On-U Sound Disco Plate Collection Part II

A disproportionate amount of the best modern reggae has emerged from the strange, dark depths of the Berry Street studio in London, home base of Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound label. On-U material has always been notoriously difficult to get in any format, but most elusive of all are the legendary 10" "disco plate" singles Sherwood produced in the early 1980s and 1990s.

This disc is the second volume in an attempt to remedy that situation by reissuing the best of the disco plates on CD. Though fans of the label will already own alternate versions of a number of these tracks (such as "93 Struggle" and Bim Sherman's "Keep You Dancing") and even the exact same versions of a couple of others ("Autobiography" and "Breaking Down the Pressure" have been credited elsewhere to Singers & Players), this disc is more than worth the investment if only for the brilliant obscurities: Undivided Roots deliver a charming lament titled "England Cold," which is followed by a typically over-the-top Sherwood dub mix; "Can't Stop Jumping" is a dub version of "Keep You Dancing" featuring Dr. Pablo on keys.

This is pure reggae & dub gold, and devotees are well advised to snap it up while they can...

VA - On-U Sound Disco Plate Collection Part II
(192 kbps, small front cover included)

Slapp Happy & Dagmar Krause - Ultra Rare Trax

Slapp Happy was formed in 1972 when British keyboardist and avant-garde composer Anthony Moore met New York guitarist/artist/cartoonist/poet Peter Blegvad. The two were living in Hamburg at the time, and Moore had already released several albums of “new music” for Polydor. When Polydor rejected one of his albums outright, he proposed a pop-oriented project instead. Local girl Dagmar Krause, a former member of the folk-rock group The City Preachers, was recruited as vocalist and Slapp Happy was born.

This terrific collection was released in 1996.


Tracklist:

          Casablanca Moon EP:
                Casablanca Moon (single edit)
                Me and Pavarti (single edit)
          City Preachers:
                Hey, La La La
                Who are you
                Any Day in Wonderland
                Sometimes the Sky is filled with Rain
                Canada
                On a Train Ride
                Betty Dupree
                Wenn Abendlichter Glanzen
                Penelope
                Golden Yesterdays
                Come Back
                Franky and Johnny
                Old Shanty Town
          Commuters:
                The Ventriloquist
                The Young Lieutenant
                The Architect
                The Poet
                The Man on the Island
                The Acrobat
                The Organist
                The Philosopher
                The Gentlemen on the Stairs
                The Priest
          Sort Of EP:
                Alcohol
          Anthony Moore EP:
                Judy (single edit)
                Lucia (single edit)
          Slapp Happy Including Anthony Moore EP:
                Johnny's Dead
                Mr. Rainbow


Slapp Happy & Dagmar Krause - Ultra Rare Trax
(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Members - Uprhythm, Downbeat (1982)

The punk-orthodoxy view of the Members is that after a string of promising reggae-tinged singles, the septet released one fine album in 1979's "At the Chelsea Nightclub", then lost the plot completely with the follow-up, 1980: "The Choice Is Yours", after which they're ignored with an embarrassed throat-clearing. In point of fact, however, the Members rebounded after their second album (which itself is actually not nearly as bad as many would have you believe, sort of the Members' own version of "Sandinista!" in its appealing looseness and lack of consistent focus) by ridding themselves of any lingering punk associations and going for a complete sonic makeover. 

The band joined up with producer Martin Rushent (Human League, Altered Images, the Go-Go's), who was a master of making unpromisingly non-commercial bands have big shiny hit records without losing their souls in the process. Rushent nailed it immediately with the Members, concocting the utterly delightful "Working Girl." A mixture of snarky lyrics about the joys of freeloading and a genuinely transcendent chorus, "Working Girl" is a classic '80s pop single and -- despite the protestations of the punker than thou -- easily the best thing the Members ever did. Yes, including "Solitary Confinement." Sadly, the rest of Uprhythm Downbeat doesn't reach the same heights, but the good outweighs the bad, including an inspired reggae version of Kraftwerk's "The Model," the self-celebrating "The Family" and "Boys Like Us," and another minor hit, "Going West."

Tracklist:

"Working Girl" (Nick Tesco, Jean-Marie Carroll) 4:09
"The Family" (Jean-Marie Carroll) 4:11
"The Model" (Ralf Hütter, Karl Bartos, Emil Schult) 5:10
"Chairman of the Board" (Nick Tesco, Payne, Jean-Marie Carroll) 4:05
"Boys Like Us" (Nick Tesco, Adrian Lillywhite, Chris Payne, Jean-Marie Carroll, Simon Lloyd, Steve Thompson, Nigel Bennett) 4:11
"Going West" (Chris Payne) 4:10
"Radio" (Nigel Bennett) 5:52
"Fire (in My Heart)" (Nick Tesco, Adrian Lillywhite, Chris Payne, Jean-Marie Carroll, Simon Lloyd, Steve Thompson, Nigel Bennett) 4:19
"You and Me Against the World" (Nick Tesco, Adrian Lillywhite, Chris Payne, Jean-Marie Carroll, Simon Lloyd, Steve Thompson, Nigel Bennett) 4:22
"We the People" (Nick Tesco, Chris Payne) 5:10

2006 CD Bonus Tracks:

"Working Girl" (single version)
"Holiday in Tanganika"
"Every Day is Just a Holiday"
"If You Can't Stand Up"
"At the Arcade"
"Membership"

The Members - Uprhythm, Downbeat (1982)

(128 kbps, cover art included)

Mississippi John Hurt - Friends Of Old Time Music Concert, December 13, 1963

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.
Here´s the soundboard recording of the "friends of old time music concert", School of Medicine, Alumni Hall
New York, N.Y., December 13, 1963.

