Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives and others - The Ballad Operas - The Martins and The Coys (1944)

This "ballad opera" is perhaps the most unlikely of all Alan Lomax projects. Recorded in 1944 for the BBC and reissued as part of the "Lomax Collection's Concert and Radio Series", "The Martins and the Coys" was based on a 1936 "imitation hillbilly" novelty hit by bandleader Ted Weems about feuding families similar to the Hatfields and the McCoys. The two families are eventually united by their love for America and mountain life, and by their hatred of fascism.

Lomax blended together narration, instrumentals, and traditional and topical songs, performed by urban and rural folk artists such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger (both then unknown outside Manhattan folk circles), Burl Ives, and Grand Ole Opry great, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith. "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" (Ives) and "Nine Hundred Miles" (Guthrie) are stunning. For collectors only, but it's that rarest of period pieces, one with style and substance. Listening to the unabashed patriotism of these performers, it's incomprehensible that within a decade, many would be blacklisted as un-American.

Tracks
1. Martins and the Coys - Pete Seeger
2. Introduction - Alan Lomax
3. Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase - Will Geer, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger
4. Martins and the Coys - Geoff Bryant, Helen Claire, Jimmy Dobson, Will Geer, Burl Ives, Katherine Raht
5. Run, Boys, Run - Pete Seeger, Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith
6. Back to the Cabin - Geoff Bryant, Jimmy Dobson, Will Geer
7. Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair - Burl Ives
8. Alec Coy at the Induction Center - "Chairman", "Sergeant", Woody Guthrie
9. You Better Get Ready - Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry
10. At the Deer Forks Railway Depot - Geoff Bryant, Jimmy Dobson, Will Geer, Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Katherine Raht
11. Nine Hundred Miles - Woody Guthrie
12. Train Departs - Burl Ives
13. On Top of Old Smoky - Pete Seeger, Hally Wood
14. Agricultural Agent Visits the Coys - Helen Claire, Katherine Raht, Carson Robison
15. Deliver the Goods - Bella Allen, Rosalie Allen, Lily May Ledford, Pete Seeger
16. Alec and Ben in the Army Camp - Geoff Bryant, Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives
17. When We All Go Marching In - Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry
18. Deer Forks Victory Garden - Helen Claire, Will Geer, Burl Ives, Margaret Johnson, Katherine Raht
19. Red Rocking Chair - Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger, Hally Wood
20. Uncle Boone Visits the Coys - Helen Claire, Will Geer, Katherine Raht
21. How Many Biscuits Can You Eat? - Bella Allen, Rosalie Allen, Will Geer, Lily May Ledford
22. Ben and Alec Call off the Feud - Geoff Bryant, Woody Guthrie
23. All of You Fascists Bound to Lose - Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry
24. Ben and Sary Meet Again - Geoff Bryant, Helen Claire
25. Turtle Dove - Burl Ives, Hally Wood
26. Ben Proposes to Sary - Geoff Bryant, Helen Claire
27. Smoky Mountain Gals - Bella Allen, Rosalie Allen, Lily May Ledford, Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith
28. Dance All Night With a Bottle in Your Hand - Woody Guthrie, Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith
29. Round and Round Hitler's Grave - Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger
30. Closing - Burl Ives
31. New Martins and the Coys - Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry
32. Martins and the Coys - Ted Weems
33. New Martins and the Coys - Burl Ives, Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger, Union Boys
34. East Virginia Blues - Lily May Ledford
35. Sugar Babe - Lily May Ledford, Pete Seeger
36. Gypsy Davy - Bella Allen, Rosalie Allen, Lily May Ledford
37. Girls in the Neighborhood - Bella Allen, Rosalie Allen, Lily May Ledford

The Ballad Operas - The Martins and The Coys (1944)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Fela Anikulapo Kuti & Afrika 70 – Yellow Fever (1976)

The entire mid-'70s found Fela Kuti and his Afrika 70 really honing in on their signature sound. "Yellow Fever", released in 1976, sits right up there with "No Agreement" (1977) and "Confusion" (1975) both in terms of quality of the groove and Fela's tact in putting out his message. 

"Yellow Fever" opens with a couple of measures of guitar and bass interplay that sets up the standard funk-jazz vamp that will prod the entire length. The horn solos are reaching, explosive, and (though the word is overused) funky. Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker have some tough competition here, as these guys are unwielding in their voice. After eight minutes of instrumental eminence, Fela makes his own voice heard and gets to the meat of his product. The words speak of the strange practice of Africans lightening their skin - this idea just doesn't jive with Fela's strong pan-African sentiments. As he gets progressively worked up, the choir responds to him exemplifying the idea and the vibe. Once Fela feels he's got his point across, he just lets the musicians have their fun until the end of this 15-minute rollick. 

An unbelievable and hard-hitting groove opens up "Na Poi" and slams in with absolute genius. This is actually another version of the same song from 1972. "Na Poi," banned by the Nigerian Broadcasting Company due to its sexual content, makes one wonder - what was really going on in the Kalakuta Republic (his walled-in residence)? The instrumentation of "Na Poi" that began as genius settles into the familiar and works itself out until, once again, Fela decides to get down and literally dirty. This is an entertaining piece, but it doesn't really hold up to the rest of his material. 


Tracklist:

Yellow Fever 15:24
Na Poi '75 13:25

Fela Anikulapo Kuti & Afrika 70 – Yellow Fever (1976)

(192 kbps, cover art included)

Asian Dub Foundation - Black White EP (1998)

With influences from locales as disparate as Jamaica and India, aural activists Asian Dub Foundation, have ensured their lyrics aren’t the only thing worth listening too. These self-described ‘MIDI warriors’ weave a rich tapestry of sounds infused with everything from dhol, drum machines and strings to indo-dub, Bengali folk, jumped-up punk, UK jungle and roughneck ragga.


