Donnerstag, 30. Juni 2016

The Salsoul Orchestra - Anthology

The music world's prime disco big band during the late '70s, the Salsoul Orchestra recorded several of the tightest, chunkiest disco themes of the 1970s, both on its own productions and as the backing group for several prime vocalists.

Organized by Vincent Montana, Jr. in 1974, the band was an experiment in fusing funk, Philly soul, and Latin music together in a highly danceable discofied style with plenty of room for solos by individual members. With arrangers, conductors, and whole sections of instruments (including up to 18 violinists) contributing to the sound, the Salsoul Orchestra routinely included up to 50 members. Though the Salsoul sound became passé in the wake of disco music's explosion and rapid commercialization during the late '70s, Salsoul was a heavy influence on house music in the 1980s and even the return of disco-inspired electronica during the following decade.

The beginnings of the Salsoul Orchestra (and Salsoul Records) lie with nominal head Vincent Montana, Jr. A longtime jazz vibraphonist, bandleader, and session man with Philly soul groups like Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, the O'Jays, and the Spinners, Montana dreamed of constructing a large studio orchestra which could fuse polished soul and brassy funk with Latin percussion and live strings. In 1974, he was introduced to local entrepreneurs Joe, Ken, and Stan Cayre (who ran a local Latin music label) by Afro-Cuban pianist Joe Bataan. With their blessing (and financing), Montana spent months recruiting dozens of musicians from the streets and studios of New York — including more than a half-dozen percussionists alone. The collective recorded three tracks, which impressed Bataan and the Cayres so much that they decided to form a new label — named Salsoul for its connotations of salsa and soul — to release a full-length LP.

One of the original Salsoul Orchestra recordings, "The Salsoul Hustle," was released in mid-1975 and it placed well on the charts. Salsoul's second single, "Tangerine" (an unlikely cover of a Jimmy Dorsey tune), hit the Top 20 in early 1976 and pushed the eponymous Salsoul Orchestra LP to number 14 on the album charts. Follow-up singles like "You're Just the Right Size" and "Nice and Nasty" did moderately well on the charts but soon a glut of similar-sounding material began to flood the market, cheap imitations of the amazing instrumentation of Salsoul Orchestra members — guitarist and producer Norman Harris, bassist Ronald Baker, drummer Earl Young, arranger Don Renaldo, percussionist Larry Washington, and vocalists Jocelyn Brown, Phyllis Rhodes, Ronni Tyson, Philip Hurt, and Carl Helm. Many Salsoul contributors played on the biggest and best disco tracks of the era, including Trammps, Grace Jones, the Whispers, Loleatta Holloway, and First Choice.

Though Salsoul records had long been out of print, several were brought back in the mid-'90s, as well as a prescient two-disc retrospective titled "Anthology", a retrospective of The Salsoul Orchestra´s greatest hits and best-known material from "Nice 'n' Nasty," "Don't Beat Around the Bush," "Salsoul Hustle," "Get Happy" and "Tangerine" to "Ooh I Love It (Love Break)."

Salsoul Orchestra - Anthology pt 1
Salsoul Orchestra - Anthology pt 2

Sonntag, 26. Juni 2016

The Slits - Cut (1979)

Its amateurish musicianship, less-than-honed singing, and thick, dubwise rhythms might not be for everyone, but there's little denying the crucial nature of the Slits' first record. Along with more recognized post-punk records like Public Image Limited's "Metal Box", the Pop Group's "Y", and less-recognized fare like the Ruts DC and Mad Professor's "Rhythm Collision Dub", "Cut" displayed a love affair with the style of reggae that honed in on deep throbs, pulses, and disorienting effects, providing little focus on anything other than that and periodic scrapes from guitarist Viv Albertine.

But more importantly, "Cut" placed the Slits along with the Raincoats and Lydia Lunch as major figureheads of unbridled female expression in the post-punk era. Sure, Hole, Sleater-Kinney, and Bikini Kill would have still happened without this record (there were still the Pretenders and Patti Smith, just to mention a few of the less-subversive groundbreakers), but "Cut" placed a rather indelible notch of its own in the "influential" category, providing a spirited level rarely seen since.

Heck, the Slits themselves couldn't match it again. You could call some of these songs a reaction to the Nuggets bands, or the '60s garage acts that would find as many ways as possible to say "women are evil." Songs like "Instant Hit" (about PiL guitarist Keith Levene), "So Tough" (about Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten), "Ping Pong Affair," and "Love Und Romance" point out the shortcomings of the opposite sex and romantic involvements with more precision and sass than the boys were ever able to. "Spend Spend Spend" and "Shoplifting" target consumerism with an equal sense of humor ("We pay f*ck all!"). Despite the less-than-polished nature and street-tough ruggedness, "Cut" is entirely fun and catchy; it's filled with memorable hooks, whether they're courtesy of the piano lick that carries "Typical Girls" or Ari Up's exuberant vocals. (One listen to "Up" will demonstrate that Björk might not be as original as you've been led to believe.)              


Tracklist:
1Instant Hit
2So Tough
3Spend, Spend, Spend
4Shoplifting
5FM
6Newtown
7Ping Pong Affair
8Love Und Romance
9Typical Girls
10Adventures Close To Home
11I Heard It Through The Grapevine
12Liebe And Romanze (Slow Version)


The Slits - Cut (1979)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Samstag, 25. Juni 2016

VA - Need A Shot - The Essential Recordings Of Urban Blues


Featuring two-dozen tracks drawn from commercially released 78s of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, "Need a Shot" is primarily a piano-based selection, although there is a fair amount of guitar and harmonica tossed in, and on occasion even drums, saxes, and clarinets.

