Oktober - Uhrsprung (Trikont, 1976)

Oktober was a polit-rock band in the uniquely German tradition, akin to Floh De Cologne, Lokomotive Kreuzberg, Checkpoint Charlie, et al., but with a larger sound, male and female vocals, and a progressive edge often close to Grobschnitt.

Excellent German group, propably from Hamburg, associated with the political Rock movement of the country, but structurally much closer to Progressive Rock.They started as an 8-piece act with Kalla Wefel on bass/guitar/voice, Peter Robert on keys, Carl-F. Doerwald on voice/flute, Klaus-Peter Harbort on drums, Hans-Werner Schwarz on guitar and three additional members in choirs, Birger Holm, Axel Ratsch and Philippe Ressing.

Their debut ''Uhrsprung'' was recorded at The Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and it was released in 1976 on Trikont.


Tracks:

01. Familie - 5:42
02. Schule - 6:03
03. Betrieb - 8:33
04. Staat und Solidaritätslied - 8:48
05. Der Traums des Schmieds (Oktober/Eugene Poltier) - 7:59

Oktober - Uhrsprung (Trikont, 1976)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Cochise - Heimliche Hits

The german band Cochise from Dortmund played folk music with mostly political lyrics inspired by left wing perspective.

Cochise were founded in 1979 and became one of the musical voices of the alternative movement in Germany.

They developed an unique lyrical and musical language connecting the political contents of the 70s and 80s with powerfull, delightfull music and the rebellious attitude of a whole generation.

The name Cochise (name of an Apache chief) expressed their main idea of bringing together the fight of social movements against the repressive government authority with the thoughts and demands of the growing ecological and peace movement.

Because of their radical statments the members of Cochise were more than one time victims of police violence and political justice. Most of the german media ignored the band - nevertheless they reached a phenomenal success. They played more than 1000 gigs in nine years, sold more than 120.000 albums without any media promotion and established a still current myth...


Tracklist:

1 Rolltreppe Abwärts 4:12
2 Was Kann Schöner Sein... 5:12
3 Ballade Vom Hester Jonas 4:25
4 Das Anarchistenschwein 3:46
5 Rauchzeichen 4:20
6 Jeder Traum 3:52
7 Wir Werden Leben 4:15
8 Die Indianer Sind Noch Fern 4:50
9 Letztn Somma Warn Wa Schwimm 1:52
10 Gestern Hamse Den Wald Gefegt 2:35
11 Morgengrauen 4:08
12 Die Erde War Nicht Immer So 5:11
13 Keiner Hat Zeit 2:31
14 Lacht Mich Ruhig Aus 3:50
15 1,2,3, Laßt Die Leute Frei 4:16

Cochise - Heimliche Hits (192 kpbs, front cover included)

Miriam Makeba - The Guinea Years

Like many politically-minded black South Africans, Miriam Makeba spent several decades in exile during the apartheid era. Following the 1961 Sharpville Massacre, where dozens of people - including several of her relatives - were shot to death while protesting the new pass laws, Makeba broke her silence on the evils of apartheid rule. The South African government responded by revoking her citizenship and permanently refusing to let her return to her homeland.

 

After ten years of securing her fame in Europe and North America, singer Miriam Makeba returned home to Africa in 1968; sadly, though, Makeba couldn't return to her native South Africa because of her outspoken views on apartheid. So instead she temporarily lived in Guinea and recorded and performed with some of the top local musicians.

 

This excellent disc reveals the riches with 16 varied tracks, including four live cuts which end the program. While ranging from traditional Guinean cuts ("Milele") to bossa nova ("Le Enfant et la Gazelle"), Makeba further shows her flexibility by incorporating some rock and soul into the Afro-pop mix ("Lovely Lies") and even by offering a fine bit of torch singing à la Shirley Bassey ("Jeux Interdits [Forbidden Games]"). Taking in the raw soukous sound of Franco and his peers and expanding it with her own international touch and incredible voice, Makeba delivers a stunning batch of songs that can be counted as some of her best.    

 Tracklist:

1	Teya Teya
2	L´Enfant Et la Gazelle
3	Milele
4	Amampondo
5	Toure Barika
6	Lovely Lies
7	Africa
8	Maobhe Guinee
9	Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games)
10	West Wind Unifications
11	Dakhla Yunik
12	Teya Teya (alternate Version)
13	Djuiginira
14	Malouyame
15	Kadeya Deya
16	Sekou Famake

     
Miriam Makeba - The Guinea Years
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Guts Pie Earshot - Distorted Wonderland

GUTS PIE EARSHOT was an experimental anarcho-punk band with cello/drums/bass and a female vocalist from Germany that started in 1993. Later, the band turned into an instrumental cello/drum duo, which is still active today. It is surely one of the most unusual modern bands who music-wise vaguely have something to do with punk/ hardcore and in the same time breakbeat/ techno.

