Martin Carthy ‎– Martin Carthy's Second Album

This record stands in British music history and Carthy's career roughly where "Another Side of Bob Dylan" does in American music - the more florrid tracks here, recorded with violinist Dave Swarbrick, show the path to the bridge between Carthy's traditional singer/scholar background and the folk-rock played by bands such as Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. 

"Lord Franklin" is a narrative tour-de-force (from which Bob Dylan got the melody for "Bob Dylan's Dream" on Freewheelin' ), "Ramblin' Sailor" is boisterous cautionary tale about the company the title character keeps ashore, and there's also an acoustic recording of "Sailor's Life," a song that Fairport Convention would transmute into an epic electric version, and "Lowlands of Holland," which Steeleye Span later recorded.


Tracklist:
1 Two Butchers 2:27
2 Ball O' Yarn 1:45
3 Farewell Nancy 2:07
4 Lord Franklin 3:35
5 Ramblin' Sailor 2:49
6 Lowlands Of Holland 2:53
7 Fair Maid On The Shore 3:40
8 Bruton Town 4:35
9 Box On Her Head 2:10
10 Newlyn Town 2:20
11 Brave Wolf 3:22
12 Peggy And The Soldier 2:47
13 Sailor's Life 3:09


Martin Carthy ‎– Martin Carthy's Second Album
(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Kingston Trio - Live At Newport 1959

"Live at Newport" is a live album by the American folk music group The Kingston Trio. It contains a performance by the trio at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. At the time of the performance, the group consisted of Dave Guard, Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds.

The Kingston Trio had just become superstars when they performed this 12-song set at the Newport Folk Festival. Including well-known features of their repertoire such as "M.T.A.," "Scotch and Soda," and "All My Sorrows," it's a good-sounding and well-executed performance.   

It's been half a century since The Kingston Trio set the pop world afire with "Tom Dooley" and "(Charlie on the) MTA," and, in the process, turned "folk" music mainstream. College kids with energy, talent, and lively humor to burn, the Trio avoided the protest songs and controversy which led to the blacklisting of The Weavers during the McCarthy era. Featured at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958, they became star attractions the following year when the Newport Folk Festival was inaugurated.

This album, recorded at that 1959 Festival but not released until 1994, highlights the youth, high spirits, and just plain good fun of a Kingston Trio concert, long before rock concerts became the norm. Only thirty-seven minutes long, this album contains mostly songs that were already big hits (and had already been recorded), but for those newbies wanting a short sample of their music and performing style, or long-time fans wanting a historic live recording, this does the job nicely.

"Saro Jane," "Hard Ain't It Hard," "When the Saints Go Marching In," and "Three Jolly Coachmen" have the insistent rhythms of guitar and banjo, the unrelenting energy, and the easy harmonies that typify Kingston Trio albums. "All My Sorrows," "South Coast," and "Scotch and Soda" add some quieter, minor-keyed variety to the selection. Their wild, irreverent humor, as close as the Trio gets to a protest, is seen in "Merry Minuet," in which the "rioting in Africa" and "starving in Spain," become a comment on politics and the environment, which may someday be solved by the "mushroom-shaped cloud."

Filled with the high-pitched screams and cheers of their young audience, to which the group plays with asides and seemingly off-the-cuff remarks, this album is classic Kingston Trio - loads of fun and loads of now-familiar songs.

The Kingston Trio - Live At Newport
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Josh White - Harlem Blues (Musicraft, 1940)

Joshua Daniel White (February 11, 1914–-September 5, 1969), best known as Josh White, was a legendary American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He was also known by the name "J King".

White's anti-segregationist and international human rights political stance presented in many of his recordings and in his speeches at rallies resulted in the right-wing McCarthyites incorrectly assuming that he must have been a Communist. Accordingly, from 1947 through the mid 1960s, White was caught in the vise grip of the anti-Communist Red Scare, and combined with his resulting attempt to clear his name, his career was harmed immeasurably. However, regardless of the purists' debate over the artistic change in his presentation or from those who opposed his politics, White unarguably inspired several generations of guitarists with his new and unique stylings and techniques, and is cited as a major musical and social influence by dozens of future stars.

"Harlem Blues" was a set of three 78 rpm singles, recorded March 7, 1940 in New York City

Josh White - Harlem Blues (Musicraft, 1940)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Pete Seeger - Dangerous Songs (1966)

In 1966, when the topical song movement had gained national attention through the newly written material of Bob Dylan and such compatriots as Tom Paxton and Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger set out to demonstrate that "protest" songs were not a new thing by putting together an album largely made up of traditional material that had its roots in long-since-forgotten political issues, everything from the nursery rhyme "Little Jack Horner" to the Civil War march "John Brown's Body."