While celebrated at festivals and revered in France, it wasn’t until 1999's Mercury Prize-nominated '‘Rafi’s Revenge'’ that the then 6-piece saw their status elevated from underground urbanistas to an in-everybody’s-face force to be reckoned with. As well as offering an alternate sound to a UK market saturated by boys with guitars, ADF exploded Asian stereotypes with their radically political and powerfully poetical compositions. Even after lead vocalist Deeder ‘Master D’ Zaman left in 2001, newcomers Aktarvator and Spex continued to sing from the same song-sheet; more than ‘just’ Asian-activists, ADF represent the globally disaffected that stridently seek change.

Tracklist:

01. Black White (Brendan Lynch Mix)
02. Naxalite (Underdog Mix)
03. Naxalite (Underdog Instrumental)
04. Black White (Maximum Roach Mix)

Asian Dub Foundation - Black White EP (1998)
(320 kbps, cover art incuded)

Hanns Eisler - Niemandsland - Kuhle Wampe - Die Jugend hat das Wort - Kleine Sinfonie (NOVA, 1973)

Today is Hanns Eislers 125th birthday!

Hanns Eisler was born in Leipzig on 6 July 1898 and went to school in Vienna. After two years as a common soldier in the first world war, he became a student of Arnold Schoenberg in 1919, dedicating his Sonata for Piano op. 1 to his teacher in 1923. He moved to Berlin 1925, where he composed for workers’ choruses and agitprop groups, collaborating with Brecht (Die Maßnahme, Die Mutter) from 1928. From 1933, Eisler initially resided in Paris, Svendborg, and London, before taking exile in America from 1938, where he created his most significant chamber music works (including Fourteen Ways to Describe Rain). Alongside music for eight Hollywood pictures, Eisler also composed his Hollywood Songbook to texts by Brecht, Hölderlin, and others while in California.

In 1948, Eisler returned to Europe, initially to Vienna and Prague and ultimately to East Berlin. Although he wrote the National Anthem of the GDR to a text by Johannes R. Becher, conflict arose with GDR cultural bureaucracy when he published his libretto Johann Faustus in late 1952. Up until 1955, Eisler predominantly worked in Vienna for the Scala Vienna and Vienna Film at Rosenhügel. In the GDR, he wrote works for the Berliner Ensemble and DEFA. In 1959, he witnessed the premiere of his Deutsche Symphonie, mostly composed while in exile, at the State Opera Unter den Linden. Hanns Eisler died in East Berlin on 6 September 1962.

This album features music composed by Hanns Eisler for the movies "Niemandsland" and "Kuhle Wampe", "Die Jugend hat das Wort / Magnitogorsk". It was recorded in 972 with the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, conducted by Heinz Rögner


Tracklist:

Suite Nr. 2 Op. 24 "Niemandsland"
A1 Vorspiel
A2 Capriccio über Jüdische Volkslieder
A3 Andante
A4 Marschtempo

 
Suite Nr. 3 Op. 26 "Kuhle Wampe"
A5 Präludium
A6 Intermezzo
A7 Rondo
A8 Die Fabriken

 
Suite Nr. 4 Op. 30 "Die Jugend Hat Das Wort"
B1 Marsch Der Jugend, Die Das Wort Hat
B2a Grave
B2b Pesante
B2c Allegro

 
Kleine Sinfonie Op. 29
B3 Thema Mit Variationen
B4 Allegro Assai
B5 Invention
B6 Allegro

Hanns Eisler - Niemandsland - Kuhle Wampe - Die Jugend hat das Wort - Kleine Sinfonie (NOVA, 1973)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Hanns Eisler - Kammermusik - Chamber Music (Berlin Classics)

Berlin Classics' "Hanns Eisler: Kammermusik" represents a gathering of chamber music from 1920 to 1947, recorded between 1965 and 1973 as part of a comprehensive recording of all of Eisler's music as undertaken by the East German Eterna label.

It ranges from the pithy, discordant but tonally concluded Scherzo for string trio of 1920 to the elegant and witty music Eisler composed for Charlie Chaplin's film "The Circus", a commission interrupted by Eisler's enforced departure from the United States courtesy of the House of Un-American Activities Committee. It also includes some lieder; Eisler's deliciously funny cycle "Newspaper Clippings" (1925-1927), sung with character and an innate understanding of Second Vienna School songcraft by soprano Roswitha Trexler. Eisler deliberately picked texts out of the daily newspaper in direct retaliation to the conservative, symbolist poets - such as Stefan George - favored by Eisler's colleagues in the Second Vienna School. As these texts are drawn from non-standard literary sources, it would have been wonderful if Berlin Classics could have included them -- even in German only - in the booklet, but they do not. Ditto for the deliberately silly Christian Morgenstern text used in Eisler's "Palmström", really not so much a formal song setting as an experimental twelve-tone composition with an added part for voice.

Among the purely instrumental pieces heard here are another string trio; a sonata for flute, oboe, and harp; a violin and piano sonata; a nonet; and the aforementioned Circus. Of these, the last-named work is decidedly the most ingratiating and immediate, but the others begin to grow on one as well. Even though Eisler's language in some of these pieces is technically atonal, he utilizes gestures and sequences that sound familiar and some passages can even be described as "catchy." The Eterna Eisler recording project had the support of the East German government - Eisler was considered a cultural figurehead in that regime, even though when he lived there, they provided Eisler little opportunity to work - and no expenses were spared in this project. The performances here are all top-drawer and the 1960s- and '70s-era recordings don't sound in the least dated.

All of these pieces included here also appear on the Hanns Eisler six-CD box set on Berlin Classics of his instrumental music, though not on the same disc, nor in the same sequence. If six CDs are simply too much and one only desires a sample of Eisler's chamber music, this is an excellent choice.

 Hanns Eisler - Kammermusik - Chamber Music (Berlin Classics)
(192 kbps, cover art included)
       

Hanns Eisler - Vokalsinfonik - Vocal Symphonic Music

One of the best of the Berlin Classics line of reissued East German recordings, "Hanns Eisler - Vocal Symphonic Music" includes the only recording available of Eisler's "Lenin Requiem" - a remarkable example of Eisler's communicative twelve-tone style set to a plain text by Bertolt Brecht. Also includes the striking "Pictures from the Guide to War" - a series of miniature compositions set to captions from Brecht's antiwar picture book "Kriegsfibel" - and Eisler's "farewell to music", his 1962 "Ernste Gesänge" (Serious Songs).