...and yet the music conjures up entire new universes in the mind's eye - or ear

Tracklist:

A1 Reflection
A2 Sonic You
A3 Several Parts Of Life
A4 Sum
B1 Clean
B2 Feedback
B3 Me Grain
B4 Enemy Today
B5 Run From The Shadow (Live)

Guts Pie Earshot - Distorted Wonderland
(320 kbps, front cover included)

The Fugs - The Fugs aka The Second Album (1966)

The album "The Fugs", retitled "The Fugs Second Album" for a later reissue, finds The Fugs sounding more professional than on their debut, and still sounding very ahead of their time lyrically, expressing sentiments in ways that just hadn't been done before.

Lyrically, many of the tracks on this album wouldn't be out of place on any Dead Kennedys record, but like the Dead Kennedys, the Fugs' weakness for crude humor puts a damper on the whole affair. Sometimes the jokes work ("Dirty Old Man"), sometimes they don't ("Mutant Stomp"), but they're always entertaining. At times, Ed Sanders' nasal whine and clichéd hippie posturing can grow tiresome ("Frenzy," "Group Grope"), but a few true gems do manage to shine through. "Morning Morning" and "I Want to Know," which wouldn't have been out of place on The Velvet Underground & Nico, are true highlights. Like Reed, the revolutionary tag is placed on the Fugs for the sheer frankness they used to deal with the taboo. But whereas Reed dealt with the dark sides of promiscuity and drug use, the Fugs celebrate it, and most times in a very exhibitionist way. Biting social commentary, as on "Doin' All Right," is articulately done, and while being listenable, is not outstanding in musical terms. Overall, The Fugs is an interesting historical footnote.


Tracklist:

Frenzy 2:00
I Want To Know 2:00
Skin Flowers 2:20
Group Grope 3:40
Coming Down 3:46
Dirty Old Man 2:49
Kill For Peace 2:07
Morning, Morning 2:07
Doin' All Right 2:37
Virgin Forest 11:09

The Fugs - The Fugs aka The Second Album (1966)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Moonshot (1972)

For her seventh album, 1971's "She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina", Buffy Sainte-Marie and her producer, Jack Nitzsche, worked in five recording studios in New York, Los Angeles, and London, and came up with a varied collection ranging from her characteristic folk protest to rock featuring Neil Young and Crazy Horse as a backup band.

For her eighth album, 1972's "Moon Shot", she stuck to one city, Nashville, working with producer/arranger/bassist Norbert Putnam and some of the same studio musicians who appeared on Young's then-recently released country-rock LP "Harvest". But as the advance single of Mickey Newbury and Townes Van Zandt's "Mister Can't You See" (which was well on its way to becoming Sainte-Marie's first Top 40 hit when the LP appeared) indicated, "Moon Shot" is, for the most part, a collection of pop/rock arrangements.

Sainte-Marie has not abandoned her primary political concern, the interests of Indians, but when she brings it up on this album, she has softened the message. "He's an Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo" is an upbeat love song that happens to involve Indians. "Native North American Child" is a celebration of Indian culture. And "Moonshot" is a playful reflection on the supposed wonders of Western science and technology that suggests "primitive" peoples actually may be far more advanced. Elsewhere, Sainte-Marie comes up with some appealing pop love songs, such as "You Know How to Turn On Those Lights" and the string-filled ballad "I Wanna Hold Your Hand Forever," worthy additions to the catalog of the songwriter who previously wrote "Until It's Time for You to Go." Sainte-Marie sings them in a gentle voice without the stridency and vibrato she sometimes uses, and Putnam and fellow arrangers Glen Spreen and Bill Pursell create lush settings for them. This is not the Buffy Sainte-Marie of her early political period, but the album demonstrates her versatility, and it works as an appealing pop effort.     

Tracklist:                                                       

A1	Not The Lovin' Kind
A2	You Know How To Turn On Those Lights
A3	I Wanna Hold Your Hand Forever
A4	He's An Indian Cowboy In The Rodeo
A5	Lay It Down
A6	Moonshot
B1	Native North American Child
B2	My Baby Left Me
B3	Sweet Memories
B4	Jeremiah
B5	Mister Can't You See

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Moonshot (1972)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Hai & Topsy Frankl - Wi ahin sol ich gejn?

