Happy & safe new year!

 

Paul Robeson - Robeson (1958)

Paul Robeson is one of the greatest yet most unknown figures of the 20th century.  His philosophical framework was comprised of anti-colonialism, socialism, and human rights. 

Robeson was was an American bass baritone concert artist and stage and film actor who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political activism. Educated at Rutgers College and Columbia University, he was a star athlete in his youth. He also studied Swahili and phonetics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London in 1934. His political activities began with his involvement with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist students whom he met in Britain and continued with support for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and his opposition to fascism. In the United States he became active in the Civil Rights Movement and other social justice campaigns. His sympathies for the Soviet Union and for communism, and his criticism of the United States government and its foreign policies, caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

Tracklist:

A1 Water Boy 2:48
A2 Shenandoah 2:56
A3 Deep River 2:18
A4 John Brown's Body 2:48
A5 Jerusalem 1:54
A6 Londonderry Air (Danny Boy) 2:50
B1 Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child 2:49
B2 Get On Board, Little Children 1:16
B3 The House I Live In 2:26
B4 Loch Lomond 2:07
B5 Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes 3:03
B6 Joshua Fought The Battle Of Jericho 1:27
B7 All Through The Night 2:06

Paul Robeson - Robeson (1958)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Stetasonic - Blood, Sweat & No Tears (1991)

What turned out to be Stetsasonic's parting long-player, "Blood, Sweat & No Tears" may have disappointed those expecting another "In Full Gear", but there was much to love here despite a long-winded, partially deflating running time. 

Starting out with a devastating instrumental, "The Hip Hop Band," Stetsa sounded fresher than ever on "No B.S. Allowed" and the funky groupie tribute, "Speaking of a Girl Named Suzy." "Go Brooklyn 3" sounded surprisingly reminiscent of West Coast hardcore, but the very next track, "Walkin' in the Rain," was a smooth ballad that sampled the 1972 Love Unlimited hit (and re-created the oh-so-sexy Barry White phone conversation). 

As a band, Stetsasonic still had plenty of ties to funk, dropping expressive party jams like "So Let the Fun Begin" and the P-Funk name-dropping "Don't Let Your Mouth Write a Check That Your Ass Can't Cash." Prince Paul, then coming off the success of De la Soul's "3 Feet High and Rising", hardly dominated this record; Bobby Simmons and Daddy O each produced as many (or more) tracks as he did (most of them great), while DBC and Wise also contributed. If it lacks the classic status that "In Full Gear" instantly commanded, "Blood, Sweat & No Tears" was still a fitting last hurrah to one of the golden age's most diversely talented combos.

Tracklist:

1The Hip Hop Band2:28

2No B.S. Allowed4:30

3Uda Man5:02

4Speaking Of A Girl Named Suzy5:25

5Gyrlz5:34

6Blood, Sweat & No Tears2:47

7So Let The Fun Begin4:53

8Go Brooklyn 33:52

9Walkin' In The Rain5:44

10Don't Let Your Mouth Write A Check That Your Ass Can't Cash5:22

11Ghetto Is The World5:54

12Your Mother Has Green Teeth2:15

13You Still Smokin' That Shit?0:46

14Heaven Help The M.F.'s4:37

15Took Place In East New York2:36

16Paul's A Sucker3:58

17Free South Africa (The Remix)3:06

Stetasonic - Blood, Sweat & No Tears (1991)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Karl Kraus - Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (Helmut Qualtinger)

Helmut Qualtinger (born October 8, 1928 in Vienna, Austria; died September 29, 1986 in Vienna) was an Austrian actor, writer and cabaret performer.

He initially studied medicine, but quit university to become a newspaper reporter and film critic for local press, while beginning to write texts for cabaret performances and theater plays. Qualtinger debuted as an actor at a student theater and attended the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar as a guest student.
Beginning in 1947, he appeared in cabaret performances. In 1949, Qualtinger's first theatrical play, "Jugend vor den Schranken", was staged in Graz. Up to 1960, he collaborated on various cabaret programmes with the nameless Ensemble (Gerhard Bronner, Carl Merz, Louise Martini, Peter Wehle, Georg Kreisler, Michael Kehlmann).

Qualtinger was famous for his practical jokes. In 1951, he managed to launch a false report in several newspapers announcing a visit to Vienna of a (fictional) famous Inuit poet named Kobuk. The reporters who assembled a the railroad station however were to witness Qualtinger, in fur coat and cap, stepping from the train. Asked about his "first impressions of Vienna", the "Inuit poet" commented in broad Viennese dialect, "It's hot here."

The short one-man play "Der Herr Karl", written by Qualtinger and Carl Merz and performed by Qualtinger in 1961, made the author known across German-speaking countries. "Herr Karl", a grocery store clerk, tells the story of his life to an imaginary colleague - from the days of the Habsburg empire, the First Austrian Republic, the Austrofascist regime leading up to the Anschluss (annexation) by Nazi Germany, World War II and finally military occupation by Allied forces in the 1950s, seen from the perspective of a one who is a prototypical opportunist. Qualtinger's portrayal of the petit-bourgeois Nazi collaborator came at a time when "normality" had just been restored and Austrians' involvement in the Nazi movement was being downplayed and "forgotten", making many enemies for the author, who even received anonymous threats of murder.

Beginning in the 1970s, Qualtinger frequently performed recitals of his own and other texts, including excerpts from Karl Kraus' "Die letzten Tage der Menschheit" ("The Last Days of Mankind"). These recitals were highly popular and resulted in several records being published.

Here´s an excerpt of these recitals, presenting 50 scenes from originally 220 scenes:

Karl Kraus - Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (Helmut Qualtinger)
(192 kbps, cover included)

VA - None But The Righteous - Chess Gospel Greats 1

Chess Records was never particularly noted as a gospel label; it's probably better known for Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, etc. In the early 1950s, however, the company released more than its share of great gospel recordings, and this 18-track set stands as a testimony to some of the rawest ones that the label put out.

While big names like Aretha and Reverend C.L. Franklin, the Soul Stirrers, and the Original Five Blind Boys from Alabama are accounted for, the real gems come from lesser-known acts like the Meditation Singers, the Norfleet Brothers, the Bells of Joy, Sammy Bryant, Elder Beck, and the Southern Stars.

The best known of them all is the daughter of the preacher whose sermons were already being issued by the label and luckily they did not only record the sermons of that preacher but also some of the singing of his young teenage dauhter - Aretha Franklin. Her singing was just beginning to show the maturity that would make her "the Queen of Soul". On "Never grow old", perhaps her greatest early recording, you hear her unhurried approach driven by the claps and hollers of a responsive congregation as she sings of the joy of heaven, the "land where we never grow old." A marvelous set of raw gospel music that should be in everyone's collection.

Tracklist:

01 Don’t You Want To Go [The Meditation Singers]
02 None But The Righteous [Norfleet Brothers]
03 Anyway You Bless Me Lord [Bells of Joy]
04 Never Grow Old [Aretha Franklin]
05 Oh What A Meeting [Soul Stirrers]
06 I’ve Been Weeping For A Mighty Long Time [Original Five Blind Boys of Mississippi]
07 When My Time Comes [Rev. Alex Bradford]
08 Resting Easy [Soul Stirrers]
09 Two Wings [Rev. Utah Smith]
10 Your Mother Loves Her Children [Rev. C.L. Franklin]
11 Old Time Religion [The Violinaires]
13 Walk In The Light [Evangelist Singers of Alabama]
14 The Angels Keep Watching Over Me [Sammy Bryant]
15 Floods Of Joy [Windy City Four]
16 I’m Gonna Tell God [Elder Beck]
17 You’ve Got The Jordan To Cross [Martha Bass]
18 Don’t Give Up [Southern Stars]

VA - None But The Righteous - Chess Gospel Greats 1
(256 kbps, front cover included)

VA - Guns Of Navarone / Ride Your Donkey (Trojan)

"Guns of Navarone" and "Ride Your Donkey" were a pair of highly collectible LP compilations released by Trojan in 1969, each collecting more than a dozen singles first released earlier in the '60s by a variety of artists crucial to the ska and rocksteady scenes. 