 

Further, Seeger suggested that everything is political, whether it's the apparently comic children's song "Beans in My Ears" or that piece of Irish advice "Never Wed an Old Man." ("In the long run, the most truly dangerous songs of all may prove to be love songs and lullabies," he wrote in the liner notes.)

And then there were songs that all would agree are political (though humorous), such as "The Pill" and Ochs' "Draft Dodger Rag." The resulting collection is one of Seeger's funniest, and at the same time most pointed albums. It took Columbia Records 32 years to reissue it on CD, with three bonus tracks from the sessions.

When the era of hootenanny of the fifties and early sixties were gone, and Pete Seeger was no longer one of the Weavers, he challenged the American conscience with these "dangerous songs." And why dangerous? We must not forget that in an age of McCarthy and his witchhunts, people like Pete Seeger were in danger of being labeled communists and being persecuted whenever they gave a wake-up call to common sense, social responsibility and budding eco-awareness. One of the songs,DIE GEDANKEN SIND FREI (thoughts are free) an adaptation of a song long used among German-speaking cultures has been around since the 16th or 17thcentury (country or time of origin not entirely clear), needed only to be whistled or hummed to indicate to others that the whistler was a freedom-seeker.What a fine choice of a song to bring to the "silent majority" opposing war in general, and the Vietnam War in particular.

 

Pete Seeger - Dangerous Songs (1966)
(192 kbsp)

Paul Robeson - Paul Robeson singt (ETERNA)

Paul Leroy Robeson (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American concert singer (bass), recording artist, actor, athlete, and scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the 20th century.

He gained international attention for his work in the arts and he merged his artistic career with political activism to speak out for the equality of minorities and the rights of workers throughout the world.

His friendship with the Soviet Union USSR and the Soviet peoples plus criticism of the lack of progress in civil rights in the United States (US) at the outset of the Cold War and during the age of McCarthyism brought scrutiny, conflict and retribution from the American government. His public persona became diminished, his income plummeted and he faced isolation from the Civil Rights Movement in the second half of the 20th century.

Robeson endured McCarthyism and briefly returned to the artistic spotlight, but the events in the 1950s combined with ongoing severe health breakdowns well into the 1960s virtually destroyed his health. Robeson lived out the last years of his life privately in Philadelphia.

Here´s a compilation released on ETERNA in 1976:

01 - O Honey Baby Feelin' Mighty Low
02 - Now My Soul Is A Whiteness
03 - Go Down Moses
04 - Yiddish Folk Song
05 - Song of the Warsaw Ghetto
06 - Viva La 5. Brigada
07 - The Four Generals
08 - Russian Folk Song
09 - Volga Boat Song
10 - Ol' Man River
11 - John Brown's Body (Glory Glory Halleluja)
12 - Goin' home
13 - Joe Hill
14 - O Mistress Mine
15 - Baby sleeping in Thy Cradle Swinging (Schlafe, holder süßer Knabe)
16 - O Isis And Osiris
17 - Brother Sing Your Countries Anthem (Freude schöner Götterfunken)

Paul Robeson - Paul Robeson singt (ETERNA)
(320 kbps, cover art included)



Here you can read the lecture "Paul Robeson - schwarzer Zeit- und Kampfgenosse von Ernst Busch” (Hans Christian Nørregaard, 20. Mai 2011 bei Helle Panke e.V.).

Jean Ritchie, Oscar Brand & David Sear - A Folk Concert In Town Hall, New York (1959)

A spirited 1959 live set from the ongoing duo of Jean Ritchie and Oscar Brand (with their usual banjo-playing accompanist, Dave Sear, getting equal billing for the first time), "A Folk Concert in Town Hall, New York" sounds downright jubilant most of the time. 

Although Ritchie and Brand had long and successful solo careers, there's something special about their harmonies. Unlike many of the more mannered and academic folksingers of the age -- Pete Seeger comes immediately to mind -- Jean Ritchie grew up singing these songs for fun, and that brand of unfeigned enthusiasm comes through on her freewheeling renditions of familiar tunes like "Shortenin Bread" (sung as a round with Brand and Sear) and "Shady Grove." 

Even less familiar to the casual folk fan, nuggets like "Ennery My Son" and "The Inniskillin Dragoon" sound intimate and lived-in (Brand, who had a sideline in risqué folk ditties, spins the occasional double entendre with dry wit) in comparison to the technically "correct" but often far-too-stiff versions so common in the '50s folk revival. 

"A Folk Concert in Town Hall, New York" is an impressive addition to both Jean Ritchie and Oscar Brand's catalogs.