Heinrich Frankl, called Hai, was born in Charlottenbrunn (Seleucia) on February 14, 1920. Beginning in 1930 he lived with his parents in Wiesbaden-Biebrich. In 1939, just before the war began, Hai Frankl emigrated to Lahäll near Stockholm (Sweden) and studied painting in Stockholm.

Hai’s father, Dr. Erich Frankl and his wife Elli (née Schachtel in Charlottenbrunn /Silesia on August 12, 1896) were deported on June 10, 1942, to Lublin and Majdanek – respectively to Sobibor – and murdered. Their daughter Hermine (born in Sophienau /Silesia on March 9, 1922) was able to reach Pyrford, England in a children’s transport and later moved to the USA.

Hai and his wife Gunny (née Wahlstroem) called Topsy, became known as the Folk-Duo “Hai and Topsy”. They toured West Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, singing songs from the labour movement as well as Yiddish folk songs.

They released the album "Wi ahin sol ich gejn?" in 1993 on the Wundertüte label.

Hai died on January, 13, 2016 - thanks a lot for all the wonderful music you gave us!

Tracklist:

1 Mechutenesste Majne 2:21
2 Oj, Wi Fajnl 2:25
3 Du Solst Nit Gejn3:06
4 Zipele1:43
5 Mechutonim Gejn 2:54
6 Hot Sich Mir Di Sip Zesipt 1:21
7 Doss Pintele Jid 5:15
8 Der Jiddischer Proletar 2:08
9 Woss Darfn Mir Wejnen? 2:33
10 Warsche2:44
11 Wi Ahin Sol Ich Gejn? 3:03
12 Sog, Maran 1:48
13 Majn Schprach 2:19
14 Jidisch 1:35
15 Der Koss 2:07
16 Schalosch Ss'udess3:24
17 Dem Rebns Schirajim Y2:01
18 Efnt Rebetsn, Chassidim Gejen1:43
19 Lekowed Dem Hejlikn Schabess2:25
20 Oj, Chanuke! 1:51
21 Schtil, Di Nacht Is Ojssgeschternt 3:02


Hai & Topsy Frankl - Wi ahin sol ich gejn?
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Miriam Makeba - Miriam Makeba (1960)

Miriam Makeba had just made a splash in New York nightclubs and earned a fistful of press only a few months earlier when RCA Victor Records snapped her up and recorded her first album in May 1960. Clearly, the label was hoping to repeat the success of her mentor, Harry Belafonte, whose Belafonte Folk Singers accompanied her on some tracks and who wrote a blurb for the album's back cover.

Like Belafonte, she was a black singer with an exotic, folk-based repertoire who could translate her music into a sophisticated club act. In addition to the Belafonte troupe, which appeared on the calypso tune "The Naughty Little Flea," a song that sounded like a Belafonte number, the Chad Mitchell Trio joined her on "Mbube," aka the Weavers' "Wimoweh," and Charles Coleman was her duet partner on the comic Austrian tune "One More Dance."

She also turned in an early version of "House of the Rising Sun." Such familiar material offset the songs sung in her native South African tongue of Xhosa. Makeba had an expressive voice and was extremely versatile, as the range of material indicates. But despite the critical raves, she may have been a bit too exotic to be commercial on her first album, which was not a big seller. RCA let her go to Kapp Records for her second album, but came calling again three years later.


Tracks:

The Retreat Song
Suliram
The Click Song
Umhome
Olilili
Lakutshn, Ilanga
Mbube
The Naughty Little Flea
Where Does It Lead?
Novema
House of the Rising Sun
Saduva
One More Dance
Iya Guduza

Miriam Makeba - Miriam Makeba (1960)
(256 kbps, cover art incuded)

The New Lost City Ramblers - Songs From The Depression (1959)

During the folk boom of the late '50s and early '60s, the New Lost City Ramblers introduced audiences to the authentic string band sound of the 1920s and '30s, in the process educating a generation that had never heard this uniquely American sound of old-time music. While maintaining music with a social conscience, they added guts and reality to the folk movement, performing with humor and obvious reverence for the music. In 1958, Mike Seeger, John Cohen, and Tom Paley modeled their band after groups like the Skillet Lickers, the Fruit Jar Drinkers, and the Aristocratic Pigs, choosing a name in keeping with the past. When Tracy Schwarz replaced Paley in 1962, the NLCR added solo songs from the Appalachian folk repertoire, religious and secular, educating a large segment of the American population about traditional music. Folkways recorded the NLCR on five albums in the early '60s, making the Ramblers famous and leading to TV appearances, successful tours, and appearances at the Newport Folk Festival. A songbook with 125 of their songs came out in 1964 and sold well.                   

