Montag, 30. Oktober 2017

Django Reinhardt et son Quintette du HCF - Concert A Bruxelles 1948

From the liner notes:

"This is a recording in which every Django Reinhardt admirer will be interested. It is the only public performance we know and it had been recorded on an amateur tape recorder he bought in Brussels.

When Mrs. Reinhardt played it to us after Django´s death, we immediately thought that such a rarity had to be issued, although the recording quality is poor.

So here is Django Reinhardt with his quintet on the stage of the Theatre des Galeries in Burssels in December 1948 featuring Hubert Rostaing, Louis Vola, Arthur Motta and his older son Henri "Louson" Baumgartner."



Tracklist:

A1Artillerie Lourde4:19
A2Micro1:57
A3Bolero3:57
A4Cadillac Slim2:43
A5Nuages3:44
B1Place De Broukere2:49
B2Improvisation2:28
B3Improvisation Sur Un Theme Mineur4:20
B4Festival 481:48
B5Minor Swing2:17

Django Reinhardt et son Quintette du HCF - Concert A Bruxelles 1948
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Donnerstag, 19. Oktober 2017

Joe Gibbs & The Professionals - African Dub All-Mighty - Chapter 3

The third (and most impressive) of four volumes of dub mixes from the studio of producer Joe Gibbs, "African Dub, Chapter 3" finds engineer Errol Thompson getting a bit more adventurous than he had on the earlier installments. More of these dub versions keep shreds and snatches of the original vocal tracks in the mix, which is almost always a plus in a dub context - little snippets of disembodied vocals float through the otherworldly musical atmosphere, lending a sometimes spooky human element to the sound and often casting new and refracted light on the meaning of the original lyrics.

And on this volume, Thompson seems to be taking a few cues from his competitor Lee "Scratch" Perry, throwing such extramusical elements as water sounds (on "Freedom Call") and ringing telephones (on "Jubilation Dub") into the mix along with the usual gossamer shreds of guitar, horn, and keyboard. Highly recommended.               


Tracklist:

Chapter Three
Rema Dub
Tribesman Rockers
Freedom Call
Jubilation Dub
The Entebbe Affair
Angolian Chant
Zion Gate
Jungle Dub
Dub Three

Joe Gibbs & The Professionals - African Dub All-Mighty - Chapter 3
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Dienstag, 17. Oktober 2017

Nico - Desertshore (1970)

While Nico was the member of the Velvet Underground who had had the least experience in music prior to joining the group (while she had recorded a pop single in England, she'd never been a member of a working band before Andy Warhol introduced her to the Velvets), she was also the one who strayed farthest from traditional rock & roll after her brief tenure with the band, and by the time she recorded "Desertshore", her work had little (if anything) to do with traditional Western pop.

John Cale, who produced and arranged "Desertshore", once described the music as having more to do with 20th century classical music than anything else, and while that may be going a bit far to make a point, even compared to the avant-rock frenzy of the Velvet Underground's early material, "Desertshore" is challenging stuff. Nico's dour Teutonic monotone is a compelling but hardly welcoming vocal presence, and the songs, centered around the steady drone of her harmonium, are often grim meditations on fate that are crafted and performed with inarguable skill and intelligence, but are also a bit samey, and the album's downbeat tone gets to be rough sledding by the end of side two. Cale's arrangements are superb throughout, and "My Only Child," "Afraid," and "The Falconer" are quite beautiful in their own ascetic way, but like the bulk of Nico's repertoire, "Desertshore" is an album practically designed to polarize its listeners; you'll either embrace it's darkness or give up on it before the end of side one. Then again, given the thoroughly uncompromising nature of her career as a musician, that's probably just what Nico had in mind. 

Tracklist:

Janitor Of Lunacy 4:01
The Falconer 5:39
My Only Child 3:27
Le Petit Chevalier 1:12
Abschied 3:02
Afraid 3:27
Mütterlein 4:38
All That Is My Own 3:54


Nico - Desertshore (1970)
(320 kbps, cover art included)             

Mittwoch, 11. Oktober 2017

Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Secrets (1978)

Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson made a lot of incredible music together and "Secrets" is no exception. Soul and Jazz come together with the brilliance that is Gil Scott-Heron's mind and the result is truly inspiring. This 1978 album from the poet/musician, an album that continues the journey started on the 1977 album, "Bridges".

"Angel Dust" warns of the dangers of drug abuse. "Show Bizness" is a hilarious look at the perils of the music business ('they'll take care of everything for only 95%'), whilst "Madison Avenue" talks of the over commercialization of western society ("buying is all that's asked of you..."). "Better Days Ahead" and "Prayer For Everybody" see Gil in a more optimistic light hoping for a better future.