Hanns Eisler's "Lenin Requiem" has never been performed in the United States - and may never be. Eisler was nothing if not a contextual composer, and here the context is Eisler's identification with Lenin and the Russian Revolution. But this is no example of quasi-religious bombast in the style of "socialist realism" - Eisler uses advanced compositional techniques, including atonality, and for this reason the "Lenin Requiem" was never performed in the Soviet Union! It did reach the concert stage in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), where Eisler settled after his deportation from the United States as a suspected Communist subversive in the Hollywood film industry. This is one of the rare performances - a collector's item of enduring musical worth.
The "Lenin Requiem" is perhaps one of Eisler's most satisfying works: both the music and the text by Bertolt Brecht are free of hero worship (another reason the work was disliked by the Soviet cultural apparatus), but nevertheless communicate a sense of concentrated emotive power. It is also one of Eisler's more engaging attempts to write compositions that used the most progessive techniques of his day - including the 12-tone method of his teacher Arnold Schoenberg - but in a particularly simplified form so that the untrained ear would still hear the music as music.
 

Tracklist:

01 - 09 Lenin-Requiem
10 Glückliche Fahrt
11 - 15 Mitte des Jahrhunderts
16 - 18 Das Vorbild
19 - 25 Die Teppichweber von Kujan-Bulak
26 - 40 Bilder aus der Kriegsfibel
41 - 48 Ernste Gesange

Hanns Eisler - Vokalsinfonik - Vocal Symphonic Music
(256 kbps, front cover included)

VA - Kings Of African Music

Music of the African diaspora - jazz, r&b, rock´n´roll, reggae and salsa - has thrilled listeners for years, so it is only fitting that the new generation of musicians from the mother continent should be making brilliant and accessible music that is now appreciated by huge audiences worldwide.

This compilation showcases the new kings of African pop, such as the chart-topping Youssou N´Dour and Baaba Maal, as well as doffing a respectful cap towards its earlier innovators such as Franco and Manu Dibango. Irresistible tunes... it is imposible to be depressed listening to it.

Kings of African Music (front cover included)

Pete Seeger - God Bless The Grass (1966)

"God Bless The Grass", released in 1966, is one of Pete Seeger's strongest efforts for Columbia.

The focus of an environmental theme gives the quintessential troubadour rare inspiration. The songs create a statement about the beauty of nature and the foibles of petty politics. But the best thing about this work is it's a beautiful record, with fine songs and fine singing, that also makes you want to plant a tree and clean up a filthy river. It appeals to what is best in us, and that's pretty impressive.

The songs advocate awareness of the environment and appreciation for the splendor of nature. "My Dirty Stream" for example, supports an environmental organization Seeger formed in 1966 called Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (aka Great Hudson River Revival or Clearwater Festival) that sought to clean up the heavily polluted Hudson River. The liner notes include a message written by then Supreme Court Justice William Douglas.


Tracklist:

A1 The Power And The Glory 2:28
A2 Pretty Saro 3:03
A3 70 Miles 2:22
A4 The Faucets Are Dripping 2:00
A5 Cement Octopus 2:21
A6 God Bless The Grass 2:00
A7 The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood 4:00
A8 Coal Creek March 1:15
B1 The Girl I Left Behind 1:16
B2 I Have A Rabbit 1:56
B3 The People Are Scratching 3:38
B4 Coyote, My Little Brother 2:50
B5 Preserven El Parque Elysian 3:14
B6 My Dirty Streem 2:30
B7 Johnny Riley 0:52
B8 Barbara Allen 1:10
B9 From Way Up There 3:00
B10 My Land Is A Good Land 2:19

(plus three bonus tracks)

Pete Seeger - God Bless The Grass (1966)
(320 kbps, cover art incuded)

Ramona Zündloch - Musikalisches Kabarett 1921 - 1933

The German cabaret really began to blossom in the 1920s and 1930s, bringing forth all kinds of new cabaret artists such as Werner Finck at the Katakombe, Karl Valentin at the Wien-München, and Claire Waldorf.
Some of their texts were written by great literary figures such as Kurt Tucholsky, Erich Kästner, and Klaus Mann.

When the Nazi party came to power in 1933, they started to repress this intellectual criticism of the times. Cabaret in Germany was hit badly: In 1935 Werner Finck was briefly imprisoned and sent to a concentration camp; at the end of that year Kurt Tucholsky committed suicide; and nearly all German-speaking cabaret artists fled into exile in Switzerland, France, Scandinavia, or the USA. What remained in Germany was a state-controlled cabaret where jokes were told or the people were encouraged to keep their chins up.

Paul O'Montis was a Berlin cabaret celebrity, featured in several major revues and on dozens of recordings.
As a homosexual and a Jew, however, his career was ended after the Nazis came to power.
In 1933 he emigrated to Vienna, Austria. He fled to Prague after the "Anschluss" in 1938 (the German annexation of Austria).
When the Germans occupied western Czechoslovakia in 1939, O'Montis was arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, near the Berlin theaters where he formerly starred. He died there perhaps by his own hand in July 1940, at age 46.
This collection features his song "Ramona Zündloch" besides other great cabaret tracks by Curt Bois, Trude Hesterberg, Ernst Busch, Kurt Gerron and Claire Waldoff.
The cover shows us "Stilleben mit Maske und Fisch" by the great George Grosz from 1931.

Ramona Zündloch - Musikalisches Kabarett 1921 - 1933
(256 kbps, cover included, ca. 88 MB)

Frank Proffitt - Frank Proffitt sings Folk Songs (Folkways, 1962)

A native of Beech Mountain in the northwest corner of North Carolina, singer and banjo player Frank Proffitt's tremendous repertoire inspired musicians interested in old time music.