The third album by this group definitely gets an "A" for effort, as simply gathering up so many worthwhile songs about the American depression was worth doing, no matter how listeners might feel about individual tracks. The choice of material doubles up on numbers by Blind Alfred Reed and Bill Dixon, includes fascinating historical material by Fiddling John Carson and Slim Smith, and wisely includes the genre of instrumental music, which sometimes makes the most succinct comment of all, such as the tough fiddle solo "Boys, My Money's All Gone." Many of the medium-tempo numbers are played with the finesse of a fine classical chamber quartet, the fiddle and banjo playing sharp and radiant. The Tom Paley-era Ramblers have a bit more of a college campus-type folky sound, but in some cases this suits these types of songs, making this one of the better early albums by this band. Mike Seeger is busy on an assortment of instruments, livening up one track with harmonica, another with mandolin. As usual, his fiddle and banjo playing is topnotch. There is also nice use made of Hawaiian and steel guitars. While some albums by this group seem like the ensemble is taking on a bit too much territory, here the clear focus of the subject matter creates a more relaxed atmosphere, despite the despair of the lyrics. But OK, it is not a record to put on when one wants to serenade away a bad mood. The original booklet includes lyrics and much interesting information about the original artists and the depression era in general.                


The New Lost City Ramblers - Songs From The Depression (1959)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Sogenanntes Linksradikales Blasorchester - Live At Berliner Jazztage, 1980

The "Sogenanntes Linksradikales Blasorchester" was a brass band formed in 1976, in Frankfurt, by Heiner Goebbles, Alfred Harth, Christoph Anders and others - in an attempt to reinforce artistically the left student movement demonstrations of that period. The band, designed mostly for live appearances, was consisting of about twenty musicians and played on stage, at the streets and in diverse political activities.

In spite of the circumstances of its birth, "The So-Called Left Radical Brass Orchestra" never was a preacher of left dogmatism. Their repertoire crossed the music history from baroque & classical period, early twentieth century to free-jazz and avant-garde, including original pieces, traditonal themes, covers of Hanns Eisler, Frank Zappa etc.

The band was close to student protests for political and social improvements, with topics such as civil disobedience, protest against nuclear power and offenses against human rights. They played at events of the Frankfurt Sponti scene, trying to add music with a political message. They were inspired by Hanns Eisler's music, with a communicative dimension ("kommunikative Dimension").

Their interpretations were imaginative, inventive, uncompromised but not snobbish, eclectic, intellectual and yet very amusing - a channel for direct communication with the people.

This is a live recording from the Berliner Jazztage on November 1st, 1980. It was broadcasted on NDR3, Sept. 9, 1981


Tracks:

00:00 01. Stimmen und Gedanken über die rote Fahne
02:07 02. Trotz alledem
06:02 03. Circa
11:42 04. Tagesschau
19:53 05. Ohne dass ich sagen würde, ich bin der neue Führer
27:24 06. Grossvater Stöffel [Eisler/Brecht]
27:56 07. Unisono
32:05 08. Hälfte des Lebens [lyrics: F. Hölderlin]
34:35 09. Homesick-Blues [lyrics: P.P. Zahl]
38:30 10. Ich grolle nicht [cp: R. Schumann]
41:09 11. Baderkatalog
44:51 12. Maschine
48:52 13. Le rappel des oiseaux [cp: J.-Ph. Rameau]
51:54 14. O'Guarracino / Tschüs

total 56:48


Klaus Becker, Johannes Eisenberg - trumpet
Michael Höhler, Peter Lieser - trombone
Uwe Schriefer, Jörn Stückrath - tuba
Alfred Harth, Christoph Anders - tenor sax
Heiner Goebbels - tenor sax, accordion
Rolf Riehm, Barbara Müller-Rendtorff - alto sax
Henning Wiese - alto sax
Thomas Jahn - Soprano sax, flute
Cora Stephan - flute
Herwig Heise - clarinet
[?] - voice


Sogenanntes Linksradikales Blasorchester - Live At Berliner Jazztage, 1980

(flac, recording in one track)

Fela Kuti & Africa 70 - Expensive Shit (1975) - Happy Birthday, Fela!

Originally posted in October 2018.

Yesterday was the 80th birthday of the afro-beat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It is very difficult to put into words the significance and stature of an individual like Fela Kuti, and his contribution to music, politics and culture across the twentieth century.
A pioneer of afrobeat – a genre of which he was at the forefront – Fela gifted the world with songs such as “Beasts of No Nation”, “Zombie” and “Water No Get Enemy”, and his fighting spirit lives on through his sons Femi and Seun, who continue to carry the torch of his beloved afrobeat with Fela’s band Egypt 80.