Gil Scott Heron was rapping and telling it like it is long before hip hop even thought about running its course. This album was a good example of Gil's finest works.

Tracklist:
1. Angel Dust
2. Madison Avenue
3. Cane
4. Third World Revolution
5. Better Days Ahead
6. 3 Miles Down
7. Angola Louisiana
8. Show Bizness
9. A Prayer For Everybody To Be Free


Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Secrets
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Mittwoch, 4. Oktober 2017

Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht - Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Lotte Lenya, Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg, 1956)

In the mid-'50s, Lotte Lenya, Kurt Weill's widow, contracted with Columbia Records to participate in a series of new recordings of her late husband's major German works.

Here, she is featured as Jenny Hill in a 1956 studio cast album of "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny" ("Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"), Weill's 1930 musical written with lyricist Bertolt Brecht. That allows her to sing the show's most famous number, "Alabama-Song." (Although Mahagonny is presented in the original German, "Alabama-Song" was written and is sung in English.). It is an ensemble work, not a star vehicle, with the other principal parts handled by Heinz Sauerbaum (as Jimmy Mahoney) and Gisela Litz (as Leokadja Begbick). The orchestra is conducted by Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg.

As its title suggests, Mahagonny traces the founding of a fictional American city and its evolution into a sort of modern Sodom and Gomorrah with the characters being lowlife types such as gamblers and prostitutes. It is similar in many ways to its predecessor, "The Threepenny Opera". But where that song-based work was more of a conventional Broadway-style musical, Mahagonny is more of an operetta, with extended recitatives and a larger orchestra playing more elaborate music. It is at once more ambitious and less accessible than "The Threepenny Opera" and consequently has been less often performed. This recording aims to be definitive and, with a talented cast and musicians, plus excellent sound courtesy of a Hamburg studio, it arguably achieves that goal.               

Tracklist:

Akt I
Nr. 1
1-1 Gesucht werden Leokadja Begbick 3:41
1-2 Sie soll sein wie ein Netz 3:52
Nr. 2
1-3 Rasch wuchs / Oh, show us the way 4:13
Nr. 3
1-4 Die Nachricht 4:26
Nr. 4
1-5 In den nächsten Tagen 2:04
Nr. 5
1-6 Damals kam unter anderen 2:14
1-7 Heraus, ihr Schönen von Mahagonny 0:55
1-8 Ach, bedenken sie 2:00
Nr. 6
1-9 Ich habe gelernt 1:55
Nr. 7
1-10 Alle grosse Unternehmungen 1:23
1-11 Auch ich bin einmal 3:34
Nr. 8
1-12 Alle wahrhaft Suchenden 2:44
1-13 Aber etwas fehlt 3:47
Nr. 9
1-14 Klaviersolo / Das ist die ewige Kunst 4:16
1-15 Sieben Jahre 2:28
Nr. 10
1-16 Ein Taifun! 2:21
Nr. 11
1-17 In dieser Nacht des Entsetzens 5:30
1-18 Nein, jetzt sage ich 1:50
1-19 So tuet nur, was euch beliebt 3:28
Akt II
Nr. 12
1-20 Hurrikan bewegt 3:26
1-21 O wunderbare Lösung 1:19

 Nr. 13
2-1 Von nun an war der Leitspruch 1:08
2-2 Jetzt habe ich gegessen zwei Kalber 4:00
Nr. 14
2-3 Zweitens kommt die Liebe dran! 6:18
2-4 Sieh jene Kraniche 5:02
2-5 Erstens, vergesst nicht, kommt das Fressen 0:37
Nr. 15
2-6 Wir, meine Herren 4:28
2-7 Dreimal hoch Dreieinigkeitsmoses! 2:30
Nr. 16
2-8 Freunde kommt, ich lade euch ein 7:37
2-9 Meine Herren, meine Mutter prägte 5:58
Nr. 17
2-10 Wenn der Himmel hell wird 4:09
Akt III
Nr. 18
2-11 Haben alle Zuschauer Billette? 2:01
2-12 Zweitens der Fall des Jimmy Mahoney 8:37
Nr. 19
2-13 In dieser Zeit gab es in Mahagonny 4:04
Nr. 20
2-14 Hinrichtung und Tod des Jimmy Mahoney 3:30
2-15 Erstens, vergesst nicht, kommt das Fressen 3:25
Nr. 21
2-16 Wohlt ihr mich denn wirklich hinrichten? 4:08
2-17 In diesen Tagen fanden in Mahagonny 6:29

Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht - Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Lotte Lenya, Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg, 1956) CD 1
Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht - Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Lotte Lenya, Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg, 1956) CD 2
(256 kbps, cover art included)