This great North Carolina old-time music artist and clawhammer banjo specialist was the source of the folk chestnut "Tom Dooley" as well as some 50 other traditional songs and banjo numbers. Listeners who cringe at the mention of "Tom Dooley" might want to toss their Kingston Trio discs on the fire and check out the Frank Proffitt version, known as "Tom Dula" in an attempt to spellcheck the evocative accent of the Northwest Carolinian. This artist is clearly in another universe than the ultra-clean folky scene of the '60s revival groups; anyone who has heard Proffitt sing about maggots "like a bowlful of rice moving," crawling through the skull of the "Missing Bride" will nod their heads in shocked, and perhaps slightly disgusted, agreement. Few fans of traditional music would be disgusted by the fact that the Kingston Trio and the big labels behind the group lost an expensive lawsuit because Proffitt's family had established a claim to the Dooley/Dula song copyright. Assuming it was "just" a traditional number, various music business birds - some vultures, some perhaps well-meaning little sparrows - claimed authorship for this ditty prior to the final legal reckoning, or "reck'nung" as Proffitt would have put it. This includes several giant record labels, several obscure European arrangers who included the song in Muzak collections, and the not-so-obscure musicologist Alan Lomax, who didn't confine his collections to the limited traditional folk music market. Even though Lomax never came within a mile of having anything to do with writing this song, it appears credited to him on piles of greatest-hits compilations. Speaking of which, good old Frank Proffitt would have felt like he had conquered the music world just to judge by the territory this song has nabbed. It shows up on collections of Irish folk, songs of the American West, hit parade rock, country & western, and love songs. It has been covered by the Nashville Brass, the Nashville Guitars, the Nashville Dobros, and the Nashville Harmonicas, just to demonstrate that with this song, it is possible to create a list without even leaving one locality. Sure, the song could have also made lists of the most scorned pieces of music of all time by the time the public got completely sick of it, yet several new cover versions were recorded in the late '90s. It all adds up to Dula doolah that wound up as a well-deserved Proffitt profit. One can just imagine all the money changing hands, an image that was perhaps in this great traditional performer's mind when he chose the hymn "Palms of Victory" to be played to him on his deathbed.

For better or worse, however, it was "Tom Dooley" that had the biggest impact on the life of an Appalachian who had had his share of hard knocks. When the song was hitting the pop music charts, he had left the area to find work and had ditched his guitar and music entirely. Due to the hit record, he resumed singing at the urging of his father, Wiley Proffitt, and his aunt, Nancy Prather. He traveled to festivals across the country, singing at the 1964 World's Fair.

Like some of his mountain music peers, Proffitt was also a skilled banjo maker and traditional players are particularly fond of his fretless model. Spurning the innovations of modern banjo-making, Proffitt carried on the early American traditions of utilizing materials such as walnut and groundhog hide, the latter surely adding authenticity to performances of ditties such as "Groundhog." He remained committed to the ideals of old-time banjo music until the end, at one point voicing this wonderful opinion about the flashy technical playing of bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs: "I'd like to learn to play like that, and then not do it." His banjo business, the family farm purchased with the Kingston Trio's money, and the art of performing old-time music itself was passed down the line to one of his sons, Frank Proffitt Jr., who released the album Kickin' Up Dust on the Cloudlands label.

This collection features local ballads, and its liner notes contain copious quotations and anecdotes from Proffitt.

Tracklist:
Beaver Dam Road
Cindy
Bo Lamkin
Julie Jenkins
George Collins
Ninety and Nine
Down in the Valley
Baby-O
Old Abe
Poor Ellen Smith
Dan Doo
John Hardy
Groundhog
Johnson Boys

Frank Proffitt - Sings Folk Songs (1962)

(256 kbps, cover art included)

Dave Van Ronk And The Hudson Dusters - Same (1967)

The Hudson Dusters was a band put together by legendary folksinger Dave Van Ronk in a short-lived attempt to buy into the folk-rock craze that hit the States in the mid-sixties. Though Van Ronk was one of the founding fathers of the original Greenwich Village revival, he had never really conformed to any of the stereotypes which were so quick to develop among his contemporaries. Thus, the music which developed out his “going electric” was far more eccentric than most people’s. This was no attempt to simply copycat (and thus capitalize on) Dylan’s new aesthetics, this was an artist expanding his sonic palate on his own terms.

"Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters", like any Van Ronk record, is an eclectic experience. Not only does the band draw from folk, blues, jazz and rock and roll traditions, but Van Ronk’s unique sense of humor and unmistakable whiskey-and-tobacco voice lend the music a surreal edge. In fact, I’d argue that the convoluted middle-class satire of “Mister Middle” almost lands the proceedings in Mothers of Invention territory. Though neither it nor “Keep Off The Grass” should be considered the era’s sharpest attempts at social commentary, the tongue-in-cheek approach and adventurous musical arrangements make them more entertaining than most such material.

I have to admit that I’ve never been wild about Joni Mitchell, but Dave Van Ronk’s back-to-back takes on “Chelsea Morning” and “Both Sides Now” are surprisingly successful. This is one of those instances where you wouldn’t expect the artist and the material to click, but somehow the deadpan earthiness of the interpreter lends new angles to what are otherwise rather spacey and introverted lyrics. Apparently Mitchell herself praised Van Ronk’s recording of “Both Sides Now” as being definitive, but I’ll leave that one up to the reader to decide.

The Hudson Dusters also run through a few numbers previously recorded by Van Ronk on his acoustic records, such as the Reverend Gary Davis’ “Cocaine Blues” – which has always been something of a signature song for the singer – and “Dink’s Song,” in which subtle strings underscore Van Ronk’s rough-yet-tender vocal performance. The goofy show tune “Swinging On A Star” would also become a Van Ronk standard in the years to come, though my own reaction to this one is lukewarm at best. I much prefer their psychedelic garage take on Dallas Frazier’s old rock and roll chestnut “Alley Oop” with it’s odd, echoplexed vocal chorus.

