Cochise - Heimliche Hits

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year!

Woody Guthrie - The Legendary Woody Guthrie

Originally posted in July, 2012:

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY WOODY!

Woody Guthrie was born on July 14th, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. So we can celebrate his 100th birthday next saturday. And we will post some of his wonderful songs during this week.

Woody Guthrie was the most important American folk music artist of the first half of the 20th century, in part because he turned out to be such a major influence on the popular music of the second half of the 20th century, a period when he himself was largely inactive. His greatest significance lies in his songwriting, beginning with the standard "This Land Is Your Land" and including such much-covered works as "Deportee," "Do Re Mi," "Grand Coulee Dam," "Hard, Ain't It Hard," "Hard Travelin'," "I Ain't Got No Home," "1913 Massacre," "Oklahoma Hills," "Pastures of Plenty," "Philadelphia Lawyer," "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Ramblin' Round," "So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh," "Talking Dust Bowl," and "Vigilante Man." These and other songs have been performed and recorded by a wide range of artists, including a who's who of folksingers.

Most of those performances and recordings came after Guthrie's enforced retirement due to illness in the early '50s. During his heyday, in the 1940s, he was a major-label recording artist, a published author, and a nationally broadcast radio personality. But the impression this creates, that he was a multi-media star, is belied by his personality and his politics. Restlessly creative and prolific, he wrote, drew, sang, and played constantly, but his restlessness also expressed itself in a disinclination to stick consistently to any one endeavor, particularly if it involved a conventional, cooperative approach. Nor did he care to stay in any one place for long. This idiosyncratic individualism was complemented by his rigorously left-wing political views. During his life, much attention was given in the U.S. to whether people of a liberal bent were or had ever been members of the Communist party. No reliable evidence has emerged that Guthrie was, but there is little doubt where his sympathies lay; for many years, he wrote a column published in Communist newspapers.

Ironically, as Guthrie's health declined to the point of permanent hospitalization in the '50s, his career took off through his songs and his example, which served as inspiration for the folk revival in general and, in the early '60s, Bob Dylan in particular. By the mid-'60s, Guthrie's songs were appearing on dozens of records, his own recordings were being reissued and, in some cases, released for the first time, and his prolific writings were being edited into books. This career resurgence was in no way slowed by his death in 1967; on the contrary, it continued for decades afterward, as new books were published and the Guthrie estate invited such artists as Billy Bragg and Wilco in to write music for Guthrie's large collection of unpublished lyrics, creating new songs to record.

Tracks:

1. What Did The Deep Sea Say - Guthrie, Woody & Cisco Houston
2. Oregon Trial
3. Car Song
4. We Shall Be Free - Guthrie, Woody & Leadbelly/Sonny Terry/Cisco Houston
5. Danville Girl
6. Struggle Blues
7. John Henry - Guthrie, Woody & Cisco Houston
8. Chisholm Trail - Guthrie, Woody & Cisco Houston
9. Ludlowe Massacre
10.: Nine Hundred Miles
11. Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor
12. Buffalo Skinner's
13. Ramblin' Round
14. Rising Sun Blues (house of the rising sun)
15. Lindbergh
16. Vigilante Man
17. Two Good Men
18. Red River Valley - Guthrie, Woody & Cisco Houston
19. Ranger's Command
20. Farmer Labour Train
21. Sinking Of The Rueben James
22. Hard Ain't It Hard

.

Woody Guthrie - The Legendary Woody Guthrie (192 kbps)

Peter, Paul & Mary - In The Wind (1963)

You could have some fun with the title in more suggestive times, but In the Wind refers here to the popular trio's classic recording of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind." Interestingly, their recording did as much for Dylan's career as it did for PP&M's, for, while it sealed their image as the troubadours of the '60s civil rights movement, it helped posit the then-little-known Dylan as the voice of a generation. Other highlights here include their gorgeous interpretation of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" as well as spirituals, a lullaby, and even a Civil War ballad. It may all seem quaint now, but when this LP reached No. 1 in 1963, only weeks after John F. Kennedy's assassination, the folk movement was in full throttle...and something was definitely in the air. Or in the wind, so to speak. --Bill Holdship

Their third recording was one of the group's stronger outings, even if it confirms their status as folk popularizers rather than musical innovators. In particular, this record was essential to boosting the profile of Bob Dylan, including their huge hit cover of "Blowin' in the Wind," their Top Ten version of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," and the bluesy "Quit Your Lowdown Ways," which Dylan himself would not release in the '60s (although his version finally came out on The Bootleg Series). "Stewball," "All My Trials," and "Tell It on the Mountain" were other highlights of their early repertoire, and the dramatic, strident, but inspirational "Very Last Day" is one of the best original tunes the group ever did.      

