Barry Jenkins, Danny McCulloch) – 7:41
"Working Life" [aka "Factory"] (Bruce Springsteen), featuring Robbie Burns, bass – 10:40
"We Got To Get Out Of This Place" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) – 10:20
"Poor Man" (Woody Guthrie), featuring Tom Blades, guitar – 7:52
"River Deep, Mountain High" (Phil Spector) – 7:06
"I‘m Crying" (Eric Burdon, Alan Price), featuring Mitch Harwood, drums – 10:09
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (Lloyd Price) – 8:50

Eric Burdon Band - That´s Live (1985)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Floh De Cologne - Mumien (1974)

In 1974, after the split of the "Ohr" label, the Floh De Cologne went back to the "Pläne" label for several recordings until the end of the 70's.

Their 1974 album "Mumien" refers to the fascist military coup in Chile in 1973 with CIA´s help

during a very sensible period of the Cold War. This very talkative record is their reaction, as they felt very concerned as many 2nd WW Nazi criminals had escaped to South America and Chile being one of their "preferred" final destinations. Pinochet's clique and their outfit left little doubt as to the extreme right inspirations either and H R Gigers artwork for this album leaves very little doubt as to their opinions, rightly shared by most everyone on the planet' except for a few "blind" malevolent secret services.


Tracklist:

1. Widmung (1:49)
2. Marsch Der Mumien I (1:41)
3. Und Die Reichen (2:53)
4. Marsch Der Mumien II (2:32)
5. ITT Etc. (4:35)
6. Oktober '73 (1:42)
7. Frühling In Chile (1:27)
8. Zeugen (2:20)
9. Du Siehst Das Leid (2:24)
10. Freiheitskampfer (1:13)
11. Salvador Allende (4:47)
12. Gegen Den Hunger (2:12)
13. Marsch Der Mumien III (3:38)
14. Des Volkes Fesseln (3:45)

Musicians:

- Hansi Frank / drums, vocal
- Dieter Klemm / percussion, organ, vocals
- Dick Städtler / lead guitar, vocals
- Theo König / saxes
- Gerd Wollschon / vocals, percussion

Floh De Cologne - Mumien (1974)

(192 kbps, cover art included)

Dick Gaughan - Handful Of Earth (1981)

Though primarily steeped in the traditions of folk and Celtic music, Scottish singer/songwriter Dick Gaughan has enjoyed a lengthy and far-reaching career in a variety of creative pursuits. Born Richard Peter in 1948, he first picked up the guitar at the age of seven, and issued his debut solo LP, "No More Forever", in 1972. Gaughan then signed on with the folk-rock group the Boys of the Lough, releasing a 1973 self-titled LP before returning to his solo career with 1976's "Kist o Gold".

However, he soon returned to the group format, forming a band named Five Hand Reel and issuing another eponymously titled effort that same year; over the next two years, Gaughan issued four more records - two solo releases (1977's "Copper and Brass" and 1978's "Gaughan") as well as two more Five Hand Reel outings (1977's "For a' That" and 1978's "Earl o' Moray").

In the late '70s and early '80s, he worked as a critic and columnist with Folk Review magazine, and also acted as a member of the 7:84 Theatre Company; after a three-year absence from the studio, Gaughan also returned to regular musical duty with the release of 1981's "Handful of Earth". "A Different Kind of Love Song" followed in 1983, and in 1985 he released "Live in Edinburgh"; "True and Bold" appeared a year later. After 1988's "Call It Freedom", Gaughan again retreated from view; much of his time was devoted to his increasing interest in computer technology, and he later earned notice for his skills as a programmer and web designer.

Finally, he formed a new band, the short-lived Clan Alba, who disbanded after releasing their 1995 self-titled debut; the solo "Sail On" arrived the next year, followed in 1998 by "Redwood Cathedral". Gaughan's subsequent solo releases have included 2001's "Outlaws & Dreamers" and 2006's "Lucky for Some".                

"Handful Of Earth" is a fine album, released in 1981. "Song for Ireland" is a classic. The album features Brian McNeill, Phil Cunningham, and Stewart Isbister. Voted Album of the Decade of the '80s by Folk Roots magazine, "A Handful of Earth" is Gaughan's best blend of traditional and contemporary songs.     

This mixture of love songs, odes of parting and political commentaries such as Worker’s Song and World Turned Upside Down is Gaughan’s most complex and emotionally penetrating album, and has come to be recognised as a masterwork.
Tracklist:

1 Erin-Go-Bragh
2 Now Westlin’ Winds
3 Craigie Hill
4 World Turned Upside Down
5 The Snows They Melt the Soonest
6 Lough Erne / First Kiss at Parting
7 Scojun Waltz / Randers Hopsa
8 Song for Ireland
9 Workers’ Song
10 Both Sides the Tweed

Dick Gaughan - Handful Of Earth (1981)
(320 kbps, front cover included)

The Last Poets - This Is Madness (1971)

This Is Madness is the second album released by The Last Poets in 1971. With their politically charged raps, taut rhythms, and dedication to raising African-American consciousness, the Last Poets almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for the emergence of hip-hop. The group arose out of the prison experiences of Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, a U.S. Army paratrooper who chose jail as an alternative to fighting in Vietnam; while incarcerated, he converted to Islam, learned to "spiel" (an early form of rapping), and befriended fellow inmates Omar Ben Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole.               