Tracklist:
1.Do Lord intro
2.Do Lord Remember Me
3.Since Ive Laid My Burden Down
4.C.C. Rider
5.Casey Jones
6.Nobody's Dirty Business
7.Richmond Woman Intro
8.Richmond Woman Blues
9.Let The Mermaids Flirt W Me
10.Spike drivers Blues
11.Stagger Lee
12.Pallet On Your Floor
13.Coffee Blues Intro
14.Coffee Blues
15.My Creole Blues
16.Franky and Jonnie
17.Talking Casey

Filler tracks from 1964:
18.Monday Morning Blues
19.Pallet on Your Floor

Thanks to http://arizjones.blogspot.com/!

Mississippi John Hurt - December 13, 1963
(320 kbps, no cover art included)

Minimal Compact – Minimal Compact (1982, Crammed)

Minimal Compact was an Israeli rock band associated with the post-punk and indie rock movement of the 1980s.

When punk and new wave blew up in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, the fallout was felt on a global level even though acts from the U.S. and the U.K. snagged most of the attention. Minimal Compact from Tel Aviv, Israel were one of the little-known post-punk acts outside of the usual suspects. Formed in 1981 by vocalist Samy Birnbach, bassist Malka Spigel, and guitarist Berry Sakharof, Minimal Compact incorporated native Middle Eastern sounds into dark European rock, breaking ground that groups such as Blancmange and Savage Republic would eventually cross. 

What prevented Minimal Compact from becoming completely obscure because of their geographic roots was that they relocated to Amsterdam early in their career and therefore found support within the European music community. The band wanted refuge from their native land's provincial attitudes; moving to Amsterdam enabled them to fulfill their dream of international recognition. The group was signed to the Belgian label Crammed and released this self-titled EP in 1981.


Tracklist:

Statik Dancin' 3:47
Creation Is Perfect (I Am A Camera) 4:28
Ready-Made Diary 4:37
To Get Inside 5:18
Happy Babouge 3:29

Minimal Compact – Minimal Compact (EP, 1982, Crammed)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Tom Rush - The Circle Game (1968)

A candid and charming collection of songs that glisten as beautifully as a clear mountain stream. Singer/songwriter/poet Tom Rush had a wonderful idea in mind for a concept album, working with music business greats Arthur Gorson and Paul Harris to blend the best of the time period's songwriters. The effort results in a splendid achievement of emotionally and lyrically gripping material.

Taking advantage of his resonant tenor voice and the majestic talents of a stirring crew of musicians, Rush performs wistful and ethereal versions of some of his favorite songs. Material selected includes deeply lyrical tunes such as Joni Mitchell's "Tin Angel" and "Urge for Going," and romantic songs like James Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves." The album, titled "The Circle Game", features Mitchell's radio hit single of the same name.

Certainly during the '70s this album was marketed well and fared with great success among the listening public, inviting Rush into an elite group of solo singer/songwriters of the decade. Just to prove to the world that he is no fluke himself when it comes to arranging and composing, Rush succeeds with two beautifully crafted works of his own, masterfully woven and spun on the acoustic guitar, along with an endearing work of lush production featuring the brilliant efforts of conductor Paul Harris and orchestra. A must-listen for those who are sincerely curious and are seeking a good singer/songwriter talent from this period.                

Tom Rush - The Circle Game (1968)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Francesco De Gregori – Rimmel (1975)

Francesco De Gregori's first three records, as brilliant as they often were, went largely unnoticed. Everything changed with "Rimmel", the 1975 release that made him into a pop superstar, and second only to Fabrizio De André as the greatest of Italian cantautori. 

With a little help from friends such as Lucio Dalla, De Gregori expanded his singer/songwriter compositions into full-blown pop songs. Accordingly, the spare acoustic guitar that dominated his previous albums is replaced by band arrangements, with the central role given over to piano and organ. Certainly, the addition of keyboards, drums, backing vocals, electric bass, and studio effects made the record much more radio- and concert-friendly, but the secret of Rimmel's triumph lies in its concise yet uniformly brilliant set of songs. 

Every De Gregori greatest-hits collection includes at least half of this album's nine tracks. In fact, it is hard to think of any other album by any Italian artist that brings together so many songs destined to become standards of modern Italian pop music. It is also this record that started the accusations leveled at De Gregori of selling out his left-wing beliefs for commercial success, by committing the ultimate sin of writing love songs. While in retrospect this appears as utter insanity, it is testimony to the charged climate of 1970s Italy, as well as to the key role played by politics in the music and public persona of Italian songwriters. More importantly, such accusations manage to ignore the blatant fact that Rimmel has its fair share of remarkable "political" songs, such as the classics "Il Signor Hood" and "Pablo," both subject to much debate as to who were the real-life personalities that inspired them, as well as the gorgeous "Le Storie di Ieri," about the childhood of the son of a political opposition figure. Furthermore, De Gregori's love songs are a far cry from the trite offerings of, say, the San Remo Festival. In fact, a song like the stunning "Pezzi di Vetro" is full of the same surrealist imagery and enigmatic characters that populate the songwriter's universe, as it stubbornly refuses any easy interpretation while managing to suggest a myriad of complex emotions. Lastly, separate mention is due to the extraordinary title track, which juxtaposes an elegant, lilting piano melody with a subdued vocal; they gradually mount together into a crescendo, to ultimately settle for resignation. As the verses go by, De Gregori shapes contrasting yet coexistent waves of bitterness, dejection, gratitude, and lingering affection into a farewell thank-you/curse-you note to an ex-lover; to many, it is one of the finest Italian songs ever written. "Rimmel" became De Gregori's signature song, and it is only fitting that one of the most important Italian albums of the 1970s should be named after it.


