Sun Ra - Space Is The Place (1973)

"Space Is the Place" provides an excellent introduction to Sun Ra's vast and free-form jazz catalog. It is a wonderful 1972 recording with the 'definitive' version of the title track, and some very nice shorter pieces too.

Typical of many Sun Ra recordings, the program is varied; earthbound songs, like the swing number "Images" and Egyptian exotica piece "Discipline," fit right in with more space-age cuts, like the tumultuous "Sea of Sounds" and the humorous "Rocket Number Nine." Sun Ra fuses many of these styles on the sprawling title cut, as interlocking harmonies, African percussion, manic synthesizer lines, and joyous ensemble blowing all jell into some sort of church revival of the cosmos.

Throughout the recording, Sun Ra displays his typically wide-ranging talents on space organ and piano, reed players John Gilmore and Marshall Allen contribute incisive and intense solos, and June Tyson masterfully leads the Space Ethnic Voices on dreamy vocal flights. This is a fine recording and a must for Sun Ra fans. 

It is impossible, given the breadth and depth of Ra's work, as well as the fact that most of the albums which he recorded are out-of-print and owned only by a select few collectors, to attempt to trace Ra's career with any thoroughness in less than a hundred pages or so. You find some overview to Sun Ra's life and music on http://www.furious.com/perfect/sunra.html and an interview with John F. Szwed about his superb Sun Ra biography "Space Is The Place" on http://www.furious.com/Perfect/sunra2.html.

Tracklist:

A	Space Is The Place Baritone Saxophone – Danny Thompson* Bass – Pat Patrick Bass Clarinet – Eloe Omoe Organ [Space] – Sun Ra Vocals [Space Ethnic] – Akh Tal Ebah, Cheryl Banks, John Gilmore, Judith Holton, June Tyson, Ruth Wright	21:14
B1	Images Bass – Pat Patrick Piano – Sun Ra Tenor Saxophone – John Gilmore Trumpet – Akh Tal Ebah, Lamont McClamb	6:15
B2	Discipline 33 Flute – Danny Davis, Danny Thompson*, Eloe Omoe, Marshall Allen Organ [Space] – Sun Ra Tenor Saxophone – John Gilmore Trumpet – Lamont McClamb	4:50
B3	Sea Of Sound Alto Saxophone – Danny Davis, Marshall Allen Baritone Saxophone – Pat Patrick Drums – Lex Humphries Flugelhorn [Fugelhorn] – Akh Tal Ebah Organ [Space] – Sun Ra Percussion – Russell Branch, Stanley Morgan Tenor Saxophone – John Gilmore Trumpet – Lamont McClamb	7:42
B4	Rocket Number Nine Bass Clarinet – Eloe Omoe Organ [Space] – Sun Ra Vocals [Space Ethnic] – Cheryl Banks, Danny Thompson*, John Gilmore, Judith Holton, June Tyson, Pat Patrick, Ruth Wright	2:50

Sun Ra - Space Is The Place (1973)
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Anouar Brahem Trio ‎– Astrakan Café

The Tunisian oud genius has done it again. Anouar Brahem has issued only five records under his own name over the past decade, each more adventurous than the last, without compromising his original vision: for the music of his region to meet with the other music of Africa and Asia and create a delirious sound that is equal thirds past, present, and future, along the precipice of historical lineage. For Brahem there is no attempt to synthesize the globe, or even the sounds of the East with those of the West. He is content in his knowledge that sound is infinite, and that his tradition, as it evolves and expands into a deeper pan-African/trans-Asian whole, is more than large enough for a master musician to rummage through in one lifetime. "Astrakan Café", the follow-up to his brilliant "Thimar", is a smaller-sounding recording that reaches farther into the deep crags of the Balkans.

With Barbaros Erköse on clarinet and the Indian and Turkish percussion stylings of the professor of somber precision, Lassad Hosni, Brahem's oud enters into a dialogue, musically, that has never before existed (though he has collaborated with both players previously). Erköse is a Turkish clarinetist of gypsy origin. His low, warm, rounded tones are consonant with the oud. Erköse plays equal parts music of the Balkan and Arab worlds with a tinge of the ancient klezmorim whispering their secrets through his horn. Despite the journeying these musicians do here, they never stray far from the takht, a small ensemble capable of improvising to the point of drunken ecstasy. Listening through "Astrakan Café", you can hear the gypsy flamenco tied deeply to Indian ragas and even a kind of Eastern jazz. But there is no hyperactivity in it, no need to cram as many traditions as possible into one putridly excessive mix that expresses nothing but the novelty of the moment.