Tracklist:

Shortnin' Bread
Ha Ha This-A-Way
Shady Grove
The Rolling Of The Stones
Pretty Polly
The Admiral
Dhrinnin Dhu Dhrinnin
My Boy Willy
Jenny Jenkins
Poor Howard
Lord Randall
Ennery My Son
The Inniskillin Dragoon
Trip Trap Robbers In The Sea
The Talking Atom
Aiken Drum
Fair And Tender Ladies
Black-Eyed Susie


Jean Ritchie, Oscar Brand & David Sear - A Folk Concert In Town Hall, New York (1959)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick - But Two Came By... (1968)

Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick continue their bold and virtuosic transformation of traditional songs and melodies on this 1968 set, adding a memorable treatment of Sidney Carter’s Lord of the Dance.

Fans of Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span will find the clean, stripped down, spirited performances here a revelation: The beautiful, original "Lord of the Dance" (which transforms the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts" into something wonderful in its own right), a delightfully ominous reading of "The White Hare," a lively "Banks of Sweet Primroses" (which, in various forms, became part of the repertories of numerous folk-rock revival bands), and, most impressive of all, a dazzling rendition of "Jack Orion." Carthy's voice (featured acapella on the beautiful "Creeping Jane" and the ominous "Lord Lankin") is a very fine instrument, he gets a surprisingly rich sound from his single guitar, and Swarbrick's violin is all the support he really needs. And lest anyone doubt that this record was done during England's flower-power era, check out the acoustic psychedelic-folk version of Leon Rosselson's "Brass Band Music."        

Tracklist:

Ship In Distress
Banks Of Sweet Primroses
Jack Orion
Matt Hyland
White Hare
Lord Of The Dance
Poor Murdered Woman
Creeping Jane
Streets Of Forbes
Long Lankin
Brass Band Music

 
  
Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick - But Two Came By... (1968)  
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Anita Lane - Dirty Pearls (1993)

On 28 April 2021, it was announced that Anita Lane had died at age 61. Thanks for the wonderful music and rest in peace!

Nick Cave:
"You think you know grief, you think you’ve worked out its mechanics, you think you’ve become grief-savvy — stronger, wiser, more resilient — you think that there is nothing more that can hurt you in this world, and then Anita dies."
"Everyone wanted to work with her but it was like trying to trap lightning in a bottle. Mick Harvey managed to coral her into the recording studio, but these precious offerings are a fraction of what she was."
"She was the brains behind The Birthday Party, wrote a bunch of their songs, wrote ‘From Her to Eternity’, ‘The World’s a Girl’, ’Sugar in a Hurricane’ and my favourite Bad Seeds song, ‘Stranger Than Kindness’, but was much more than that."


Not so much an album as a collection organized in reverse chronological order, Dirty Pearl takes in just about all the various tracks Lane had recorded by herself or with other groups over a decade's worth of recording. Given her early association with Nick Cave and the Birthday Party, it's little surprise that Cave and various Bad Seeds and associated bands, like Einstürzende Neubaten and Die Haut, crop up as backing performers, while Mick Harvey handles most of the production and instrumentation and Barry Adamson contributes some of his sharp arranging skills here and there. If a bit fragmented as a result, Dirty Pearl still makes for an involving listen, demonstrating clearly that her work is worth taking on its own terms instead of simply being a Cave footnote. Besides having a good if at points girlish voice, albeit one that she's shown more control over with time -- rather like Cave! -- she has a taste for smoky sonic settings for her vocals, sometimes low-key and sly, other times frenetic even as she keeps her cool. Her ear for cover versions, in particular, shows somebody unafraid of taking chances -- besides a gripping revamp of the Sisters Sledge hit "Lost in Music," backed in part by Cave and Adamson that originally appeared on the Dirty Sings EP, there's also a more recent take on Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." Compared to the near-contemporary Soul Asylum groan through the same song, Lane hits incredible heights, her delivery sensuous even as the familiar melody becomes a beautifully dramatic film noir tearjerker. Her originals, including a slew of excellent numbers co-written with Harvey, like the ruined cowboy/western sorrow of "Jesus Almost Got Me" and the heavy moodout of "Picture of Mary," a collaboration with Blixa Bargeld, are just as fine.

Sleevenotes: "Recorded in Berlin, London, Sydney and Melbourne 1993 - 1982. Presented here in reverse chronological order."
Album includes some previously released tracks: The Dirty Sings EP (tracks 10 to 13), "Blume" (track 4) from Tabula Rasa, "How Long" (track 5) from Head On and "A Prison In The Desert" (track 9) from Ghosts ...Of The Civil Dead.