With a few notable exceptions, the majority of Van Ronk’s 1960s recordings remain unreleased or out-of-print on compact disc, and unfortunately this is one of the former. Don’t let this unfortunate detail deter you, though; "Hudson Dusters" may not be the definitive statement from Dave Van Ronk (he tended to stick to the acoustic guitar for a reason), but as a rare electric anomaly in his catalog, it is definitely worth checking out.  (from: http://therisingstorm.net)

The sound on this album is reminiscent of the New York folk-rock band The Blues Project. It begins with a ragged rendition of The Hollywood Argyles' "Alley Oop" and ranges from that doo wop chestnut to Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning and Clouds" to "Romping Through the Swamp." More familiar Van Ronk territory is covered, also with reprise performances of "Dink's Song" and "Cocaine." Dave Van Ronk always brings his enthusiastic roar to his material and makes it his own. His rendition of "Swing on a Star" is but one example. The Hudson Dusters seem to be a combination electric jugband, folk orchestra and bubblegum band, as on "Mr. Middle." A strange collection.



Tracklist:

A1 Alley Oop 3:38
A2 Head Inspector 2:06
A3 Swing On A Star 2:37
A4 Mr. Middle 3:02
A5 Chelsea Morning 2:33
A6 Clouds (From Both Sides Now) 4:37
B1 Keep Off The Grass 2:08
B2 Dink's Song 3:34
B3 New Dreams 2:22
B4 Cocaine 4:58
B5 Romping Through The Swamp 1:58

Dave Van Ronk And The Hudson Dusters - Same (1967)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

X-Ray Spex‎– Live At The Roxy Club

Say what you like about X Ray Spex, but they never let their audience off easily. Even at the peak of their shortlived success, London's Hammersmith Odeon just two years after scratching a living at the nearby Man In The Moon, the band blistered through a set of such intensity that its absolute brevity really didn't sink in until you tried to remember where the rest of the evening went. Track back to the band's infancy, and they made the Ramones sound like a tortoise race.

"Live At The Roxy" is as brutal as the band's reputation suggests. Recorded at the same show as the band's contribution to the 1977 Live At The Roxy various artists album, it opens and closes with hideously discordant versions of the intent-laden "Oh Bondage! Up Yours", a cacophonic saxophone defying the punk wisdom that the instrument had no place in the new discipline, while the remainder of the band alternately staggers and swaggers through a riff so monotonal that Poly Styrene herself sounds tuneful.

Not once does the energy level dip, with versions of "Identity" and "Let's Submerge" already hinting at the shrieking magnificence of their eventual studio incarnations. And hindsight, battered by two decades worth of noise bands that make X Ray Spex sound symphonic, readily adjusts to the crunchy caterwauling that was the infant group's stock in trade. But the audience response - bothered, bewildered and bemused - reminds you just how far off the beaten track X Ray Spex once marched, and 25 minutes seems to stretch out to an eternity. What a wonderful record this is!

Tracklist:

Oh Bondage! Up Yours! 2:42
Identity 2:25
Let's Submerge 3:05
Plastic Bag 4:10
I Live Off You 2:18
I Am A Cliche 1:48
I Can't Do Anything 2:59
Oh Bondage! Up Yours! 2:52

X-Ray Spex‎– Live At The Roxy Club                                   

(256 kbps, cover art included)

Rip Rig + Panic ‎– I Am Cold (1982)

Named after a terrific '60s jazz album by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, "Rip Rig + Panic" answered the question: what happens when avant-garde post-punks collide head-long with a pop/soul singer and play a mutated form of jazz? A loosely knit collection of ex-Pop Group members (Gareth Sager and Bruce Smith) and young stars-to-be (Neneh Cherry), Rip, Rig & Panic formed in 1980 as quintessential avant-garde bohemians. They eschewed pop for a more primal, percussive foundation (slightly reggae, slightly Afro-pop) upon which was layered free jazz blowing and honking, soulful singing, and Cecil Taylor-inspired piano mania. But, as intense as this music was, it wasn't played with a dry academic seriousness; quite the contrary, Rip Rig + Panic were all about fun and playfulness. Even the song titles ("Constant Drudgery Is Harmful to Soul, Spirit & Health" and "Those Eskimo Women Speak Frankly") sounded more like surreal announcements than they did traditional, catchy song titles.

Arguably the most likable bunch of avant-garde types ever to record music, Rip Rig + Panic called it a day after three mostly wonderful, if somewhat inconsistent records. If your taste in music, even fringe music, is such that a strong melodic focus is necessary, than perhaps this won't be your cup of tea. However, if you don't mind a little chaos with your funk, then give this heady mix a chance; it will work its way into your heart, head, and feet. As for the members, Bruce Smith joined Public Image Ltd. for a spell, and Neneh Cherry became a huge pop star (deservedly so) with her first solo record.       

"I Am Cold" is the second studio album by Rip Rig + Panic, released in 18 June 1982. With additional help from ex-Slits singer Ari Upp and Cherry's stepfather, noted jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, "I Am Cold" is a slightly more mature work, but the exuberance and all-out craziness that marked their debut is here in full force. A little rambling, but an approach to music unlike one you've heard before.

Tracklist:

North Side:
Hunger (The Ocean Roars It Bites)	3:00
Epi Epi Arp Woosh!	4:00
Another Tampon Up The Arse Of Humanity	4:00
Misa Luba Lone Wolf	3:06
East Side:
Storm The Reality Asylum	4:00
Here Gathers Nameless Energy (Volcanoes Covered By Snow)	4:20
A Dog's Secret	1:30
Liars Shape Up Or Ship Out	2:00
South Side:
Warm; To The If In Life	4:30
Nurse Increase The Sedatives (The Torment's No Better)	4:15
Take A Don Key To Mystery	4:00
West Side:
Tax Sex	5:00
Subversive Wisdom	5:00
Fire Eyes Joyful Silent Tears	4:10

Rip Rig + Panic ‎– I Am Cold (1982)
(192 kbps, cover art included)
     

Keith Hudson - The Black Morphologist Of Reggae (1983)

Ominously known as "The Dark Prince of Reggae," Keith Hudson was born into a musical family in Kingston, Jamaica in 1946. His musical education began as Hudson worked as a sort of roadie for Skatalite and Jamaican trombone king Don Drummond.