This two-fer combines both onto one CD, resulting in a solid combination of popular sides that every reggae fan should own, along with more obscure examples of the form. Opening with the title-track classic by the Skatalites, "Guns of Navarone" is all ska and mostly instrumental, comprising quite a few of the best groups of the era: Tommy McCook & the Supersonics ("Saboo"), Rolando Alphonso ("El Pussy Cat Ska"), Lyn Taitt & the Jets ("Something Stupid"), and Baba Brooks (the rudeboy standard "Guns Fever"), plus an obscure combo called the Soul Brothers ("Sound Pressure"). 

The rocksteady record "Ride Your Donkey" is all vocal, and though it doesn't have as many classic groups, it does boast quite a few obscurities from the likes of Lee Perry (a pair of bawdy tracks, "Rub and Squeeze" and "Doctor Dick") and Derrick Morgan ("Hold Your Jack"). Obviously, these don't have enough classic tracks to qualify as truly excellent compilations, but the rarities are of interest to fans as well as collectors. [Note: Four tracks were removed from the original listings for what the compilers term "technical reasons."]


Tracklist:
1 –The Skatalites Guns Of Navarone 2 –Baba Brooks Bank To Bank Part 1 3 –Ike* & Crystalites* Illya Kurayakin 4 –Tommy McCook Saboo 5 –Carlos Malcolm Bonazaa Ska 6 –Baba Brooks Vitamin A 7 –Lyn Tate & Jets* Something Stupid 8 –The Tennors Copy Me Donkey 9 –Roland Alphonso El Pussy Cat 10 –Eric Morris* Penny Reel 11 –The Soul Brothers Sound Pressure 12 –Lyn Tate & Jets* Napoleon Solo 13 –Baba Brooks Guns Fever 14 –The Tennors Ride Your Donkey 15 –Justin Hinds & The Dominoes Save A Bread 16 –The Clarendonians Rude Boy Gone Jail 17 –Lyn Beckford Combination 18 –Alfred Brown (3) One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer 19 –Lee Perry & The Soulettes Rub And Squeeze 20 –Derrick Morgan Hold You Jack 21 –Lee Perry Doctor Dick 22 –The Gaylettes Silent River (Runs Deep) 23 –Lord Brynner Congo War 24 –The Tartans Dance All Night 25 –Delroy Wilson Dancing Mood 26 –The Gaylettes I Like Your World 27 –The Federals Penny For Your Song

VA - Guns Of Navarone / Ride Your Donkey (Trojan)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Orange Juice - You Can´t Hide Your Love Forever 1982)

After leaving Postcard Records and convincing Rough Trade to finance the sessions, Orange Juice ended up signing to Polydor for their 1982 debut album, "You Can't Hide Your Love Forever". Made up of a couple re-recordings of brilliant songs from early singles ("Falling and Laughing," "Felicity"), cleaned-up versions of songs from the demo, and a few new tracks, the album is a slick, tuneful slice of early-'80s pop that's catchy and bright, and only slightly overcooked.

Both Edwyn Collins and James Kirk could have retired after this album and been secure in the history books as two of the finest songwriters of the era. Kirk's "Three Cheers for Our Side" and "Felicity" are brilliantly odd and hooky songs that sound unlike anything anyone else was doing at the time; Collins' songs are reliably witty, cutting, and romantic with lovely choruses. "Falling and Laughing" is timeless pop, "Tender Object" is rippingly good dance-punk, his ballads are heartbreaking ("Untitled Melody," "In a Nutshell"), and "Consolation Prize" takes the prize for hilarity ("I wore my fringe like Roger McGuinn's/I was hoping to impress/So frightfully camp it made you laugh/Tomorrow I'll buy myself a dress").

Not too many other folks were writing songs like these, either. Add some excellent guitar interplay between Kirk and Collins and a strong rhythm section to the mix and you've got something that seems hard to mess up. Unfortunately, some of the production choices come close to wrecking things, as the tinkling pianos and backing vocalist can come on a little strong at times. The glossy finish given to the album is also a giant leap from the scrappiness of their early sound, though its effects are lessened by the exuberant energy the band plays and sings with at all times.

These criticisms aside, once one accepts that the arty punks Orange Juice started off having fully embraced the sophisticated pop side of the world, then it's easy to see that "You Can't Hide Your Love Forever" is one of the best examples of early-'80s pop there is. That it's the one and only album the team of Collins and Kirk made before splitting only makes it all the more essential to own.


Tracklist:

Falling And Laughing 3:48
Untitled Melody 2:05
Wan Light 2:23
Tender Object 4:24
Dying Day 2:59
L.O.V.E. Love 3:34
Intuition Told Me (Part 1) 1:09
Upwards And Onwards 2:27
Satellite City 2:40
Three Cheers For Our Side 2:49
Consolation Prize 2:50
Felicity 2:34
In A Nutshell 4:16

Orange Juice - You Can´t Hide Your Love Forever 1982)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Television Personalities - Where´s Bill Grundy Now? (1978)

Television Personalities is an English post-punk group with a varying line up. The only constant member is singer/songwriter Dan Treacy.

The Television Personalities enjoyed one of the new wave era's longest, most erratic, and most far-reaching careers. Over the course of a musical evolution that led them from wide-eyed shambling pop to the outer reaches of psychedelia and back, they directly influenced virtually every major pop uprising of the period, with artists as diverse as feedback virtuosos the Jesus and Mary Chain, twee pop titans the Pastels, and lo-fi kingpins Pavement readily acknowledging the Television Personalities' inspiration.

The debut recording from Television Personalities bore their defining anthem, "Part-Time Punks," which they unleashed on an unsuspecting world in 1978, a single which remains as vital to the history of U.K. punk as the Buzzcocks' debut single, "Spiral Scratch."

"Where's Bill Grundy Now?" is a hilarious pop tune which exemplifies their Beatles/Kinks-esque sound. "Happy Families" and "Posing at the Roundhouse" comprise the B-side of this single, which could be considered to be the birth of the lo-fi movement without a qualm.

The single was reissued a year later by Rough Trade and again in 1992 on Overground. According to punk rock legend, the single was recorded on a studio budget of a little over 20 pounds. Essential and seminal to the indie rock, post-punk, and lo-fi movements of the following two decades.


Tracklist:

A1 Part-Time Punks
A2 Where's Bill Grundy Now?
B1 Happy Families
B2 Posing At The Roundhouse

.

Television Personalities - Where´s Bill Grundy Now? (1978)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

VA - Die Dreißiger Jahre - Musik zwischen den Kriegen

This edition represents an attempt to provide, in the limited space available, an overview of the vigorous musical scene in Berlin of the 1930s, a time when Berlin was one of the focal points of the world. In the area of the arts this was the undisputed heyday of a great city.

An edition such as this can merely select, hint at and perhaps whet the interest for those works not included here; it can only give an inkling of the diversitiy and vitality that made Berlin the exhilarating metropole that it was. The works have been chosen according to these criteria: the composer had to have lived in Berlin and the compostion been written during the designated period; the composer had to have been of significance to the musical scene in Berlin; the work chosen should if possible be a first release on records, so as to enhance the presently meager supply of recordings from that era.

Tracklist:
01. Arnold Schönberg - Begleitumusik für eine Lichtspielszene op. 34
02. Paul Hindemith - Ouverture "Neues vom Tage" mit Konzertschluss
03. Paul Hindemith - "Langsames Stück und Rondo" für Trautorium
04. Boris Blacher - Concertante Musik op. 10
05. Werner Egk - Variationen über ein altes Wiener Strophenlied
06. Ernst Toch - "Fuge aus der Geographie" für sprechende Chor
07. Ernst Pepping - "Deutsche Messe" für Chor a cappella
08. Paul Juan - 3. Sonate h-moll für Violine und Klavier

VA - Die Dreißiger Jahre - Musik zwischen den Kriegen
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Tom Robinson Band - Power In The Darkness (Deluxe Edition) - Danny Kustow R.I.P.