This album is an overt response to the consistent harassment afflicting Fela Kuti's Kalakuta Republic in the early '70s under the oppressive Lagos authorities. The title track is a direct reference to an actual incident that occurred in which the cops planted a marijuana cigarette on Kuti - who promptly swallowed it and therefore destroyed any evidence. He was then held until he could pass the drugs from his system - which miraculously did not occur when his fecal sample was then sent for analysis, thanks to some help from his fellow inmates. Because of the costs incurred during this debacle, Kuti proclaimed his excrement as "Expensive Shit".


Musically, the Afro-funk and tribal rhythms that Kuti and his Africa '70 put down can rightfully be compared to that of James Brown or even a George Clinton-esque vibe. The beats are infectious with a hint of Latin influence, making the music nearly impossible to keep from moving to. Although the band is large, it is also remarkably tight and malleable enough to accompany and punctuate Kuti's vehement and indicting lyrics. The nature of what Kuti says, as well as infers, amounts to much more than simply whining or bad-rapping the law. His witty and thoughtful raps not only relate his side of the incident, but do so with tongue-in-cheek humor - such as the statement that his oppressors must really enjoy his feces because they want to examine it so urgently. Yet, he tries to stay away from it, for somewhat obvious reasons.

The album's B-side contains the metaphysical "Water No Get Enemy", one of my all time Fela favourite. This is a comparatively jazzy piece, with Africa '70 again exploring and stretching out its impulsive beats behind Kuti's singing. The track features some of his finest and most inspired keyboard work as well. He weaves hypnotic and ethereal electric piano lines over the earthy-sounding brass section. The laid-back groove works well in contrast to the manic tempo of "Expensive Shit."

Tracklist:
A. Expensive Shit
B. Water No Get Enemy

Fela Kuti & Africa 70 - Expensive Shit (1975)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Neil Young - Buffalo Springfield - Down To The Wire (Live 1965)

This bootleg collects some early and rare Neil Young recordings.

The Wichita Falls tracks are solo acoustic (pre-Springfield). Very good sound qualities for the time. There are also two Buffalo Springfield outtakes. As well, there are two 45 single demos with Neil’s Canadian group the Squires.

Tracklist:

1 Neil Young– Sugar Mountain 2:45
2 Neil Young– Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing 2:57
3 Neil Young– Run Around Babe 2:39
4 Neil Young– Don't Pity My Baby 4:59
5 Neil Young– I Ain't Got The Blues 2:38
6 Neil Young– The Rent Is Always Due 2:49
7 Neil Young– When It Falls, It Falls Over You 2:36
8 Buffalo Springfield– Down To The Wire 2:30
9 Buffalo Springfield– Do I Have To Come Right Out And Say It 3:06
10 Neil Young– There Goes My Baby 1:43
11 Neil Young– One More Sign 2:00
12 The Squires – Sultan 2:31
13 The Squires – Aurora 2:07

Tracks 1-7; 10 and 11 were recorded live in Wichita Falls, Texas, 1-12-65

Tracks 8 and 9 are Buffalo Springfield studio outtakes.

Track 12, called "Sultan" and track 13 ("Aurora") are from The Squires' and Neil Young's first single, produced by Bob Bradburn, a DJ at CKRC in Winnipeg in 1963.

Neil Young - Buffalo Springfield - Down To The Wire (Live 1965)

(192 kbps, cover art included)

Joseph Schmidt - 1904 - 1942 (BelAge)

Joseph Schmidt was a tenor who lived in the first half of the twentieth century, whose glorious sound and way with a song made him a hugely popular radio star and recording artist; he was also the first singer the Nazis banned from Berlin radio.

Few tenors of his era evoked as much affection as Joseph Schmidt, the tiny tenor who in spite of his diminuitive stature, became a beloved figure in both German opera and cinema. Schmidt was born in 1904 in the small Romanian provincial town of Davidende. A child of musical parents from a cosmopolitan community, he was influenced by many cultures and was proficient in Romanian, French and German. His first vocal training was as a classic Hebrew singer in the local synagogue in Cernowitz. His first recital at the academy in Cernowitz included arias by Puccini, Verdi, Rossini and Bizet. At twenty he was sent to Berlin where he studied both piano and voice with Frau Dr. Jaffe and Professor Hermann Weissenborn. He was conscripted for military service from 1926 until 1929. and after his discharge accepted a position as cantor at the synagogue in Cernowitz, soon establishing a reputation that attracted the attention of Cornelius Bronsgeest, a renowned Baritone.