Tracklist:

1. "Very Last Day" (Peter Yarrow, Noel Stookey)
2. "Hush-A-Bye" (traditional; arranged by Peter Yarrow, Noel Stookey)
3. "Long Chain On" (Jimmie Driftwood)
4. "Rocky Road" (Peter Yarrow, Noel Stookey)
5. "Tell It on the Mountain" (arranged by Mary Travers, Peter Yarrow, Milton Okun, Noel Stookey)
6. "Polly Von" aka Polly Vaughn and Molly Bawn (Mary Travers, Peter Yarrow, Noel Stookey)
7. "Stewball" (Mary Travers, Milton Okun, Noel Stookey, Elena Mezzetti)
8. "All My Trials" (traditional; arranged by Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, Mary Travers)
9. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" (Bob Dylan)
10. "Freight Train" (Elizabeth Cotten)
11. "Quit Your Low Down Ways" (Bob Dylan)
12. "Blowin' in the Wind" (Bob Dylan)

Peter, Paul & Mary - In The Wind (1963)    
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Leonard Dillon - One Step Forward (1992)

Reggae legend Leonard Dillon was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica on December 9, 1942. After relocating to Kingston in 1963, he was befriended by Peter Tosh, who in turn introduced him to the legendary producer Coxsone Dodd; with Tosh and his fellow Wailers singing harmony, Dodd cut four of Dillon's songs -- among them the hit "Ice Water" -- released in 1965 under the name Jack Sparrow.

Soon after he formed the Ethiopans with Stephen Taylor and Aston Morris, one of the seminal groups of the Rock Steady era and a major force in Jamaican music until Taylor's death in 1975. Reeling from the tragedy, Dillon retreated to Port Antonio for two years, finally resurfacing to reform the Ethiopans for a session with producer Niney the Observer later released as "Slave Call". He later recorded as a solo act as well, yielding the 1999 retrospective "On the Road Again".

Tracklist:

1 The Name Of The Game (Is Survival) 3:26
2 (Cool It) Amigo 3:02
3 On The Road Again 3:42
4 One Step Forward (And Two Steps Back) 3:19
5 Love You, Little Lover 3:10
6 In Day, Mi Dey 2:29
7 Feed The Fire (Fan The Flame) 3:18
8 Woman Of Babylon 3:10
9 Done I' Done 3:45
10 You Are My First Love 3:29
11 You Got The Dough 2:58
12 Train To Skaville 2:52
13 Dead Prophesy 3:29
14 No Bad Woman 2:43
15 The Whip 3:01
16 I'm Ready 3:00


Leonard Dillon - One Step Forward (1992)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Sun Ra - Supersonic Jazz (1956)

Sun Ra had only been heading his Arkestra for a couple of years when they recorded the 12 songs featured on this 1956 session. But while the arrangements, ensemble work, and solos are not as ambitious, expansive, or free-wheeling as they became on later outings, the groundwork was laid on such cuts as "India," "Sunology," and one of the first versions of "Blues at Midnight." Ra's band already had the essential swinging quality and first-class soloists, and he had gradually challenged them with compositions that did not rely on conventional hard bop riffs, chord changes, and structure but demanded a personalized approach and understanding of sound and rhythm far beyond standard thinking. You can hear in Ra's solos and those of John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, Charles Davis, and others an emerging freedom and looseness which would explode in the future.        

"This 1956 album was out of this world! Sun Ra, a super talented pianist/composer played a big role in the Avant-Garde movement and was right there with Mingus, thinking “outside of the box” and taking risky improvised chances. The Jazz Con Class Radio listeners who never heard of Sun Ra will enjoy this mostly Hard Bop album very much but should learn more of his Avant-Garde albums that later followed. The ones who are very familiar with Sun Ra would be totally surprise to hear such a “down to earth” album from this “out of space” innovator. “Super-Sonic Jazz” is a collector’s item and every Jazz lover should have it in their collection along with all his other works. In my next to last post, I mentioned John Gilmore, who gave Coltrane saxophone lessons, is brilliant in this album. But then again, the whole band is great. Sun Ra’s belief that he was in contact with aliens from Saturn should not throw anyone off at all (Read biography below). This album will be featured for a week or so, check the schedule link for play times." - Jazz Con Class Radio

Tracklist:

A1		India
A2		Sunology
A3		Advice To Medics
A4		Super Blonde
A5		Soft Talk
B1		Kingdom Of Not
B2		Portrait Of The Living Sky
B3		Blues At Midnight
B4		El Is A Sound Of Joy
B5		Springtime In Chicago
B6		Medicine For A Nightmare

Sun Ra - Supersonic Jazz (1956)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Miriam Makeba - Miriam Makeba (1960)

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

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

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


Tracks:

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

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

VA - Schauspieler singen Tucholsky - Heute zwischen Gestern und Morgen

Kurt Tucholsky (January 9, 1890 – December 21, 1935) was a German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser, Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wrobel. Born in Berlin-Moabit, he moved to Paris in 1924 and then to Sweden in 1930.