"Astrakan Café" has many highlights: its two title tracks that have their roots in Russian and Azerbaijan music; "Ashkabad," which is an improvisation on a melody from the folk music of Turkmenistan; "Astara," a modal improvisation based on love songs from Azerbaijan; "Halfounie," a segment from a Brahem-composed soundtrack inspired by the medina or marketplace in Tunis; and "Parfum de Gitanie," which takes a fragment from Ethiopian sacred music, slows it to the point of stillness, and waxes lazily and jazzily over the top, with the oud and the clarinet trading syncopated eights. This is deeply personal, profound music. It is also highly iconographic, with timelessness woven through every measure. The only "exotica" on "Astrakan Café" is its "otherness" out of space and any discernable era. The tempos are languid and full of purpose, the dynamics clean and clearly demarcated, the tones and modes warm, rich, and linear. This would be traditional music if a tradition such as this -- which is original, though adapted from many sources on inspiration -- actually existed. Highly recommended. - allmusic.com

Anouar Brahem's oud playing is expressive, entrancing and beautiful. It's so moving and anthemic it's hard to believe any listener wouldn't be frequently overwhelmed by Brahem's brilliance. While one can debate whether Brahem's music should be considered jazz or world or some hybrid of the two, there's no denying the songs on Astrakan Cafe rank among the most lyrical and elegant in any genre. Brahem blends elements of traditional Arab and Islamic religious and popular music with just a slight nod to the American improvising tradition. His spiraling passages and energetic forays reflect some jazz influence, but the overall tone and sound of the work is more North African and Eastern than Western.

Barbaros Erkose, on clarinet, and Lassad Hosni, on percussive instruments bendir and darbouka, prove equally exciting players. The usual splendid ECM engineering and production ensure a rich, rippling trio sound that fully accents the quality of Brahem's oud flights, Erkose's clarinet answers and Hosni's delicate alternating between challenging and exemplifying the duo's statements. The song menu shifts from serious recountings of vintage compositions to film soundtrack pieces, joyous exchanges and somber, probing exchanges. This is Anouar Brahem's sixth date for ECM; here's wishing that he'll get many more chances to display his amazing abilities for international audiences. - jazztimes.com               

Tracklist:

1. "Aube Rouge à Grozny" (Barbaros Erköse) - 4:22
2. "Astrakan Café Part 1" - 3:18
3. "The Mozdok's Train" - 4:46
4. "Blue Jewels" - 8:31
5. "Nihawend Lunga" (Jamil Bey) - 3:32
6. "Ashkabad" (Anouar Brahem, Barbaros Erköse, Lassad Hosni) - 5:38
7. "Halfaouine" - 5:57
8. "Parfumo de Gitane" - 7:03
9. "Khotan" - 3:31
10. "Karakoum" - 5:08
11. "Astara" - 10:46
12. "Dar Es Salam" - 3:47
13. "Hijaz Pechref" (Brahem, Osman Bey Fragment) - 6:24
14. "Astrakan Café Part 2" - 4:49

Recorded at Monastery of St Gerold in Austria in June 1999

Anouar Brahem Trio ‎– Astrakan Café
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Mississippi John Hurt - 1928 Sessions

John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt (July 3, 1893 or March 8, 1892 — November 2, 1966) was an American country blues singer and guitarist.
Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine. Singing to a melodious finger-picked accompaniment, he began to play local dances and parties while working as a sharecropper. He first recorded for Okeh Records in 1928, but these recordings were commercial failures. Hurt then drifted out of the recording scene and continued to work as a farmer. Tom Hoskins, a blues enthusiast, located Hurt in 1963 and convinced him to relocate to Washington, D.C. where he was recorded by the Library of Congress in 1964. This helped further the American folk music revival, which had led to the rediscovery of many other bluesmen of Hurt's era. Hurt entered the university and coffeehouse concert circuit with other Delta blues musicians brought out of retirement. As well as playing concerts, he recorded several albums for Vanguard Records.

This album features the 13 original 1928 recordings of Hurt. Justifiably legendary, with gentle grace and power on these understated vocal and fingerpicking masterpieces. These are the ones to hear, although all Hurt is worth listening to.     