Tracklist:



1 Jesus Almost Got Me 2:34
2 The Groovy Guru 3:09
3 Sexual Healing 5:39
4 Blume 4:33
5 Subterranean World (How Long...?) 5:51
6 Picture of Mary 4:14
7 The World's a Girl 3:20
8 Stories of Your Dreams 2:50
9 A Prison in the Desert 2:50
10 If I Should Die 3:01
11 I'm a Believer 4:45
12 Lost in Music 4:37
13 Sugar in a Hurricane 4:10
14 The Fullness of His Coming 2:54


Anita Lane - Dirty Pearls (1993)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Lizzy Mercier Descloux ‎– Suspense (1988)

After swinging from no wave experimentalism to internationalist grooves on her first four albums, Lizzy Mercier Descloux was asked to do something new on LP Number Five: deliver a sure-fire hit. Released in 1984, "Zulu Rock" produced a surprise hit single in Europe, "Mais où Sont Passées les Gazelles?," but EMI Records wanted bigger returns for her fifth album, especially after the critical and commercial disappointment of 1986's "One for the Soul". Mercier Descloux was credited as co-producer on 1988's "Suspense", but the real overseers of the project were Mark Cunningham (who Lizzy knew from her days on New York's no wave scene when he was a member of MARS) and John Brand (who had previously worked with Aztec Camera, the Waterboys, Magazine, and Gene Loves Jezebel), and they delivered Mercier Descloux's most polished work. 

"Suspense" is a work of slick Eurocentric pop that sounds very '80s, from the popping basslines and cracking drum sounds to the jangling guitars and trademark synth patches. The horns and Latin percussion glance to the flavors of Mercier Descloux's previous work, and Kim Burton's accordion work adds a welcome Parisian flair, but despite it all this is Lizzy's least musically interesting album.

However, in spite of this, Mercier Descloux's vocal work is excellent on "Suspense", and she rarely sounded as confident and emphatic as she does on this material, especially on the French-language numbers, where she seems to be truly in her element. It's a shame that "Suspense" proved to be the last album Lizzy Mercier Descloux would release in her lifetime -- for all its flaws, it shows that she continued to grow and mature as a vocalist even in less than inspired surroundings, and if it had been a hit, the success could have earned her the chance to do something more idiosyncratic.


Tracklist:

Gypsy Flame 3:06

Cape Desire 3:44

Salomé 3:48

Lucky Strike Drive 4:06

The Long Goodbye 5:24

Playtime 4:13

Hurricane 4:26

Once Upon A Time Out 3:35

Echec Et Mat 3:19

A Room In New York 4:19

Lizzy Mercier Descloux ‎– Suspense (1988)

(192 kbps,cover art included)

Belina - Jeder träumt seine eigenen Träume (1963)

Belina was born on February 6, 1925 in Treblinka, Poland as Lea-Nina Rodzynek. As a young woman, Lea-Nina fled to Germany, where she found work in a factory with fake documents and under a false name. When the fraud was discovered she was arrested and deported to a concentration camp, from which she escaped. She managed to be hidden until the end of the Third Reich. Paris was the first station in the freedom. There she traveled as a singer through the many taverns where the people called her "the Black Angel from Montparnasse".

She spoke six languages: Polish, English, Yiddish, Russian and German. Yet, she was also able to express herself and sing in another dozen foreign languages.

Belina performed in 1964/65 in more than 120 countries - a triumphant series of concerts which met with one rave review after another.
During her world tour with guitarist Siegfried Behrend, she was once given the score of a Korean folksong at noon with the request that she sing it the same evening. Belina sang it and the following day the concert reviews spoke of her rendition of the song in Korean as being a natural part of her - so convincing and immediate was the quality of her singing.

In 1981 she made a final, very beautiful, but unfortunately unacknowledged LP recording with guitarist Ladi Geisler. After this project, Belina retired from show business.

She was also an actress, known for "Treffpunkt Baden-Baden" (1964), "Rhythmus der Nationen" (1962) "Das gefällt auch morgen noch" (1963) and "Hoheit liebt nur dufte Puppen" (1965).

Belina died on December 12, 2006 in Hamburg, Germany.

The album "Jeder träumt seine eigenen Träume" features original recordings from a TV show in March 1963 called "Belina - Porträt einer Sängerin".