A legendary set featuring a group of extremely controversial street poets. The Last Poets used offensive language brilliantly, talked in graphic detail about America's social and racial failures, and helped expose a wider audience to the sentiments of the '70s black nationalists. They were the forerunners of today's Afrocentric rappers, and also showed the way to a jazz/rap union now being explored on both sides of the Atlantic.

Tracklist

A1	True Blues	2:00
A2	Related To What Chant	1:08
A3	Related To What	3:09
A4	Black Is Chant	0:56
A5	Black Is	2:29
A6	Time	1:39
A7	Mean Machine Chant	1:22
A8	Mean Machine	4:03
B1	White Man's Got A God Complex	3:35
B2	Opposites	1:43
B3	Black People What Y'All Gon' Do Chant	0:46
B4	Black People What Y'All Gon' Do	3:20
B5	O.D.	3:06
B6	This Is Madness Chant	1:04
B7	This Is Madness	4:50

The Last Poets - This Is Madness (1971)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Ihre Kinder ‎– 2375 004 (Kuckuck, 1970)

 

Nuremberg's most valuable contribution to the polit-rock scene was the group Ihre Kinder. In the mid-sixties the pop band Jonah & The Whales was assembled, consisting of Roland Multhaupt (drums), Sonny Hennig (vocals), Thommy Roder (bass), Ernst Schultz (guitar) and Georgie Meyer (violin). In 1966, they recorded a cover version of "It Ain't Me Babe" for a single on Vogue (DVS 14511). This proved to be an ill-fated one-off attempt, and the group disbanded. However, in 1968, Jonas Porst and Sonny Hennig decided to form a new group with Muck Groh (guitar), Karl Mack (bass), Peter Schmidt (drums) and Georgie Meyer (flute, vocals). Ihre Kinder was to be a politically aware band using German lyrics. Porst's dad was quite a rich man, who was able to support the forthcoming activities. Porst himself soon gave up the drumming and became Ihre Kinder's producer and manager. Several demo tapes were recorded but no record companies were interested. In July - August 1969 an album was recorded at the Dierks Studio at the band's own risk; and was eventually released by Phillips. Mack had now been replaced by Walti Schneider (bass). A female vocalist, Judith Brigger, also took part in this project. The album admittedly sounds quite dated today, featuring 12 short and easy-going folk-pop songs. Still it must be honoured as it is one of the first records of 'Deutschrock' with German lyrics.

"Leere Hande" (1970) was a great improvement, their first true folk-rock album. The arrangements here were more varied with more use of organ, flute and electric guitars. The band had also absorbed some progressive touches from groups like Traffic and Jethro Tull. The 11 songs themselves were more memorable than those on the previous album. Some of them were written by Ernst Schultz (guitar, flute, vocals), now added as Ihre Kinder's sixth member, the rest came from Sonny Hennig. "Leere Hande" was recorded during January and February 1970 in Union Studio, Munich, with Thomas Klemt engineering. It was the first release on the Kuckuck label, generously enclosing a lyrics insert and a large poster. "2375 004" went a step further, as it was released in a denim jeans cover, even featuring washing instructions! It was recorded at the same venue as its predecessor in August 1970. Thommy Roder (bass, sax, vocals) had now replaced Walti Schneider. This album, entitled after its own catalogue number, was a further development towards varied progressive folk-rock and some would say that it is their best one musically. Some of the compositions of Ernst Schultz were even slightly experimental ("Toter Soldat"). In 1971, Ihre Kinder released their first single: "Die Graue Stadt" coupled with "Komm Zu Dir". After this, Sonny Hennig quit the group to realize his solo ambitions.

 

Tracklist:

Menschen wie Sand am Meer
Ein Mantel weht im Wind
Straßenkind
Toter Soldat
Komm zu dir
Hexenhammer
Mutter bekommt ein Kind
Leben Sie wohl
Weisser Schnee, schwarze Nacht

Ihre Kinder ‎– 2375 004 (Kuckuck, 1970)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Ella Fitzgerald - At Newport (1957)

"Ella Fitzgerald - At Newport" presents recordings from the Newport Jazz Festival, July 1957.

 Unfortunately, Ella Fitzgerald had some problems with her band members. It's unclear how much time Fitzgerald had spent with her trio, though she makes her unhappiness known while trying to jump-start them to a quicker tempo on "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" and "April in Paris." Finally, she gets the band in line, delivering crowd-pleasing renditions of "Lullaby of Birdland" and the terrific scat piece "Air Mail Special," which must have set the park on fire.