Tracklist:

A1 Rimmel 3:42
A2 Pezzi Di Vetro 3:08
A3 Il Signor Hood 3:11
A4 Pablo 4:22
A5 Buonanotte Fiorellino 2:05
B1 Le Storie Di Ieri 4:08
B2 Quattro Cani 3:16
B3 Piccola Mela 2:45
B4 Piano Bar 2:45

Francesco De Gregori – Rimmel (1975)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Patti Smith - Divine Intervention (Roskilde 1996)

"Three chord rock merged with the power of the word."

So Patti Smith described her music on the 1975 release of "Horses", her celebrated debut album; and so she has continued to blend the spoken and sung arts in incantatory fashion with her latest work, "Twelve".

Impossible to categorize, moving easily between the literary and musical worlds, always unpredictable and impassioned, she is an idiosyncratically unique performer who has always remained true to her artistic vision.

Born in Chicago and raised in Woodbury, New Jersey, just across the state line from Philadelphia, Patti's mother, Beverly, was a jazz singer cum waitress. Her father, Grant,

worked at the Honeywell plant; she was the oldest of four siblings: her sisters Linda and Kimberly (the latter plays mandolin on Gone Again's "Ravens,"), and brother Todd. Unable to find her place in high school society, she took refuge in the images of Rimbaud, Bob Dylan, James Brown, and the Rolling Stones. Dropping out of Glassboro State Teacher's College, she headed for the bright lights - big city of New York.

.

"Divine Intervention" (1996, Rupert 9681) is a recording of her performance on June, 30, 1996 at the Roskile Festival in Denmark. The performance and the sound quality are good, so enjoy another Patti Smith bootleg...

.

Patti Smith - Divine Intervention (Roskilde 1996)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Lucio Dalla - Francesco De Gregori – Banana Republic (1979)

This live album is a document of the famous Lucio Dalla-Francesco De Gregori 1979 tour, backed up by a band that included a then unknown Ron and members of Stadio and Cyan.

Both Dalla and De Gregori were at the crest of their popularity; unsurprisingly, the tour became a sensation in Italy. In retrospect, what strikes the listener most about this otherwise fine live recording is its rather odd track selection. With the exception of "Ma Come Fanno i Marinai," the single Dalla and De Gregori issued that year (presumably to promote the tour), both singers refrain to include their most recent hits. Dalla chooses three classics from his early period (including what is arguably the definitive version of "Piazza Grande"), while De Gregori picks the most obscure track (and the weakest) from the hit-studded Rimmel, the best two songs from 1976's Bufalo Bill, and none from 1978's De Gregori. 

The remaining three songs are covers, including a forgettable jazzed up take on Paolo Conte's "Un Gelato al Limone," and a delightful Italian version of Steve Goodman's "Banana Republic," made popular by Jimmy Buffet. This song, together with "Ma Come Fanno i Marinai" constitutes the peak of the whole Dalla-De Gregori ongoing collaboration that took place between 1975 and 1980, as it perfectly amalgamates their contrasting personalities and voices in a bittersweet, nostalgic setting. One can only regret that the two artists never agreed or had the time to do an entire studio album in this vein, preferring instead to go on a tour. In their defense, and based on the evidence of this album, the experience must have been a lot of fun.


Tracklist:

"Banana Republic"
"Un gelato al limon"
"La canzone di Orlando"
"Bufalo Bill"
"Piazza Grande"
"4/3/1943"
"Santa Lucia"
"Quattro cani"
"Addio a Napoli"
"Ma come fanno i marinai"

Lucio Dalla - Francesco De Gregori – Banana Republic (1979)

(320 kbsp, cover art included)

Soleda Bravo - Vol. 4 (1972)

Spain-born and Venezuela-raised Soledad Bravo has been one of the leaders of the nueve cancion ("new song") movement that swept through latin America in the '70s and '80s. Although equally proficient at singing traditional and popular songs, Bravo made her greatest impact as a protest singer.

According to Billboard, "her voice is an exceptional instrument." The Diario, a newspaper in Madrid, claims "her voice captivates you, the range is so wide and its strength is amazing."
Bravo, who inherited her political convictions from her father, emigrated to Venezuela with her parents at the age of seven. While attending the Liceo Rafael Urdaneta, she began singing with a group. She continued to sing while studying architecture, psychology and literature at the Central University of Venezuela. Shortly after her graduation in 1967, Bravo was hired to perform every morning on a television show Buenos Dias. She remained on the program for years. Her debut album, "Soledad Bravo Canta", released in 1968, included her interpretation of Carlos Puebla's tribute to Che Guevera, "Hasta Siempre."

Between 1969 and 1976, Bravo continued to focus on the songs of Latin America, releasing three commercially successful albums and touring throughout Peru, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. In 1972, Bravo recorded a double-album, "En Vivo", featuring songs of the Spanish Civil war. Four years later, she was invited to perform in Spain. An appearance on Spanish television, with accompaniment by flamenco guitarist Manolo Sanlucar, helped to make her a nationally known artist. During the four years that she remained in Spain, Bravo recorded several albums including one with Spanish poet Rafael Alberti in 1977, and a collection of songs of the Spanish Jews, "Cantos Sefardies", that received a Grand Prix Du Disque award in France. Switching her attention to the tropical repertoire, Bravo traveled to New York to record "Caribe", produced by salsa musician Willie Colon. Four years later, she recorded a self-titled album with accompaniment by Eddie Gomez, Airto Moreira, Paquito D'Rivera, Jorge Dalto, Ray Barreto, Yomo Toro and Spyro Gyra.