Tracklist:

A1 Exodus (Ein Land Ist Mein)
A2 Hava Naghila
A3 Dreh' Dich Nicht Um Nach Fremden Schatten (Le Grisbi)
A4 A Yiddische Momme
A5 Le Bonheur
A6 Blue Balalaika
B1 Jeder Träumt Seine Eigenen Träume
B2 Ich Weiß, Es Wird Einmal Ein Wunder Gescheh'n
B3 Tamburine
B4 Man Hat Uns Nicht Gefragt
B5 Einsamkeit (Blue Melody)
B6 Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (Nein, Es Tut Mir Nicht Leid)

Belina - Jeder träumt seine eigenen Träume (1963)

(192 kbps, cover art included)

Zulus ‎– Destruction Is The Art Of Creation (1996)

Conscious hip-hop of the mid-1990s from the UK focused on society's ills, reminiscent of Public Enemy, Paris, P.O.W.E.R., or the Brotherhood. 

Check out the bass-banging tracks, such as "Black Power," "Attack the Structure," or the rock-heavy tracks "Ruffneck" or "Instruments of Genocide." A lot of mellow track as well, but sharp and powerful messages throughout.


Tracklist:

Mission Imperative 6:13
Radio Skit 0:32
Black Power 5:13
Zulu Soul 4:36
Ruffneck 4:15
Live N Direk (4 Da Headz) 3:52
Rich Man Poor Man 4:48
Nah Go Slip 3:58
Attack Da Structure 4:28
Fight Da Force 4:29
No Otha Pussy 5:23
Black Britain 4:48
Instruments Of Genocide 5:33
Thoughts Uplifted 4:28
No Change 4:38
Rough Justice 3:37
On Da Phone 0:20

Zulus ‎– Destruction Is The Art Of Creation (1996)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Maria Bethania - Recital Na Boite Barroco (1968)

Maria Bethânia Viana Teles Veloso (born June 18, 1946) is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. Born in Santo Amaro, Bahia, she started her career in Rio de Janeiro in 1964 with the show "Opinião" ("Opinion"). Due to its popularity, with performances all over the country, and the popularity of her 1965 single "Carcará", the artist became a star in Brazil.

Bethânia is the sister of the singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso and of the writer-songwriter Mabel Velloso, as well as being aunt of the singers Belô Velloso and Jota Velloso

She recorded "Recital Na Boite Barroco" for the Odeon label in 1968 and it was reissued on compact disc in 2007 by EMI. This passionate interpreter of Brazilian popular song was some three years into her recording career when she was taped in live performance with the Tamba Trio (pianist Luiz Eca, bassist Bebeto, and percussionist Helcio Milito). The Maria Bethânia heard on this album was already an adept handler of intimate ballads, jazz samba and bossa nova. Standing as it does among the earliest entries in her discography, "Recital Na Boite Barroco" serves as a pleasant prologue to her major triumphs of the '70s and her subsequent successes over the years.

Tracklist:

Marginália II
Carinhoso
Se Todos Fossem Iguais A Você
Último Desejo
Camisa Listada
Marina
O Que Tinha De Ser
Molambo
Lama
Pano Legal
Café Soçaite
Pé da Roseira
Êle Falava Nisso Todo Dia
Baby
Maria, Maria

Maria Bethania - Recital Na Boite Barroco (1968)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Mikis Theodorakis, Maria Farantouri, Petros Pandis - Canto General (1975)

An historical recording of the first performance in Athens, of "Canto General", the "Bible of South America" composed by Mikis Theodorakis, on the poetry of the Nobelist Chilean "national poet", Pablo Neruda. Maria Farantouri and Petros Pandis are singing in spanish, the original Neruda lyrics. They are backed by the National Chorus of France, the Percussions of Strasbourg and a Greek Folk Orchestra with two great bouzouki soloists. This live recording is unique, since it immortalized the superb enthousiastic atmosphere created by 75.000 applauding spectators. A collector's item, recorded live on August 13, 1975, at the Karaiskakis-Stadium, Pireus and on August 16, 1975, at the Panathinaikos-Stadium, Athens, by Polysound Studio.

.

The "General Song" or "Canto General" is the ultimate creation of the greatest of "the soul engineers", the Chilean Pablo Neruda. In these burning pages he is poet, revolutionist, soldier, chilean, american, universal. Neruda honors the people and the people honors Neruda. Never again such a deep, close and glorious union between a nation and a poet has been achieved. Canto General is the voice of the people, of all the nations of the World. Mikis Theodorakis was touched and impressed and added his own magic touch. And the result was a masterpiece, by all means.