Though it's far from a perfect set for Ella Fitzgerald, "At Newport" says more about her respective career than any great show could.

Ella Fitzgerald - At Newport (1957)
(new link with all tracks, 256 kbps, cover art included)

I.D. Company (aka Inga Rumpf and Dagmar Krause Company) - I.D. Company (1970)

Split album between two soon-to-be well known female vocalists. Side 1 features Frumpy's Inga Rumpf and her masculine vocal style. The music is a combination of blues, jazz and Indian music - and sounds like some of the better moments of Krokodil's "An Invisible World Revealed". Dagmar Krause's side is considerably more experimental, foreshadowing her later work with Slapp Happy, Art Bears and Henry Cow among others. The music follows in a similar manner, and is clearly going for a free jazz sound. It's all a bit much to be honest, but fans of unhinged music + vocals will love it.

About as "underground classic" as you can get, even within the Krautrock genre, but one with some historical significance. Dagmar Krause & Inga Rumpf were both in the popular alt-folk collective "City Preachers", appearing together on the LP "Back to the City" in 1971. Someone, possibly Preachers producer Mike Laukeninks came up with the idea for doing a project that was "far out"...an understatement really, since the Dagmar side sounds completely like jazz music made by insect aliens.. she really should have joined Faust instead of just collaborating with them. The Inga Rumpf tracks are superb also. Highly recommended to anyone who likes their Krautrock weird and well-executed at the same time.

Tracklist:

Die eine Seite (Inga):
01. Bhagavad Gita (6'01")
02. Bum - Bum (5'45")
03. I watched the women (4'43")

Die andere Seite (Dagmar):
04. He's out now (5'01")
05. Dünne gläserne Frauen (4'30")
06. Schneeweiße Hände (3'18")
07. Schwarzes Insekt (4'50")

I.D. Company (aka Inga Rumpf and Dagmar Krause Company) - I.D. Company (1970)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

VA - Scots In The Spanish Civil War - ¡No Pasaran!

'This is no ordinary CD you hold in your hands. This is history, tribute and as you will hear love, affection, defiance and most importantly solidarity between Scotland and Spain and in memory of the contribution of the International Brigades defending Spain from fascism. Scots more than played their part in this noble struggle'.
Written by Cllr. Gordon Munro (Leith Ward Labour) in his piece for the CD.


'When Spain called, Scotland answered. Well over 500 Scottish men and women served in the Spanish Civil War. A third of them remain in the country, sleeping beneath the soil they volunteered to fend from fascism. As the last of that golden red generation dies away, our job is to remember, commemorate and oppose prejudice today. This album is then a souvenir, to be enjoyed and a clarion call to be heeded.'
From the album introduction by Daniel Gray, author of 'Homage to Caledonia', published by Luath Press.


"A collection of songs and a poem principally about the many Scots who volunteered to fight in Spain on the side of the elected Republican Government against General Franco and the fascists. The Scots volunteers fought mainly with The International Brigade which included, as the name suggests, volunteers from many other countries of the world. Some tracks were recorded specially for this album and others were licensed from other companies and individuals.
When research for songs with a mainly Scottish perspective was undertaken it became immediately apparent that some very fine songs existed, but as the project advanced songwriters came forward with new and quite excellent material. Eventually fifteen songs and a poem were selected. This is a wonderful companion to the best-selling Greentrax World War 1 album "Far, Far From Ypres" and Greentrax is proud to release the album in memory of the Scots who fought and died in the fight against fascism in Spain.
As with the Far, Far From Ypres collection, Ian McCalman got behind the new project and recorded six of the songs, including Dick Gaughan’s unbeatable version of Jamie Foyers. Others recorded specially by Ian at his Kevock Studio include Si Me Quieres Escribir (sung in Spanish by Christine Kydd), Graves In Spain (a Mary Brooksbank poem, set to music and sung by Eileen Penman) and Robin Laing’s latest descriptive piece of writing Picasso Paints Guernica.
Ian McCalman also searched his archive of multi-track tapes of McCalmans recordings and unearthed The Peatbog Soldiers, recorded live in 1979 by the original lineup of Ian, Derek Moffat and Hamish Bayne. This is as good as any version of this often-recorded marching song adopted by The International Brigades.
Greentrax was fortunate to obtain a licence for The Laggan’s spirited Jarama Valley / Bandiera Rosa from the Lochshore label. Alison McMorland and Geordie McIntyre recorded Geordie’s Viva Los Brigadistas, accompanied by piper Allan MacDonald, also at Kevock Studio, and a licence was granted by The Living Tradition for their recording of Another Valley, also from Geordie’s prolific pen.
Carlos Arredondo kindly licensed Viva La 15 Brigada / Viva Nicaragua from his earlier Debo Cantar Bonito album. Neon Music licensed the late John Watt’s Owt For Nowt, a contemporary look at Spain after the war. The Glasgow Irish folk ‘n’ roll band The Wakes provide the very stirring These Hands. We were pleased to include the late Jim Brown’s song Salud International Brigade, penned from stories told to Jim by ex-Brigaders working on the Clyde shipyards. Frank Rae’s unusual take on one volunteer, Hasta Luego, was from the Lanarkshire Songwriters album From Blantyre To Barcelona. Edinburgh’s Gallo Rojo provided the high energy ¡No Pasaran! sung in Spanish.
The poet and author Alistair Findlay submitted a poem late in the production of the album, When The Call Comes. Ian McCalman put music to it and enlisted the help of George Archibald, a member of the group Ragged Glory, to record a demo for Alistair, who was most impressed. Ian and George then recorded the track for inclusion on the album.
The album ends with the remarkable piece of poetry Hasta La Vista Madrid by the late Bob Cooney, a hugely admired poet and songwriter from Aberdeen. Bob, a leading Brigader, was brought to the attention of Greentrax by Dick Gaughan. The poem is excellently interpreted by BBC Radio Scotland’s Iain Anderson.