By age 21, Hudson, who had been trained as a dentist, sunk his earnings into his own record label, Inbidimts, and had a hit with Ken Boothe's recording of "Old Fashioned Way." Not long after this chart success, the suddenly hot Hudson was producing some of the biggest names (and soon-to-be biggest names) in reggae - John Holt, Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis, and the great toasters U-Roy and Dennis Alcapone, all of whom benefited from what would be Hudson's trademark production style: groove-centered, bass/drum-dominated, lean and mean stripped-down riddims.

By the mid-'70s, Hudson began releasing more solo work, hitting paydirt from the start with his 1974 debut, "Entering the Dragon" and his intense second record, "Flesh of My Skin", an ominous, dark record that earned Hudson his title as reggae's "Dark Prince." In 1976, Hudson relocated to New York City and worked pretty much nonstop, producing as well as recording solo records up until 1982. He succumbed to lung cancer in 1984, at age 38, robbing reggae of one its greatest, most adventurous, and unhearalded producers and performers.                

"The Black Morphologist Of Reggae" is the 1983 reissue of album "From One Extreme To Another" (1979). "Nuh Skin Up Dub" (1979) features dub versions of this album.
Big up to the original uploader!

Tracklist:

A1		Anger
A2		No Skinup
A3		Central Kingston
A4		It's Allright
A5		Desiree
B1		(Dreadful) Words
B2		They Don't Hurt
B3		(Bad Things) You Teach Me
B4		One Extreme To Another
B5		Buzzing Bee

Keith Hudson - The Black Morphologist Of Reggae (1983)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Hanns Eisler - Orchestral Music, Vol. 2 - Kleine Sinfonie / 5 Orchestral Pieces / Scherzo / Rhapsodie / Winterschlacht-Suite / Wilhelm Tell

Originally posted in May 2015:

The Second World War ended in Europe on the 8th of May 1945 with the capitulation of the Wehrmacht. Six years of war had cost the lives of millions of victims and brought a previously unknown degree of destruction.

War and occupation, crimes, expulsions and forced resettlement had left a lasting mark on the countries and populations. The consequences can still be felt on a political, social and individual level. Today’s Europe cannot be understood without knowledge of the events of the war as well as the phase that followed the war and the end of the Nazi terror.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the German capitulation, we will do some postings in the next days related to these events.



We´re starting with an album featuring music by Hanns Eisler, including the "Winterschlacht Suite", referring to the battle of Moscow, 1941/42, a turning point of the Second World War.

"WINTERSCHLACHT UM MOSKAU 1941

Rotarmisten!
Das war die Division,
Die als erste Einzug halten sollte.
In Moskau. Sie ist nicht mehr.
Für Feinde führt kein Weg nach Moskau.
Den Freunden aber öffnen wir das Herz.
Für unsere Freiheit schlugen wir die Schlacht,
Und haben eine Schlacht zugleich geschlagen
Für aller Völker Freiheit.
Nicht zuletzt auch für die deine, Deutschland.
Rotarmisten!
Noch steht der Feind im Land
Noch ist er nicht zu Fall gebracht.
Wir stürmen weiter vor
Noch heute nacht!"
-  Johannes R. Becher

Eislers stage music to Johannes R. Becher's piece "Die Winterschlacht" (Winter battle) had been
written as “Deutsche Tragodie” (German tragedy) as early as 1941 in Soviet exile. The play is set around the Battle of Moscow (1941-42) and follows Johannes Hörder, a middle-class soldier whose experiences of Nazi aggression finally drive him to disobey a barbaric order to bury pro-Soviet partisans alive and to shoot himself dead instead.
The score dates from 1954. Its first performance took place at the Berlin Ensemble on January 12, 1955.

The ninepart "Winterschlacht‐Suite" comprises the complete stage music score, compiled for concert performance. The prelude, an almost Handelian funeral music for strings, is identical to the song,
"Horatio's Monologue", written by Eisler to a passage from Shakespeare's Hamlet. This song was probably not composed until the spring of 1956, and it may be assumed that, while composing the “prelude” for the "Winterschlacht", Eisler had these verses in mind, without actually setting them literally; a case of the song subsequently having been extracted from the instrumental composition.

The confrontation with Hitler's fascism, with the barbarity of war, with “military honour” and doubt in the sense of senseless dying, with the collapse of the Third Reich and with the question as to the future of Germany ‐all these form the thematic substance of the piece, “formulated” within a highly contradictory process of which the coming to terms with the historical past is also a part. How Eisler perceived his position as composer was to become quite clear during the production of the piece, with Brecht directing.

Referring to the “closing music”, Manfred Wekwerth reported the following: “In Becher's Winterschlacht, the directors of the Berlin Ensemble had planned to portray the division fleeing in panic... Eisler appeared at the rehearsal and was quite hurtful in his decision, saying it reminded him of his period of soldiering for the old Kaiser Franz Joseph... At one of the following rehearsals he
came with a sheaf of manuscript and demanded a large orchestra... Brecht thought the idea of smuggling violins into the theatre quite 'remarkable'... A while later, Eisler played us the tape and greatly amazed. He had deleted all the words from the final scene ‐ the flight. What he now wanted was a 'sketchy pantomime of a retreat, reminiscent of Napoleon's from Russia', and his musical depiction of this retreat contained deep sorrow. That was what made the matter so remarkable. 'Why sorrow?' we asked. 'They are Germans ‐ that is sad'. In the second half, the music burst out in wild
triumph, as Beethoven might have used it to signify a Victory. 'But that is a defeat, surely? we blurted out, strangely moved. 'For whom?' demurred Eisler ... Both sorrow and triumph were in the music. Through it ‐ and with only a handful of actors ‐ the scene imparted something of the grotesque social contradiction being represented.”