Tracklist:

01. Manos Katrakis - Prologue
02. Maria Farantouri - Algunas bestias
03. Petros Pandis - Voy a vivir 1949
04. Maria Farantouri - Los libertadores
05. Petros Pandis - La United Fruit Co.
06. Maria Farantouri - Vienen los pajaros
07. Maria Farantouri - Vegetaciones
08. Petros Pandis - America insurrecta 1800

Mikis Theodorakis, Maria Farantouri, Petros Pandis - Canto General (1975)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Ex & Tom Cora - And The Weathermen Shrug Their Shoulders

The second album of this winning collaboration between the legendary independent post-punk group and avant garde cellist Tom Cora sees the group continue to indulge their collective love for European folk themes and free improvisation.

At moments, the stuttering, angular Gang of Four sound rises up, and the group carries a stilted groove through the extended pieces, when their trademark skittering guitars walk a line between artful control and willful chaos, recalling their explosive Crass-like '80s sound. While the delicate melodious folk patters, curious improvised sound-searching marked a new tangent the group followed into a total free-form improvisation inspired by the likes of avant-garde jazz associates Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg.

They never left their punk roots behind ,however. The Ex is one of the genre's most interesting and inventive groups.               

Tracklist:

1. "Dere Geliyor Dere" - 4:20
2. "The Big Black" - 5:33
3. "What's the Story" - 2:19
4. "Lamp Lady" - 3:48
5. "One-Liner from China" - 1:32
6. "Everything and Me" - 3:59
7. "New Clear Daze" - 4:41
8. "Oh Puckerlips Now" - 4:04
9. "Empty V" - 2:25
10. "Okinawa Mon Amour" - 2:26
11. "Dear House" - 4:41
12. "Conviction Going Gaga" - 1:36
13. "Stupid Competitions" - 4:15
14. "Hickwall" - 3:11
15. "War OD" - 6:12
16. "Untitled" - 2:01

The Ex & Tom Cora - And The Weathermen Shrug Their Shoulders
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Patricio Manns, Karaxu, Angel Parra – Chile: Songs For The Resistance (1975)

"In every epoch, certain struggles against oppression have come down through history and sum up for us in a single heroic shout the great reservoir of courage and humanity which is the common birthright of all people. France of 1789, Russia of 1917, China of 1949, Cuba of 1959; these are both milestones and symbols, the tradition of revolution which demonstrates that historically all reactionaries have been, in essence, paper tigers. That a people united can never be defeated. But not every symbol is a victorious one. The world has borne to witness to the bloody coup of September 1973 which swallowed and destroyed the Popular Unity government of Salvador Allende..."




Tracklist:

A1 Patricio Manns– La Cancion De Luciano 5:40
A2 Patricio Manns– La Ventana 5:25
A3 Patricio Manns– La Resistencia Se Organiza 4:56
A4 Patricio Manns– Bolivariana 3:30
B1 Daniel Viglietti– Solo Digo Compañeros 2:22
B2 Patricio Manns– Los Libertadores 4:30
B3 Patricio Manns– La Dignidad Se Hace Costumbre 3:55
B4 Patricio Manns– Ya No Somos Nosotros 2:40
B5 José Durán– Carta A Mi Compañero 5:36
B6 José Durán– Trabajadores Al Poder 2:50

Patricio Manns, Karaxu, Angel Parra – Chile: Songs For The Resistance (1975)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Atahualpa Yupanqui - Basta Ya (1977)

Argentinean folk icon Atahualpa Yupanqui became one of the most valuable treasures for the local culture. As a child living in the small town of Roca, province of Buenos Aires, Héctor Roberto Chaverowas seduced by traditional music, especially by the touching sound of the acoustic guitar. After taking violin lessons, the young man began learning how to play guitar, having musician Bautista Almirón as his teacher. 

For many years, Atahualpa Yupanqui traveled around his native country, singing folk tunes and working as muleteer, delivering telegrams, and even working as a journalist for a Rosario newspaper. In the late '30s, the artist started recording songs, making his debut as a writer in 1941 with Piedra Sola, later writing a famous novel called Cerro Bajo. 

In 1949, the singer/songwriter went on tour around Europe for the first time, including performances with France's Edith Piaf. During the following decades Atahualpa Yupanqui achieved an impressive amount of national and international recognition, becoming an essential artist, a distinguished Latin American troubadour, and influencing many prominent musicians and Argentinean folk groups. Atahualpa Yupanqui passed away in France in May, 1992.