Labeled urban blues, these sides are only a little removed from their country blues roots, and pieces like Peetie Wheatstraw's "Working Man (Doing the Best I Can)" (the melody line, a common one in the early blues, was used by Bob Dylan for his "Pledging My Time"), Roosevelt Sykes´ "Night Time Is the Right Time," and Washboard Sam's funky and ragged "Back Door" played just as well in the rural jukes of the Deep South as they did in the bars up north.

In spite of the subtitle, these 24 selections don't exactly add up to an essential survey of the early urban blues, but there's plenty of foot-stomping fun going on here and it's hard to have a serious problem with that.

Tracklist:

01. Bumble Bee Slim - Sail On, Little Girl, Sail On
02. Kokomo Arnold - Policy Wheel Blues
03. Georgia White - Trouble In Mind [1936 05 12-Chicago]
04. Harlem Hamfats - Bad Luck Man [1936 10 22-Chicago]
05. Johnnie Temple - Louise Louise Blues [1936 11 12-Chicago]
06. Peetie Wheatstraw - Working Man (Doing The Best I Can)
07. Walter Davis - Think You Need A Shot [1936 04 03-Chicago]
08. Bill Gaither - New Little Pretty Mama
09. Roosevelt Sykes - Night Time Is The Right Time [1937 04 29-Chicago]
10. Curtis Jones - Lonesome Bedroom Blues [1937 09 28-Chicago]
11. Washboard Sam - Back Door [1938 12 16-Aurora IL]
12. Casey Bill Weldon - Way Down In Louisiana [1939 12 07-Chicago]
13. Merline Johnson - Want To Woogie Some More [1938 10 04-Chicago]
14. Big Bill Broonzy - What Is That She Got?
15. Memphis Minnie - Lonesome Shack Blues [1940 06 27-Chicago]
16. Tampa Red - Baby, Take A Chance With Me [1940 05 10-Chicago]
17. Bill "Jazz" Gillum - Key To The Highway
18. Memphis Slim - Beer Drinking Woman [1940 10 30-Chicago]
19. Big Maceo - County Jail Blues [1941 06 24-Chicago]
20. St. Louis Jimmy - Goin' Down Slow [1941 11 11-Chicago]
21. Lonnie Johnson - He's A Jelly-Roll Baker
22. Doctor Clayton - Ain't No Business We Can Do [1942 03 27-Chicago]
23. Champion Jack Dupree - Big Time Mama
24. Sonny Boy Williamson - New Early In The Morning

VA - Need A Shot - The Essential Recording Of Urban Blues
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Leftfield - Release The Pressure 12 Inch

Paul Daley (a former member of A Man Called Adam and the Brand New Heavies) and programmer Neil Barnes combined the classic soul of early Chicago and New York house with the growing Artificial Intelligence school of album-oriented techno to create classic, intelligent dance music.

When legal hassles over ownership of the Leftfield name prevented the pair from recording their own music after the release of their debut "Not Forgotten," they turned to remixing, establishing their early reputation for reworking tracks by artists ranging from Stereo MC's and David Bowie to Yothu Yindhi and Renegade Soundwave.

Finally, with their courtroom battles successfully behind them, they formed their own Hard Hands label in late 1992 and issued the single "Release the Pressure," featuring reggae vocalist Earl Sixteen.

Tracklist:
01 Release the Pressure 3:57
02 Release One 7:23
03 Release Two 7:190
4 Release Three 6:02
05 Release Four 5:03

Leftfield - Release The Pressure, 12 "
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Pressure Drop - My Friend

The London-based disc jockeys Justin Langlands and Dave Henley first met in 1986, at the peak of the house scene.

Under the moniker Blood Brothers they became stalwarts of the genre. Pressure Drop was born with the singles "Feeling Good" (Big World, 1990), "Back To Back" (Big World, 1990) and "Trancefusion" (Big World, 1990).

Here´s the single "My Friend" (from the album "Elusive") with an expertly mix of dub, exotica, bebop and Ennio Morricone. Pure alienation!

Tracklist:

1. My Friend (under the wrong sign)
2. Alienation
3. Uncut Anger
4. Dehumanization
5. Beyond Reason

Pressure Drop - My Friend
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Mittwoch, 22. Juni 2016

Kurt Weill - Street Scene - Hollywood Bowl, 1949

"Street Scene" is a Broadway musical or, more precisely, an "American opera" by Kurt Weill (music), Langston Hughes (lyrics), and Elmer Rice (book). Written in 1946 and premiered in Philadelphia that year, Street Scene is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Rice.

It was Weill who referred to the piece as an "American opera" (he also called it a "Broadway opera"), intending it as a synthesis of European traditional opera and American musical theater. He received the first Tony Award for Best Original Score for his work, after the Broadway premiere in 1947. Yet Street Scene has never been revived on Broadway; it is fairly regularly produced by opera companies. Musically and culturally, even dramatically, the work inhabits the midground between Weill's Threepenny Opera (1928) and Bernstein's West Side Story (1957).