Danny Kustow and Tom Robinson onstage at The Brecknock, London, in 1977

Originally posted in March 2019:

Sad news from Tom Robinson´s facebook page: Danny Kustow died in the early hours of 11 March 2019 in Bath, Somerset.

"I’m devastated to have to tell you that my dear friend and former guitarist Danny Kustow died in the Critical Care ward at Bath Royal United Hospital on Monday. He’d been in a coma on life support all weekend with double pneumonia and a liver infection. But when my wife and I visited him on Sunday morning he seemed peaceful and pain-free thanks to the very best state of the art NHS care. Everyone hoped he had a chance of pulling through – but shortly after midnight on Sunday he went into a decline and quickly slipped away in the small hours of Monday morning.

Danny was mentored by the blues legend and broadcaster Alexis Korner and joined the early Tom Robinson Band in December 1976. Danny’s unique, fiery guitar playing was at the very heart of the TRB sound, and during the 70s and he played on every record of mine that ever troubled the Top 40. After TRB Danny also played in Jimmy Norton’s Explosion with Glenn Matlock, and later formed the band Time UK with Rick Buckler of The Jam. He made a guest appearance with my current band at the 100 Club in November 2017 and can be heard on the live version of 2-4-6-8 Motorway.

Danny was widely loved and fondly remembered by many and I’ll be making a formal announcement about his passing on BBC 6 Music around 1.20pm this afternoon. There is to be a private family funeral tomorrow and plans are currently under discussion for a public memorial event and tribute concert in early June."


This is the album by which Tom Robinson's works have been measured; its consistency is all the more remarkable, since he'd written several keynote tracks while toiling in the go-nowhere folk trio "Café Society" (such as Robinson's defining anthem, "Glad to Be Gay").

"Power in the Darkness" is proudly defiant as the era that inspired "Up Against the Wall," "Ain't Gonna Take It," "Long Hot Summer," or "The Winter of '79," which level fierce disdain for social hypocrisy.

So does the nearly five-minute title track and funk-rock tour de force, while Chris Thomas' production is as razor sharp as the band itself. Guitarist Danny Kustow's go-for-the-throat style is the driving force; it's storming on the rockers yet suitably restrained on quieter fare like "Too Good to Be True," Robinson's lament for oft-delayed social change. Keyboardist Mark Ambler is equally assertive on colorful Hammond organ swashes, while Robinson plunks down simple, legato basslines, and Brian "Dolpin" Taylor keeps the beat pouncing, where others might let it loiter.

The live/studio bonus EP, "Rising Free", demonstrates the band's explosive nature. The Ambler-Kustow interplay works to thunderous effect on "Don't Take No for an Answer," Robinson's bittersweet account of a soured publishing deal with the Kinks' Ray Davies; the hit "2-4-6-8 Motorway," one of rock's great drive-all-night numbers; and a searing rearrangement of Bob Dylan's plea for a wrongly accused inmate, "I Shall Be Released." The forceful tone is sometimes undermined by a strident sloganeering streak, as typified by "Right On Sister" or "Better Decide Which Side You're On," but that's a minor complaint amid the music's unflagging strength. Think music and politics don't mix? Listen to this album, and then decide. The record was reissued in 2004 with the addition of two bonus tracks: a cover of the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for My Man" and a remix of "Power in the Darkness."

Tracklist:

Side One
"Up Against the Wall" - (Robinson, Roy Butterfield aka Anton Mauve) 3:35
"Grey Cortina" - 2:10
"Too Good to Be True" - (Robinson, Dolphin Taylor) 3:35
"Ain't Gonna Take It" (Robinson, Danny Kustow) - 2:53
"Long Hot Summer" - 4:44

Side Two
"The Winter of '79" (Robinson, Mark Ambler, Taylor, Kustow) - 4:31
"Man You Never Saw" (Robinson, Ambler) - 2:44
"Better Decide Which Side You're On" - 2:50
"You Gotta Survive" (Robinson, Ambler) - 3:15
"Power in the Darkness" (Robinson, Ambler) - 4:55

Bonus tracks
"Don't Take No for an Answer"
"Martin"
"(Sing If You're) Glad to Be Gay"
"Right On Sister" (Robinson, Taylor)
"2-4-6-8 Motorway"
"I Shall Be Released" (Bob Dylan)
"I'm All Right Jack"
"I'm Waiting for My Man" (Live at the London Lyceum, 1977) (Lou Reed)
"Power in the Darkness" (2004 Remix)

Tom Robinson Band - Power In The Darkness (Deluxe Edition)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Ira Gershwin, Kurt Weill ‎– "Tryout" - A Series Of Private Rehearsal Recordings (1983)

"A series of private rehearsal recordings," notes the album cover, and inside are performances by composer Kurt Weill and lyricist Ira Gershwin, demonstrating songs written for two Weill projects of the mid-'40s, the 1943 Broadway musical "One Touch of Venus" and the 1945 movie musical "Where Do We Go from Here? "

Gershwin is featured only on the tracks intended for the latter, to which he wrote the lyrics. The film concerns a contemporary man intent on getting into the Army, and thereby the action, during World War II, despite a 4F physical rating, who stumbles upon a genie in a lamp and inadvertently ends up in various historical incidents including Columbus' discovery of America (the extended piece "The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria"); Washington at Valley Forge (where the hero overhears the enemy Hessians singing "Song of the Rhineland"); and, in a section cut from the final script, the Indians discussing the sale of Manhattan ("Manhattan [Indian Song]"). Accompanied by Weill at the piano, Gershwin sings these songs spiritedly in his distinct New York accent, Weill piping in in his high German tenor at points in "The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria."

Gershwin's wit and wordplay are on display even on these minor efforts. The songs from One Touch of Venus, with lyrics by Ogden Nash, are much better remembered, particularly "Speak Low" and "That's Him."

Weill alone handles this material, which includes two songs, "Very Very Very" and "Jersey Plunk," that were dropped from the score before opening night. Of course, these are not polished, professional performances intended for the public to hear, but they will fascinate fans of show music.

This album is doubly precious, as not only does it offer rare recordings of Kurt Weill singing his own compositions (occasionally in duet with Ira Gershwin!) it features several songs from "One Touch of Venus," which is valuable in the absence of an extant "Venus" cast album.
As the editor of the Weill-Lenya correspondence collection "Speak Low" observes, Weill is plainly no professional singer, yet there's a uniquely pleasant and endearing quality to his voice. More than that, hearing him sing his own songs answers a question that long perplexed me, i.e., what he ever saw musically in Lotte Lenya. Maybe it was a natural affinity, or maybe the long years together as a working couple, but I can hear Lenya in these recordings of Weill: the same happy, open, all-out voice, plain yet punctuated by unexpected bursts of strong vibrato, of course individualized by Weill's distinctly masculine register and clipped German accent, in stark contrast to Lenya's sensuous Viennese one.

Tracklist:
The Nina, The Pinta, The Santa Maria
West Wind
Very Very Very Wooden Wedding
Song Of The Rhineland (Duet With Ira Gershwin)
Speak Low
The Jersey Plunk - The Trouble With Women (quartet)
Manhattan (Indian Song) (Duet With Ira Gershwin)
That's Him

Ira Gershwin, Kurt Weill ‎– "Tryout" - A Series Of Private Rehearsal Recordings (1983)

(224 kbps, cover art included)

Jorge Ben - Ben (1972)

One of the most important Brazilian composers and performers to appear in the 1960s, singer and songwriter Jorge Ben proved successful at infusing samba with soul music. He is the author of two of the most legendary samba songs: "Mas Que Nada" and "País Tropical." His originality and open-mindedness led him to his participation in the Jovem Guarda, bossa nova, and Tropicália movements (see "Jorge Ben", 1969, and "Força Bruta", 1970), which put him in the unrivaled historic position of having been a member of most of the important movements of 20th Brazilian popular music.

"Ben" is the ninth album by Brazilian artist Jorge Ben, released in 1972. The album has one of Jorge Ben's most famous songs, "Taj Mahal", and "Fio Maravilha", paying homage to Flamengo's iconic striker Fio Maravilha.