Tracklist:

A1 Basta Ya! - Basta 5:35
A2 La Pobrecita - Die Arme Kleine 2:57
A3 El Pampino - Der Pampino 2:50
A4 El Alazan - Der Fuchs 5:00
A5 Chilca Juliana - Chilca Juliana 2:00
A6 Lo Miro Al Viento Y Me Rio - Ich Sehe Ihn Im Wind, Und Ich Lache 3:00
B1 Baguala Del Minero - Baguala Des Bergmanns 4:15
B2 La Flecha - Der Pfeil 2:55
B3 Vidala Del Yanarca - Vidala Des Yanarca 3:30
B4 Yo Quiero Un Caballo Negro - Ich Wünsche Mir Ein Schwarzes Pferd 2:20
B5 De Aquellos Cerros Vengo - Ich Komme Aus Diesen Bergen 2:00
B6 Salmo A La Guitarra - Psalm An Die Gitarre 5:20


Atahualpa Yupanqui - Basta Ya (1977)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Oliver Nelson with Eric Dolphy - Straight Ahead (1961)

A very interesting quintet set, "Straight Ahead" matches together Oliver Nelson (on alto and tenor) and Eric Dolphy (tripling on alto, flute, and bass clarinet). With the assistance of pianist Richard Wyands, bassist George Duvivier, and drummer Roy Haynes, the two reedmen battle it out on six compositions (five of Nelson's originals plus Milt Jackson's "Ralph's New Blues." Although none of Nelson's tunes caught on, this is a pretty memorable date. It certainly took a lot of courage for Oliver Nelson to share the front line with the colorful Eric Dolphy, but his own strong musical personality holds its own on this straight-ahead date.

Joe Goldberg recalls: "The session was scheduled for one in the afternoon and I arrived at 3:30, thinking that by then the music would have been rehearsed and the men would be starting to play. What I found was a studio empty of everyone but A&R man Esmond Edwards", the supervisor, "and engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who were packing up to leave and looking very satisfied." Released in 1961 for the Prestige/New Jazz label (as NJ 8255) and remastered in 1989, the album is notable for its long and thoughtful horn duets by Dolphy and Nelson. Don DeMicheal described the album "All in all, a warm, very human record".

In the original liner notes, Joe Goldberg talks about some of the tracks in the album: "Six and Four" is so named because the piece shifts from 6/4 to 4/4. "Mama Lou" is named for Nelson's older sister, a teacher in St. Louis. Nelson stated that his sister was "one of those people who displays two different moods" and that he "tried to capture them both." Last but not least, "111-44" was so named because of an address number, the one from which Nelson had just moved.

Tracklist:

Images
Six And Four
Mama Lou
Ralph's New Blues
Straight Ahead
111-44

Oliver Nelson with Eric Dolphy - Straight Ahead (1961)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Gal Costa - Gal Costa (1969)

A lot changed between Gal Costa's pleasantly straightforward 1967 debut "Domingo" and her eponymous follow-up two years later. "Domingo", also a debut for young Brazilian songwriter Caetano Veloso, featured a set of airy, somewhat standard bossa nova tunes, sung ably by Costa. 

Mere months after the release of this relatively safe debut, however, Costa and Veloso found themselves alongside Os Mutantes, Tom Zé, and Gilberto Gil, recording contributions to "Tropicália: Ou Panis et Circencis", the unofficial manifesto of the Tropicalismo movement. The compilation dove headfirst into avant-garde experimentalism, embracing the psychedelic tendencies happening in American underground circles, and the politically charged energy of radical dissent to Brazil's ongoing military dictatorship. 

This wild new hybrid of Brazilian pop and far-reaching outside influences resulted in something instantly miles away from everything that came before it, and Costa's self-titled Tropicalismo debut is no exception.

The album begins with a flutter of psychedelic echo effects, dissolving into gloriously lush string arrangements and lighthearted organ on "Nao Identificado," a brilliant opening track that introduces Costa's velvety voice, gently at first, as if to ease the listener into the new sounds about to be revealed. Softly glowing chamber pop arrangements like "Lost in Paradise" melt into unchained grooves and buzzing fuzz guitar bug-outs like the Gilberto Gil-aided "Namorinho de Portão" and the child-like singsonginess of "Divino Maravilhoso." The echo-heavy productions, patient strings, and gorgeously floating melody of "Baby" drive the album to its brilliant summit, offering a perfect articulation of the pensive, sexy, strange, and above all else, sunny blur that Tropicalismo was, even in its very beginnings.