Tracklist:                           

A1	Punto y Raya
A2	Entra y Sale
A3	Uno De Abajo
A4	Qué Dirá El Santo Padre
A5	De Qué Se Ríe
A6	Niño y Estrella
B1	Canción De Toribio García
B2	Canción De Pablo
B3	Volver A Los Diecisiete
B4	El Violín De Becho
B5	Patria Amada Idolatrada, Salve, Salve

Soleda Bravo - Vol. 4 (1972)
(ca. 224 kbps, cover art included)

Richard Hell & The Voidoids – Blank Generation (1977/1990)

Richard Hell was one of the first men on the scene when punk rock emerged in New York City as an early member of both Television and the Heartbreakers (he left both groups before they could record). 

But his own version of punk wasn't much like anyone else's, and while Hell's debut album, "Blank Generation", remains one of the most powerful to come from punk's first wave, those anticipating a Ramones/Dead Boys-style frontal assault from this set had better readjust their expectations. 

"Love Comes in Spurts" and "Liars Beware" proved the Voidoids could play fast and loud when they wanted to, but for the most part this group's formula was much more complicated than that. Guitarists Robert Quine and Ivan Julian bounced sharp, edgy patterns off each other that were more about psychological tension than brute force (though Quine's solos suggest a fragile grace beneath the surface of their neo-Beefheart chaos). And while most punk nihilism was of the simplistic "Everything Sucks" variety, Hell was (with the exception of Patti Smith) the most literate and consciously poetic figure in the New York punk scene. 

While there's little on the album that's friendly or life-affirming, there's a crackling intelligence to songs like "New Pleasure," "Betrayal Takes Two," and "Another World" that confirmed Hell had a truly unique lyrical voice, at once supremely self-confident and dismissive of nearly everything around him (sometimes including himself). Brittle and troubling but brimming with ideas and musical intelligence, "Blank Generation" was groundbreaking punk rock that followed no one's template, and today it sounds just as fresh - and nearly as abrasive - as it did when it first hit the racks.

Tracklist:

Love Comes In Spurts 1:59
Liars Beware 2:50
New Pleasure 1:52
Betrayal Takes Two 3:33
Down At The Rock And Roll Club 3:37
Who Says? 2:07
Blank Generation 2:41
Walking On The Water 2:14
The Plan 3:53
Another World 8:10

plus 1990 CD reissue bonus tracks:

I´m Your Man

All The Way


Richard Hell & The Voidoids – Blank Generation (1977/1990)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Karol Rathaus - Der letzte Pierrot - Sinfonie Nr. 1 (Decca Entartete Musik)

Karol Rathaus was one of those indirect victims of Nazism that Decca’s Entartete Musik series has been so indispensable in rediscovering. Polish-born, he was briefly very successful in pre-war Germany (an opera was premiered by Bruno Walter; Furtwangler and Horenstein also took him up). Seeing the way the wind was blowing he left Germany the year before Hitler came to power, wrote film music and a ballet in Paris and London but found few openings and fewer performances in America, where he eventually settled.

The First Symphony (there are two others) was roundly abused at its premiere in 1926; this recording is its first performance since then, and the composer – not yet 60 – went to his early grave believing the score to beRead more lost. It is a prodigiously inventive work, 40 minutes long though in only two movements, in a frowning, sinewy post-romantic style that might remind you just a little of the symphonies of Honegger or of the more austere pages of Martinu. The thematic language, though, is much closer to the Viennese tradition and its roots in Mahler, Reger and (Rathaus’s teacher) Schreker are clearly perceptible. But it has an individual emotional vein, often grim, sombre or shadowed, rising at times to a bitter eloquence that is very striking; orchestrally, too, it is highly accomplished. According to an accompanying note Rathaus was frightened by the reaction to the work and by the anti-Semitism of some of his critics; it is hard not to hear some such prejudice in dismissals of the symphony as ‘atonal’. It is no such thing, and although many of its melodies are angular and some of its dissonances harsh, it is by no means especially innovative for its period.

Even so, Rathaus apparently changed his style soon afterwards. Not radically, if his ballet The last Pierrot is anything to go by. Its melodies are sometimes smoother; no doubt association with dance added an element of grace to his manner, but the music is evidently by the same composer as the symphony. Jazz elements are introduced (and adroitly used to convey real menace at one point) and there is a violent forcefulness that aptly reflects the plot – this is a Pierrot in modern times, seeking his Columbine among factories and dance halls. It is effective and was for a while very popular. But it is the Symphony that whets one’s appetite for more of this impressively gifted composer’s music, especially in such eloquent performances as these. The Symphony is a tough piece to bring off – it had to wait five years for its premiere, because conductors were scared of it – but Israel Yinon has its full measure. I look forward to future recordings by him as eagerly as I do to more music by Karol Rathaus.

-- Michael Oliver, Gramophone [9/1998]

Tracklist:

Sinfonie Nr. 1
01. Erster Satz
02. Zweiter Satz

Der letzte Pierrot
03. Erster Akt
04. Zweiter Akt
05. Dritter Akt

Karol Rathaus - Der letzte Pierrot - Sinfonie Nr. 1 (Decca Entartete Musik)
(256 kbps, front cover included)

The Celibate Rifles – The Celibate Rifles (1984)

Playing stripped-down, loud, and fast Ramones-inspired guitar rock, the Celibate Rifles were one of the earliest Australian punk bands to emerge during the post-Radio Birdman/Saints era. 

Taking their cues from these Aussie bands, along with the American hard rock of the Stooges, MC5, and Blue Öyster Cult, the Rifles were led by the twin-guitar attack of Kent Steedman and Dave Morris and the deadpan baritone of vocalist Damien Lovelock. 