He was engaged soon after to sing the role of Vasco da Gama in a German radio broadcast of Meyerbeer's L'Africaine, and thus began a successful international career. He recorded many albums, mostly for Odeon/Parlophone as well as many films and radio broadcasts. Popular mostly with German and English speaking audiences his career was to run headlong into the emergence of the Nazi party and their hatred of the Jews. Ironically, his popularity was at its zenith at the same time the Nazi's were taking control of the Government and instituting cultural bans on Jewish artists, writers and performers. Richard Tauber did his best to shield Schmidt and scheduled a series of concerts with Tauber as conductor.

In 1937 Schmidt toured the United States, appearing with other eminent opera figures in a concert held at Carnegie Hall and performing in solo recitals across the country. By this time he was forbidden to appear in Germany and Austria, but was warmly welcomed in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1939 he returned to Cernowitz for a final visit with his recently widowed mother. As war erupted he tried to make his way to America, but made it only as far as a Swiss refugee camp in Gyrenbad. In 1940 he suffered a heart attack and was taken to the camp infirmary. He was quickly released, his complaints interpreted as excuses to escape the hard work of the camp. Forced to return to ditch digging he soon succumbed to a second heart attack and died. He was thirty-eight years old.

This album contains some of Joseph Schmidt´s great recordings for movies and as a Temple singer.

Joseph Schmidt - 1904 - 1942 (BelAge)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

The New Lost City Ramblers - Same (1958)

During the folk boom of the late '50s and early '60s, the New Lost City Ramblers introduced audiences to the authentic string band sound of the 1920s and '30s, in the process educating a generation that had never heard this uniquely American sound of old-time music. While maintaining music with a social conscience, they added guts and reality to the folk movement, performing with humor and obvious reverence for the music. In 1958, Mike Seeger, John Cohen, and Tom Paley modeled their band after groups like the Skillet Lickers, the Fruit Jar Drinkers, and the Aristocratic Pigs, choosing a name in keeping with the past.

The performances of this group certainly improved with age, with the eventual replacement of one of the members not upsetting the status quo. That is not to say there is anything at all wrong with this album, the very first of the group's efforts and one of the miraculous times Folkways released a project the same year it was recorded. Perhaps this demonstrated great enthusiasm for the concept. For a young group to record new versions of traditional folk and old-timey music classics from the early 20th century turned out to be something along the line of marching orders for the entire folk revival of the '60s, as well as the basic operating principle for groups such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles when they started digging into Delta blues and rockabilly. An important aspect of the Ramblers' music, and something that has continued to make their records highly enjoyable over the years, was the type of material they would find. Demonstrating the widest range of material was always a priority, nobody caring whether a tune was "hip" or not. The presence of a number such as "It's a Shame to Whip Your Wife on Sunday" shows that the politically correct police were also not supervising this project. Many of the songs are also tied in with social concerns, a theme that each of these players would return to again and again in their own work. While someone involved felt it was important to put someone else's picture on the front - and anyone who looked like a hillbilly old-timer would do - the members of the group even at this early juncture were seeking to put a personal imprint on the material. One of the highlights is the very first track on the album, a simple but riveting instrumental entitled "Forked Deer." Another is Seeger's solo version of "East Virginia Blues" which gives Bob Dylan a run, although perhaps not for his money. Some of the multi-tracking done by Seeger is also quite interesting. The enclosed booklet includes lyrics, complete documentation of the chosen selections with information about the original artists, and several statements of purpose from the group members.          

Tracklist:

A1	Forked Dear
A2	Don't Let Your Deal Go Down
A3	I Truly Understand
A4	Dallas Rag
A5	Tom Cat Blues
A6	Railroading And Rambling
A7	Colored Aristocracy
A8	Sailor On The Deep Blue Sea
A9	East Virginia
B1	Battleship Maine
B2	Davy, Davy
B3	Roving Gambler
B4	Take A Drink On Me
B5	Likes Liquor Better Than Me
B6	It's A Shame To Beat Your Wife
B7	Brown's Ferry Blues
B8	Old Fish Song
B9	Crossed Old Jordan's Stream

The New Lost City Ramblers - Same (1958)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Howlin´ Wolf - Howlin´ Wolf (Chess, 1962)

In the history of the blues, there has never been anyone quite like the Howlin' Wolf. Six foot three and close to 300 pounds in his salad days, the Wolf was the primal force of the music spun out to its ultimate conclusion. A Robert Johnson may have possessed more lyrical insight, a Muddy Waters more dignity, and a B.B. King certainly more technical expertise, but no one could match him for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.