Tracklist

1	Ain't No Tellin'	2:55
2	Stack O' Lee Blues	2:57
3	Candy Man Blues	2:46
4	Spike Driver Blues	3:15
5	Avalon Blues	3:03
6	Louis Collins	2:59
7	Frankie	3:21
8	Big Leg Blues	2:51
9	Nobody's Dirty Business	2:53
10	Got The Blues Can't Be Satisfied	2:51
11	Blessed Be The Name	2:47
12	Blue Harvest Blues	2:53
13	Praying On The Old Camp Ground	2:36

Mississippi John Hurt‎– 1928 Sessions                                          
(cover art included)

Amandla! The mix-cd.

Some years ago the dj collective "Zero G Sound" made a wonderful mix-cd called "Amandla!". They built a nice and groovy mix of different kind of african music styles.

Here´s the tracklist of this mix:

01-Intro
02-Orchestra Baobab - Boulamine
03-Super Eagles - Aliou Gori-Mami
04-Abdel Gadir Salim All-Stars - Alhagi
05-Alemayehn Eshete - Eskegizew Bertchi
06-Clint Eph Sebastian - Jane
07-Jimmy Solanke - Eja Ka Jo
08-Fela Kuti - Highlife Time
09-Orchestre de la Paillote - Kandia Blues
10-Ze Manel - Na Kaminho Di Luta
11-Ernest Ranglin - Ala Walee
12-Ogyatanaa Band - Disco Africa
13-Oscar Sulley - Buhom Mashie
14-Thomas Mapfumo - Hondo
15-Tiken Jah Fakoly - Francafrique
16-Daara-J - Number One
17-X-Plastaz - Msimu Kwa Msimu
18-Reggie Rockstone - Eye Mo De Anaa
19-Felal Kuti - Shakara
20-Baba Maal & Taj Mahal - Trouble Sleep.mp3

For your listening pleasure you can download the mix (mp3, 192 kbps, ca. 108 MB, cover art included, please burn it without gaps between the tracks!):

Zero G Soundsystem - Amadla!
(192 kbps, front & back cover included)

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)

Bobby Darin - Golden Folk Hits (1963)

"Golden Folk Hits" was Bobby Darin's second collection of folk songs. Guest musicians included Glen Campbell, Phil Ochs, and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds. The songs Darin selected include many popularized by some of the most popular folk artists of the time: Pete Seeger's "Mary Don't You Weep," "If I Had a Hammer," and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone"; Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice" and "Blowin' in the Wind"; the Kingston Trio's "Greenback Dollar"; the New Christy Minstrels' "Green, Green"; and Peter, Paul & Mary's "Settle Down (Goin' Down That Highway)."

"Golden Folk Hits" was not a commercial success at all when it was released. Time has revealed Bobby Darin to be a profoundly thoughtful artist and this album deserves to be reconsidered. Important insight can be gained by examining the music a man makes when eschewing commercial pressures. In Darin's case, his music became more organic, thoughtful, and political, and less flashy, glitzy, and (yes) entertaining. "Golden Folk Hits" showcases impressive guitar work in "Abilene," powerful vocals in "Greenback Dollar," and touching reflection in "Why Daddy Why." "Golden Folk Hits" shows an artist looking to communicate on an emotional and social level. It finds Darin daring to let the music speak for itself. (His photo does not appear on the front cover, a strong statement for 1963.) 

"Golden Folk Hits" is an essential Bobby Darin album for anyone who hopes to further understand the aesthetic and political motivations of an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. One of the most underappreciated Bobby Darin albums and one of the most exciting to revisit.       

Tracklist:

1. "Mary Don't You Weep" (Traditional)
2. "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (Pete Seeger)
3. "If I Had a Hammer" (Lee Hays, Seeger)
4. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" (Bob Dylan)
5. "Greenback Dollar" (Hoyt Axton, Kennard Ramsey)
6. "Why, Daddy, Why" (Bobby Scott)
7. "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" (Traditional)
8. "Abilene" (Les Brown, John D. Loudermilk)
9. "Green, Green" (Barry McGuire, Randy Sparks)
10. "Settle Down (Goin' Down That Highway)" (Mike Settle)
11. "Blowin' in the Wind" (Dylan)
12. "Train to the Sky" (Ben Raleigh)

Bobby Darin - Golden Folk Hits (1963)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Anirahtak & Jürgen Sturm Band - Das Kurt Weill Programm (Nabel, 1989)

Very interesting interpretations of well-known Kurt Weill songs by the German jazz singer Anirahtak (Ulla Marks, born in Aachen), accompanied by the wonderful Jürgen Sturm Band. Jürgen Sturm is a famous German jazz guitarist.