Tucholsky was one of the most important journalists of the Weimar Republic. As a politically engaged journalist and temporary co-editor of the weekly magazine Die Weltbühne he proved himself to be a social critic in the tradition of Heinrich Heine. He was simultaneously a satirist, an author of satirical political revues, a songwriter and a poet. He saw himself as a left-wing democrat and pacifist and warned against anti-democratic tendencies – above all in politics, the military and justice – and the threat of National Socialism. His fears were confirmed when the Nazis came to power in 1933: his books were listed on the Nazi's censorship as "Entartete Kunst" ("Degenerate Art") and burned, and he lost his German citizenship.

Gerd Wilden featured these 21 songs between 1972 and 1979 in his annual new years eve concert on german television programm "ZDF". Prominent actors like Luise Martine, Ingrid van Bergen and Günter Pfitzmann are singing lyrics by Kurt Tucholsky.

Tracks:
1. Eine Frau denkt (L. Martini)
2. Die geschiedene Frau (I. van Bergen)
3. Mutterns Hände (G. Pfitzmann)
4. Lamento (I. van Bergen, L.Martini, M.Sebaldt)
5. Die Nachfolgerin (M.Sebaldt)
6. Sie schläft (M. Rehberg)
7. An die Berlinerin (G. Pfitzmann)
8. Heute zwischen Gestern und Morgen (H. Messemer)
9. Ideal und Wirklichkeit (G. Pfitzmann)
10. Das Lied vom Kompromiß (C. Wodetzky, G. Pfitzmann, H. Korte)
11. Olle Germanen (H. Wieder)
12 Justitia schwoft (C. Wodetzky, H. Korte)
13. Einikeit und Recht und Freiheit (H. Wieder)
14. Arbeit tut not (G. Pfitzmann)
15. Werbekunst (L. Martini, M. Sebaldt, H. Wieder, G. Pfitzmann, R. Boysen, K. Schwarzkopf)
16. Deutsche Pleite (H. Messemer)
17. Eine Frage (R. Boysen)
18. Parteimarsch der Parteilosen (G. Pfitzmann)
19. Bürgerliche Wohltätigkeit (G. Pfitzmann)
20. Bürgerliches Zeitalter (H. Messemer)
21. Duo, dreistimmig (K. Schwarzkopf, H. Messemer, H. Menschig)

VA - Schauspieler singen Tucholsky - Heute zwischen Gestern und Morgen
(192 kbps, front cover included)

MC 5 - Live Detroit 1968/69

Alongside their Detroit-area brethren the Stooges, MC5 essentially laid the foundations for the emergence of punk; deafeningly loud and uncompromisingly intense, the group's politics were ultimately as crucial as their music, their revolutionary sloganeering and anti-establishment outrage crystallizing the counterculture movement at its most volatile and threatening. Under the guidance of svengali John Sinclair (the infamous founder of the radical White Panther Party), MC5 celebrated the holy trinity of sex, drugs, and rock & roll, their incendiary live sets offering a defiantly bacchanalian counterpoint to the peace-and-love reveries of their hippie contemporaries. Although corporate censorship, label interference, and legal hassles combined to cripple the band's hopes of mainstream notoriety, both their sound and their sensibility remain seminal influences on successive generations of artists.               

This album features more live material by The MC5. It was recorded at Detroit's Unitarian Church in 1968 and at Westfield High School in 1969. Tunes include "Come Together," "I Want You Right Now," "Come on Down," "Looking at You," and three others.   

Tracklist:

1 Intro / Come Together 5:27
2 I Want You Right Now 5:51
3 I Believe 3:17
4 Come On Down 12:31
5 It's A Man's Man's Man's World 5:18
6 Looking At You 3:43
7 Fire Of Love 3:11

MC 5 - Live Detroit 1968/69

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Guts Pie Earshot - Distorted Wonderland

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

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

Tracklist:

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

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

Ape, Beck & Brinkmann - Regenbogenland (1982)

Ape, Beck & Brikmann were founded in 1979 by Fred Ape, Klaus Beck and Peter Brinkmann together with the sound engineer Klaus-Werner Wollnowski. The group quickly became one of the flagships of the German alternative folk rock scene. Their political lyrics were mainly written by Fred Ape.

With over 100,000 sold copies, their song "Rauchzeichen" (1979), based on the "Prophecy of the Cree", became a secret hit in the growing alternative scene. Nowadays, it is one of the best knows songs focusing on ecological problems, and is published in germen school books. 