They exploded out of the gates in 1982 with a series of records (released in Australia only) fueled by high-speed guitars, wah-wah-strangulated solos, and cartoonish, tongue-in-cheek lyrics


Tracklist:

Wild Desire
Kiss Me Deadly
Pretty Colours
Back In The Red
Darlinghurst Confidential
Thank You America
Rainforest
Netherworld
Electric Snake River

The Celibate Rifles – The Celibate Rifles (1984)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Hein & Oss - Singen Volkslieder (1976)

Hein & Oss were born identical twins on September 17th 1927 in Pirmasens, Germany. Through the influence of their mother and their grandfather they found a very early interest in singing and in music.

They belong to the small band of German folksingers who are internationally famous through their various concerts, broadcasting and television appearances.

Through their extensive travels they got to know the world and its music; their repertoire is extremely varied and interesting and is drawn from nearly every part of the folk word. Shanties or chansons, soldier´s songs, protest songs or spirituals - the congenial twins from Pirmasens enthrall their audience in Berlin and Calcutta, Paris and Rome, Athens, Teheran, Munich, Bagdad,Hamburg and London.

Hein & Oss belongend to the founders of the "Chanson Folklore International", whose annual festival was held at Castle Waldeck, Germany and was considered as a meeting point of well known folksingers from various countries.

This double album was recored in Munich, August 1976.

Hein & Oss - Singen Volkslieder - Auf den Plätzen, auf, in den Straßen (1976)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Hugh Masekela - Grrr (1966)

The South Afican-born trumpeter Hugh Masekela was playing world music before it had a name. On this album, recorded shortly after he moved to the United States and shortly before he became a worldwide star, he seamlessly fuses jazz ideas with the emotionally direct, rhythmically complex South African music known as Mbaqanga.

Masekela as a young trumpeter from the mid-'60s. Rare, but clearly his best format and playing.  - allmusic.com               

Tracklist:

01. U, Dwi (Masekela) (3:14)
02. Zuul and the Mexican (Masekela) (3:22)
03. Emavungweni (Xaba) (3:08)
04. Ntjilo-Ntjilo (Makeba) (4:12)
05. Sharpville (Masekela) (3:29)
06. Umaningi Bona (Nkabinde) (3:17)
07. Sipho (Mrwebi) (3:44)
08. Kwa-Blaney (Gwangwa) (2:12)
09. Mra (Christopher) (3:08)
10. Phatsha-Phatsha (Mabaso) (2:55)

Hugh Masekela - Grrr (1966)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Kalyi Jag - Lungoj O Drom Angla Mande - Gipsy Folk Songs From Hungary

Kalyi Jag (Black Fire) is a group formed in Budapest in 1978 by young Gypsies from Szatmár county. They play authentic Gypsy music, sung in Romany and Hungarian. Kalyi Jag consists of: Gusztáv Varga - voice, guitar Ágnes Künstler - voice József Balogh - voice, tambura, guitar, spoon József Nagy - water can, oral bass.

They are recognised as one of the foremost Gypsy folk ensembles in Eastern Europe today.

This is one of their early LPs released on Hungaroton Records in 1989 and features guitar, jug, whistle, oral bass, water can etc..


Tracklist:

1. Parne gada szi pe late (2:07)
2. Lungoj o drom angla mande (2:42)
3. Muri klaca kocsakenca (2:14)
4. Lina (5:09)
5. Aj, Dévale Koj Odi (3:53)
6. Pánzs kolompiri ande tigalya (2:26)
7. Ustyen Opre, Romále (3:05)
8. Le csurara mol na pena (3:26)
9. Kerkoj aba muro jilo (2:50)
10. Anta, romnyej, mure roulya (3:07)
11. Szájbőgő improvizáció (2:04)
12. Szar Csiriklyi (4:37)
13. Beng hhuklyasz ande roulyi (1:38)
14. Sápä szärátä ás mänká (3:01)
15. Kutyka téle, ko lahhikao kopácsi (2:13)
16. Csorro Joka (2:43)
17. Könyörgés (3:10)

01 She has a white dress on
02 I have still a long way to go
03 My trousers are buttoned all along
04 Lina
05 Oh, my God, who is there
06 There are five potatoes in the pot
07 Get up, Gypsies
08 Shieve-makers do not drink wine
09 My Heart Is Heavy
10 Give, woman, my stick to me
11 Oral bass improvisations
12 Like birds
13 The devil has hidden in my stick
14 I would eat salten onions
15 Over there under a little tree
16 Poor Joska
17 Song for Mercy

Kalyi Jag - Lungoj O Drom Angla Mande
(192 kbps, front cover included)

VA - 1962 - Chants De La Revolution Cubaine

Fidel Castro, Cuba's leader of revolution, died today at 90. More than half a century ago, his guerrilla army of “bearded ones” replaced Fulgencio Batista’s corrupt dictatorship with communist rule which challenged the US and turned the island into a cold-war crucible.

He fended off a CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 as well as many assassination attempts. His alliance with Moscow helped trigger the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, a 13-day showdown with the US that brought the world closer to the brink of nuclear war than it has ever been.

He first tried to overthrow General Batista in 1953, was imprisoned, exiled to Mexico, and then returned in 1956. He succeeded on January 1, 1959 and has dominated Cuba ever since – surviving 638 documented attempts by the CIA to kill him, and living through ten US presidencies.

Resigning due to ill health in February 2008, Castro handed over to his brother Raul and is now rarely seen in public. But he continues to loom large in Cuba - writing regular columns for Granma, the Communist Party newspaper, and meet visiting dignitaries.

"Chants De La Revolution Cubaine" collects some historic recordings relatetd to the revolution in Cuba in 1959.