Thanks to Gavin MacDougall, who first suggested the idea to Greentrax, Daniel Gray and Gordon Munro for their fine contributions, Ian McCalman for his recording work and support for the project, Geordie McIntyre who was such a fountain of knowledge, mastering engineer Peter Haigh, designer John Slavin (including the stunning front cover image) and to all the labels and artists whose contributions are gratefully acknowledged."

Tracklist:
1. The Peatbog Soldiers (The McCalmans)
2. Jamie Foyers (Dick Gaughan)
3. Jarama Valley / Bandiera Rosa (The Laggan)
4. Another Valley (Geordie McIntyre)
5. Si Me Quieres Escribir (If You Want To Write) (Christine Kydd)
6. These Hands (The Wakes)
7. Owt For Nowt (John Watt)
8. Viva La 15th Brigada / Viva Nicaragua (Carlos Arredondo)
9. Picasso Paints Guernica (Robin Laing)
10. Graves In Spain (Eileen Penman)
11. When The Call Comes (George Archibald & Ian McCalman)
12. Salud International Brigade (Jim Brown)
13. Viva Los Brigadistas (Alison McMorland & Geordie McIntyre)
14. Hasta Luego (Frank Rae)
15. ¡No Pasaran! (Gallo Rojo)
16. Hasta La Vista - Poem (Iain Anderson)

VA - Scots In The Spanish Civil War - ¡No Pasaran!
(320 kbps, front cover included)

Hartmut König - Porträt In Liedern (Amiga, 1972)

"Singe-Bewegung" and "Oktoberklub" in East Germany, part 10.

Hartmut König is a German singer and songwriter, born 14 October 1947 in Berlin, Germany. He played in the state-sponsored rock band "Team 4", was a founding member of the Oktoberklub and became later East German Deputy Minister of Culture.

From 1968 onwards, under the slogan "DDR-Konkret" the FDJ encouraged young students and workers to write new songs dealing with their everyday lives and with issues of importance to them. The songs of DDR-Konkret aimed to create a strong GDR identity amongst the youth and install a sense of pride in its achievements. The most famous example is the song that became the unofficial anthem of the GDR Singebewegung. It has been claimed that Hartmut König´s "Sag mir wo du stehst!" was originally non-ideological, representing the Hootenanny-Klub´s solidarity with the American civil-rights movement and its song "Which Side Are Yo On?" There is, however, no mistakin the SED rhetoric, the slightly threatening tone, and the either with us or against us argumentation:

"Sag mir, wo du stehst, sag mir, wo du stehst,

sag mir, wo du stehst und welchen Weg du gehst!

Zurück oder vorwärts, du mußt dich entschließen!

Wir bringen die Zeit nach vorn Stück um Stück.

Du kannst nicht bei uns und bei ihnen genießen,

denn wenn du im Kreis gehst, dann bleibst du zurück.

(...)

Wir haben ein Recht darauf, dich zu erkennen,

auch nickende Masken nützen uns nicht.

Ich will beim richtigen Namen dich nennen.

Und darum zeig mir dein wahres Gesicht."

As a public declaration of their support for the Warsaw Pact´s invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Oktoberklub was coaxed into singing "Sag mir, wo du stehst" at an FDJ concert in Lenz on 26 August 1968.