The score contains operatic arias and ensembles, some of them, such as Anna Maurrant's "Somehow I Never Could Believe" and Frank Maurrant's "Let Things Be Like They Always Was," with links and references to the style of Giacomo Puccini. It also has jazz and blues influences, in "I Got a Marble and a Star" and "Lonely House." Some of the more Broadway-style musical numbers are "Wrapped In a Ribbon and Tied In a Bow", "Wouldn't You Like To Be On Broadway?" and "Moon-faced, Starry-eyed," an extended song-and-dance sequence.

This is a rare recording of Kurt Weill’s musical, Street Scene, taken from a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 1949, and featuring Polyna Stoska, who created the work’s leading role.

It was intended for overseas broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio, the present disc including just seventeen tracks of vocal music and omits all of the linking narrative. That leaves little more than half of the original that started life as a Broadway musical in 1947, but with so much competition at the time, it enjoyed modest success.

The plot concerns the everyday life of six couples from differing nationalities who live in the close confines of a tenement block in New York. It opens in a workaday atmosphere, the young ones longing for something better, but are unable to break out of their humdrum existence. Anna Maurrant tries to protect her children from a bullying husband, and out of her mundane life emerges her own need for romance which she finds it in Steve. By chance her husband comes home unexpectedly early and finding them together kills them in a jealous rage. The end of the work sees life in the tenement slowly returning to normal. Dorothy Sarnoff sings the part of Rose Maurrant, the smart girl who is capable of escaping from the tenement, and it is with her the performance comes to life. The remainder of the cast is routine, though it probably portrays the work as it sounded on Broadway, and is much different to the two modern complete recordings that use casts of opera singers. This original recording is of haphazard balance and prone to overlading, but the restoration engineer has worked miracles.

This version of Street Scene was part of a two-hour concert broadcast live from the Hollywood Bowl and recorded by the Armed Forces Radio Service, who pressed it on sixteen-inch transcription discs. Program host Jack Little, not heard here, described the proceedings and introduced the performers but said nothing about the plot or characters, and in fact we’ve had to make educated guesses concerning a couple of numbers he did not announce. He also apologized to the radio audience after the opening number because one microphone failed to work, leaving the vocal ensemble almost inaudible.

Kurt Weill - Street Scene - Hollywood Bowl, 1949
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Dienstag, 21. Juni 2016

This Is Calypso (1968, vinyl rip)

. "This Is Calypso" was released in 1968 on Trinidad & Tobago, featuring calypso artists like Duke, Canary, Fighter and Lord Blakie.
Tracklist:
A 1: Duke - What Is Calypso
A 2: Duke - Woman Baccanal
A 3: Canary - Beatnik Generation
A 4: Canary - Tribute To Luther King
A 5: Fighter - What You Sow You Reap
B 1: Fighter - Pom Pom
B 2: Fighter - Send Me Instead
B 3: Lord Blakie - Monica
B 4: Lord Blakie - We Ain't Going Back Again
B 5: Duke - Send Them Girls By Me

(192 kbps, front cover included)

Telephone Lobi - Telephone Love - More Giants Of Danceband Highlife

Telephone Lobi is a compilation of 1960s Ghanaian danceband highlife released in 1995 by Original Music.

The Lobi, by the way, are an ethnic group who speak a language of the same name in Ghana. They’re known for fiercely resisting French colonialism back in the day… with poisoned arrows.

Ghanaian horn-band highlife of the 1950s and 1960s was one of the great african sounds of the last century. It had all the optimism and bounce of a time when political idependence or the prospect of it was energizing everybody and everything. It was hugely varied.

It was (in West African terms) international. It was mellow. It swung. It was full of fine soloists on say and trumpet and trumbone and guitar. And above all it was danceable to the max.
.

Telephone Love - Telephone Lobi - More Giants Of Danceband Highlife (192 kbps)

Sonntag, 19. Juni 2016

Herbie Goins & The Nighttimers - Soultime

"Herbie Goins, born 21th February, 1939 in Florida, USA, is the son of a Harlem Gospel singer, and after colourful careers as a chef in a New York night club and service in the US Forces, eventually came to England, where he has built and earned the respect of a large following of both jazz and "pop" enthusiasts.

Because of his liking for jazz, Herbie has developed a great "feel" for "pop" music and I hope that this LP exposes the quality and style, which, to my mind, are instantly appreciated and summed up in just two words - Herbie Goins"

- Norman Smith on the original sleevenote from the Herbie Goins LP "No. 1 In Your Heart"

Herbie Goins & The Nightimers - Soultime
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Trinity - African Revolution

Image
The early 1970s produced a strain of Jamaican music called "DJ Toasting" that would eventually influence the course of hip-hop and Dancehall.

DJ's working for top producers would spin the latest hits on traveling sound systems, hosting parties for weekend revelers, and spicing the music with their "toasts": boastful commentaries, chants and half-sung rhymes.

Artists such as Big Youth and U-Roy would play a popular reggae hit with the lead vocals removed, and create their own version filled with fiery wit, melodic poetry and a rhythmic style.

Some of the best albums to come out of this era were Doctor Alimintado's Lee Perry-produced classic "Best Dressed Chicken in Town" and Big Youth's "Screaming Target".

ImageTrinity (born Wade Brammer, 1954, Kingston) worked as a DJ on several local sound systems. He made his recording deubt in March 1976 with "Set Up Yourself" for Joe Joe Hookim. Heavily influenced by Big Youth, he developed a strong and entertaining style of his own -with an edge that helped spark the Dancehall revolution.