Tracklist:

• 1. - Fidel Est Arrivé [Rolando La Serie Y Et Son Orchestre] - 2:57"
• 2. - Partisans [Choeurs De Révolutionnaires Cubains] - 2:10"
• 3. - Vive La Revolution [Raúl Luzardo Et Le Trio Los Titanes] - 3:11"
• 4. - Sierra Maestra [Daniel Santos Et Son Ensemble] - 3:37"
• 5. - Parlons De La Revolution [Celina Et Reutillo] - 3:08"
• 6. - Les "Barbudos" [Orchestre Fajardos] - 2:30"
• 7. - Au Commandant Camacho [Los Yayaberos] - 3:07"
• 8. - Hymne De La Milice [Fanfarre De L'armée Rebelle] - 2:30"

VA - 1962 - Chants De La Revolution Cubaine
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Ernst Busch - Solidarität mit Chile (Eterna, 1975)

This single was released in 1975 in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as a special production to support the chilean communist leader Luis Corvalán.

Luis Alberto Corvalán Lepe (September 14, 1916, – July 21, 2010) was a Chilean politician. He served as the general secretary of the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh).
Corvalán joined the Communist Party of Chile at the age of fifteen in the city of Chillán shortly after the fall of the repressive dictatorship of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo in 1932. Trained as a teacher, after 1952 he became an elected member of the PCCh's Central Committee, and after 1958 served as the Secretary-General. The party was outlawed from 1948 until 1958. In this period Corvalán was interned in the concentration camps of Pitrufquén and later in Pisagua.

On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet lead a military coup and Corvalán was among the many arrested. After the murder of Victor Jara, he was the most prominent political prisoner in Chile. While in prison, Luis Corvalán was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize (for 1973-74). The Soviet Union launched an international campaign for his release and on December 18, 1976 Corvalán was exchanged for a notable Soviet political prisoner, dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, and received asylum in the USSR.

Corvalán headed the Communist Party of Chile - both within Chile and whilst in exile - for over three decades, which covered the whole period of the Pinochet military dictatorship. Corvalán returned to Chile in 1988.

Tracklist:
A1. Rettet Luis Corvalán 1:54 
A2. Gegen Die Objektiven 1:23 
B1. Bandiera Rossa 1:42 

 
Ernst Busch - Solidarität mit Chile (Eterna, 1960)
(160 kbps, cover art included, vinyl rip) 

Gegen die Objektiven

Wenn die Bekämpfer des Unrechts
Ihre verwundeten Gesichter zeigen
Ist die Ungeduld derer, die in Sicherheit waren
Groß.


Warum beschwert ihr euch, fragen sie
Ihr habt das Unrecht bekämpft! Jetzt
Hat es euch besiegt: schweigt also!


Wer kämpft, sagen sie, muß verlieren können
Wer Streit sucht, begibt sich in Gefahr
Wer mit Gewalt vorgeht
Darf die Gewalt nicht beschuldigen.


Ach, Freunde, die ihr gesichert seid
Warum so feindlich? Sind wir
Eure Feinde, die wir Feinde des Unrechts sind?
Wenn die Kämpfer gegen das Unrecht besiegt sind
Hat das Unrecht doch nicht recht!


Unsere Niederlagen nämlich
Beweisen nichts, als daß wir zu
Wenige sind
Die gegen die Gemeinheit kämpfen
Und von den Zuschauern erwarten wir
Daß sie wenigstens beschämt sind!

(Bertolt Brecht)

Theodore Bikel - Sings Jewish Folk Songs (1958)

A talented folksinger and actor, Theodore Bikel carved out his place in the modern entertainment industry as a renaissance man. For over 50 years, Bikel left his mark on film, the stage, and the arts, from his supporting role in The African Queen in 1951 to his appearance at the 1960 Newport Folk Festival to his appointment to the National Council for the Arts in 1977. Although he was born in Austria, he lived in Israel, England, and the United States and spoke five languages. Bikel recorded for Elektra, Columbia, and Reprise, published Folksongs & Footnotes, and served as a vice president of the American Jewish Congress.               

Bikel was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1924, but his family fled to Palestine in 1938, where they became British subjects. Bikel wanted to study language and become a teacher, so he worked at a communal farm to help pay expenses. Drawn to the theater, however, he left the farm in 1943 to study at the Hamimah Theater in Tel Aviv. Later, Bikel and four other actors formed the Tel Aviv Chamber Theater. In 1946, he left Israel to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. While in England, he also began to take a serious interest in folk music and learn the guitar. In 1947, Bikel's acting skills were noticed by Sir Laurence Olivier, leading to a part in the London production of A Streetcar Named Desire.
By the early '50s, Bikel began to play Russian officers and German sailors in English and American films and in 1955, he moved to New York City. The move also coincided with the beginning of a career in folk music. He signed with Elektra Records in the mid-'50s and recorded Israeli Folk Songs in 1955. He became a co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival and performed at the event in 1960. Bikel's repertoire proved uniquely eclectic, including songs from Russia, Eastern Europe, and Israel. He played hundreds of dates in United States, from the Rainbow & Stars in New York to the Boarding House in San Francisco, and traveled broadly, performing in New Zealand, Australia, and throughout Europe.
  Over the next 40 years, Bikel continued his dual career in film and folk music. He received parts in The Russians Are Coming in 1966, See You in the Morning in 1989, and Shadow Conspiracy in 1997. He recorded "Songs of the Earth" for Elektra in 1967, "A New Day" on Reprise in 1970, and "A Taste of Passover" for Rounder in 1998. Bikel also involved himself in a number of political activities. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Bikel to the National Council for the Arts, a position he retained until 1982. He also served with the Associated Actors and Artistes of America, Americans for the Arts, and the American Jewish Congress. In 1992, Bikel received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Hartford.