All the activities of the 1980s West German left wing and alternative scene were accompanied by the music of  bands like Ton Steine Scherben, Cochise and - of course - Ape, Beck & Brinkmann: The demonstrations against nuclear power plants, against the "Startbahn West" in Frankfurt, against the "Volkszählung" ("census") in 1983 and for women´s emancipation.

 
Now, nearly 40 years later, these songs may sound utopian and naive. But why should we not hope that war and hunger will be abolished at some point? And not so much has changed since these days and there is still a lot to do to show solidarity and enjoy life. We are not alone.

The Album "Regenbogenland" was released in 1982 on the Folk Freak Label.

Tracklist:

1. Regenbogenland 4:12
2. Indianersee 3:21
3. Das Haus 3:43
4. Der Schlag 2:07
5. Das letzte Paradies 2:09
6. Endlich ein Liebeslied 4:06
7. Wir sind noch wahre Pioniere 3:33
8. Global 2001 3:25
9. Auf der Flucht erschossen 3:07
10. Wounded Knee 4:10
11. Startbahn 4:26


Ape, Beck & Brinkmann - Regenbogenland (1982)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Hai & Topsy Frankl - Wi ahin sol ich gejn?

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Mamas And The Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears (1966)

In the spring of 1966, "If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears" represented a genuinely new sound, as fresh to listeners as the songs on "Meet the Beatles" had seemed two years earlier. Released just as "California Dreaming" was ascending the charts by leaps and bounds, it was the product of months of rehearsal in the Virgin Islands and John Phillips' discovery of what one could do to build a polished recorded sound in the studio - it embraced folk-rock, pop/rock, pop, and soul, and also reflected the kind of care that acts like the Beatles were putting into their records at the time. "Monday, Monday" and "California Dreamin'" are familiar enough to anyone who's ever listened to the radio, and "Go Where You Wanna Go" isn't far behind, in this version or the very similar rendition by the Fifth Dimension. But the rest is mighty compelling even to casual listeners, including the ethereal "Got a Feelin'," the rocking "Straight Shooter" and "Somebody Groovy," the jaunty, torch song-style version of "I Call Your Name," and the prettiest versions of "Do You Wanna Dance" and "Spanish Harlem" that anyone ever recorded.

If the material here has a certain glow that the Mamas & the Papas' subsequent LPs lacked, that may be due in part to the extensive rehearsal and the exhilaration of their first experience in the studio, but also a result of the fact that it was recorded before the members' personal conflicts began interfering with their ability to work together. The work was all spontaneous and unforced here, as opposed to the emotional complications that had to be overcome before their next sessions.

Tracklist:

"Monday, Monday" (John Phillips) – 3:28
"Straight Shooter" (J. Phillips) – 2:58
"Got a Feelin'" (J. Phillips, Denny Doherty) – 2:53
"I Call Your Name" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 2:38
"Do You Wanna Dance" (Bobby Freeman) – 3:00
"Go Where You Wanna Go" (J. Phillips) – 2:29 Side two
"California Dreamin'" (J. Phillips, Michelle Phillips) – 2:42
"Spanish Harlem" (Jerry Leiber, Phil Spector) – 3:22
"Somebody Groovy" (J. Phillips) - 3:16
"Hey Girl" (J. Phillips, M. Phillips) – 2:30
"You Baby" (Steve Barri, P. F. Sloan) – 2:22
"The 'In' Crowd" (Billy Page) – 3:12

The Mamas And The Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears (1966)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Asian Dub Foundation - Naxalite - Culture Move EP (1998)

Asian Dub Foundation formed in 1993 as an outgrowth of the documentary Identical Beat, a film shot at London's Farringdon Community Music House, the site of a series of summer workshops designed to teach Asian children the essentials of music technology. In charge of the workshops were tutor Aniruddha Das and youth worker John Pandit, also a noted DJ; with one of their students, a 15-year-old Bengali rapper named Deedar Zaman, they soon formed a sound system that they called the Asian Dub Foundation. After each adopted an alias -- bassist/tabla player Das became Dr. Das, Pandit became Pandit G, and Zaman became Master D -- they gradually evolved into a working band with the 1994 addition of former Higher Intelligence Agency guitarist Steve Chandra Savale, an innovative performer known for tuning his strings to one note like a sitar, turning up the distortion unit, and playing his instrument with a knife, earning him the nickname "Chandrasonic." Emerging in the midst of considerable anti-Asian violence throughout Britain, the Foundation's early demos landed them a contract with Nation Records, and they recorded their debut EP, Conscious, in 1994.