Howlin' Wolf's second album brings together some of the blues great's best singles from the late '50s and early '60s. It is a collection of six singles previously released by the Chess label from 1960 through 1962. Because of the illustration on its sleeve (by Don Bronstein), the album is often called "The Rockin' Chair Album", a nickname even added to the cover on some reissue pressings of the LP.

The so-called "Rockin' Chair Album" represents the cream of Wolf's Chicago blues work. Those tracks afforded classic status are many, including "Spoonful," "The Red Rooster," "Wang Dang Doodle," "Back Door Man," "Shake for Me," and "Who's Been Talking?" Also featuring the fine work of Chess house producer and bassist Willie Dixon and guitarist Hubert Sumlin, this album qualifies as one of pinnacles of early electric blues, and is an essential album for any quality blues collection.


Tracks:

Shake For Me/The Red Rooster/You'll Be Mine/Who's Been Talkin'/Wang-Dang-Doodle/Little Baby//Spoonful/Going Down Slow/Down In The Bottom/Back Door Man/Howlin' For My Baby/Tell Me

Howlin´ Wolf - same (Chess, 1962)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Nina Hagen Band - Unbehagen (1980)

"Unbehagen" is the second studio album by Nina Hagen Band, released in February 1980 by CBS Records. It is the last album released by the band, before Nina Hagen decided to pursue a solo career. The band kept on performing under the name Spliff.

The album produced three singles, "African Reggae", "Herrmann hiess er" and "Auf'm Rummel". "Herrmann hiess er" deals with drug addiction and is believed to be about Hagen's ex-boyfriend Herman Brood. An accompanying music video was also released. The album also contains a German cover version, "Wir leben immer... noch", of Lene Lovich's hit single "Lucky Number". The song "Wenn ich ein Junge wär" was recorded live in April 1979 at the Saarbrücken Congress Hall.

Fuelled by the hard rocking Nina Hagen Band, Hagen punkily and operatically drives us from "African Reggae" to the the Carabet-esque "Fall in Love Mit Mir". Pure inspired expression.


Tracklist:

A1 Reggae Africano = African Reggae 6:17
A2 Pesadilla = Alptraum 6:10
A3 Aún Estamos Vivos (Lucky Number) = Wie Leben Immer... Noch 4:53
A4 Si Yo Fuera Un Chico = Wenn Ich Ein Junge Wär (Live Version) 2:14
B1 Se Llamaba Herrmann = Herrmann Hiess Er 6:34
B2 En la Feria = Auf'm Rummel 4:32
B3 Wau Wau 2:07
B4 Enamorate de Mi = Fall In Love Mit Mir 3:47
B5 No Hay Forma = No Way (Instrumental) 1:05

Nina Hagen Band - Unbehagen (1980)

(192 kbps, cover art included)

The New Lost City Ramblers ‎– Moonshine & Prohibition

Longtime Folkways recording artists The New Lost City Ramblers perform 17 period songs about liquor, bootlegging, and Prohibition (1917-1933) in the traditional style of southern mountain string bands. As Rambler member Mike Seeger observes in the liner notes, many of the songs appear to have been written by people who knew drink well and were familiar with it's effects. Several of the songs consist of new lyrics commemorating the virtues or evils of alcohol set to familiar melodies of the time. Rambler member John Cohen also contributed to the liner notes, which include an informal history of prohibition in America as well as song lyrics and photos.        

These 1960's versions of songs from the prohibition era will please the musical palette of any old-style country/bluegrass enthusiast. In addition to the skillful performances by The New Lost City Ramblers, these songs have much to say about the attitudes and behavior of folks during this fascinating period of American history.


Tracklist:

A1 Virginia Bootlegger
A2 Kentucky Bootlegger
A3 Bootlegger's Story
A4 Drunken Driver
A5 Moonshiner
A6 Drunkard's Hiccups
A7 I Saw A Man At The Close Of Day
A8 Goodbye Old Booze
B1 Prohibition Is A Failure
B2 Old Home Brew
B3 I've Still Got 99
B4 Whiskey Seller
B5 Teetotals
B6 Al Smith For President
B7 Intoxicated Rat
B8 Wreck On The Highway
B9 Down To The Stillhouse To Get A Little Cider


The New Lost City Ramblers ‎– Moonshine & Prohibition
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley (1986, Chess)

"Bo Diddley" is the debut album by rock and roll pioneer and blues icon Bo Diddley. It is a compilation of his singles since 1955 and collects several of his most influential and enduring songs. An innovative guitarist, prolific songwriter, and sensational vocalist (check out "Dearest Darling"), Diddley had an influence on rock music from Buddy Holly to U2 that was all pervasive.