Tracklist:
A1African Revolution
A2Turn Yu Roll
A3Staff Of Live
A4Not The Worst
A5Tan Tudy
B1Righteous Rock
B2Judgement Day
B3Hard Time Reggae
B4A Nuh So
B5Rain A Fall

Trinity - African Revolution
(192 kbps, cover art included)


Samstag, 18. Juni 2016

Kalyi Jag - Chants Tziganes - Gypsy Songs (1990)

Kalyi Jag (meaning Black Fire) are one of the few professional gypsy-music groups in Hungary. Traditionally an a cappella form with stick accompaniment, Kalyi Jag have added guitars, and even a watering can, to their instrumental line-up. Their sound, which is more modern music with gypsy influences than gypsy music with modern influences, has proven especially popular at Hungarian tanchazes or dance houses.                

Kalyi Jag was formed in 1978 by a group of young Roma educators and musicians united by a passion to preserve and promote authentic Roma folklore and language through lyrics and music. The Kalyi Jag has formed a unique way of performing, by means of which it can be unmistakably distinguished from the other Gypsy groups. Apart from performing they organize international gipsy music and dance workshops, they collect folk music and folk dances as well as operating a school through a foundation. Over the past three decades Kalyi Jag  has not only become one of the most internationally acknowledged representatives of the original Hungarian Gypsy musical tradition, but has demonstrated, as well, a commitment to fostering Roma social equality through focused patronage of educational and cultural programs. The Kalyi Jag Roma Minority Art High Schools helps to bring Roma into the mainstream educational system.


Tracklist:

1. Karingszo Me Phirav 3:23
2. Suki Romnyi Gogyaver 2:38
3. Kon Kamenpe 3:23
4. Kodi Phenen Mange 2:57
5. Jekfar Dikhlyom Sukar Romnya 2:29
6. Vilag-Vilagvetett Agy 2:07
7. O Phivlo Rom 4:11
8. Ketri Ketri 5:07
9. Luma Maj 2:59
10. Lulugyalo Sanco 3:07
11. O Csacso Kamipo 3:04
12. Fitus Pergetose 2:27
13. Tuke Bahh 4:41
14. Mi Musztaca Tejle Bangylo 2:29
15. E Voja 2:51
16. E Szatmarake 4:32

Kalyi Jag - Chants Tziganes - Gypsy Songs (1990)
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Julie Wilson - Sings The Kurt Weill Songbook

The day after Julie Wilson recorded her Stephen Sondheim songbook album for DRG Records, she went back into the recording studio and recorded her Kurt Weill songbook album. That may seem like rushing things, but when you're 63 years old and you get your first recording contract in 26 years, why wait?

Certainly, Wilson is at least as familiar with Weill's repertoire as she is with Sondheim's, and certainly Weill (with his lyric collaborators) wrote as many songs well suited to her world-weary, seen-it-all nightclub persona as Sondheim has. From her choices, Wilson clearly is more comfortable with the Broadway Weill than the Berlin Weill, particularly with two of his shows of the '40s, "Lady in the Dark" (lyrics by Ira Gershwin) and "One Touch of Venus" (lyrics by Ogden Nash).

Of the 18 songs in 14 tracks on the disc (three tracks are medleys of two or three songs), seven come from those two shows, among them standards like "Speak Low," "That's Him," and "The Saga of Jenny," but also relative obscurities such as "Foolish Heart" and "This Is New." (It is surprising that Wilson passes over another "One Touch of Venus" evergreen, "I'm a Stranger Here Myself.") Elsewhere, she plucks lesser-known songs from lesser-known Broadway shows like "Street Scene", "Love Life", and "The Firebrand of Florence", giving a sense of Weill as largely a ballad-writing romantic. But she also delves into those songs about age and experience, presenting a female-oriented version of "September Song" from "Knickerbocker Holiday", and the bitter torch song "Surabaya Johnny" from "Happy End". The latter is one of the relatively few songs Weill wrote early in his career in Berlin with Bertolt Brecht that Wilson takes on; there are only four such tunes here. (Another surprising omission is "Pirate Jenny.").

As ever, Wilson renders the lyrics knowingly in her half-spoken singing voice, while William Roy provides simple, lively piano accompaniment and occasionally jumps in to sing with her. She succeeds at presenting Weill in the guise of a nightclub sophisticate, but only by making a narrow selection of his catalog.   

Julie Wilson - Sings The Kurt Weill Songbook
(256 kbps, small front cover included)          

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


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

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


Tracklist:

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

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

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

Mittwoch, 15. Juni 2016

Tom Rush - The Circle Game (1968)

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

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

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

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

On-U Sound Disco Plate Collection Part II

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

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

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

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

Montag, 13. Juni 2016

Muddy Waters - You´re Gona Miss Me When I´m Gone


The American blues musician Muddy Waters was born McKinley Morganfield in Mississippi in 1913. His first recording was made for the Library of Congress who had sent famed folk music archivist Alan Lomax to the Southern States to record examples of blues songs. On hearing the record Waters realised that being a musician was an achievable dream and set his sights on a career in music. Waters moved to Chicago in 1943 to pursue his dream.

Waters began to establish himself with a series of recordings including "I Can't be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home", building his reputation by playing in local clubs. Waters hit an early high point with the tune, "Rollin' Stone", which went on to provide The Rolling Stones with their name.