Channeling influences ranging from punk to ambient music to Bengali folk songs, Asian Dub Foundation quickly gained a strong fan base not only among clubgoers but also among the anti-fascist movement, who applauded the group's vocal stand against racism.

Here´s their EP "Naxalaite - Culture Move" from 1998.

Tracklist:
01. Naxalite (Main Mix)
02. Culture Move (Pusher Sound Mix)
03. Free Satpal Ram (Russell Simmins Remix)
04. Culture Move (Urban Decay Remix)
05. Culture Move (Silver Haze Mix)



Asian Dub Foundation - Naxalite - Culture Move EP (1998)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Fugs - Tenderness Junction (1968)

The Fugs began their career as a gaggle of post-beat era bohemians whose talents were as poets and activists first, musicians second, but after recording a handful of unexpectedly successful albums for Folkways and ESP, the group found themselves signed to Reprise Records, and had to face the prospect of becoming a genuine, professional rock & roll band.

"Tenderness Junction" was The Fugs' first album for Reprise, and also unveiled a new lineup, with founders Ed Sanders, Tuli Kupferberg, and Ken Weaver joined by three capable young rock & rollers, guitarist Danny Kortchmar (aka Danny Kooch), bassist Charles Larkey, and multi-instrumentalist Ken Pine.

While the early Fugs albums often made a virtue of the limited abilities of the musicians on hand, "Tenderness Junction" proved they could add a bit of polish and firm up their sound without losing touch with what made them memorable; the music is strong and expressive without being unnecessarily flashy, and Sanders clearly enjoyed having more reliable accompanists for his pastiches on various musical conventions, such as blues ("Knock Knock"), doo wop ("Wet Dream"), country ("War Song"), and traditional English folk ("Fingers of the Sun").

The Fugs also made the most of Reprise's pledge not to censor the group's material by including a recording of their appearance at an anti-war event in Washington D.C., in which they conducted an exorcism of the Pentagon in the midst of a "Grope for Peace."

"Tenderness Junction" puts greater focus on the extended poetics of "The Garden Is Open" and the five-part "Aphrodite Mass" over short, funny songs like "Slum Goddess," "CIA Man," or "I Couldn't Get High", presumably because they could, and they had collaborators with the chops to make them work musically, but this also makes this album less immediately engaging than the Fug´s earlier works. Still, it's musically ambitious while still allowing Sanders, Kupferberg, and Weaver to sound like themselves, and it's the rare album where chaos and discipline both get their moment in the spotlight and bring out the best in one another.      


Tracklist:

Side 1:
1 Turn On / Tune In / Drop Out
2 Knock Knock
3 The Garden Is Open
4 Wet Dream
5 Hare Krishna

Side 2:
1 Exorcising The Evil Spirits From The Pentagon October 21, 1967
2 War Song
3 Dover Beach
4 Fingers Of The Sun
5 Aphrodite Mass (In 5 Sections) 

The Fugs - Tenderness Junction (1968)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Meistersinger & Ihre Kinder - Meistersinger & Ihre Kinder (1978)

Nuremberg's most valuable contribution to the polit-rock scene was the group Ihre Kinder:
A german rock band from the late 1960s and early 1970s, considered a pioneer of german rock music, because they were one of the first modern rock groups singing in german language.
Their music contained elements of classic rock, folk and jazz rock, their lyrics were politically aware.

After the decline of the band the keyboarder and singer Sonny Henning formed a horrible soul pop-rock band named Powerful Tramps, before regaining some musical sense as Meistersinger & Ihre Kinder, a quintet that recorded two albums in the late seventies.

Tracklist:

A1		Mit dem Kopf durch die Wand	3:10
A2		Zustand Nr. 10	6:00
A3		Könnte ich Fliegen	3:35
A4		Tohuwabohu	3:45
A5		Das Wort zum Montag	3:55
B1		Bär sucht Honig	4:35
B2		Im Paradies ist die Hölle los	3:30
B3		Erinnerung	3:45
B4		Schlechte Zeiten	6:55

Meistersinger & Ihre Kinder - Same (1978)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Peggy Seeger - Early In Spring (1962)

The half-sister of Pete Seeger and the widow of Ewan MacColl, singer/songwriter Peggy Seeger continued her family's long history of championing and preserving traditional music, most notably emerging as a seminal figure in the British folk song revival of the 1960s. Peggy Seeger is considered by many to be the female folksinger, responsible for the continuous upswing of folk music popularity. It is a fitting title, considering Peggy was living and breathing folk music since before she was born.

She plays banjo and sings on this 1962 Topic Label EP. The four songs are 'courting songs'.