Tracklist:

Side A:

01 Lied an Kapitalisten
02 Denn sie lehren die Kinder
03 Wie starb Benno Ohnesorg?
04 Die Patronen
05 Gedanken in der IL 62 über den Heiligen Vater
06 Aurora
07 Der alte Mann auf dem Roten Platz

Side B:
08 Chile tanzt
09 Soldaten
10 Ansprache eines Arbeiters an seine vollautomatisierte Maschine
11 Züge
12 Lied vom Dropsfresser Hannes
13 Zehn Junge Pioniere sammeln Eicheln
14 Vor der Prüfung
15 Sag mir, wo du stehst

Hartmut König - Porträt In Liedern (Amiga, 1972)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Margo Lion - Die Linie der Mode

Marguerite Hélène Constantine Barbe Elisabeth Lion, known as Margo Lion, was a French chanteuse, parodist, cabaret singer and actress, best known for her role as Pirate Jenny in director G.W. Pabst's 1931 French language adaptation of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's "Threepenny Opera" ("Die Dreigroschenoper"). She was born in Istanbul (then Constantinople) on February 28th 1899.

She first came to Berlin in 1921 and made her debut at Trude Hesterbergs cabaret ‘Wild Bühne’ (The Wild Stage) in 1923. She performed the songs of her long-term boyfriend, the lyricist Marcellus Schiffer, who she married in 1928.

Her appearance and style was thought to be a huge influence on her friend, the young and then unknown, Marlene Dietrich.
She performed the controversial duet “Wenn die beste Freundin” with Dietrich in the revue “Es liegt in der Luft” in 1928. She also appeared in the famous Friedrich Hollaender Revues “Das bist du” (That’s You) in 1927 and “Bei uns um die Gedächtniskirche rum” (With Us ’round The Memorial Church) in 1928.

She appeared in 10 films between 1926 and 1932, and in 1931 was cast as Jenny in the French language film adaptation of Brecht and Weill’s The Threepenny Opera ” L’Opera des quat’sous”.

In 1932, her husband, Marcellus Schiffer committed suicide and by 1933, with the rise to power of the Nazi’s, she left Berlin for Paris.

She continued to work as a singer and actress, specialising in the work of Brecht on stage, and made a further 18 films from 1935 to 1976, appearing again alongside Marlene Dietrich in the French film ‘Martin Roumagnac’ in 1946.

She made a return to Berlin in 1977, appearing at the Berlin Festival, performing ‘Es Liegt In Der Luft” accompanied by Mischa Spoliansky on the piano. Lion died in Paris in 1989, four days before her 90th birthday.

The extensive Marcellus Schiffer/Margo Lion archive is located in the archive of the "Akademie der Künste" in Berlin.


Tracklist:
01 Margo Lion - Bonjour Berlin, da bin ich wieder
02 Margo Lion - Die Linie der Mode
03 Margo Lion - Es liegt in der Luft
04 Margo Lion - Wenn die beste Freundin
05 Margo Lion - Die Braut
06 Margo Lion - L´heure bleue
07 Margo Lion - Die fleissige Leserin
08 Margo Lion - Nofretete
09 Margo Lion - Zuhälterballade (Ballade de Tango)
10 Margo Lion - Leben ohne Liebe kannst du nicht
11 Margo Lion - Die Haut, die war ihr erstes Kleid
12 Margo Lion - Mein Schatz tanzt so gern Paso doble
13 Margo Lion - Du sollst es leise sagen
14 Margo Lion - Jimmy (Chanson nègre)
15 Margo Lion - Il suffit d´une femme qui passe
16 Margo Lion - Ma chair frissone
17 Margo Lion - Ah, ne m´dit´s pas de chose´s comme ca
18 Margo Lion - Les étoiles s´en foutent
19 Margo Lion - Lied der Seeräuber-Jenny
20 Margo Lion - Le lapin et les chameaux
21 Margo Lion - Daffke
22 Margo Lion - Sex appeal
23 Margo Lion - Das Turnier
24 Margo Lion - Gesellschafts-Chanson
25 Margo Lion - Der Pudel
26 Margo Lion - Tempo, Tempo
27 Margo Lion - Die Kaffeemühle


Margo Lion - Die Linie der Mode
(320 kbps, cover art included)

VA - Songs Of The Spanish Civil War, Vol. 1 (1961)

Written on July, 18, 2011:

Today is the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Or yesterday was, depending on where you count from. Like everything to do with this conflict it isn’t clear and straight forward. In this case you have two choices, - the rising in Morocco that took place on the 17th, or the rising on the mainland that took place on the 18th.

Released to mark the 25th anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Folkways Records' 1961 LP, "Songs of the Spanish Civil War, Vol. 1", combines the contents of two albums of 78 rpm records originally issued in the '40s, "Six Songs for Democracy" (Keynote Records, July 1940) and "Songs of the Lincoln Brigades" (Asch Records, 1944).

The latter, taking up Side One of this disc, is a collection of six songs recorded in March 1944 by Pete Seeger (on leave from the U.S. Army) and three of his fellow folk musicians, Tom Glazer, Baldwin "Butch" Hawes, and Bess Lomax (who later married Hawes). They sing in English and Spanish, employing old folk tunes to comment on life among the troops and pay tribute to the international brigade that went to Spain to fight the Fascists in the '30s. Their performances are stirring, even though the sound quality is iffy.