Ben filed a copyright infringement lawsuit claiming Rod Stewart's song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" had been derived from "Taj Mahal". The case was "settled amicably" according to Ben. Stewart admits "unconscious plagiarism" of Ben's tune in his 2012 autobiography.


Tracklist:
1. "Morre o Burro Fica o Homem" 2:06
2. "O Circo Chegou" 2:44
3. "Paz e Arroz" 2:03
4. "Moça" 4:58
5. "Domingo 23" 3:48
6. "Fio Maravilha" 2:13
7. "Quem Cochicha o Rabo Espicha" 3:27
8. "Caramba!... Galileu da Galileia" 2:28
9. "Que Nega É Essa" 3:32
10. "As Rosas Eram todas Amarelas" 3:52
11. "Taj Mahal" 5:29

Jorge Ben - Ben (1972)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Konstantin Wecker - Live in München (1981)

Konstantin Wecker is a household name in Germany. He is probably the country's best-kept secret to the rest of the world. For over 25 years Wecker's music has made an impact, both socially and artistically, as part of the Liedermacher genre. Liedermacher (literally, "song-maker") was born out of the 1968 student uprisings in Germany and is comparable to Nueva Canciòn of Latin America, the Chanson of France and Québec, and in some ways even the protest songs of American folk music. It is a genre with a broad range of interpretation, including all musical styles, but with one underlying similarity -- lyrics which are strong, and convey a message, usually a political one.

In Wecker's case, his art blends a powerful vocal style, with an original blend of classical, jazz, and rock. His piano is the trademark of his sound, as are his words, which are intense, carefully crafted poems which have always reflected the social and political issues important to Wecker, and reflective of the times in which he lives.

Konstantin Wecker came into the world on June the first, 1947 in Munich. He was raised and nurtured towards music in part thanks to his father, Alexander, a strong opera enthusiast. In his youth Wecker dabbled on guitar, violin, and eventually found his way to the piano, which has since become his main instrument. His interest in music, as well as the works of great intellectuals such as Nietsche and Goethe, led him to pursue piano, voice, and philosophy at the University of Munich.

He left university after four years of study in 1970, without taking a degree. Wecker continued to pursue his music while working at odd jobs -- everything from selling insurance to working in pornographic films! In 1972, his first album Die Sadopoetischen Gesange des Konstantin Amadeus Wecker (The Sadopoetical Songs of Konstantin Amadeus Wecker) was released. Someone suggested to him to add to his name "Amadeus," to make it sound more "musical." Sadopoetischen is only one of the words Wecker often creates to uniquely convey an idea which before had been untouched.

His following work continued to establish Wecker as a versatile musician, popular in intellectual circles and amongst students. 1977's Genug ist nicht genug (Enough is not enough) is one of his best-known albums, containing the song "Willy", a poem expressing many of Wecker's feelings at the time about society and justice. "Willy" was reincarnated several years ago on 1993's Uferlos (Boundless), as "Die Ballade von Antonio Amadeu Kiowa," again simply instrumentated only with piano, and presented as an elongated recitation, updated to reflect violent acts in Germany at that time towards immigrants and non-Whites. The song's namesake was a young Angolan refugee who was beaten to death by a group of skinheads.


Tracklist:

1-1 Oamoi Von Vorn Ofanga 6:54
1-2 Fragwürdig 1:46
1-3 Endlich Wieder Unten 3:51
1-4 Und Doch Läßt Etwas Kirschen Blühen Im April 1:23
1-5 Warum Sie Geht 3:09
1-6 Wenn Man Darüber Rausschauen Könnte 1:39
1-7 Genug Ist Nicht Genug 4:52
1-8 Nächtens 5:58
1-9 Fragwürdig 3:20
1-10 Wenn Der Sommer Nicht Mehr Weit Ist 4:31
1-11 Text Zum Thema Sucht 5:17
1-12 Der Schutzengel 4:30
1-13 Der Dumme Bub 3:34
1-14 Statistisch Erwiesen 2:01
1-15 Vater, Laß Mi Raus 3:45
1-16 Tod Eines Familienvaters 2:40
1-17 Manchmal Weine Ich Sehr 3:43
1-18 Es Sind Nicht Immer Die Lauten Stark 2:26
1-19 Wer Nicht Genießt Ist Ungenießbar 3:03

2-1 Fragwürdig 1:56
2-2 Liebesflug 3:15
2-3 Schafft Huren, Diebe, Ketzer Her 3:35
2-4 Vaterland 4:27
2-5 Weckerleuchten 3:50
2-6 Lang Mi Ned O 6:04
2-7 In Diesen Nächten 6:27
2-8 Zwischenräume 4:25
2-9 Bleib Nicht Liegen 3:47
2-10 Frieren 6:12
2-11 Lauscher Hinterm Baum 3:59
2-12 Der Alte Kaiser 5:24
2-13 Susi, Oh Susi 5:38
2-14 Du Bist So Häßlich 4:26
2-15 Heut Schaun Die Madln Wia Äpfel Aus 3:45
2-16 Liebes Leben 0:52
2-17 Zirkus 2:14
2-18 Verabschiedung 0:34


Konstantin Wecker - Live in München (1981)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

VA - American Folk Blues Festival `65

The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe as an annual event for several years beginning in 1962. It introduced audiences in Europe, including the UK, to leading blues performers of the day such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson, most of whom had never previously performed outside the US. The tours attracted substantial media coverage, including TV shows, and contributed to the growth of the audience for blues music in Europe.

Organised by Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau, the American Folk Blues Festivals did much to fuel the British 'blues boom' of the early-to-mid 1960s.

Unusually. this was a studio session recorded in Hamburg on October 7, 1965 with fine performances from Fred McDowell(1904-72); J.B. Lenoir(1929-67); Walter "Shakey" Horton(1917-81); Roosevelt Sykes(1906-83); Eddie Boyd(1914-84); Jimmy Lee Robinson(1931-2002); John Lee Hooker(1917-2001); Buddy Guy(b. 1936); Big Mama Thornton(1926-84) & Doctor Ross(1925-93).
Freddie Below(1926-88) is the drummer on 9 of the 12 tracks.
Although not a concert, this well-recorded CD is an excellent reminder of the American Folk Blues Festivals of the 1960s as well as being a superb introduction to a variety of blues artists.


Tracklist:

A1–Fred McDowell - Highway 61 3:04

A2–J.B. Lenoir - Slow Down 1:48

A3–Big Walter "Shakey" Horton - Christine 3:58

A4–Roosevelt Sykes - Come On Back Home 2:28

A5–Eddie Boyd - Five Long Years 3:12

A6–Eddie Boyd - The Big Question 2:47

B1–Lonesome Jimmy Lee - Rosalie 2:08

B2–John Lee Hooker - King Of The World 3:40

B3–John Lee Hooker - Della May 4:00

B4–Buddy Boy - First Time I Met The Blues 4:23

B5–Big Mama Thornton - Houn' Dog 2:51

B6–Doctor Ross - My Black Name Is Ringing 4:30

VA - American Folk Blues Festival `65

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Jack Elliott - Jack Takes The Floor (1958)

Jack Takes the Floor is an album by American folk musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott, released in Great Britain in 1958. The original release was a 10-inch LP

This record was released as a 10" LP by Topic in 1958 with a brown/orange textured pattern sleeve with Jack in the foreground. The second issue sleeve, with the same record had the generic vertical stripes with the paper information pasted over the top of the opening cover and into the inside. The third issue had the screen-printed picture which we see here. By the time of the second issue, the whole Topic operation had moved to Nassington Road. Only the first issue came from the Bishops Bridge Road address; both subsequent releases have the Nassington Road address on both sleeve and label.

Ramblin' Jack Elliott delivers folk songs of varied origins in his unique New-York-meets-Texas style. Elliott's approach seamlessly blends hillbilly and blues on almost every track. The influence of Woody Guthrie (who makes a guest appearance on "New York Town") is plain to hear, but so is his own influence on the likes of later artists like Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Townes Van Zandt.