Waters domination of the Chicago blues scene saw him be credited with the development of the Chicago sound and launching the careers of many of his contemporaries. By 1952, Waters band included blues men Little Walter Jacobs and Otis Span performing tracks such as "Hoochie Coochie Man", written by Willie Dixon. As their success grew, his band, keen to develop their own careers, began to leave and Waters found it difficult to replicate his sound with replacement performers. On a trip to the UK in 1972 to record with UK stars Steve Winwood, Rory Gallagher, Mitch Mitchell and Rick Grech, he is reported as saying "these boys are top musicians …but it ain't the Muddy Waters sound."

By 1977, Waters had gathered around him other top names from the blues field for his album Hard Again, which featured the Grammy award winning track, "Mannish Boy". The success of the album, and its follow-ups, including I'm Ready and Muddy Mississippi Water Live put Waters back in the limelight and saw his best record sales.

In April 1983 Waters died in his sleep as a result of cancer, leaving behind him a legacy of influence on a long list of performers including Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. A new generation of fans were introduced to his music when Waters performance of "Mannish Boy" was used in a Levi Jeans ad and appeared on the soundtrack for the film Risky Business.

Waters' career was recognised in 1992 with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2004 he was ranked No.17 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.


Tracklist:

1. Steamline Woman
2. Mean Red Spider
3. Rollin' And Tumblin'
4. Country Blues
5. You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone
6. I Be Bound To Write To You
7. I Feel Like Going Home
8. I Can't Be Satisfied
9. Little Anna Mea
10. Little Geneva
11. Walkin' Blues
12. Why Don't You Live So God Can Use You
13. 32-20 Blues
14. I Be's Troubled
15. Train Fare Home Blues
16. Gypsy Woman

Muddy Waters - You´re Gonna Miss Me When I´m Gone
(192 kbps, small front cover included)

Sonntag, 12. Juni 2016

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

No blues singer ever presented a more gentle, genial image than Mississippi John Hurt.

A guitarist with an extraordinarily lyrical and refined fingerpicking style, he also sang with a warmth unique in the field of blues, and the gospel influence in his music gave it a depth and reflective quality unusual in the field. Coupled with the sheer gratitude and amazement that he felt over having found a mass audience so late in life, and playing concerts in front of thousands of people -- for fees that seemed astronomical to a man who had always made music a sideline to his life as a farm laborer -- these qualities make Hurt's recordings into a very special listening experience.
Here´s the soundboard recording of the "friends of old time music concert", School of Medicine, Alumni Hall
New York, N.Y., December 13, 1963.

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

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

Thanks to http://arizjones.blogspot.com/!
Mississippi John Hurt - December 13, 1963
(320 kbps, no cover art included)

Samstag, 11. Juni 2016

Mombasa - African Rhythm & Blues 2 (1976) [224kbps]

The second album from Mombasa – and possibly even better than the first! The group have really come into their own by the time of this date – mixing together jazz and African roots with a sound that's unlike anyone else we can think of – quite unique in its approach to rhythms, sounds, and solos! The grooves aren't really the Afro Funk you might expect – and instead, they're based on a headier brew of basslines and percussion, one that's somewhere in a space between Boscoe, The Pharoahs, and Demon Fuzz – but with a sound that's ultimately different than both. The trombone of Lou Blackburn carries the lead on most tracks – snaking out wonderfully over the grooves, with a quality that's amazingly soulful, and which almost has him standing head to head with Fred Wesley as a 70s innovator on his instrument. Other members of the group include Doug Lucas on trumpet, Bob Reed on percussion, Alan Tatham on drums, and Don Ridgeway on electric bass – the last of whom really does a great job shaping the sound of the tunes.
.
Tracklist:
1. Yenyeri
2. Holz II
3. Shango II
4. Nomoli
5. African Hustle
6. Al Rahman

Mombasa - African Rhythm & Blues 2 (1976)
(224 kbps, front cover included)

Mombasa - African Rhythms & Blues (1975)

Original first LP release by legendary Mombasa band: Deep Afro Funk & Jazz by Lou Blackburn and his group recorded 1975 in Germany original release on the rare german Spiegelei label, contains the most wanted DJ-spins "Nairobi", "Kenia" and "Shango". This is a classic and sought after afro funk LP. One of the best recordings in the genre: Pulsating african rhythms with funk bass and heavy brass sounds: Essential and ultra hard to find album with tons of true killer afro funk breaks. Some also call it a stripped down Fela Kuti sound ...

From the original liner notes, 1975:

"In describing the music of Mombasa which is a mixture of rhythm, jazz, folklore, blues, spirituals and worksongs, Lou Blackburn would prefer not to use the word jazz. Many people ask us, he says, how one describes our type of music. To this I can only answer that I leave it to the audience because i don`t want to give it a label, for me it is simply ours, Mombasa`s music."

Mombasa - African Rhythms & Blues (1975)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Freitag, 10. Juni 2016

Ernst Busch - Solidarität mit Chile (Eterna, 1975)

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

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

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

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

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


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





Gegen die Objektiven


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


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


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


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


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

(Bertolt Brecht)

Donnerstag, 9. Juni 2016

Alice Coltrane - Universal Consciousness (1971)

Recorded between April and June of 1971, Alice Coltrane's "Universal Consciousness" stands as her classic work. As a testament to the articulation of her spiritual principles, "Universal Consciousness" stands even above "World Galaxy" as a recording where the medium of music, both composed and improvised, perfectly united the realms of body (in performance), speech (in the utterance of individual instrumentalists and group interplay), and mind (absolute focus) for the listener to take into her or his own experience. While many regard "Universal Consciousness" as a "jazz" album, it transcends even free jazz by its reliance on deeply thematic harmonic material and the closely controlled sonic dynamics in its richly hued chromatic palette.