„Anirahtaks Stimme umfaßt alle erdenklichen Gefühlsschwankungen, ist dabei kein bißchen verschnörkelt und manieriert, sondern kühl, wenn nötig oberflächlich und verschwendet keinen Ton. Ob auf dem Jahrmarkt, auf hoher See oder unter Affen, ihr dunkles Timbre liegt, in dynamischen Schattierungen, wie ein Hauch, aber dennoch klar über den von Jürgen Sturm neu arrangierten Songs.“ (Anna-Bianca Krause, Tageszeitung, 1991)

The album was recorded at Pink Noise Studio in Aachen.


Tracklist:

1. Die Moritat von Mackie Messer (Brecht/Weill) 4.20
2. Die Seeräuber-Jenny (Brecht/Weill) 4.12
3. Die Zuhälterballade (Brecht/Weill) 4.20
4. Der Kanonensong (Brecht/Weill) 6.02
5. Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib (Brecht/Weill) 5.33
6. Das Lied von den braunen Inseln (Feuchtwanger/Weill) 6.35
7. Muschel von Margate (Petroleum Song) (Gasbarra/Weill) 3.51
8. Klops Lied (Weill) 1.11
9. Es regnet (Weill) 7.46


Anirahtak & Jürgen Sturm Band - Das Kurt Weill Programm (Nabel, 1989)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Brother Resistance - When De Riddum Explode

Born in East Dry River, Trinidad, Brother Resistance became, together with Brother Shortman, the lead singer of the Network Riddum Band, a Trinidadian ensemble, in 1979. They developed a hybrid of soca and rap that they called 'rapso', a genre for which they credited Lancelot Layne as originator. Considered subversive by the authorities, the band's rehearsal space and offices were destroyed by the police in June 1983.

The group released their first album, Roots of de Rapso Rhythm, in 1984, which was followed by Rapso Explosion and Rapso Takeover in 1985 and 1986 respectively. International performances brought recognition from overseas, changing the attitude of the T&T government, who selected Brother Resistance as their cultural delegate to the World Festival of Youth and Students in Korea.

He appeared at New York's 'New Music Festival' in 1992 and in 1993 at the International Dub Poetry Festival in Toronto.


Brother Resistance - When De Riddum Explode
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Ramblin´ Jack Elliott - Jack Takes The Floor (Topic, 1958, vinyl rip)

Ramblin' Jack Elliott is one of folk music's most enduring characters. Since he first came on the scene in the late '50s, Elliott influenced everyone from Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead. The son of a New York doctor and a onetime traveling companion of Woody Guthrie, Elliott used his self-made cowboy image to bring his love of folk music to one generation after another. Despite the countless miles that Elliott traveled, his nickname is derived from his unique verbiage: an innocent question often led to a mosaic of stories before he got to the answer. According to folk songstress Odetta, it was her mother who gave Elliott the name when she remarked, "Oh, that Jack Elliott, he sure can ramble."

Elliott's recording debut came in the mid-'50s when he recorded three songs for a multi-artist compilation, "Bad Men, Heroes and Pirates", released by Elektra. Elliott was so influenced by Guthrie (whom he had met during a Greenwich Village picking session in 1950) that he began his musical career by mimicking the legendary folksinger. When Guthrie traveled to Florida in 1952, he sent for Elliott to join him. By the time Elliott arrived, however, Guthrie had already left for Mexico, where he was turned back at the border and forced to return to New York. Elliott reunited with Guthrie a few months later. In the winter of 1954, they traveled together back to Florida; in the spring of 1954, they continued on to California's Topanga Canyon. The trip marked the last time that Elliott saw a healthy Guthrie. When he went to Europe in 1955, Elliott sang Guthrie's songs and told stories about him. England provided the setting for Elliott's early success; his first album on his own, Woody Guthrie's Blues, was recorded in England for the Topic label. In addition to recording four more albums for Topic, he attracted attention with his performances with Derroll Adams, a banjo player he had met in California. The duo barnstormed throughout Europe and had a profound influence on the British music scene.


Here´s his Topic album from 1958 released in Great Britain on a 10-inch LP.

Ramblin´ Jack Elliott - Jack Takes The Floor (Topic, 1958, vinyl rip)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Pete Seeger - Wimoweh and other songs of freedom and protest (1968)

In 1961, Pete Seeger, long the flagship artist of the tiny independent Folkways Records label, signed to the major label Columbia Records. This did not, as it turned out, mean that he actually left Folkways, which retained the right to issue not only previously unreleased recordings dating from before the Columbia deal, but also new recordings if Columbia didn't deem them sufficiently commercial to constitute competition.