The tracks were later reissued on a 12" record by Topic. 

Tracklist:

A1 San Francisco Bay Blues
A2 Ol' Riley
A3 Boll Weevil
A4 Bed Bug Blues
A5 New York Town
A6 Grey Goose
B1 Mule Skinner's Blues
B2 Cocaine
B3 Dink's Song
B4 Black Baby
B5 Salty Dog

Jack Elliott - Jack Takes The Floor (1958)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Jack Grunsky - The Way I Want To Live (1967, vinyl rip)

Jack Grunsky (born July 1, 1945 ) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Grunsky's musical career has spanned two continents. More than three decades of recording and touring have earned him a wide following from both adult and children's audiences.

Born in Austria, he came to Canada as an infant. His singing and performing began in high school in Toronto, but after graduating he returned to Europe where his music career began. In 1966 he formed the successful but short-lived folk singing group, "Jack's Angels" who were signed to Amadeo Records of Vienna, Austria. After the group disbanded, Grunsky recorded three solo albums for the label, one of which was produced by Alexis Korner. The album, "Toronto", was recorded in London and featured tracks with Mick Taylor on slide guitar.

He was subsequently brought on board the progressive German label, Kuckuck Records of Munich, where he produced three more albums of original material. Grunsky was a featured guest on many radio and TV specials and even hosted his own half-hour weekly radio show called, "Folk With Jack" an Austrian radio ORF.
In 1974 he moved with wife and young daughter back to Canada where he connected with record producer Chad Irschick and released an independent album titled, "The Patience Of A Sailor".

In the early 1980s Grunsky developed a keen interest in music for children. Since then, he has well known for his children's music. His eleven recordings for children have received prestigious awards in children's media.

Here´s his 1967 album "The Way I Want To Live":

Jack Grunsky - The Way I Want To Live (1967, vinyl rip)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw (1967)

The 1968 edition of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band featured a larger ensemble with a horn section, allowing for a jazzier feeling while retaining its Chicago blues core. They also adopted the psychedelic flower power stance of the era, as evidenced by a few selections, the rather oblique title, and the stunning pastiche art work on the cover. 

Butterfield himself was really coming into his own playing harmonica and singing, while his band of keyboardist Mark Naftalin, guitarist Elvin Bishop, drummer Phil Wilson, electric bassist Bugsy Maugh, and the horns featuring young alto saxophonist David Sanborn was as cohesive a unit as you'd find in this time period. 

Butterfield's most well-known song "One More Heartache" kicks off the album, a definitive blues-rock radio favorite with great harmonica and an infectious beat urged on by the top-notch horns. The band covers "Born Under a Bad Sign" at a time when Cream also did it. "Driftin' & Driftin'" is another well-known tune, and at over nine minutes stretches out with the horns cryin' and sighin', including a definitive solo from Sanborn over the choruses. There's the Otis Rush tune "Double Trouble," and "Drivin' Wheel" penned by Roosevelt Sykes; Butterfield wrote two tunes, including "Run Out of Time" and the somewhat psychedelic "Tollin' Bells," where Bishop's guitar and Naftalin's slow, ringing, resonant keyboard evokes a haunting feeling. This is likely the single best Butterfield album of this time period and you'd be well served to pick this one up.


Tracklist:

One More Heartache 3:20
Driftin' And Driftin' 9:09
Pity The Fool 6:00
Born Under A Bad Sign 4:10
Run Out Of Time 2:59
Double Trouble 5:38
Drivin' Wheel 5:34

Droppin' Out 2:16

Tollin' Bells 5:23

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw (1967)

(256 kbps, cover art included)

Woody Guthrie & Pete Seeger - American Folk Songs (2002)

The folksinger Arlo Guthrie likes to tell a story about his father, the legendary Woody Guthrie, who died in 1967, at the age of fifty-five. When he was a toddler, Arlo says, Guthrie gave him a Gibson acoustic guitar for his birthday. 

Several years later, when the boy was old enough to hold it, Guthrie sat him down in the back yard of their house—they lived in Howard Beach, Queens—and taught him all the words to “This Land Is Your Land,” a song that most people likely think they know in full. The lyrics had been written in anger, as a response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” which Woody Guthrie deplored as treacle. 

In addition to the familiar stanzas (“As I went walking that ribbon of highway,” and so on), Guthrie had composed a couple of others, including this:

"One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people—
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
God Blessed America for me."

“He wanted me to know what he originally wrote, so it wouldn’t be forgotten,” Arlo Guthrie has explained.

This compilation is an impressive possibility to hear Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger on one album.

Tracklist:
1 –Woody Guthrie House Of The Rising Sun
2 –Woody Guthrie The Dodger Song
3 –Woody Guthrie I Ain't Got No Home
4 –Pete Seeger Dear Mr. President
5 –Josh White & Millard Lampell Billy Boy
6 –Pete Seeger Blow Ye Winds, Heigh Ho
7 –Woody Guthrie Do Re Mi
8 –Pete Seeger Ground Hog
9 –Woody Guthrie Hard, Ain't It Hard
10 –Woody Guthrie I Ride An Old Paint
11 –Pete Seeger Talking Union
12 –Woody Guthrie This Land Is Your Land
13 –Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger & Josh White Liza Jane
14 –Woody Guthrie Put My Little Shoes Away
15 –Pete Seeger C For Conscription
16 –Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger & Cisco Houston Cindy
17 –Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger Round And Round Hitler's Grave
18 –Pete Seeger The Sinking Of The Reuben James
19 –Pete Seeger T For Texas
20 –Woody Guthrie Talkin' Hard Luck Blues

Woody Guthrie & Pete Seeger - American Folk Songs (2002)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Stahlnetz - Wir sind glücklich (1982)

Why this synth and drums duo didn't make much of an impact is anybody's guess. With unabashedly catchy melodies, clever arrangements, witty lyrics plus a dose of quirky artiness you should think that they would have appealed both to the underground crowd and the masses. Instead they didn't find success with either audience: although the single "Vor all den Jahren" was a minor hit in 1982, their album bombed and Stahlnetz disbanded.

Today, "Wir sind glücklich" is one of the rarest and most sought after German new wave records. (Which is actually pretty strange, considering that it was released on the major label Arista, you'd think there must be quite a few copies floating around.) Anyway, what you get here is beautiful, clean-sounding, metronomic synth-pop that blends the Kraftwerkian influence that goes with the genre (those post-Romantic triads!) with a sort of stripped-down, Teutonic take on Human League/Heaven 17-style pop and ironic references to German cabaret songs and Schlagermusik of the thirties and forties. Oh yeah, and Conny Plank produced.
(from: http://square-dancing.blogspot.com/)

Stahlnetz - Wir sind glücklich (1982)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

VA - A Small Circle Of Friends - A Germs Tribute

The Germs were an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States, originally active from 1976 to 1980. The band's main early lineup consisted of singer Darby Crash, guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Lorna Doom, and drummer Don Bolles. They released only one album, 1979's (GI), produced by Joan Jett, and were featured the following year in Penelope Spheeris' documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization, which chronicled the Los Angeles punk movement.

The Germs disbanded following Crash's suicide on December 7, 1980. Their music was influential to many later punk rock acts. Smear went on to achieve greater fame performing with Nirvana and Foo Fighters.