The set opens with the title track, where strings engage large washes of Coltrane's harp as Jack DeJohnette's drums careen in a spirit dance around the outer edge of the maelstrom. On first listen, the string section and the harp are in counter-dictum, moving against each other in a modal cascade of sounds, but this soon proves erroneous as Coltrane's harp actually embellishes the timbral glissandos pouring forth. Likewise, Jimmy Garrison's bass seeks to ground the proceedings to DeJohnette's singing rhythms, and finally Coltrane moves the entire engagement to another dimension with her organ. Leroy Jenkins' violin and Garrison's bottom two strings entwine one another in Ornette Coleman's transcription as Coltrane and the other strings offer a middling bridge for exploration. It's breathtaking. On "Battle at Armageddon," the violence depicted is internal; contrapuntal rhythmic impulses whirl around each other as Coltrane's organ and harp go head to head with Rashied Ali's drums. "Oh Allah" rounds out side one with a gorgeously droning, awe-inspiring modal approach to whole-tone music that enfolds itself into the lines of organic polyphony as the strings color each present theme intervalically. DeJohnette's brushwork lisps the edges and Garrison's bass underscores each chord and key change in Coltrane's constant flow of thought.

On side two, "Hare Krishna" is a chant-like piece that is birthed from minor-key ascendancy with a loping string figure transcribed by Coleman from Coltrane's composition on the organ. She lays deep in the cut, offering large shimmering chords that twirl - eventually - around high-register ostinatos and pedal work. It's easily the most beautiful and accessible track in the set, in that it sings with a devotion that has at its base the full complement of Coltrane's compositional palette. "Sita Ram" is a piece that echoes "Hare Krishna" in that it employs Garrison and drummer Clifford Jarvis, but replaces the strings with a tamboura player. Everything here moves very slowly, harp and organ drift into and out of one another like breath, and the rhythm section - informed by the tamboura's drone - lilts on Coltrane's every line. As the single-fingered lines engage the rhythm section more fully toward the end of the tune, it feels like a soloist improvising over a chanting choir. Finally, the album ends with another duet between Ali and Coltrane. Ali uses wind chimes as well as his trap kit, and what transpires between the two is an organically erected modal architecture, where texture and timbre offer the faces of varying intervals: Dynamic, improvisational logic and tonal exploration become elemental figures in an intimate yet universal conversation that has the search itself and the uncertain nature of arrival, either musically or spiritually, at its root. This ambiguity is the only way a recording like this could possibly end, with spiritual questioning and yearning in such a musically sophisticated and unpretentious way. The answers to those questions can perhaps be found in the heart of the music itself, but more than likely they can, just as they are articulated here, only be found in the recesses of the human heart. This is art of the highest order, conceived by a brilliant mind, poetically presented in exquisite collaboration by divinely inspired musicians and humbly offered as a gift to listeners. It is a true masterpiece.

Alice Coltrane - Universal Consciousness (1971)
(192 kbps, no cover art included)

Mittwoch, 8. Juni 2016

Walter Benjamin - Aufklärung für Kinder



Walter Benjamin prepared and delivered some 30 broadcasts for German Radio between 1929-1932 specifically for children, maybe 7-14 or so, each consisting of a 20 minute talk or monologue.

A main emphasis was on introducing the youth to various, some of them classical, natural catastrophes, for instance the Lisbon earthquake of the 1750's that so shook the optimism of Voltaire and the century, a flood of the Mississippi of 1927, the Pompeii disaster as came through the famous letter of Pliny the Younger; another subject was various episodes of lawlessness fraud and deceit, much of it recent, for instance bootlegger's boats that were bringing rum or whatever to America through the prohibition blockade. "Aufklärung für Kinder" ("Enlightenment for Children") was the name of the series.

This release collects some of these broadcasts, read in german language by Harald Wiesner.

Walter Benjamin - Aufklärung für Kinder
(128 kbps, front cover included)

Paul Robeson - Ballads For Americans & Carnegie Hall Concert Vol. 2 (1965)


Paul Robeson  (1898–1976) was an influential African American singer, actor, and social activist.

In the late 1950s, Paul Robeson, like the Weavers - who also were persona non grata at the major labels due to their leftist political views - began recording for Vanguard Records, a New York-based independent label that wasn't afraid of controversial artists.

When Paul Robeson took the stage at Carnegie Hall in May of 1958, it had been 11 years since he had previously concertized freely in the United States. Blacklisted from the entertainment industry at home, and with the State Department unwilling to issue him a passport, he had fallen into eclipse as a singer and actor over the previous eight years. The concert recorded here, one of two at Carnegie Hall in May of 1958, marked his return.