Tracklist:

Side 1:
1. "Não Identificado" Caetano Veloso 3:12
2. "Sebastiana" Rosil Cavalcanti 2:23
3. "Lost in the Paradise" Caetano Veloso 2:52
4. "Namorinho de Portão" Tom Zé 2:34
5. "Saudosismo" Caetano Veloso 3:10
6. "Se Você Pensa" Roberto Carlos, Erasmo Carlos 3:15

Side 2:
7. "Vou Recomeçar" Roberto Carlos, Erasmo Carlos 3:25
8. "Divino, Maravilhoso" Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil 4:13
9. "Que Pena (Ele Já Não Gosta Mais de Mim)" Jorge Ben 3:33
10. "Baby" Caetano Veloso 3:33
11. "A Coisa Mais Linda Que Existe" Gilberto Gil, Torquato Neto 4:00
12. "Deus é o Amor" Jorge Ben 3:05

Gal Costa - Gal Costa (1969)

(182 kbps, cover art included)

Nara Leão – Dez Anos Depois (1971)

Nara Leão, the "Musa da Bossa Nova "("Bossa Nova's Muse", as she is affectionately known), was a prominent figure in bossa nova. She didn't restrict herself as a bossa nova singer, though, and was one of the first artists to engage in the movement later known as "canção de protesto" (protest song), an artistic movement which denounced military dictatorship in Brazil. She launched the careers of such composers/interpreters as Chico Buarque, Zé Keti, Martinho da Vila, Edu Lobo, Paulinho da Viola, and Fagner. An international performer in spite of her short, uneducated voice, she left an expressive discography even though death caught her by surprise at such a precocious age.

"Dez Anos Depois" is a 1971 double album of bossa nova standards.

The first LP is entirely acoustic. The arrangements and accompaniment, made by Brazilian guitarist Tuca, with occasional piano lines, were recorded in France; Nara was living in Paris at the time. The second LP was recorded in Rio; Nara's guitar and vocal were tracked separately from the accompaniment and orchestration, which were done at a studio with arrangers Roberto Menescal, Luiz Eça, and Rogério Duprat.


Disc 1:

Side A
"Insensatez" (Tom Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes)
"Samba de uma nota só" (Jobim, Newton Mendonça)
"Retrato em branco e preto" (Jobim, Chico Buarque)
"Corcovado" (Jobim)
"Garota de Ipanema" (Jobim, de Moraes)
"Pois é" (Jobim, Buarque)

Side B
"Chega de Saudade" (Jobim, de Moraes)
"Bonita" (Jobim, Gene Lees, Ray Gilbert)
"Você e eu" (Carlos Lyra, de Moraes)
"Fotografia" (Jobim)
"O grande amor" (Jobim, de Moraes)
"Estrada do sol" (Jobim, Dolores Duran)

Disc 2:

Side A
"Por toda minha vida" (Jobim, de Moraes)
"Desafinado" (Jobim, Mendonça)
"Minha namorada" (Lyra, de Moraes)
"Rapaz de bem" (Johnny Alf)
"Vou por aí" (Baden Powell, Aloysio de Oliveira)
"O amor em paz" (Jobim, de Moraes)

Side B
"Sabiá" (Jobim, Buarque)
"Meditação" (Jobim, Mendonça)
"Primavera" (Lyra, de Moraes)
"Este seu olhar" (Jobim)
"Outra vez" (Jobim)
"Demais" (Jobim, de Oliveira)

Nara Leão – Dez Anos Depois (1971)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Jackie Mittoo And The Soul Vendors ‎– Evening Time

Featuring a particularly natty cover photo of Mittoo set off by a very mod-looking standup organ, palm trees, and a trio of island lovelies, "Evening Time" further plies its groove exotica theme with bounce-and-grind gems from the rocksteady and early reggae days. The year was 1968, and Mittoo had already risen to the top of the competitive Kingston music scene, first as a member of the Skatalites and then as a the session leader of Clement Dodd's venerable Studio One label. This collection includes 12 tasty instrumentals culled from the slew of material he cut with such Studio One bands as the Soul Syndicate, Sound Dimension, and the Soul Defenders. The top-notch solos and infectious grooves make it clear why Mittoo -- both as an organist and arranger -- helped make Studio One rhythms the most heavily versioned in reggae's long history. And with such highlights as the noirish "Drum Song" and a fine take on the Prince Buster hit "One Step Beyond" topping things off, "Evening Time" qualifies as the perfect record for Mittoo fans in need of something beyond the handful of retrospectives currently available.

Jackie Mittoo's second album for Studio One (credited to Jackie Mittoo and the Soul Vendors) following "JACKIE MTOO IN LONDON", released the previous year is an absolute killer funky Reggae album!

Tracklist:
A1 Evening Time
A2 One Step Beyond
A3 Napoleon Solo
A4 Best By Request
A5 Love Is Blue
A6 Hip Hug
B1 Hot Milk
B2 Autumn Sounds
B3 Full Charge
B4 Hot Shot
B5 Rock Steady Wedding
B6 Drum Song


Jackie Mittoo And The Soul Vendors ‎– Evening Time
(320 kbps, cover art included)