Larry Saunders & Others - Free Angela (1973)

Angela Davis is a radical black activist, author, communist and academic.

She emerged as a nationally prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s, as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement despite never being an official member of the party.

She studied as a doctoral candidate at the University of California, San Diego, under the Marxist professor and 'One Dimensional Man' (1964) author Herbert Marcuse.
Davis joined the Communist Party in 1968, and like many Blacks during the late 1960s, suffered discrimination for her personal political beliefs and commitment to revolutionary ideals. Despite her qualifications and excellent teaching record, the California Board of Regents refused to renew her appointment as a philosophy lecturer in 1970.

Davis worked to free the Soledad (Prison) Brothers, African-American prisoners held in California during the late 1960s. She befriended George Jackson, one of the prisoners. On August 7, 1970, during an abortive escape attempt from Marin County's Hall of Justice, the trial judge and three people were killed, including George Jackson's brother Jonathan. Davis was implicated when police claimed that the guns used had been registered in her name.
Davis fled and was consequently listed on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted list, sparking one of the most intensive manhunts in recent American history. California Governor Ronald Reagan publicly vowed that Davis would never teach in that state again. In August 1970 she was captured & imprisoned in New York City but was freed eighteen months later, cleared of all charges in 1972 by an all white jury. Her co-defendant and sole-survivor of the Marin Courthouse Rebellion, Ruchell Magee, still remains in prison.

Prisoner rights have been among her continuing interests; she is the founder of Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial complex. She is a retired professor with the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is the former director of the university's Feminist Studies department.

Her research interests are in feminism, African-American studies, critical theory, Marxism, popular music, social consciousness, and the philosophy and history of punishment and prisons.

"Free Angela" is an incredibly righteous bit of soul – one of the few albums ever cut by 70s mellow soul genius Larry Saunders, and an amazing tribute to Angela Davis! Larry's got a fantastic voice – one that we'd rank right up there with Donny Hathaway or Marvin Gaye, and which is recorded here with sublimely spare arrangements that have a slight southern soul touch, but which are more in the east coast indie mode in which he often worked. There's other artists in the mix, too – a few others brought together by August Moon/Mr Wiggles for the project – singing and playing some amazing work that makes the whole thing a lost righteous soul treasure. The whole album's amazing – almost like finding a part 2 to What's Going On, or listening into what Otis Redding might have sounded like, had he made it to the 70s. Titles include Saunders singing "Free Angela", "This World", and "Where Did Peace Go" – and other cuts include "Nobody Knows" by Dickie Wonder, "I Can Be" by Brother Love, "Old Uncle Tom Is Dead" by Nitroglycerine, "Baby Can't You See" by Tyrone Thomas, and "Geraldine Jones" by Soul Encyclopedia.

Tracklist:

A1	Larry Saunders, The Prophet Of Soul* –	Free Angela
A2	Larry Saunders, The Prophet Of Soul* –	This World
A3	Nitroglycerine–	Old Uncle Tom Is Dead
A4	Larry Saunders, The Prophet Of Soul* –	Where Did Peace Go?
B1	Dickie Wonder–	Nobody Knows
B2	Brother Love	I Can Be
B3	Tyrone Thomas–	Baby Can't You See
B4	Judd Watkins–	Paradise
B5	Soul Encyclopedia–	Geraldine Jones

Larry Saunders & Others - Free Angela
(320 kbps, cover art included)

GDR Subculture, Vol.1: Kleeblatt No. 23 - Die anderen Bands (Amiga, 1988)

Originally posted in September 2014:

This year the official Germany will celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall, which lead to it´s reunification.

German unity has been a shaky marriage. That may seem like a surprise to people outside Germany. But opinion polls inside Germany show widespread discontent, especially in the formerly Communist east. Chancellor Angela Merkel has called it a success and other political leaders will be singing the praises of unification in their lofty speeches and German media interviews in the next months. But for many in the east, like straight-talking Brandenburg  ex-premier Matthias Platzeck, German unification in 1990 was not a merger of equals but instead an “Anschluss” (annexation) with West Germany taking over East Germany.

Many easterners have endured change, hardship, upheaval and various negative developments – including sometimes being evicted from their houses that people who fled during the Cold War returned to reclaim. Free speech and freedom to travel have been great but the price has been high: millions lost their jobs, their homes as well as the fabric of their society and their way of life. Many are still struggling to come to terms with life in reunited Germany – and are understandably nostalgic about life in East Germany, to the great irritation of western Germans who have helped pay 1.6 trillion euros to rebuild the east.