The highlight of this album, however, is the title track, "Ballad for Americans," which Vanguard can justifiably be said to have rescued from oblivion in the RCA-Victor catalog. Clocking in at ten minutes, the 1939 recording is a fascinating, still somewhat compelling concept work authored by Earl Robinson and John LaTouche, in which Robeson represents the entire country, all of "the people," in this grand musical canvas, supported by a chorus and a full orchestra. His voice is richer on this cut than on any of the other material here, understandable since it was recorded nearly two decades earlier, and the only drawback is that this piece - by its nature as an overtly political, patriotic leftist work - is as much acted as sung. One needed a larger-than-life vocal presence such as Robeson to pull this off. One can only be grateful for Vanguard's foresight in acquiring the quarter-century-old recording for this compilation in its original double-LP format, and to RCA-Victor (who were likely only too happy to let it go for whatever money they could get, at the time) for permitting its use; the song, although somewhat arch and pretentious at times, is a vivid reminder of the era in which Robeson made his name, and great battles for the hearts and minds of audiences were being fought daily.

Paul Robeson - Ballads For Americans & Carnegie Hall Concert Vol. 2 (1965)
(128 kbps, front & back cover included)

Thanks a lot to Mick for sharing this album!

Montag, 6. Juni 2016

Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari - Tales Of Mozambique

"Tales of Mozambique" was released a couple of years after the ground-breaking "Grounation" triple-album, the first album to give nyahbingi music the studio time it deserves.
It goes along similar musical lines: a mixture of rasta chants, nyahbingi drumming and jazz-based horn work.

The album takes account of and analyses the displacement of African blacks to the West Indians coasts. It is a journey which takes in the Maroons, Pan-Africanism and all the international struggles for independence in a musical structure encompassing Burru, Mento, Reggae and Jazz rhythms.

This is music marked with integrity that should be herad by anyone interested in Jamaican culture, percussion or the roots of roots music.

Tracklist:
A1Sam's Intro3:35
A2Mozambique - Tales Of Mozambique5:45
A3Ah Ji Wah Wah - Selam Nna Wadada (Peace & Love)3:20
A4No Night In Zion4:00
A5I Am A Warrior5:02
B6Wicked Babylon5:20
B7Let Freedom Reign3:43
B8Lock, Stock & Barrel - Soon Start Quarrel3:42
B9Nigerian Reggae3:40
B10Run One Mile5:30

Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari - Tales Of Mozambique
(192 kbps, ca. 60 MB)

Derrick Morgan - People Decision

A member of the classic first wave of Jamaican ska artists, Derrick Morgan was among the genre's founding fathers, emerging alongside pioneers including the Skatalites, Laurel Aitken, Prince Buster, and Desmond Dekker. Born in March, 1940, Morgan was raised in the Kingston area, exposed to a variety of musical sources spanning from New Orleans R&B to the choral music of the nearby church where his father served as deacon. At the age of 17, he took top honors at the annual Vere John's Opportunity talent show, delivering blistering renditions of Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" and "Jenny Jenny," and in 1959 teamed with producer Duke Reid to record his debut single "Lover Boy." Morgan's follow-up, "Fat Man," was a smash throughout Jamaica, and he later scored with recordings of "Leave Earth" and "Wigger Wee Shuffle," both cut with the legendary Clement "Coxsone" Dodd.

By 1960, Morgan was the unrivaled King of Ska — at the peak of his popularity, he was the first and only Jamaican artist to date to hold down the top seven slots on the national pop singles chart during the same week, generating a string of smashes including "Be Still," "In My Heart," "Don't Call Me Daddy," "Moon Hop," and "Meekly Wait and Murmur Not." In 1961, he recorded his biggest hit ever, "Housewives' Choice," and a year later — in celebration of Jamaica's emancipation — he recorded the first independence song, "Forward March." Morgan and Prince Buster, arguably the two biggest ska performers of the era, became embroiled in a fierce musical feud which quickly spilled over among their respective fans, and as of 1963, disputes between the two camps became so heated that leaders of the newly formed Jamaican government were forced to intervene, calling a cease-fire and bringing the two performers together for publicity photos to bury the hatchet.

In 1966, Morgan issued "Tougher Than Tough," widely credited as the first record in the rocksteady genre. He continued to innovate in the years to follow — among his most enduring contributions were "Went to the Hop" (the first Jamaican song with an electric bass guitar), "Blazing Fire" (the first song to employ an electric piano), "Love Not to Brag" (the first duet with a female artist, Millicent Patsy Todd) and "Seven Letters" (the first reggae song, produced in collaboration with brother-in-law Bunny Lee). Morgan also produced many of the era's most notable up-and-comers, among them Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, and Garnet Silk. Although he lived in Britain from 1963 onward, Morgan remained a towering figure in Jamaica throughout the remainder of the decade; even after his fame began to slip in the '70s, he continued recording regularly in the years to follow.

"People Decision" was released on Third World in 1977, produced by Bunny Lee, mixed by King Tubby. Apart from some sexual themes, this is also an album to promote socialism.

Tracks:
People's Decision
Racing At Ballistic Park
Let's Build A Better Jamaica
Judge Heavy Manners
Natty Dread Forward Out Of Babylon
Let Me Go Girl

My Dickie
Ride Mammy Fanny
Rough Grinder
Wreck A Fanny
Ital Man
In The Public's Interest

Derrick Morgan - People Decision (1977, Third World)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Count Ossie and The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari - The Original Complete Grounation (1973)

The foundations of reggae and its association with Rastafarianism were established by drummer, percussionist and vocalist Count Ossie (born: Oswald Williams). Together with his band, the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, Count Ossie combined African-influenced music with the European hymnal tradition to create a unique sound that inspired everyone from Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus and the Skatalites to Bob Marley & the Wailers and Toots & the Maytals.