The Winterschlacht‐Suite is a tonal composition. If the completely rationalized complexity of the serial concert music of the Fifties in West Germany ‐ the concept of “modern” music, in which
everything has become absolute and esoteric ‐ were used as the criterion, then the work would be denigrated as conservative. But in its function on the stage, as “applied music”, and in the light of
Eisler's orientation toward simplification and a broad‐based listenership, it made very good sense.

Hanns Eisler - Orchestral Music, Vol. 2 - Kleine Sinfonie / 5 Orchestral Pieces / Scherzo / Rhapsodie / Winterschlacht-Suite / Wilhelm Tell
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Modena City Ramblers – Terra E Libertà

The Modena City Ramblers were formed in 1991, a casual musical group that came together to entertain friends and family playing Irish folk music. Meeting up to jam more and more often, the Ramblers began to write their own tunes, inspired by popular Celtic-influenced bands like the Pogues and the Waterboys. 

Two years after their formation, the band recorded their first demo tape called Combat Folk. Featuring their punk/Irish folk songs and Italian resistance ballads, the demo sold more than 3000 copies, earning the Ramblers grassroots recognition all over Italy. Picked up by the independent label Helter Skelter, the band's debut album, Riportando Tutto a Casa was released in 1994. Eventually distributed by Mercury, the disc went on to sell an impressive 185,000 copies. In the years that followed, Modena City Ramblers earned a reputation as a powerful live act, performing throughout Europe in collaboration with artists such as the Chieftains and Irish rock vocalist Bob Geldof. 

Their sophomore effort, La Grande Famiglia, experienced similar success to its predecessor, followed by Terra e Liberta which ushered in an era of international attention during which the Ramblers performed in nations such as Bolivia, Spain, Cuba and more. Known for their progressive politics, the band aligned itself with musicians of similar values such as Manu Chao, performing at festivals like the Independent Days Festival in Bologna and the Awesome Africa Festival in South Africa. 

Their 2002 production Radio Rebelde garnered them invitations to perform in locations near and far, including Algeria, the Czech Republic, Amsterdam and Mexico. The band's 2004 album Viva la Vida! Viva la Muerte! (a quote from Zapatista leaders) found its way to Italian Top Ten charts, and opened doors for a 120 city tour. The Modena City Ramblers have become a staple of both the Italian rock scene and the leftist musical circuit alike.


Tracklist:

1 Macondo Express 3:21
2 Il Ritorno Di Paddy Garcia 3:53
3 Il Ballo Di Aureliano 4:04
4 Remedios La Bella 3:53
5 Radio Tindouf 4:54
6 Marcia Balcanica 2:42
7 Danza Infernale 3:42
8 Qualche Splendido Giorno 3:50
9 Transamerika 3:25
10 Lettera Dal Fronte 2:38
11 L'Ultima Mano 4:11
12 Cuore Blindato 2:38
13 Don Chisciotte 3:15
14 Cent'Anni Di Solitudine 3:31
15 L'Amore Ai Tempi Del Caos 3:19


Modena City Ramblers – Terra E Libertà  

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Country Joe & The Fish - Here We Are Again (1969)

"Here We Are Again" is the fourth album by the psychedelic rock band Country Joe and the Fish. It was released in 1969 with the US catalog number Vanguard VSD 79299. It peaked on the Billboard 200 at number 48, and stayed on the charts for eleven weeks. Only Country Joe McDonald and Melton remained from the original lineup that began breaking up since the previous album. The past members would appear as guest musicians however.

The songs were composed by Country Joe McDonald and Barry Melton. In addition to "Country Joe" McDonald (vocals, guitar) and Barry "The Fish" Melton (lead guitar, vocals), the founding members of the band—Gary "Chicken" Hirsh on drums and David Bennett Cohen on Hammond organ, piano and guitar—also played on the recording. The remaining instruments were played by Mark Ryan and President Flyer. For the first time ever, some titles were accompanied by string and brass, which gave the album a somewhat poppier character. The tracks "I'll Survive" and "Maria" were recorded at Vanguard Studios in 23rd Street, New York. The remaining compositions were recorded at Pacific High Studios in San Francisco.

A single from the album, "Here I Go Again"/"Baby, You're Driving Me Crazy", was released, but it did not place in the charts.

Though there would be one more new album in 1970 ("C J Fish"), Country Joe & the Fish no longer existed as anything other than a name; a fact that would be underlined in December 1969 by the simultaneous releases of "Greatest Hits" and McDonald's solo album, "Thinking of Woody Guthrie".

Tracklist:

A1Here I Go Again3:24

A2Donovan's Reef4:18

A3It's So Nice To Have Love3:25

A4Baby, You're Driving Me Crazy2:43

A5Crystal Blues6:18

B1For No Reason3:55

B2I'll Survive2:28

B3Maria3:30

B4My Girl2:16

B5Doctor Of Electricity3:58

Country Joe & The Fish - Here We Are Again (1969)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Jack Kerouac & Steve Allen - Poetry for the Beat Generation (1959)

"Poetry for the Beat Generation" marked Jack Kerouac's debut as a recording artist. Strangely enough, it was the by-product of a disastrous first show by Kerouac in an engagement at the Village Vanguard during December of 1957.

For the second performance, Kerouac's friend Steve Allen provided the accompaniment at the piano, with results so impressive that it would lead Kerouac to a short but dazzling career as a recording artist. The first result was this album, which came at the suggestion of either Allen or his friend, producer Bob Thiele, who was working for Dot Records at the time. The record was cut in a single session and a single take for each piece.

Allen's graceful piano opens the recording and Kerouac comes in, reading "October in the Railroad Earth" for seven minutes, off of a roll of paper in front of him. Kerouac's reading are in a class by themselves, and separate from Allen - the two performances co-exist and weave together without ever really joining, and the result is a peculiar form of jazz; Kerouac did his thing, Allen did his, and the result was a spellbinding performance, and it was musical, despite Kerouac's seeming monotone reading, which never slowed or otherwise interacted with Allen's piano - his voice dances to its own beat, with Allen embellishing and working around him; in the process, you get visions of various facets of Kerouac's work and personality, in extended pieces such as "October in the Railroad Earth" and short, piercing brilliant exclamations such as "Deadbelly" and "Charlie Parker."