Nevertheless, Moses Asch, head of Folkways, couldn't have been very pleased at the development, and when Columbia issued its first Seeger album, a live LP called "Story Songs" in August 1961, Folkways countered the same month with its own live album, "Sing Out with Pete!", which turned out to be a cobbled-together set of tracks that had been left off earlier Seeger live collections.

In 1968, Folkways was in a flurry of releasing Seeger compilations (the others were "Pete Seeger Sings Woody Guthrie", "Pete Seeger Sings Leadbelly", and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"), and this one takes eight of the 12 tracks from the "Sing Out with Pete!" album, re-sequences them, and adds a few other stray tracks ("Wasn't That a Time," "What a Friend We Have in Congress," and "Hymn to Nations"). The recordings also seem to have been re-edited and remixed, with some extra waves of applause overdubbed. Although it contains a couple of Seeger's greatest hits, "Wimoweh" and "If I Had a Hammer (Hammer Song)," as well as some interesting performances of spirituals, with such collaborators as Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Willie Dixon thrown in, the album is still a hodgepodge. In fact, it's even more of a hodgepodge than the original version was seven years previously. 

The album features protest songs as well as old spirituals sung by legendary folk singer Pete Seeger. With Seeger's modern interpretations the folk process is truly at work, "making past experience meaningful for present-day life." Liner notes include background information on each of the tracks.
  

Tracklist:
101 I'm On My Way to Canaan's Land       4:20
102 Wimoweh      2:48
103 Wasn't That a Time           2:59
104 Freiheit           3:06
105 Study War No More (Down By the Riverside) - Pete Seeger and Big Bill Broonzy 5:28
201 Hold On - Pete Seeger, Memphis Slim, and Willie Dixon 3:27
202 If I Had a Hammer (Hammer Song)           2:21
203 We are Soldiers in the Army           4:05
204 Mrs. McGrath           4:19
205 What a Friend We Have in Congress           1:58
206 Hymn to Nations (Beethoven, Ludwig v.: 9th Symphony)           2:06    


Pete Seeger - Wimoweh and other songs of freedom and protest (1968)
(192 kbps, cover art included)     

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)

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)

VA - No volveremos atrás (Chile, 1973)

Originally posted in 2018.

This year it was 45 years ago that General Pinochet launched a bloody CIA-assisted coup against the democratically-elected socialist President Allende of Chile.

On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet and his right-wing supporters in the Chilean military and government staged a brutal coup d’etat that overthrew the democratically elected and socialist-leaning administration of Salvador Allende.
They did so with substantial assistance from the Nixon administration and the CIA, which had been supporting anti-socialist forces throughout Chile following the election of Allende in 1970 and his efforts to nationalize some key industries including the phone company, whose majority owner was the U.S.-based International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT).

Following the coup - in which tens of thousands were arrested and imprisoned in Chile’s football stadiums, untold numbers were tortured, executed, or “disappeared,” and Allende shot himself inside the presidential palace following his farewell speech - the Chicago Boys who had been trained in Friedman’s brand of neoliberalism, previously rebuffed in the 1970 election, were now suddenly given the keys to the Chilean economy by the Pinochet regime.
This came on the heels of a proposal published on the day of the coup by the Chicago Boys to restructure Chile as a kind of laboratory of neoliberalism.

During the airforce bombardment of the Presidential palace, La Moneda, Allende addressed the nation one final time. These were Allende’s famous last words, delivered after personally engaging in a bitter hours-long firefight with Pinochet’s treasonous military forces, and just moments before taking his own life with a rifle given to him as a gift by Fidel Castro:

"Surely, this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes. My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May there be a moral punishment for those who have betrayed their oath: soldiers of Chile, titular commanders in chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself Commander of the Navy, and Mr. Mendoza, the despicable general who only yesterday pledged his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has appointed himself Chief of the Carabineros [paramilitary police]. Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign!
Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever. They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.
Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. At this definitive moment, the last moment when I can address you, I wish you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition, the tradition taught by General Schneider and reaffirmed by Commander Araya, victims of the same social sector who today are hoping, with foreign assistance, to re-conquer the power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.
I address you, above all, the modest woman of our land, the campesina who believed in us, the mother who knew our concern for children. I address professionals of Chile, patriotic professionals who continued working against the sedition that was supported by professional associations, classist associations that also defended the advantages of capitalist society.
I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act.
They were committed. History will judge them.
Surely, Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.
The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will once again be opened through which free man will pass to build a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, there will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.
Santiago de Chile,
11 September 1973"

Chile is - 40 years after the bloody overthrow of the socialist Allende government - focus of this year's "Festival Musik & Politik" in February. Besides a lot of other interesting events with music, discussion and film there will be a concert "Victor Jara presente" with Quilapayun and others on February 24, 2013. More information via http://www.musikundpolitik.de/.