Tracklist:

A1. Madam I Have Come To Court You
A2. When I Was In My Prime
B1. So Early, Early In The Spring
B2. The Chickens They Are Crowing

Peggy Seeger - Early In Spring (1962)
(ca. 170 kbps, cover art included)

Angèle Durand - Lieder der Claire Waldoff (1980)

The husky-voiced Belgian pop singer and actress Angèle Durand sings on this album some of Claire Waldoff´s "greatest hits".  Durand's tribute to Claire Waldoff, the famous lesbian cabaret performer of Berlin, was recorded in 1980.

Angèle Durand , civil Angèle Caroline Liliane Josette Marie-José DeGeest (* 23 October 1925 in Antwerp , Belgium , † 22 December 2001 in Augsburg ) was a Belgian singer and actress. She was married from 1958 to 1961 with producer Nile Nobah. Later she had a long-time relationship with the entertainer Lou van Burg.

Claire Waldoff was a star on the stage of the great cabarets and variety shows between 1907 and 1935, not only in Berlin. Their songs were sung in the streets or whistled by garbage carters and millionaires. "Hermann heeßt er", "Wer schmeißt denn da mit Lehm?" or "Das war sein Miljöh" knew every child.

Angèle Durand - Lieder der Claire Waldoff (1980)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

VA - Reggae Archive Vol. 2 (On-U Sound)

Unique, maverick and massively respected, On-U Sound is undoubtedly one of the UK’s most important independent labels.

Contributing a strikingly diverse soundtrack to chaotic post-punk, post-colonial Britain, On-U has become a by-word for experimentalism, spewing forth incredible, far-fetched, sometimes completely baffling tunes, never straying far from the cutting edge.

Primarily associated with the sound of ‘dub’, the label’s heritage is far broader, with many of its artists having backgrounds in punk & post-punk, industrial, hip-hop and funk where the cross-pollination of punk experimentation and Jamaican dub has mapped out the innovative, culturally exciting territory the label has covered over the years.

Since 1981, with label boss and producer Adrian Sherwood at the helm, On-U Sound has released over 100 albums and singles and has launched the careers and/or inspired an endless list of artists.
The label’s influence upon a younger generation of musicians, not to mention the ambient/techno style in general, has proved enormous, helping to fuse dub with both the independent rock and post-punk scenes

Tracklist:

1. Deadly Headley - 35 Years From Alpha

2. Deadly Headley - Head Charge

3. Bim Sherman/Deadly Headley - Without A Love Like Yours

4. Bim Sherman/Deadly Headley - Little Dove

5. Deadly Headley - Two From Alpha

6. Deadly Headley - Headley's Meadly

7. Deadly Headley/Singers & Players - Revolution Part 5

8. New Age Steppers - Some Love Dub

9. New Age Steppers - 5 Dog Race / Tribute

10. Lol Coxhill/New Age Steppers - 5 Dog Race Part 3

11. Bim Sherman - Accross The Red Sea

12. Bim Sherman - Awake The Slum

13. Bim Sherman - You Are The One

14. Bim Sherman - Golden Morning Star

15. Bim Sherman - Sit And Wonder

VA - Reggae Archive Vol. 2 (On-U Sound)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Sonja Kehler - Dessau Lieder (Nova)

This is an album with songs by Paul Dessau and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, in the interpretation of Sonja Kehler. The album was recorded in 1976 and released in 1977 on the NOVA label in the GDR.

Paul Dessau, (born Dec. 19, 1894, Hamburg, Ger.—died June 28, 1979, East Berlin, GDR) was a German composer and conductor best known for his operas and other vocal works written in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. Dessau’s conducting career included posts in Cologne (1919–23) and Berlin (1925–33). His long collaboration with Brecht began in 1942 in the United States, where he wrote the music (1946) for Brecht’s play Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and Her Children), the most popular of the Brecht-Dessau works. From 1948, they continued their partnership in East Germany, where Dessau composed his most successful opera, Die Verurteilung des Lukullus (1949; “The Sentencing of Lucullus”; also called Das Verhör des Lukullus [“The Trial of Lucullus”]), with libretto by Brecht. Dessau’s other works include the opera Einstein (1971–73).
His opera "Die Verurteilung des Lukullus" drew sharp criticism from the Party. Still, Dessau was highly respected: in 1952, he was voted membership into the Academy of Arts in East Berlin, then was appointed its vice president in 1957, serving until 1962. From 1962 to 1975, he taught at a primary school in the Berlin suburb of Zeuthen, where he lived since 1954. He remained active in composition in his last years and never acquiesced to Party officials, who often condemned his works.        

Sonja Kehler was born on February 2, 1933 in Haldersleben near Magdeburg. After graduating from the College of Drama in Leipzig she was given engagements at several theatres in the GDR, before launching on an international career as a freelance singer and actress. Sonja Kehler made a name for herself above all as a performer of works by Bertolt Brecht, whether as Shen Te in “The Good Person of Sezuan”, as Jenny in “The Threepenny Opera” or as Grusche in “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”.