The resulting album, cut in March of 1958, was one of the crowning achievements in recording of the 1950s. But it so appalled Randy Wood, the president of Dot Records, with its meandering narrative and daring language and subject matter, that the release was canceled, with Wood denouncing the recording in the trade papers as tasteless and questionable. Somewhere over 100 promotional copies of the Dot album (catalog number 3154) had gotten out to disc jockeys and reviewers, however, thus making it one of the rarest LPs in the label's entire history. Thiele finally left the company over the dispute and he reclaimed the master tape - it was on the Hanover label, formed with Allen (who was virtually a pop-culture institution at the time), that "Poetry for the Beat Generation" finally reached the public in June of 1959. It's still worth a listen now every bit as much as it was in 1959, and perhaps even more so.       

Tracklist

A1	October In The Railroad Earth	7:09
A2	Deadbelly	1:05
A3	Charlie Parker	3:45
A4	The Sounds Of The Universe Coming In My Window	3:17
A5	One Mother	0:49
A6	Goofing At The Table	1:45
A7	Bowery Blues	3:56
B1	Abraham	1:17
B2	Dave Brubeck	0:31
B3	I Had A Slouch Hat Too One Time	6:12
B4	The Wheel Of The Quivering Meat Conception	1:55
B5	McDougal Street Blues	3:23
B6	The Moon Her Majesty	1:36
B7	I'd Rather Be Thin Than Famous	0:37

Jack Kerouac & Steve Allen - Poetry for the Beat Generation (1959)  
(128 kbps, cover art included)

Nancy Dupree - Ghetto Reality (Folkways, 1970, vinyl rip)

“…Nancy Dupree’s 1969 album Ghetto Reality, essentially an inner city version of the Langley Schools Music Project, but with the kids writing their own songs rather than covering contemporary pop hits.” – Mike McGonigal

In 1969 Nancy Dupree was running an after school music program in Rochester, New York. She helped the kids in the program write songs that related to there own experiences and feelings. The results are presented on this LP, and they are really something else. There are black power anthems, odes to stealing candy, a beautiful tribute to James Brown and an even more beautiful tribute to Martin Luther King. Not a novelty record with kids being goofy but rather a heartfelt work of art, Nancy Dupree sensitively accompanying the kids singing on piano. A real classic.
Nancy Dupree initially found her elementary school music students in Rochester, NY resistant to participation in class.

Once she dropped the standard literature (which asked "Mr. Bear" to "come and") and began composing music that bore relevancy to contemporary society and to their very tuned-in and grownup interests, she found they immediately took to performing.

Her songs addressed, for example, the contributions icons James Brown and Jelly Roll Morton (aka "Docta King") made to society, the intangible assets each child naturally possessed ("What do I have? Guts...heart...and soul") and fighting for civil rights ("I want my freedom; I want it now"). Not only did singing about meaningful issues in real musical styles reveal the immense talents the students had, but it gave all a critical lesson in empowerment.


Tracks:

1 What Do I Have? 3:01
2 James Brown 2:48
3 Bag Snatchin' 2:46
4 Docta King 5:35
5 Virgin Mary 3:00
6 I Want 3:34
7 Frankenstein 0:55
8 Cold 2:16
9 Jingle Bells 3:48
10 Call Baby Jesus 4:12

Nancy Dupree - Ghetto Reality (1970)
(320 kbsp, front cover included)

Elizabeth Cotten - Shake Sugaree

Elizabeth Cotten was a national treasure. She didn't begin recording until she was 66 years old (in 1958), but a simple song she had written when she was 11, "Freight Train," became a staple of the folk revival in the 1960s, and her frequent concerts and appearances on the folk circuit were legendary for their unassuming grace and wisdom, not to mention her unique guitar skills.

Left-handed, Cotten played her guitars and banjos upside down and backward, and her picking style gave the bass strings a clear sound while working muted harmonics on the treble strings, all of which resulted in an idiosyncratic guitar style that, coupled with her frequent open tunings, gave her playing a special singularity. Her vocals were often fragile-sounding and shaky, but so full of a natural clarity and joy that it's hard to imagine her singing any other way, and what might have been a weakness only added to her ability to connect with audiences.

This collection from Smithsonian Folkways is a revised reissue of her second LP, which originally appeared in 1965, with ten previously unreleased tracks added. The title cut, "Shake Sugaree," has had almost as long a life as "Freight Train," and has been covered by the likes of the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan in concert. Cotten's version is sung in a lovely, seemingly effortless fashion by her great grandchild, Brenda Evans (then only 12 years old), with Cotten providing the guitar lines, and the song itself is a whimsical set of half-riddles intended as a lullaby. Many of these tracks are brief guitar instrumentals, what Mike Seeger calls "parlor ragtime" in his liner notes, and the pair of instrumental church pieces that close the disc, "Till We Meet Again" and "When the Train Comes Along," are particularly striking. Other highlights include "Untitled/Georgie Buck," which begins with an improvised bit of banjo-style guitar picking before morphing into "Georgie Buck," a well-known Appalachian banjo and fiddle tune. The goofy "Shoot That Buffalo," which Cotten plays on banjo, accelerates as it unwinds, and it is easy to imagine children being delighted by its kinetic energy and playful lyrics. The haunting banjo song "Reuben," here played on guitar in open D tuning, is another highlight. Libba Cotten's fans are loyal and enduring and will be delighted with this expanded edition of "Shake Sugaree". Listeners new to Cotten may want to start with her first Smithsonian Folkways album, "Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes", or even 1984's "Live!" (which earned Cotten a Grammy Award in 1985, when she was 90 years old), or better yet, pick up all three, making a sort of collected works. She's that special.   

Elizabeth Cotten - Shake Sugaree
(192 kbps, cover art included)