Reasons for their disenchantment can be seen everywhere: The eastern population has shrunk by about 2 million, unemployment soared, young people are moving away in droves and what was one of the Eastern Bloc’ leading industrial nations is now largely devoid of industry. Did it all have to happen like that?

The so called "Wende" was not only the end of the narrow minded pseudo-communist dictatorship, but was at the same time the beginning of the end of the lion´s share of the east german subculture and mainstream music scene.

So we will take this anniversary as a chance to bring back some very interesting music to our mind and ears. We will post some compilations featuring music that was part of the musical subculture in the last years of the DDR and during the time of change.

The "Kleeblatt" compilations were an Amiga forum for young, unknown bands. Volume 23 features some bands from the punk and indie rock scene.

Tracklist:

Side1:
Feeling B - Artig
Feeling B - Alles ist dufte
Feeling B - Geh zurück in dein Buch
Hard Pop - Grau
Hard Pop - Tote Ballerina
Hard Pop - Angst vom Mund

Side 2:
Sandow - Wir
Sandow - Fliegen
Sandow - Anders
WK13 - P2
WK13 - Asphalt
WK13 - Sonntag

Kleeblatt No. 23 - Die anderen Bands
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Eric Burdon & Jimmy Witherspoon - Gulity! (1971)

Guilty! (called "Black & White Blues" in re-releases) is a 1971 album by Eric Burdon and Jimmy Witherspoon. It was the first release by Burdon after he left his band War.

In September 1970, Jimi Hendrix died after a jam session with Eric Burdon & War at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. After that, Burdon often broke down on stage. On 5 February 1971 he finally left the band in the middle of their European tour, allegedly due to exhaustion. After returning home and taking time off, the bulk of the album was recorded in summer with Witherspoon. The backing band, called Tovarish, consisted mainly of members from War.

"Going Down Slow" was recorded live in May 1971 in the San Quentin State Prison, with backing from Ike White and the San Quentin Prison Band. "Home Dream" was taken from Eric Burdon & War's back catalog; the song's title refers to the John Phillips Studios in Los Angeles. "Soledad" was released as a single. It was inspired by Burdon's experience driving down the freeway nearby Soledad State Prison. "There were blue skies and I was feeling good -- maybe I was high", he recounted. "Then I saw all that barbed wire and walls. I knew nothing about Angela Davis or the Soledad Brothers, but that doesn't matter. I just stopped at the nearest cafe and wrote the way it hit me, the way I felt." He further explained the song as a reflection of his horror, that "anyone can be driving down the freeway, listening to their stereo tapes, smoking dope and be free when, on the other side of the wire, there are guys who are being beaten up and treated like animals for doing the same thing".

"Guilty!" was released in 1971 to poor sales. In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave it a B-plus grade and found it "good in the casual dumb Burdon way, with sloppy interpretation balanced out by brilliant song choice (Chuck Berry's 'Have Mercy, Judge'), sloppy arrangements saved by a brilliant young guitarist (John Sterling)."

Review by NN:

"This album originally came out in 1971 on Far Out Productions, an MGM label. It was titled "Guilty". Eric Burdon of "The Animals" fame teamed up with the blues legend Jimmy Witherspoon. When I first heard this in 1971 I was blown away, and it's still knocking me out. My favorite song is "Have Mercy Judge". I was probably under the influence at the time but damn was that song powerful. Well I haven't been under the influence since that time period and you know what? That song still kicks my .... The price of the cd is worth it for just that one song, but of course there is so much good music here. The band is good and the two blues men compliment each other nicely on vocals. If you like Eric, like I like Eric, you'll say, oh my god, Have Mercy on me Eric I can't stand it if it gets any better. Buy this cd and you'll be driving to work in the morning singing, "Have mercy, I'm in a world of trouble, being held by the Highway Patrol"."


Tracklist:

1 I've Been Driftin' / Once Upon A Time 3:47

2 Steam Roller 4:23

3 The Laws Must Change 4:55

4 Have Mercy Judge 3:47

5 Going Down Slow 6:24

6 Soledad5:077Home Dream 7:18

8 Headin' For Home 4:33

9 The Time Has Come 5:55

Eric Burdon & Jimmy Witherspoon - Gulity! (1971)

(320 kbps, cover art included)