Side Two contains the six tracks from the Keynote album performed by the German singer Ernst Busch and a chorus that was actually recorded in Spain during the conflict in June 1938. Busch mostly sings in German in a theatrical style reminiscent of the work of Kurt Weill, which is not surprising, given that Weill's old partner, Bertolt Brecht, provided the lyrics for "Das Lied von der Einheitsfront (Song of the United Front)."

These are historical recordings marking an important and tragic conflict that presaged World War II. The album cover's notation, "authorized recording," is meant to cast aspersions on an earlier LP reissue of some of this same material, Stinson Records' "Songs of the Lincoln and International Brigades". Folkways head Moses Asch lost master recordings of the Seeger music in a dispute with Stinson. Typical of Folkways, this version is much better annotated, with an extensive booklet containing liner notes and lyrics.

VA - Songs Of The Spanish Civil War, Vol. 1 (1961)

(320 kbps, front cover inlcuded, complete album, missing tracks included)

The Ex - 1936 - The Spanish Revolution (1986)

In 1986, the Dutch anarchist punk group the Ex marked the 50th anniversary of the Spanish Revolution (in which factions led by two anarchist trade unions, the CNT and the FAI, waged a successful revolt against Franco's fascist leadership, until Franco defeated the people's forces with the help of German, Italian, and Russian troops) with the release of "1936: The Spanish Revolution".

This ambitious release paired four songs on two 7" singles with an impressive 144-page hardcover book that featured several short essays on the revolution, along with a remarkable collection of photographs taken by journalists aligned with the revolutionary forces. If the book is hardly the final word on the Spanish Revolution, it's a powerful and enlightening visual document that casts a fresh light on a major historical event little understood by most of nowadays people.

In many ways, the book is such a strong piece of work that the music which accompanies it nearly pales in comparison, though it certainly finds the Ex in excellent form. The lyrics to all four songs were adapted from songs and essays by leaders of the 1936 revolt, with two in Spanish and two in English; on "El Tren Blindado" the band even trades in their traditionally jagged electric guitar sound for an acoustic arrangement that approaches the tone of Spanish folk music. Rabble-rousing has always been high on the Ex's list of priorities, and this music - especially the passionate "They Shall Not Pass" and "People Again" - find them inviting the spirit of the revolution as if it occurred five minutes ago, not 50 years past. It's heady, powerful stuff. This remarkable package was reissued in 1998, with the two 7" singles replaced by a pair of 3" CD's, and it's well worth seeking out for students of radical history as well as followers of passionate, uncompromising rock & roll.       

Tracklist:

A1	They Shall Not Pass	3:47
A2	El Tren Blindado	3:06
B1	Ay Carmela	3:13
B2	People Again	4:30

The Ex - 1936 - The Spanish Revolution (1986)   
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Karsten Troyke - Dus Gezang Fin Mayn Harts. Tango oyf Yiddish (2006)

"After years of waiting for a Yiddish Tango recording we did it ourselves - both proud and lucky to find an extraordinary singer, profound expert and indefatigable promoter of Yiddish language and culture in our home town Berlin. KARSTEN TROYKE's distinctive style refers to the Jewish theatre and cabaret song of the Twenties and early Thirties, and after all his art has that brightness you will not find while looking for. "

"Tango oyf Yiddish" is the subtitle of this CD. The Oriente label is a specialist for extraordinary productions, which are far from "mainstream" tango. Karsten Troyke and the Trio Scho (violin, accordion, double bass, 5 titles with additional clarinet) manage to bewitch their listeners. Enchantingly they take us to the 1920s and 1930s and to the area of Yiddish "Schlager" songs in the 1950s.


Tracklist:

01. Akh Nem Mikh Liber (Tango)
02. Ven Di Lakhst (Milonga)
03. Mazl In Brukhe (Tango)
04. Libste (Milonga)
05. Fin A Shtayn Geboyrn (Walzer)
06. Dus Gezang Fin Mayn Harts (Milonga)
07. Tsvay Hartsn (Tango)
08. Tango Margarita (Tango)
09. Ales Farloyrn (Milonga)
10. Mazel, Di Shaynst Amul Far Yedem (Walzer)
11. A Shud Dayne Trern (Tango)
12. Harts Mayn (Tango)
13. A Bisale Glik (Tango)
14. Belz (Tango)
15. Ver Ken Di Libe (Tango)
16. Gedenk (Tango)

Karsten Troyke - Dus Gezang Fin Mayn Harts. Tango oyf Yiddish (2006)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Gary Clail - Keep The Faith (1996)

Gary Clail is an English singer and record producer, and the founder of the Gary Clail Sound System. He was part of On-U Sound Records (and also the On-U Sound System) and led Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System. They had a big hit in clubs with the 1991 song "Human Nature".