Count Ossie's earliest inspiration came from rasta elder Brother Job, who introduced him to the philosophies of Rastafarianism. A Nyabinghi drummer from the hills of Jamaica, Count Ossie cut his first singles, including "O'Carolina" and "Chubby," for Prince Buster at the studios of RJR radio. Beginning in 1959, Count Ossie recorded for Sir Coxsone Dodd at Studio One.

Together with music director, tenor saxophone, flute and clarinet player Cedric "I-m" Brooks, Count Ossie formed the Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari. Heavily percussive, the group featured philosopher orator Samuel Clayton, double bass player, poet and vocalist Ras Jose, Ras Jose, Little Bop and Count Ossie's son, Time, on fundae drum, bass drummer and percussionist King Rayo, percussionist and vocalist Bunny, percussionist Moses, baritone saxophone and clarinet player Ras Sam II and trombonist Nambo.

There has been some debate as to the cause of Count Ossie's death in 1976. While some sources claim that he was in an auto accident, others say that he was trampled to death when a crowd panicked at the National Arena.

These recordings were originally released as triple LP set in 1973. Incredible music featuring the true roots of Rastafari in Jamaican music.

Track listing:
CD 1:

1. Bongo Man
2. Narration
3. Malorat
4. Poem
5. Four Hundred Years
6. Poem
7. Song
8. Lumba
9. Four Hundred Years

CD 2:

1. Ethiopian Serenade
2. Oh Carolina
3. So Long
4. Grounation

Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari - The Original Complete Grounation (1973)
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Sonntag, 5. Juni 2016

Paul Robeson – Ol´ Man River

Paul Robeson (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an African-American actor of film and stage, professional athlete, writer, multi-lingual orator, lawyer, and basso profondo concert singer who was also noted for his wide-ranging social justice activism.

A forerunner of the civil rights movement, Robeson was a trades union activist, peace activist, Phi Beta Kappa Society laureate, and a recipient of the Spingarn Medal and Stalin Peace Prize. Robeson achieved worldwide fame and recognition during his life for his artistic accomplishments, and his outspoken, radical beliefs which largely clashed with the colonial powers of Western Europe and the Jim Crow climate of pre-civil rights America.

Paul Robeson was the first major concert star to popularize the performance of spirituals and was the first black actor of the 20th century to portray William Shakespeare’s Othello on Broadway. His run in the 1943-45 Othello production still holds the record for the longest running Shakespeare play on Broadway. In line with Robeson’s vocal dissatisfaction with movie stereotypes, his roles in both the American and British film industry were some of the first parts ever created that displayed dignity and respect for the African American film actor, paving the way for the likes of Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte.

Here´s the compilation “Ol´ Man River”, released in 1987 on Conifer Records.

Paul Robeson – Ol´ Man River
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Prince Buster - The Outlaw (1969 Blue Beat, vinyl rip)

Cecil Bustamente Campbell, O.D. (born 28 May 1938), better known as Prince Buster and also known by his Muslim name Muhammed Yusef Ali, is a musician from Kingston, Jamaica is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music. The records he made on the Blue Beat label in the 1960s inspired many reggae and ska artists.

Like "Wreck a Pum Pum" before it, "The Outlaw" could reasonably claim to stand among rock's first-ever concept albums, a collection of songs built (for the most part) around the legend of the American west, bad men and, indeed, outlaws.

"The Cincinnati Kid" and a tight remake of "Al Capone," the thumping "Gun the Man Down" and "The Baddest," the driving "It's Burke's Law," with its bemusing vocal premonition of Eek-A-Mouse and "The Outlaw" itself all feed into the album's overall theme and, if the likes of "Happy Reggae" and "Fever" seem a little out of place, the blazing take on "Phoenix City" that closes the set swiftly restores the concept's equilibrium.

Prince Buster - The Outlaw (1969, vinyl rip)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

VA - Get Ready Rocksteady (1967)


Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor to ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, The Maytals and The Paragons. The term rocksteady comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton Ellis song "Rock Steady". Dances performed to rocksteady were less energetic than the earlier ska dances.

This album is a compilation containing 15 tracks by 10 different artists, produced by Clement Coxson Dodd. The first two cuts, "Never Love Again" and "My Last Love", are slow soulful vocal numbers by Alton Ellis and The Termites that highlight Jamaica’s love affair with American RnB and doo wop in their delivery and overall feel.

Even better is "Won’t You Come Home Now" by Ken and Delroy, who I believe are Ken Boothe and Delroy Wilson, with its interplay between guitar and piano and the strong vocals.

The second side starts off with an instrumental version of the Beatles’ "Darker Shade Of Black" with plenty of conga work by the Soul Vendors. "Get Ready Rock Steady" by the Soul Agents gets off to a good start with the chorus, but then gets a little long in the tooth. The "Groove To The Beat" is a melodic instrumental called by Keith & Ken.

A1Alton EllisNever Love Again
A2The TermitesMy Last Love
A3Norma FrazerHound Dog
A4The BassiesBig Mistake
A5Ken & DelroyWon't You Come Home Now
A6Ken BootheOh Babe
A7Soul VendorsDarker Shade Of Black
B1Soul VendorsFat Fish
B2Pete YoungIf You Got Soul
B3The HamlinsSoul And Inspiration
B4Soul Agents Get Ready To Rock Steady
B5Keith & KenGroove To The Beat
B6Sound DimensionNight Doctor
B7The LyricsMoney Lover

VA - Get Ready Rocksteady (1967)
(320 kbps, cover art included)