"It's a bit odd to have a full-blown, star-studded tribute to a band that only released one album, especially when that band was better-known for their aggressive, audience-baiting performances than their songwriting abilities. Nevertheless, the Germs were a cult favorite among underground rockers for many years, partially due to the mythology surrounding their self-destructive lead singer, Darby Crash, and partially due to their claim as the first punk rock band in Los Angeles. And that explains why "A Small Circle of Friends: A Germs Tribute" was created. Allegedly a full four years in the making, "A Small Circle of Friends" features a full 20 tracks from such alternative rock stars and heavy hitters like L7, Mike Watt & J Mascis, Meat Puppets, Matthew Sweet, Free Kitten, NOFX, the Melvins, Flea, Gumball, Dave Navarro, that dog., D Generation, the Posies, and various one-shot supergroups like the Puzzled Panthers (Thurston Moore, Mike D, Kira Roessler, Dave Markey) and the Holez (Pat Smear with Hole). Nearly every one of the artists deliver passionate, affectionate performances, but they can't quite save the songs from being rather mediocre. After all, what made the Germs compelling were the performances, not the songs themselves -- apart from "Forming" and "Sex Boy," the songs were not that memorable. Still, fans of either the Germs or any of the individual artists involved in the tribute will find something of interest on "A Small Circle of Friends". And despite the evident effort of everyone involved in the album, "A Small Circle of Friends" remains one of those tribute records that you listen to once and then file away." (allmusic.com)


Tracklist:

- NOFX Forming
–Free Kitten Sex Boy
–Melvins Lexicon Devil
–The Holez Circle One
–D Generation No God
–Mike Watt & J Mascis What We Do Is Secret
–Ruined Eye Land Of Treason
–The Posies Richie Dagger's Crime
–O-Matic Strange Notes
–White Flag Manimal
–That Dog* We Must Bleed
–Flea Media Blitz
–Sator The Other Newest One
–The Wrens Let's Pretend
–Matthew Sweet Dragon Lady
–Gumball (2) Caught In My Eye
–Meat Puppets Not All Right
–Puzzled Panthers Now I Hear The Laughter
–L7 Lion's Share

VA - A Small Circle Of Friends - A Germs Tribute

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Same (1965)

Even after his death, Paul Butterfield's music didn't receive the accolades that were so deserved. Outputting styles adopted from Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters among other blues greats, Butterfield became one of the first white singers to rekindle blues music through the course of the mid-'60s. 

His debut album, "The Paul Butterfield Blues Band", saw him teaming up with guitarists Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield, with Jerome Arnold on bass, Sam Lay on drums, and Mark Naftalin playing organ. The result was a wonderfully messy and boisterous display of American-styled blues, with intensity and pure passion derived from every bent note. 

In front of all these instruments is Butterfield's harmonica, beautifully dictating a mood and a genuine feel that is no longer existent, even in today's blues music. Each song captures the essence of Chicago blues in a different way, from the back-alley feel of "Born in Chicago" to the melting ease of Willie Dixon's "Mellow Down Easy" to the authentic devotion that emanates from Bishop and Butterfield's "Our Love Is Drifting." "Shake Your Money Maker," "Blues With a Feeling," and "I Got My Mojo Working" (with Lay on vocals) are all equally moving pieces performed with a raw adoration for blues music. 

Best of all, the music that pours from this album is unfiltered...blared, clamored, and let loose, like blues music is supposed to be released. A year later, 1966's "East West" carried on with the same type of brash blues sound partnered with a jazzier feel, giving greater to attention to Bishop's and Bloomfield's instrumental talents.


Tracklist:

01 - Born In Chicago
02 - Shake Your Moneymaker
03 - Blues with a Feeling
04 - Thank You Mr. Poobah
05 - I Got My Mojo Working
06 - Mellow Down Easy
07 - Screamin'
08 - Our Love Is Drifting
09 - Mystery Train

Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Same (1965)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Modern Jazz Quartett - Music from Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)

The Modern Jazz Quartet never actually recorded for Blue Note but their United Artists date was reissued on this Blue Note CD. The MJQ (vibraphonist Milt Jackson, pianist John Lewis, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Connie Kay) perform six of Lewis's compositions which were used in the film "Odds Against Tomorrow". Best known is "Skating in Central Park" but all of the selections have their memorable moments and it is good to hear this classic unit playing such fresh material.

The album was recorded with the Modern Jazz Quartet and a 22-piece orchestra.

Pianist John Lewis wrote and arranged the original score. Although he had already written music for "No Sun in Venice", this was the first time Lewis - given early 16 mm film proofs - composed along the story-line rather than delivering “a set of isolated pieces”. Gunther Schuller, who organized the orchestra for the original soundtrack recordings, noticed that “it can serve its purpose in the film. But it can also stand as absolute music apart from the original situation.”


Tracklist:
"Skating in Central Park" - 6:07
"No Happiness for Slater" - 5:18
"A Social Call" - 4:45
"Cue No. 9" - 5:00
"A Cold Wind Is Blowing" - 7:29
"Odds Against Tomorrow" - 3:33


The Modern Jazz Quartett - Music from Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Vladimir Vysotsky - Criminal Law

Until his death, Vladimir Vysotsky was a prophet without honor in his own country; although he wrote more than a thousand highly popular songs, he died without an official record release to his name. The reason for this studied neglect lay in the political tenor of his material. Vysotsky, who began performing in the 1960s, was quite critical of the Communist regime, and his lyrics took position on the Soviet status quo. His songs derived from the blatny pesny (literally, delinquent song) tradition, with its celebration of sex, drink, and street fights. Informally distributed cassettes ensured Vysotsky a wide and enthusiastic following. After his death, in 1980, Gorbachev granted his music an imprimatur and a 20-album retrospective was released. ~ Leon Jackson, All Music Guide

Tracklist:

1. Vladimir Vissotski - Dialog U Telewisora (3:27)
2. Vladimir Vissotski - Protopi Ty Mne Ban'ku Po Belomu (7:38)
3. Vladimir Vissotski - Ballada O Prawde I Lshi (4:21)
4. Vladimir Vissotski - Kanatohodez (3:37)
5. Vladimir Vissotski - Ballada O Detstwe (5:26)
6. Vladimir Vissotski - Dwe Sud'by (5:11)
7. Vladimir Vissotski - Tot, Kto Ran'sche S Neju Byl (2:45)
8. Vladimir Vissotski - Beg Inohodza (2:17)
9. Vladimir Vissotski - Na Bol'schom Karetnom (2:10)
10. Vladimir Vissotski - Rien Ne Va, Plus Rien Ne Va (3:48)
11. Vladimir Vissotski - La Fin Du Bal (4:07)


Vladimir Vysotsky - Criminal Law
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Charles Mingus - Right Now - Live At The Jazz Workshop (1966)

Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz double bassist, pianist, composer and bandleader. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz legends such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dannie Richmond, and Herbie Hancock.

Soon after Charles Mingus finished touring Europe with his band (the unit that featured Eric Dolphy), he recorded this album, performed live at The Jazz Workshop in San Francisco. 

With tenor-saxophonist Clifford Jordan and drummer Dannie Richmond still in the group but Jane Getz replacing pianist Jaki Byard and altoist John Handy filling in for Dolphy on one song, the band performs excellent versions of "Meditations on Integration" and "New Fables," both of which are over 23 minutes long. 

Although not up to the passionate level of the Mingus-Dolphy Quintet, this underrated unit holds its own.

Tracklist:

New Fables (Charles Mingus) – 23:18
Meditation (For a Pair of Wire Cutters) (Charles Mingus) – 23:44

Charles Mingus - Right Now - Live At The Jazz Workshop (1966)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Michael Bloomfield - Analine (1977)

On this album, Michael Bloomfield continued the country blues and folk explorations of his Grammy-nominated instructional outing, "If You Love These Blues Play 'Em As You Please" (1976). For "Analine", he worked in an acoustic, often single-handed mode, being the only musician on seven of its nine tracks (and writing just over half the material, too). Such one-man efforts often carry an air of sterility about them, but not here; 

Bloomfield's version of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" retains the jaunty swing feel associated with its composer. The solo guitar pieces are equally well executed, particularly "Effinonna Rag" and the tribute to "Mr. Johnson and Mr. Dunn," where Bloomfield plays dueling guitar parts in the blues pioneers' style. Along the way, Bloomfield taps into folk ("Frankie and Johnny"), gospel ("At the Cross"), and even Hawaiian idioms ("Hilo Waltz"). He also sings two stirring originals about cancer ("Big 'C' Blues") and a hapless voyeur (the hilarious "Peepin' an' a Moanin' Blues"). 

Former Electric Flag singer and cohort Nick Gravenites contributes and sings the title track, whose mandolin and accordion runs close the album on an epic note. This is a well-executed labor of love that shows Bloomfield in a different context than many listeners will associate with him.