During the mid to late 1980s based in Bristol, he became a warm up act for On-U gigs. Clail first released a record in 1985. Several 12" singles were issued between 1985 and 1987, before Clail's first LP for Nettwerk, "Tackhead Tape Time", a split effort between Clail and Tackhead. "Television: The Drug of the Nation" by The Beatnigs was remixed by Clail, Adrian Sherwood and Mark Stewart, on the Alternative Tentacles record label in 1988.

In 1989, Clail issued his own album, billed as Gary Clail & On-U Sound System, on On-U Sound, which marked Clail's entrance to the electronic underground scene in Bristol, eventually leading him to work with RCA a couple of years later. This output incorporated several singles and EPs, as well as the "Emotional Hooligan" album (1991).

Clail released a further album on Yelen Records, entitled "Keep the Faith" (1996).

In 2013 Clail formed the Gary Clail Sound System and began work on the album 'Nail It To The Mast'. It was released on 15 December 2014.

Tracklist:

Let's Get It Right
Another Hard Man
The Dangerous Dance
Privatisation Program
No Sleep Tonight ||
Keep The Faith
One Flesh And Blood
Stand Together
The Noose Is Getting Tighter
Joyride
Pure Dub Tonight


Gary Clail - Keep The Faith (1996)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Wolf Biermann - Chausseestraße 131 (1969)

"Singe-Bewegung" and "Oktoberklub" in East Germany, part 11.

A special case: Wolf Biermann

Wolf Biermann, a “government-certified dissident”, was an outlier in the GDR: though barred from performing and publishing his work after mid-1965, he gave private concerts for friends and visitors from East and West in his flat, his records and books were published in the West and circulated illegally in East Germany. He was watched, to be sure, but for fear of international censure the GDR leadership for a long time shrank from taking any further action against him. An artist like Gerhard Schöne, on the other hand, sang at church conventions as well as at the Political Songfest, performing a balancing act between Church and State that former pastor Joachim Gauck likened to “walking a tightrope of dissident thought and conduct just this side of the politically possible”.

In general during the cultural thaw there was an easier access to western pop music and jazz. In this respect the formation of the Hootenanny-Klub in 1966 was the culmination of four years of musical eclecticism in a vibrant scene in East Berlin that also included Wolf Biermann, Eva-Maria Hagen, Manfred Krug and Bettina Wegner.
It was during the political thaw that Biermann made his name with his uniquely critical political songs. His credentials as son of a communist Jew who was murdered in Auschwitz gave him a certain invulnerability that other songwriters did not possess. Moreover, he came from Hamburg in West-Germany, where he had been brought up by his communist mother, and had chosen GDR citizenship at the age of seventeen of his own free will. This, as well as the fact that he was a decade older than many of the other emerging singers, who only had experience of the GDR, gave him a distance and objectivity that the others, again, did not have.

Two of Biermann´s songs abouth the military, one before the building of the Wall and the other after, document his political transformation toward the stance of state critic during this period. The first one, "Soldaten-Lied" from 1960, was already a controversial soldier´s song by GDR standards in that it was by no menas propagandistic in a pro-military sense. As Holger Böning states, the very presentation of the theme of war in the form of a discussion met with resistance from the authorities: "Zu so heiklen Problemen wie diesem war Agitation erwünscht, nicht aber ernsthafte Diskussion."
In the final verse, however, Biermann concludes that war is justifiable if it is necessary to defend the socialist states: "Mein Junge, es gibt Herrn, / die rüsten für den Krieg / gegen den Arbeiterstaat / drum kann ich dir nur raten: / Geh zu unseren Soldaten."
In "Soldat, Soldat" from 1963, on the other hand, there is a marked shift. Here he says there can never be any sense to war: "Soldat, Soldat, wo geht das hin / Soldat, Soldat, wo ist der Sinn / Soldat, Soldat, im nächsten Krieg / Soldat, Soldat, gibt es kein Sieg." The song is reminiscent of Brecht´s "Legende des toten Soldaten" in referring to the facelessness of soldiers in life and in death: "Soldaten sehn sich alle gleich / lebendig und als Leich."
In the same year, 1963, Biermann incurred his first performance ban. He was also controversially thrown out of the Party. The performance ban was lifted, however, and in 1964 he played at the famous "Die Distel" cabaret and also did a tour of West Germany, where he performed with the famous cabarettist Wolfgang Neuss. His subsequent celebrity in the West meant that after his performance and publication ban in the GDR he continued to support himself from his sales of books and records in the West.

In the year 1969, Wolf Biermann recorded the album "Chausseestraße 131" in his home in East Berlin. It was only published in the West. Possessing home-recording charm, one can hear the noises from the streets. The German texts are very sarcastic, ironic, and to the point.
This LP was recorded with a recorder smuggled in from West Germany and the title of the album was his address at the time, letting the political police know exactly who and where he was at the time.

Wolf Biermann - Chausseestraße 131 (1969)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Neil Young - A Perfect Echo, Vol.6 (2 CD Soundboard Compilation)

And finally here´s volume 6 of this wonderful compilation. Thanks again to Braden!