For anyone who wants to play rock & roll, real rock & roll, this is one of the few records that you really need. Along with Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and a few select others, Bo Diddley was one of the founders of the form & he did it like no other. Diddley had only one real style, that being the Bo Diddley beat: a syncopated, rhythmic drive, loaded with tremolo. There are many examples of it on this record, and that is about all you need. It's one of those records that, after listening to just a few cuts, will find you tapping the beats on every available surface. Diddley's guitar and vocals have a gruff feeling that recalls bluesmen such as Waters, yet he has his own style. Buttressed by drums, funky piano, and usually maracas, it's absolutely infectious.


Tracklist:

Bo Diddley 2:30
I'm A Man 2:41
Bring It To Jerome 2:37
Before You Accuse Me 2:40
Hey' Bo Diddley 2:17
Dearest Darling 2:32
Hush Your Mouth 2:36
Say Boss Man 2:18
Diddley Daddy 2:11
Diddey Wah Diddey 2:51
Who Do You Love 2:18
Pretty Thing 2:48

(plus bonus tracks)


Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley (1986)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Miriam Makeba - Malaisha

Makeba´s life has consistently been marked by struggle. As the daughter of a sangoma, a mystical traditional healer of the Xhosa tribe, she spent six months of her birth year in jail with her mother. Gifted with a dynamic vocal tone, Makeba recorded her debut single, "Lakutshona Llange," as a member of the Manhattan Brothers in 1953. Although she left to form an all-female group named the Skylarks in 1958, she reunited with members of the Manhattan Brothers when she accepted the lead female role in a musical version of King Kong, which told the tragic tale of Black African boxer, Ezekiel "King Kong" Dlamani, in 1959. The same year, she began an 18-month tour of South Africa with Alf Herbert's musical extravaganza, African Jazz and Variety, and made an appearance in a documentary film, Come Back Africa. These successes led to invitations to perform in Europe and the United States.

Makeba was embraced by the African American community. "Pata Pata," Makeba's signature tune, was written by Dorothy Masuka and recorded in South Africa in 1956 before eventually becoming a major hit in the U.S. in 1967. In late 1959, she performed for four weeks at the Village Vanguard in New York. She later made a guest appearance during Harry Belafonte's groundbreaking concerts at Carnegie Hall. A double-album of the event, released in 1960, received a Grammy award. Makeba has continued to periodically renew her collaboration with Belafonte, releasing an album in 1972 titled "Belafonte & Miriam Makeba". Makeba then made a special guest appearance at the Harry Belafonte Tribute at Madison Square Garden in 1997.

Makeba's successes as a vocalist were also balanced by her outspoken views about apartheid. In 1960, the government of South Africa revoked her citizenship. For the next 30 years, she was forced to be a "citizen of the world." Makeba received the Dag Hammerskjold Peace Prize in 1968. After marrying radical black activist Stokely Carmichael, many of her concerts were canceled, and her recording contract with RCA was dropped, resulting in even more problems for the artist. She eventually relocated to Guinea at the invitation of president Sekou Toure and agreed to serve as Guinea's delegate to the United Nations. In 1964 and 1975, she addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations on the horrors of apartheid.

           
Miriam Makeba - Malaisha
(256 kbps, front cover included)

B.B. King, Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters - Live At Newport

Universally hailed as the reigning king of the blues, the legendary B.B. King is without a doubt the single most important electric guitarist of the last half century. His bent notes and staccato picking style have influenced legions of contemporary bluesmen, while his gritty and confident voice - capable of wringing every nuance from any lyric - provides a worthy match for his passionate playing.

A postwar Chicago blues scene without the magnificent contributions of Muddy Waters is absolutely unimaginable. From the late '40s on, he eloquently defined the city's aggressive, swaggering, Delta-rooted sound with his declamatory vocals and piercing slide guitar attack. When he passed away in 1983, the Windy City would never quite recover.

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton only notched one national hit in her lifetime, but it was a true monster. "Hound Dog" held down the top slot on Billboard's R&B charts for seven long weeks in 1953. Alas, Elvis Presley's rocking 1956 cover was even bigger, effectively obscuring Thornton's chief claim to immortality.
That's a damned shame, because Thornton's menacing growl was indeed something special.
Released on the "Golden Legend Series" this album collects 7 tracks recorded at the Newport festival:

01. Little Red Rooster - Thorton
02. Ball And Chain - Thorton
03. Outside Help - B.B.King
04. Long Distance Call - Waters
05. Where's My Woman Benn - Waters
06. Got My Mojo Workin'- Waters
07. You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now - B.B.King


B. B. King, Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters - Live At Newport
(192 kbps, cover art included)