We will present in the following month some albums remembering the struggle of the people in Chile and the brutal coup d’etat that overthrew the democratically elected and socialist-leaning government in Chile 40 years ago.

This LP, released by DICAP, is emblematic of the Chilean Unidad Popular and the way of making music in the service of popular political struggles. With most of the songs by Quilapayun, the idea of the work was to support the political campaign for the UP elections in March 1973.

Tracklist:

01 - Este es mi lugar [Quilapayún]
02 - Por siempre muy juntos [Quilapayún]
03 - No vamos hoy a bailar [Quilapayún]
04 - Conchalí [Bonnie-Baher y Quilapayún]
05 - Cueca negra [Quilapayún]
06 - Nuestro amor [Bonnie-Baher y Quilapayún]
07 - Onofre sí, Frei [Quilapayún]
08 - Al centro de la injusticia [Isabel Parra] (versión 1973
09 - El desabastecimiento [Víctor Jara]
10 - Frei, ayúdame [Quilapayún e Inti-illimani]
12 - Cueca roja [Quilapayún]

VA - No volveremos atras (Chile, 1973)
(160 kbps, front cover incuded)

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)

The Effi Netzer Singers - A Festival Of Jewish Songs (Tradition, 1997)

"A Festival of Jewish Song" is a remastering of a collection of celebratory songs recorded on the old Olympic label in the 1960s by Effi Netzer and his singers. Given that they're all celebration songs for various occasions, the mood of the album is heavily different from the usually more tragic tone of Jewish song. A stray organ provides the bulk of the instrumental accompaniment, lending a tone to the album reminiscent of '60s rock almost single-handedly.

The music is exuberant and bouncing throughout the album, sometimes to good effect, and sometimes almost parodying itself. The bulk of the lyrical content deals with religious devotion, and the happiness that comes from it. A few deal instead with the basics of a party, or with the concept of peace in Israel (from the earlier conflicts). For a look at Jewish song that's more joyous than mournful, this is one of a handful of albums that do the genre justice. Aside from the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack (which isn't necessarily authentic) and the vocal accompaniment to the progressive movements in klezmer and Jewish music in general, this is one of the better items available. Give it a listen as a curious newcomer, but search out the perhaps higher quality but more standard mood as an accustomed listener. (allmusic.com)

Tracklist:

1 Hinneh Tov 2:10
2 Yitbarach Shimecha 2:18
3 Yevarechecha 2:55
4 Ssissu Vessimchu 2:45
5 Hodu La'adony 2:30
6 Essa Ainy 2:45
7 Kol Rinah Vishu'ah 2:00
8 Haleluya 2:20
9 Yedid Nefesh 4:08
10 Ssissu Et Yerushalaim 2:45
11 Uveyom Kashabat 3:10
12 Av Harachaman 3:12

The Effi Netzer Singers - A Festival Of Jewish Songs (Tradition, 1997)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Fall ‎- A Part Of America Therein, 1981 (1982)

"From the riot torn streets of Manchester, England to the scenic sewers of Chicago" begins the hoarse American MC introducing The Fall to an audience of appreciative, but probably confused, stateside audience.

Of the early live albums, "A Part of America Therein 1981" might be one of their best. The sound quality and band mix is fine, though a slight distortion suggests a poor source tape or a vinyl remaster. Above all, the band is in top form, Mark E. Smith amusing in several audience asides while focused and possessed of vitriol in the treatise-like songs ("The N.W.R.A." and "Cash 'n' Carry") that make up a majority of this set. "Totally Wired" can't help but be a lashing out of the scene surrounding him, as Smith changes the lyrics to attack the faux punks in the audience. And the line "When the going gets weird/the weird turn pro" could be The Fall's motto. The double-punch of Craig Scanlon and Marc Riley's guitars add to the fury.