Nevertheless in the 80s she was barely alowed to perform in the GDR. The repression started when one of her musicians didn´t come back to GDR after a concert “in the West”. Sonja Kehler told about that time in an interview: “I couldn´t get work in the GDR, no concerts, no recordings, but I was allowed to tour abroad again because it brought in foreign currency. I had of course done a lot in the GDR before that: concerts, theatre, shows, television work. But at a particular point that all stopped and I was only allowed to perform abroad. At that time Bernd Wefelmeyer was already my accompanist. In 1978 I made a very accomplished Brecht recording with hi but it was never released in the GDR, although WERGO did market it in the West”.
 

Tracklist:

Das Zukunftslied
Zwei Lieder aus Der Kaukasische Kreidekreis"
Bei den Hochgestellten
Zwei Kinderlieder
Drei Lieder aus "Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder"
Historie vom verliebten Schwein Malchus
Tierverse
Kampflied der schwarzen Strohhüte
Drei Lieder aus"Der gute Mensch von Sezuan"
Bitte der Kinder aus Herrnburger Bericht"

Sonja Kehler - Dessau Lieder (Nova)
(ca. 224 kbps, cover art included)

Eddie Gale ‎– Black Rhythm Happening (1969)

Love it or hate it, trumpeter Eddie Gale's second Blue Note outing as a leader is one of the most adventurous recordings to come out of the 1960s. "Black Rhythm Happening" picks up where "Ghetto Music" left off, in that it takes the soul and free jazz elements of his debut and adds to them the sound of the church in all its guises - from joyous call and response celebration on the title track (and album opener), to the mournful funeral sounds of "Song of Will," to the determined Afro-Latin-style chanting on "Mexico Thing" that brings the pre-Thomas Dorsey gospel to the revolutionary song style prevalent in Zapata's Mexico - all thanks to the Eddie Gale Singers. 

Elsewhere, wild smatterings of hard and post-bop ("Ghetto Love Night") and angular modal music ("Ghetto Summertime," featuring Elvin Jones on drums and Joann Stevens-Gale on guitar), turn the jazz paradigm of the era inside out, simultaneously admitting everything in a coherent, wonderfully ambitious whole. There is no doubt that Archie Shepp listened to both "Ghetto Music" and "Black Rhythm Happening" before setting out to assemble his "Attica Blues" project. The album closes with "Look at Teyonda," a sprawling exercise in the deep melding of African and Latin folk musics with the folk-blues, flamenco, and jazz rhythms. Funky horns (courtesy of Gale, Russell Lyle, and Roland Alexander) moan toward Fulumi Prince's startlingly beautiful vocal. Stevens-Gale's guitar whispers the tune into the field before the saxophones and brass come to get it, and when they do, long open lines are offered slowly and deliberately, as Jones' shimmering ride cymbals triple-time the beat into something wholly Other. 

"Black Rhythm Happening" is a timeless, breathtaking recording, one that sounds as forward-thinking and militant in the 21st century as it did in 1969.


Tracklist:

Black Rhythm Happening 2:57

The Gleeker 2:16

Song Of Will 3:08

Ghetto Love Night 5:30

Mexico Thing 5:08

Ghetto Summertime 3:13

It Must Be You 5:44

Look At Teyonda 9:31


Eddie Gale ‎– Black Rhythm Happening (1969)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Sun Ra - United World In Outer Space (1975)

Decades before his time, political and musical revolutionary, Sun Ra, developed a new plane of cultural existence where black people were all-powerful beings from outer space, sending their intergalactic message through jazz music.

Recorded live in 1975 at Cleveland's legendary jazz club, the Smiling Dog Saloon, when Sun Ra and his Arkestra descended on the city for a week-long residency. You can imagine how the uninitiated's jaw must have dropped when Ra and his 15 musicians marched out onto the stage decked in glittery space costumes, playing percussion instruments and chanting. This high quality live performance is top-shelf Ra playing a kind of spaced out world music with hints of disco. Ra sings, plays the Moog, piano and organ, while everyone else plays alternately some kind of percussion or reed instrument, sings, dances, and claps hands. Check out his other-worldly version of Duke Ellington's 'Sophisticated Lady', featuring John Gilmore on sax, and his extended Moog solo!


Tracklist:

A1 Astro Nation (Of The United World In Outer Space) 11:01
A2 Enlightenment 2:10
A3 Friendly Galaxy 12:49
B1 Theme Of The Stargazers / The Satellites Are Spinning 2:32
B2 Synthesizer Solo 8:34
B3 Sophisticated Lady 14:09


Sun Ra - United World In Outer Space (1975)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

VA - Bluegrass Breakdown - Newport Folk Festival

This recording documents live Newport Folk Festival performances by many of the greatest bluegrass artists of the Sixties, an era in which bluegrass was to see some radical changes. Younger artists were discovering the music with great enthusiasm, and were carrying on the tradition established by the music´s originators with tremendous vitality.