Tracklist:
                           

A1	Der Rebe Elimelech
A2	De Yontevdike Teyg
A3	Sha Shtil
A4	Di Ban
A5	Kum AherDo Filozof
A6	Di Mezinke
A7	A Sundenyu
A8	Achtsig Er Un Zibetsik Zi
B1	Di Name Iz Gegangen
B2	Margaritkelech
B3	Mu Asapru
B4	Lomir Zich Iberbeten
B5	Homentashn
B6	A Chazn Oyf Shabes
B7	Reyzl
B8	Tumbalalayka

Theodore Bikel - Sings Jewish Folk Songs (1958)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

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)

The Voices of the Civil Rights Movement - Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966

This double-CD reissue documents a central aspect of the cultural environment of the Civil Rights Movement, acknowledging songs as the language that focused people's energy. These 43 tracks are a series of musical images, of a people in coversation about their determination to be free. Many of the songs were recorded live in mass meetings held in churches, where people from different life experiences, predominantly black, with a few white supporters, came together in a common struggle. These freedom songs draw from spirituals, gospel, rhythm and blues, football chants, blues and calypso forms.

"The Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966" documents the importance of songs in the Civil Rights Movement. The first disc features songs from mass meetings, where a singer or core of singers leads the people in the singing of the songs, while the second focuses on ensemble works by the SNCC Freedom Singers and other groups.

Chances are that unless you were involved in the Civil Rights Movement you will not especially recognize many of these songs, with "This Little Light of Mine," "Go Tell It On the Mountain," and "We Shall Overcome" being the obvious exceptions. But you will be surprised at some of the popular songs that were appropriate for the cause, such as "Calypso Freedom," based on Harry Belafonte's "The Banana Boat Song," and "Get Your Rights, Jack," based on the Ray Charles hit "Hit the Road, Jack." For me the song that stood out was "In the Mississippi River," written by Marshall Jones after the disappearance of three Civil Rights workers in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. As local rivers were dragged in search of the men, many other bodies were discovered, a chilling fact that certainly needs to be more than a historic footnote to that tragic event. There is also a lengthy segment from a sermon by Rev. Lawrence Campbell, which illustrates the song-sermons that were an integral part of the movement and its traditions. The result is a historical document of immense value.

Folkways Records was founded by Moses Asch and Marian Distler in 1948 to document music and spoken word from around the world. The Smithsonian Institution acquired Folkways from the Asch estate and has succeeded in preserving the best of the label's 2,200 albums. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has continued this grand tradition. Their releases are superb, especially in terms of providing the historical context by which we can best appreciate these songs from another place and another time.
.

The Voices Of The Civil Rights Movement pt.1

The Voices Of The Civil Rights Movement pt. 2

Egon Erwin Kisch - Erinnerungen an den rasenden Reporter

On March 31, 1948, Egon Erwin Kisch, a german-speaking Czech journalist and novelist, died in Prague, Czech Republic.

Egon Erwin Kisch was "der rasende Reporter" ("the raging reporter"), a journalist whose interest in marginalized parts of society and the world outside Europe endeared him to a large number of readers. He became a figurehead in the fight against fascism. Later generations of journalists regarded his documentaries as exemplary and pioneering. He is admired to this day for the high literary quality of his journalitic work.

Kisch was born into a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and began his journalistic career as a reporter for a local German language newspaper in 1906. His early work is characterised by an interest in crime and the lives of the poor of Prague, taking Jan Neruda, Emile Zola and Charles Dickens's Sketches by Boz as his models. He deserted from the army in World War I in October 1918 as the war came to an end and played a leading role in the left-wing revolution in Vienna in November of that year. Although the revolution failed, in 1919, Kisch joined the Communist party, a political allegiance he maintained for the rest of his life.
Between 1921 and 1930 Kisch, though a citizen of Czechoslovakia, lived primarily in Berlin, where his work found a new and appreciative audience. In books of collected journalism such as "Der rasende Reporter" (1924), he cultivated the image of a witty, gritty, daring reporter always on the move, a cigarette clamped doggedly between his lips. His work and his public persona found an echo in the artistic movement of "Neue Sachlichkeit", a major strand in the culture of the Weimar Republic.
On February 28 1933, the day after the Reichstag Fire, Kisch was one of many prominent opponents of Nazism to be arrested. He was briefly imprisoned in Spandau, but as a Czechoslovakian citizen, was expelled from Germany. His works were banned and burnt in Germany, but he continued to write for the Czech and émigré German press, bearing witness to the horrors of the Nazi takeover.
In 1937 and 1938, Kisch took part in Spanish Civil War. He travelled across the country speaking in the Republican cause and his reports from the front line were widely published.

Following the "Munich Agreement" of 1938 and the subsequent Nazi occupation of Bohemia six months later, Kisch was unable to return to the country of his birth. Once war broke out, Paris, which he had made his main home since 1933, also became too dangerous for an outspoken Jewish communist whose native land no longer existed. In late 1939, Kisch and his wife Gisela, sailed for New York where, once again, he was initially denied entry. He eventually landed at Ellis Island on December 28, but as he only had a transit visa moved onto Mexico in 1940.
He remained in Mexico for the next five years, one of a circle of European communist refugees, notable among them Anna Seghers and Ludwig Renn.

Kisch died two years after his return to Prague, shortly after the Communist party seized complete power. There are contradictory reports of his attitude - as a German-speaking Jew - to the party in this period as it began to develop the anti-semitism which culminated in the "Prague Trials" of 1952 and supported the expulsion of most of Czechoslovakia's ethnic Germans.
To remember his great work, here is "Erinnerungen an den rasenden Reporter", a wonderful feature in german language about Egon Erwin Kisch.