Tracklist:

	North Side:
A1	The N.W.R.A.	10:50
A2	Hip Priest	7:35
A3	Totally Wired	4:08
A4	Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul	3:05
	South Side:
B1	Cash 'N' Carry	6:35
B2	An Older Lover	6:40
B3	Deer Park	4:24
B4	Winter	7:25

The Fall ‎- A Part Of America Therein, 1981 (1982)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Mutter - Hauptsache Musik

In the late 1980s, a new musical scene was emerging in Hamburg compromising a number of bands that sung in German but that had no record deals (with the exception of "Die Antwort"). To remedy this situation and to give the new style a platform, the record label "L'age d'or" (French for "Golden Age") was established in October 1988 by Carol von Rautenkranz and Pascal Fuhlbrügge. They signed contracts with many bands and published numerous albums. A great deal of the albums were produced by Chris von Rautenkranz, Carol's brother, in the legendary Soundgarden recording studio in Hamburg. Another label that influenced the emerging genre was Alfred Hilsberg's "What's so funny about?" which published the first albums by Blumfeld, Die Erde, Cpt. Kirk and Mutter.

Soon, however, the Hamburger Schule was not restricted to Hamburg anymore. In particular, a local scene of Germanophone bands had developed in the small town of Bad Salzuflen in Eastern Westphalia, which was centered around the label Fast Weltweit. Founders were Frank Werner, Frank Spilker ("Die Sterne"), Michael Girke, Bernadette La Hengst ("Die Braut haut ins Auge"), and Jochen Distelmeyer (then "Bienenjäger", now "Blumfeld"). They got in contact with the Hamburg scene through Bernd Begemann who was a native of Bad Salzuflen but moved to Hamburg where he established his band "Die Antwort". This led to various gigs in Hamburg for bands from the "Fast Weltweit" label, eventually causing many other artists to move to Hamburg.Another first-generation Hamburger Schule band, "Die Regierung", was not from Hamburg, but rather from Essen.

Here´s Mutter - Hauptsache Musik with favourites like "Ihr seid alle schön" ("You all are beautiful") and "Die Erde wird der schönste Platz im All" ("Earth will become the most beautiful place in the universe"):

Mutter - Hauptsache Musik
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Manfred Lemm & Ensemble - Majn cholem. Mordechaj Gebirtig, Jiddische Lieder Vol.4

Today is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the passage of 80 years since the January 27, 1945, liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet soldiers. Auschwitz was a network of concentration camps built and operated in occupied Poland by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Auschwitz I and nearby Auschwitz II-Birkenau were the extermination camps where an estimated 1.1 million people - mostly Jews from across Europe, but also political opponents, prisoners of war, homosexuals, Roma and others  -were killed in gas chambers or by systematic starvation, forced labor, disease, or medical experiments. About 200,000 camp inmates survived the ordeal. Today, a number of heads of states and aging survivors will attend a ceremony marking the anniversary at the site in Poland, now maintained as a museum.

Mordechaj Gebirtig was a great Yiddish bard, folk singer and labour poet. He has not performed them himself, as Gebirtig was killed in 1942 in the ghetto in Polish Krakau. 

Gebirtig belonged to the Jewish Social Democratic Party, a political party in Galicia which merged into the Jewish Labour Bund after World War I. The Bund was a Yiddishist proletarian socialist party, which called for Jewish cultural autonomy in a democratic Second Republic.

From 1906 he was a member of the Jewish Amateur Troupe in Kraków. He also wrote songs and theater reviews for "Der sotsial-demokrat", the Yiddish organ of the Jewish Social-Democratic Party. It was in such an environment that Gebirtig developed, encouraged by such professional writers and Yiddishist cultural activists as Avrom Reyzen, who for a time lived and published a journal in Krakow. Gebirtig's talent was his own, but he took the language, themes, types, tone, and timbre of his pieces from his surroundings, in some measure continuing the musical tradition of the popular Galician cabaret entertainers known as the Broder singers, who in turn were beholden to the yet older and still vital tradition of the badchen's (wedding jester's) improvisatory art.

He published his first collection of songs in 1920, in the Second Polish Republic. It was titled "Folkstimlekh" ('of the folk'). His songs spread quickly even before they were published, and many people regarded them as folksongs whose author or authors were anonymous. Adopted by leading Yiddish players such as Molly Picon, Gebirtig's songs became staples of numerous regular as well as improvised theatrical productions wherever Yiddish theatre was performed. It is not an exaggeration to say that Gebirtig's songs were lovingly sung the world over.

German singer-guitarist Manfred Lemm became obsessed by the works of Gebertig and collected, researched and adapted all his songs. Lemm put poems to music and brought his collection together in a weighty book, including lyrics, translations and music notations through which a peek into the life of Gebirtig is visible.