Here can be heard the roots of bluegrass, in the od-timey fiddle styles of Lue Berline, Clayton McMichen and Fiddling Arthur Smith; the bluegrass bands that were legends in their time, Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys, The Stanley Brothers and The Dillards; and of course the next generation, citybillies who eagerly embraced the older styles and embellished them with their own imaginations and talents: Byron Berline, The New York City Ramblers and the Greenbriar Boys.

This album was recorded at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963 - 1965. It ends with "Bluegrass Breakdown", which gives this collection its name, another Bill Monroe original that always left the audience hollering for more.


Tracklist:

1	–Lue Berline And Byron Berline	New Broom
2	–Lue Berline And Byron Berline	Old Logan
3	–Lue Berline And Byron Berline	Crazy Creek
4	–Lue Berline And Byron Berline	Dusty Miller
5	–Stanley Brothers, The	How Mountain Girls Can Love
6	–Stanley Brothers, The	A Man Of Constant Sorrow
7	–Stanley Brothers, The	Big Tildy
8	–Stanley Brothers, The	Orange Blossom Special
9	–Fiddling Arthur Smith	Leather Britches
10	–Fiddling Arthur Smith	Blackberry Blossom
11	–Greenbriar Boys, The	Levee Breakin' Blues
12	–Greenbriar Boys, The	At The End Of A Long Lonley Day
13	–Dillards, The	Old Joe Clark
14	–Dillards, The	Ground Hog
15	–Dillards, The	Banjo In The Hollow
16	–Dillards, The	Polly Vaughn
17	–Dillards, The	Dueling Banjos
18	–Clayton McMichen	Alabama Jubilee
19	–Clayton McMichen	Sourwood Mountain
20	–New York City Ramblers, The	You Better Get Right Little Darlin'
21	–New York City Ramblers, The	I'm Coming Back But I Don't Know When
22	–New York City Ramblers, The	Cedar Hill
23	–New York City Ramblers, The	Tell It To Me
24	–Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys*	Muleskinner Blues
25	–Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys*	Blue Moon Of Kentucky
26	–Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys*	Walls Of Time
27	–Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys*	Somebody Touched Me
28	–Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys*	Bluegrass Breakdown

VA - Bluegrass Breakdown - Newport Folk Festival
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Nina Simone - Nina´s Choice (Colpix, 1963)

The now-legendary Nina Simone began her recording career in 1959, after briefly studying classical piano at Juilliard and performing at an Atlantic City nightclub where the club's owner allegedly ordered her to sing as she played.

Simone specializes in the eclectic, and her personal variety of musical magic is without equal. With her androgynous, deeply burnished vocals and her extraordinary, classically influenced piano technique, Simone refashions any song to fit her own fiercely artistic vision. Always cutting edge, her sound has influenced and continues to influence other artists.

NINA'S CHOICE is a fine 1963 compilation of favorite tracks that Simone selected from her five prior albums on the Colpix label. Every song is a stunner. The insanely quirky "Rags and Old Iron" sounds like something off a Tom Waits album. The strange, slow tango of "Just Say I Love Him" features the brilliantly haunting guitar work of Al Shackman, Simone's longtime guitarist. Also included here is a rollicking version of the traditional "Little Liza Jane," a highpoint of Simone's appearance at Newport in 1960. This thoughtfully selected compilation is well worth owning.

Tracklist:

A1	Trouble In Mind
A2	Memphis In June
A3	Cotton Eyed Joe
A4	Work Song
A5	Forbidden Fruit
B1	Little Liza Jane
B2	Rags And Old Iron
B3	You Can Have Him
B4	Just Say I Love Him

Nina Simone - Nina´s Choice (Colpix, 1963)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Dresden Theaterplatz, 19. November 1989

The Monday demonstrations in East Germany in 1989 to 1991 (German: Montagsdemonstrationen) were a series of peaceful political protests against the government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) that took place every Monday evening. Because the church played a big role in them, the Monday demonstrations are also sometimes called the Religious Protest. The protests that occurred between 1989 and 1991 can be separated into five cycles. The Monday demonstrations started in Leipzig and were spontaneous, meaning that the demonstrations were not planned beforehand.

These two CDs are featuring the complete and restaured recordings from the demonstration on November, 19, 1989, in Dresden on the "Theaterplatz" against the GDR governement.

Dresden, Theaterplatz, 19. November 1989

(320 kbps, small front cover included)