Tracklist:

A1 Peepin' An A Moanin Blues 2:38
A2 Mr. Johnson And Mr. Dunn 2:52
A3 Frankie And Johnny 4:06
A4 At The Cross 4:34
A5 Big "C" Blues 3:52
B1 Hilo Waltz 4:05
B2 Effinonna Rag 4:29
B3 Mood Indigo 5:18
B4 Analine 5:34

Michael Bloomfield - Analine (1977)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Thatcher On Acid - Chagrin (1992, 7´´ EP)

Thatcher on Acid were an English anarcho-punk band. They formed in Somerset during 1983. Their name is a satirical reference to former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Ben Corrigan, Bob Butler and Andy Tuck also played in Schwartzeneggar with ex-Crass member, Steve Ignorant.

The band opened the anarcho-punk band Conflict's "Gathering of the 5000" show at Brixton Academy, an event which resulted in many arrests and achieved a degree of infamy.

The EP "Chagrin" was recorded in Somerset May '91."Skin Banjo" was recorded live at Gothenburg Poly 20/4/91. "The Bus" was originally by Buffalo Tom.


Tracklist:

A Clear As Mud
B1 Skin Banjo (Live)
B2 The Bus

Thatcher On Acid - Chagrin (1992, 7´´ EP)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Mississippi John Hurt - Frankie & Albert (Tomato, 2002)

No blues singer ever presented a more gentle, genial image than Mississippi John Hurt. A guitarist with an extraordinarily lyrical and refined fingerpicking style, he also sang with a warmth unique in the field of blues, and the gospel influence in his music gave it a depth and reflective quality unusual in the field. Coupled with the sheer gratitude and amazement that he felt over having found a mass audience so late in life, and playing concerts in front of thousands of people . for fees that seemed astronomical to a man who had always made music a sideline to his life as a farm laborer - these qualities make Hurt's recordings into a very special listening experience.

Mississippi John Hurt did a live 21-song set on April 15, 1965, at Oberlin College in Ohio, a scant two years after his rediscovery in 1963, and a year before his death in 1966. Hurt was remarkably consistent as a performer, whether you listen to his famous 1920s Okeh tracks, his rediscovery studio work for Vanguard Records, or the handful of live shows like this one: the skill and delivery is always steady, professional, and charming. Among the highlights in this set is his intricate and atmospheric slide guitar work on "Talking Casey," one of the few times Hurt abandoned his trademark three-finger guitar picking style. This concert has been issued in various configurations and sequences by several labels under different titles and with different cover art over the years including "In Concert" (Magnum), "Frankie & Albert" (Tomato), "Live!" (Columbia River), "Satisfying Blues" (Collectables), "Revisited" (Varese), and "Mississippi John Hurt" (Dressed to Kill). Vanguard added a handful of live tracks recorded at Hurt's workshop appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival to the 21 original Oberlin songs to make 2002's "Live", which is probably the best choice out there. Just make sure you get the 1920s stuff first.


Tracklist:

1. Hot Time In Old Town Tonight - 3:18
2. Candy Man - 3:14
3. Baby, What's Wrong With You? - 3:13
4. Frankie & Albert - 4:16
5. Louis Collins - 5:02
6. Richland Woman Blues - 4:14
7. I'm Satisfied - 1:51
8. My Creole Belle - 2:18
9. C-H-I-C-K-E-N Blues - 0:51
10. Shake That Thing - 2:07
11. Spike Driver Blues - 2:55
12. Salty Dog - 3:25
13. Casey Jones - 3:53
14. Talkin' Casey - 3:15
15. Coffee Blues - 3:31
16. Monday Morning Blues - 4:49
17. Trouble I Had All My Days - 4:12
18. Nobody's Business But My Own - 3:46
19. Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor - 3:40
20. Lonesome Blues - 3:44
21. Here I Am/Oh Lord Send Me - 3:47

Mississippi John Hurt - Frankie & Albert (2002)

(320 kbps, front cover included)

VA - American Folk Blues Festival ´64

Originally recorded 56 years ago and later released on L+R Records, it's hard to believe the age of these recordings as they sound as fresh, new and exciting as they did all those years ago.

Recorded on 9th October 1964 at the Musikhalle in Hamburg, this shows, along with the Beatles playing just down the road at the Star Club a couple of years previously and the huge number of top Blues and Rock and Roll musicians who played there, just what a musical dynamo Hamburg was in the early 60s.

On this album, a house band, which consists of a collection of musical luminaries in their own right, back some of the most amazing singers in the history of the Blues.

The band which consists of Hubert Sumlin (guitar), Willie Dixon (bass), Clifton James (drums) and Sunnyland Slim (piano) ably support Sonny Boy Williamson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sleepy John Estes, John Henry Barbee, Sugar Pie De Santo and Howlin' Wolf with Sunnyland Slim taking vocal duties on "Every Time I Get Drinkin'" as well. Side 2 opens with Sleepy John Estes "I'm A Tearing Little Daddy" where he is accompanied by Hammie Nixon on blues harp and jug, harking right back to the days when a jug or large whiskey flagon was blown for the bass.

John Henry Barbee is self accompanied on guitar without the band, in a rendition of "Cotton Picking Blues" which is a stand out track on the album. Another stand out is the band playing Sumlin's "No Title Boogie" in an instrumental. Lighnin' Hopkins is at his best on this album with his rendition of "Baby Please Don't Go" being one of the finest I have heard.

A fantastic album and one which I feel every Blues collection should have, as it so epitomises Folk Blues.

Tracklist:

1 Sonny Boy Williamson : I'm Trying To Make London My Home
2 Sonny Boy Williamson : Dissatisfied
3 Sunnyland Slim : Everytime I Get To Drinkin'
4 Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins : Ain't It A Pity
5 Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins : Baby Please Don't Go
6 Sleepy John Estes / Hammie Nixon : I'm A Tearing Little Daddy
7 John Henry Barbee : Cotton Pickin' Blues
8 Hubert Sumlin : No Title Boogie
9 Sugar Pie Desanto: Slip In Mules
10 Howlin' Wolf : Dust My Broom

VA - American Folk Blues Festival ´64
(320 kbps, cover art included)

VA - Niemals vergessen - Lieder und Texte aus dem antifaschistischen Widerstand

This album was compiled in the year 2000 by the "Bezirksgruppe Liesing" of the "Bund sozialdemokratischer Freiheitskämpfer, Opfer des Faschismus und aktiver Antifaschisten" in Austria.

Short interludes between the recordings are explaining the historic situation of classic antifascist songs like  "Die Moorsoldaten", "Buchenwald-Lied", "s brennt, briderlech, s´brennt", "Einheitsfrontlied", "Spaniens Himmel", recorded by the Rundfunkchor Berlin, the Erich-Weinert-Ensemble, Gerry Wolf, Lin Jaldati, Ernst Busch and many more.

More infos via www.freiheitskaempfer.at .

Tracklist:
01. Instrumentale Einleitung
02. In den finsteren Zeiten
03. Die Moorsoldaten
04. Mein Vater wird gesucht
05. Lied von Sachsenhausen
06. Buchenwald-Lied
07. Auf eine Kerkerwand geschrieben
08. Lied aus Dachau
09. Dachau-Lied
10. Über die Bezeichnung Emigranten
11. s´brennt, briderlech, s´brennt
12. Tränen des Vaterlands Anno 1937
13. An meine Brüder in den Konzentrationslagern
14. Einheitsfrontlied 1934
15. Vorwärts, Internationale Brigade
16. Die Thälmannkolonnen (Spaniens Himmel)
17. Spanien, frei sollst du sein
18. Bericht von Erna Fuchs aus Bautzen
19. Kerkerlied
20. Die letzte Tat eines Widerstandskämpfers
21. Das Lidicelied
22. Fluchtversuche aus Konzentrationslagern
23. Der Spaten geschultet
24. Lied einer deutschen Mutter
25. Bericht von Erwin Geschonneck
26. Letzter Appell
27. Unsterbliche Opfer
28. Die Internationale

VA - Niemals vergessen - Lieder und Texte aus dem antifaschistischen Widerstand
(320 kbps, cover art included)

VA - Celebration - Twenty Five Years Of Trojan Records

For 50 years, Trojan Records has taken Jamaican music to the world.