Egon Erwin Kisch - Erinnerungen an den rasenden Reporter
(192 kbps, front cover included)

VA - Songs For Desert Refugees - A Compilation In Aid Of The Refugees From Northern Mali

Mali is one of the musical power-houses of Africa, but today it's a country in chaos, and its ancient culture is under threat. In the desert north, the rebels of the MNLA have been ousted by Islamist groups, adding to the crisis in which hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to neighbouring states, at a time of acute food shortage across the region. This benefit album aims to raise money for refugee projects, but also provides a rousing new compilation of desert blues, with unreleased or rare tracks from Tuareg musicians from Mali, Niger and Algeria. It starts, appropriately, with a slinky, rhythmic and previous unreleased song from Saharan superstars Tinariwen, and there are contributions from younger Malian bands Tamikrest, Amanar and the hypnotic Tartit. But many of the best tracks are from across the border in Niger, with an engaging, rhythmic contribution from Etran Finatawa, and a remarkable 13-minute live work-out from Bombino, proving why he is the desert's new guitar hero.

For beginners, this album can serve as an introduction to the incredible music of northern Mali, the cultural center of the Tuareg people. For people who already know this music, it's an introduction to new artists you may not have heard of before.

All proceeds from the sale of this album will be donated to TAMOUDR´R and ETAR, two NGOs working with refugees in northern Mali. If you want to support them, please make a donation to the associations via www.tamoudre.org/desertrefugees .

Tracklist:

	1.	Tinariwen - Amous Idraout Assouf d'Alwa   04:27
	2.	Tamikrest - Warktifed   03:50
	3.	Ibrahim Djo experience - Blues du Désert [part 1]   04:32
	4.	Faris & Terakaft - Derhan Alkher   04:13
	5.	Nabil Baly Othmani - Teswa Ténéré [desert version]   05:52
	6.	Amanar - Ténéré   05:39
	7.	Tadalat - Taghdart   04:55
	8.	Etran Finatawa - Gourma   06:35
	9.	Terakaft - Nak Essanagh   04:34
	10.	Toumast - Aïtma   04:14
	11.	Bombino - Tigrawahi Tikma [live version]   13:01
	12.	Tartit - Tihou Beyatene   05:02

VA - Songs For Desert Refugees - A Compilation In Aid Of The Refugees From Northern Mali
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Charly Garcia - Parte de la Religión

Charly Garcia is one of the most talented and influential figures of Argentine and Latin rock. He composed many generational hymns and was always obsessed with expanding the boundaries of pop music and the musician's role itself.               

"Parte de la Religión", released in 1987, was an album recorded almost entirely by García himself. An exception can be found in "Rap de las Hormigas," on which the Brazilian group Os Paralams do Succeso took part. The record was clearly a masterpiece and showed Prince's influence. Songs like "No Voy en Tren," "Buscando un Símbolo de Paz," and "En la Ruta del Tentempié" became Top Ten hits.    


    
Charly Garcia - Parte de la Religión     
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Sun Ra - Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold (1964)

In 1964, Sun Ra asked the young tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders to join him, while Arkestra mainstay John Gilmore was busy working with Paul Bley, Andrew Hill, and Art Blakey. Before the recording's original release in 1976, Sun Ra stated: "It should be very interesting to the world to show what the pre-Coltrane Pharoah Sanders was like." Also appearing on "Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold" is the little-heard flautist, Black Harold (Harold Murray), who takes the lead on the track "The Voice of Pan," continuing into "Dawn over Israel." Bassist Alan Silva (ESP 1091) also does some fine bass work on the release.

"Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold" is notable not only for its unique lineup, but also for the first known recording of the composition "The Shadow World," here titled "The World Shadow," which was featured on later Arkestra albums.

The music is vital, as much a testament to the times, as it is to Sun Ra's approach. An innovator who was not constricted by form, the music flowed as he and the band saw fit. He not only assimilated various musical genres, he juxtaposed composition and invention to add impact to the development of the music.

Tracks:
Gods on a Safari (Ra)
The World Shadow (Ra)
Rocket Number 9(Ra)
The Voice of Pan (Ra)
Dawn over Israel  (Ra)
Space Mates (Ra)


Sun Ra - Featuring Pharoah Sanders &  Black Harold (1964)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Harry Belafonte - Calypso (1956)

This is the album that made Harry Belafonte's career. Up to this point, calypso had only been a part of Belafonte's focus in his recordings of folk music styles. But with this landmark album, calypso not only became tattooed to Belafonte permanently; it had a revolutionary effect on folk music in the 1950s and '60s.

The album consists of songs from Trinidad, mostly written by West Indian songwriter Irving Burgie
(aka Lord Burgess). Burgie´s two most successful songs are included -- "Day O" and "Jamaica Farewell" (which were both hit singles for Belafonte) -- as are the evocative ballads "I Do Adore Her" and "Come Back Liza" and what could be the first feminist folk song, "Man Smart (Woman Smarter)."

"Calypso" became the first million-selling album by a single artist, spending an incredible 31 weeks at the top of the Billboard album charts, remaining on the charts for 99 weeks. It triggered a veritable tidal wave of imitators, parodists, and artists wishing to capitalize on its success. Years later, it remains a record of inestimable influence, inspiring many folksingers and groups to perform, most notably the Kingston Trio, which was named for the Jamaican capital. For a decade, just about every folksinger and folk group featured in their repertoire at least one song that was of West Indian origin or one that had a calypso beat. They all can be attributed to this one remarkable album. Despite the success of "Calypso", Belafonte refused to be typecast. Resisting the impulse to record an immediate follow-up album, Belafonte instead spaced his calypso albums apart, releasing them at five-year intervals in 1961, 1966, and 1971.                

Harry Belafonte - Calypso (1956)
(256 kbps, cover art included)