Together with the first five volumes this makes an amazing six-volume (12 discs) treasure trove of great Neil live music including much of his wonderful output over a staggering period of almost 40 years - from all the way back in 1967 until 2006!


Disc 1: 1971-1999

Massey Hall, Toronto, ON 1/19/1971
1. There's A World
2. Bad Fog Of Loneliness
3. See The Sky About To Rain
9/14/74 Wembley Stadium, London England
4. Traces
5. Star Of Bethlehem
6. Love Art Blues
7. Don't Be Denied
8. Pushed It Over The End
02-06-1984, The Catalyst (Early Show), Santa Cruz, California w/ Crazy Horse
9. I Got A Problem
02-07-1984, The Catalyst (Late Show), Santa Cruz, California w/ Crazy Horse
10. Violent Side
9-25-1984, Austin City Limits TV Show, Austin, Texas w/ The International Harvesters
11. Amber Jean
01-13-1989, Brady Theatre, Tulsa, Oklahoma w/ The Restless
12. Wrecking Ball
13. Boxcar
1989 - 12/8/89 -
14. Fuckin’ Up
1997 Horde 8/1/97 Saratoga
15. Slip Away
Bridge, Mountain View, CA 10.31.1999
16. Cortez The Killer


Disc 12: 2004-2006

09-18-2004, White River Amphitheatre, Auburn, Washington, Farm Aid 2004 Solo
1. Pocahontas
2. Journey Through The Past
3. On The Way Home (piano version)
4. Cowgirl In The Sand
5. Birds
09-18-2005, Tweeter Centre, Tinley Park, Illinois, Farm Aid 2005 w/ The Prairie Wind Band
6. Walking To New Orleans
7. Southern Man
8. This Old Guitar
9. One Of These Days
Late Night With Conan O'Brien NBC Studios New York, November 2, 2005
10. The Painter
November 4th
11. No Wonder
12. When God Made Me
Saturday Night Live NBC Studios New York, New York, December 18th, 2005
13. It's A Dream
Farm Aid 21, Tweeter Centre Camden, New Jersey, September 30, 2006
14. After The Garden
15. Human Highway

Neil Young - A Perfect Echo, Vol.6 (2 CD Soundboard Compilation)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Heiner Goebbels & Ensemble Modern & Josef Bierbichler - Eislermaterial

Versatile German composer Heiner Goebbels conceived this tribute to Hanns Eisler, combining some of his most famous chamber music and songs with jazz-inspired improvisations and audio collages.



The songs, mostly to texts by Brecht, are expressively interpreted by actor Josef Bierbichler. The recording is based on a "staged performance" that has introduced a new generation of music lovers to Eisler's music.

"Don't illustrate your feelings but comment on them musically. Be objective" (Eisler). This is precisely what Heiner Goebbels provides with his uplifting "Eislermaterial", one of the musical high points of the late 1990s and one of my favourite Eisler interpretations. "Eislermaterial"combines the best elements of music theatre with an inward brand of drama normally associated with chamber music. It's a genuine class production, a concept album of the highest order, superbly performed and vividly engineered. I cannot imagine that any sensitive listener will fail to respond.

Goebbels takes Eisler at his word, "commenting" by allusion, gesture, violent musical juxtapositions and some ingenious sound painting. Nothing is tawdry or gratuitous and the texts, mainly by Bertholt Brecht, have a biting, straight-to-the-heart quality that cries out for the sort of tangy treatment Goebbels gives them. Eisler-Goebbels switches from Twenties-style ferocity to understated melancholy, often segueing on the back of instrumental squawks, shudders or scrapes. Think in terms of Kurt Weill visited by Michael Nyman and Uri Caine, then refined and refashioned in a style that is very much Goebbels' own. Rather than employ a trained singer for the various songs Goebbels opts for an actor, Josef Bierbichler, whose tender but frail vocalising invariably suits the mood.

Heiner Goebbels was born in Neustadt, Germany, on August 17, 1952, relocating to the Frankfurt area at age 20 to study music and sociology. He first achieved notoriety in 1976 upon premiering a number of works, including "Rote Sonne," "Circa," and "Improvisations on Themes by Hanns Eisler," most performed in conjunction with the "Sogenanntes Linksradikales Blasorchester".

Concurrently, Goebbels also collaborated with Alfred Harth and beginning in 1982, he served as a member of the longstanding art rock trio "Cassiber".
He further expanded his growing oeuvre with a series of theatrical, film, and ballet scores and during the mid-'80s began writing and directing audio plays of his own, seeking his initial inspiration in the texts of Heiner Mueller.
Beginning in 1988, Goebbels also turned to authoring chamber music with the Ensemble Modern, and in 1994 completed "Surrogate Cities," his first major composition for symphony orchestra.

Heiner Goebbels & Ensemble Modern & Josef Bierbichler -Eislermaterial
(192 kbps)