"We mustn´t underplay the part that Trojan played. The kids that have grown up listening to this catalogue included a lot of the punks, the Jose Strummers, the Paul Simonons... Before the Punky Reggae Party, it was Trojan. " - Don Letts.

This double-disc set from Trojan includes classic ska, rocksteady and reggae tracks from Desmond Dekker & the Aces, Jimmy Cliff, Lee Perry & the Upsetters, the Melodians, Toots & the Maytals, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Ken Boothe, John Holt and many others. Though there are quite a few Jamaican classics missing from this history of the music, all the tracks included are quite solid.               

Tracklist:

CD1
01. Lord Tanamo - I'm In The Mood For Ska
02. Desmond Dekker And The Aces - 0.0.7. (Shanty Town)
03. The Ethiopians - Train To Skaville
04. Desmond Dekker And The Aces - Israelites
05. Desmond Dekker And The Aces - It Mek
06. Tony Tribe - Red Red Wine
07. Jimmy Cliff - Wonderful World, Beautiful People
08. Harry J Allstars - Liquidator
09. The Upsetters - Return Of Django
10. The Upsetters - Dollar In The Teeth
11. The Pioneers - Long Shot Kick De Bucket
12. The Melodians - Sweet Sensation
13. Jimmy Cliff - Vietnam
14. Bob & Marcia - Young Gifted And Black
15. The Maytals - Monkey Man
16. Desmond Dekker - You Can Get It If You Really Want
17. Nicky Thomas - Love Of The Common People
18. Horace Faith - Black Pearl
19. Freddie Notes & The Rudies - Montego Bay
20. The Melodians - Rivers Of Babylon

CD2
01. Symarip - Skinhead Moonstomp
02. Dave & Ansell Collins - Double Barrel
03. Bruce Ruffin - Rain
04. Bob & Marcia - Pied Piper
05. Greyhound -Black And White
06. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Small Axe
07. Dave & Ansell Collins - Monkey Spanner
08. The Pioneers - Let Your Yeah Be Yeah
09. Greyhound - Moon River
10. Dandy Livingstone - Suzanne Beware Of The Devil
11. Judge Dread - Big Seven
12. Greyhound - I Am What I Am
13. Ken Boothe - Everything I Own
14. Rupie Edwards - Ire Feelings (Skanga)
15. John Holt - Help Me Make It Through The Night
16. Ken Boothe - Crying Over You
17. Susan Cadogan - Hurt So Good
18. Derrick Harriott - Eighteen With A Bullet
19. Boris Gardner - You Make Me Feel Brand New
20. Dennis Brown - Money In My Pocket


VA - Celebration - Twenty Five Years Of Trojan Records
(320 kbps, cover art included)

John Cale - Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (1991)

"Hallelujah" is a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, originally released on his album "Various Positions" (1984). Achieving little initial success, the song found greater popular acclaim through a recording by John Cale, which inspired a recording by Jeff Buckley. It has been viewed as a "baseline" for secular hymns.

Following its increased popularity after being featured in the film "Shrek" (2001), many other arrangements have been performed in recordings and in concert, with over 300 versions known.The song has been used in film and television soundtracks and televised talent contests. "Hallelujah" experienced renewed interest following Cohen's death in November 2016 and appeared on many international singles charts, including entering the American Billboard Hot 100 for the first time.

John Cale's cover first appeared on "I'm Your Fan" (1991), a Leonard Cohen tribute album, and later on his live album Fragments of a Rainy Season (1992). Cale's version has vocals, piano, and different lyrics that Cohen had only performed live such as "I used to live alone before I knew you" and "All I ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you". Cale had watched Cohen perform the song and asked Cohen to send him the lyrics. Cohen then faxed Cale 15 pages of lyrics. Cale claims that he "went through and just picked out the cheeky verses."

Cale's version forms the basis of most subsequent performances, including Cohen's performances during his 2008–09 world tour. Cale's version is used in the film "Shrek" (2001), but Rufus Wainwright's version appears on the soundtrack album. Cale's also appears on the first soundtrack album for the TV series "Scrubs" and as the ending song of the "Cold Case" episode "Death Penalty, Final Appeal".

Tracklist:

1 –John Cale - Hallelujah 4:06
2 –Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah 4:34
3 –John Cale - The Queen & Me 3_19

John Cale - Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (1991)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger - The Angry Muse (1968)

“The term ‘protest song’ has a modern ring to it and, indeed, for many people it means a certain type of popular song specifically located in the 1950s and 1960s,” says MacColl in a gallop through the history of the British protest song in the sleeve notes to this album. “The special nature of the protest song lies in the fact that its theme is meant to convey an author’s conscious awareness of important social problems and the position he or she takes in relations to these problems.

“When disc jockeys, pop singers and the executives of the popular music industry use the term, they are referring to a song in which a writer has made a personal comment on a social theme without introducing specific political comment. In other words, they mean protest songs without real protest or (in the words of a recent radio programme) : ‘songs in which the protest is contained’.

“The era of the commercial ‘protest song’ appears to be ending not with a bang but with a whimper, and already the term begins to lie uneasily on the tongues of those who earn their daily bread by simulating enthusiasm and sincerity for the benefit of the radio and television teenage public. But the eventual disappearance of ‘protest songs’ from the commercial scene will probably have no affect whatsoever upon the development and continuation of the genre: protest songs will, presumably, continue to flourish where they have always flourished: in the arena of political struggle.”

Tracks:
01. Ballad Of Accounting
02. Beans, Bacon and Gravy
03. Epithalamium
04. The Farmer Is The Man
05. Grey October
06. The Coal Owner and The Pitman's Wife
07. Come Live With Me
08. Fragments From Slavery Days
09. Sit Down
10. The Klan Song
11. Fourloom Weaver
12. China Rag
13. In Contempt
14. Strike For Better Wages
15. The Warming Pan
16. Rockabye Baby
17. I am a Union Woman
18. The Whig
19. The Whigs Of Fife
20. Brother Did You Weep

Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger - The Angry Muse (1968)
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Neil Young & The Stray Gators - Toronto 1973 - Happy Birthday!

This album is a fascinating broadcast recording from the legendary "Time Fades Away"-tour comprising Jack Nitzsche, Ben Keith, Tim Drummond and Kenny Buttrey, The Stray Gators had backed Neil Young on 1972 s Harvest, and would go on to do likewise on the tour during which its follow-up, "Times Fade Away", was recorded live. Featuring previously unreleased cuts, until 2017 TFA remained the only Young album not released on CD, despite critical acclaim from most quarters. 

What would later become known as the "Time Fades Away"-tour began on 4th January 73 in Madison, Wisconsin; it was fraught from start to finish. Young would later describe it as one of the unhappiest times of his life and the worst tour of his career. However, the show performed at Toronto s Maple Leaf Gardens on 15th January, recorded for live FM broadcast and featured on this album in its entirety, sounds far from chaotic and forms a fascinating document of a legendary tour from which a full performance has rarely been heard. This album features a set list that includes five numbers from the TFA album (albeit in different versions to those included on the record that would appear in the shops in November 73) alongside a handful from Harvest and others from earlier LPs.

Tracklist:

1 On The Way Home 3:43

2 Tell Me Why 2:34

3 L. A. 4:07

4 Journey Through The Past 4:19

5 Borrowed Tune 4:45

6 Out On The Weekend 5:35

7 Harvest 4:04

8 Old Man 3:39

9 Heart Of Gold 4:19

10 Lonely Weekend 3:07

11 New Mama 3:16

12 Alabama 4:33

13 Last Dance 5:22

14 Don't Be Denied 7:23

15 Cinnamon Girl 4:17

16 Lookout Joe 5:14

17 Southern Man 6:26

Neil Young & The Stray Gators - Toronto 1973

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Neil Young was born on this day in 1945, making him 75 today. Happy birthday!