This is the fourth collection of songs by Mordechaj Gebirtig in interpretations by Manfred Lemm. It was recorded at Radio Krakow Malopolska ind 2005 and 2006.

Tracklist:

1 Majn Cholem 2:43
2 Glokn-Klang 0:53
3 A Suniker Schtral 2:28
4 Blumke Majn Shiduwke 3:30
5 Schlojmele Liber 2:58
6 Schtern Ssortn 1:40
7 Sog Mir Lewone 2:46
8 Sun Sun Sang 1:31
9 Mojschele 3:47
10 Geforn Ganz Wajt 1:35
11 Chaluzim Libe 3:17
12 Freds' Mechaje 4:32
13 Die Nacht Kumt On Zu Schwejbn 2:08
14 Trili Trilili 3:47
15 Di Neschome 1:35
16 A Tog Fun Nekome 1:34
17 Fun Wanen 0:44
18 Majn Tate A Kohen 2:16
19 Majn Hejm 4:35

Manfred Lemm & Ensemble - Majn cholem. Mordechaj Gebirtig, Jiddische Lieder Vol.4

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Dub Taylor - Detect (Force Tracks)

It's difficult to talk about "Detect" without mentioning Force Tracks, the label releasing this collection of producer Alex Krüger's Dub Taylor productions. Though Force Tracks had been churning out 12"s at a prolific rate in 1999-2001, the years leading up to this album's release, they rarely delved into the market for full-length albums. However, when they did release the occasional full-length, like Luomo's "Vocal City", for example, these releases were met with substantial acclaim and ardor.

"Detect" should function no differently -- it's a remarkable full-length worthy of celebration. Rarely can a electronic dance producer assemble a consistently engaging full-length. This task requires a producer to be diverse and creative -- a problem considering how most producers struggled with the 12" format, not to mention the ambitions required to assemble a full-length. But Krüger proves himself to be no slouch when it comes to diversity and creativity. He can produce dance-pop anthems like "I Can't (...You Know)," along with straight-up minimal house tracks like "Newmen." And with half these tracks featuring some sort of vocal arrangement, the album wavers back and forth with its pop accessibility. It's this affirmation of dance's link to pop music as well as the dance floor that makes Krüger's Dub Taylor so fascinating.

Like other German labels like Playhouse and Kompakt, Force Tracks seems to have stumbled onto a wonderful sound with its roster of minimal house producers and their unashamed concessions to the undeniable hook. Still, with or without the occasional vocal hooks, "Detect" features amazing minimal house with big, dubby basslines that just don't stop. It belongs to be place aside past Force Tracks classics like "Vocal City" and MRI's "Rhythmogenesis".


Tracklist:
1 Detect 9:23
2 Sweet Lips 8:17
3 Observer 6:49
4 Newmen 6:02
5 Something.Sometimes. 7:20
6 Our Youth 8:01
7 John Wayne 5:33
8 I Can't (...You Know) 7:38
9 Dirty Highways 7:35
10 2scale 7:20


Dub Taylor - Detect (Force Tracks)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Weavers - Folk Songs Around The World (1959)

The Weavers had the most extraordinary musical pedigree and pre-history of any performing group in the history of folk or popular music.

More than 50 years after their heyday, however, their origins, the level of their success, the forces that cut the group's future off in its prime, and the allure that keeps their music selling are all difficult to explain - as, indeed, none of this was all that easy to explain at the time. How could a song as pleasant and tuneful as "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" be subversive?

The quartet went from being embraced by the public, and selling four-million-records, to being reviled and rejected over the political backgrounds of its members, and disbanding after only four years together. Yet, despite the controversy that surrounded them, and the fact that their work was interrupted at its peak, the Weavers managed to alter popular culture in about as profound a manner as any artist this side of Bob Dylan - indeed, they set the stage for the 1950s folk revival, indirectly fostering the careers of the Kingston Trio, among others, and bridging the gap between folk and popular music, and folk and the topical song, they helped set the stage for Dylan's eventual emergence. And the songs that they wrote or popularized, including "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," "Wimoweh," "Goodnight Irene," "Wreck of the John B," "Follow the Drinking Gourd," and "On Top of Old Smoky," continued to get recorded (and occasionally to chart) 50 years after the group's own time.

Tracklist:

A1 - Around The World
A2 - Bay Of Mexico
A3 - I Know Where I'm Going - Hush Little Baby
A4 - The Frozen Logger
A5 - Darling Corey
A6 - Follow The Drinking Gourd
B1 - Tzena, Tzena, Tzena
B2 - Suliram
B3 - Sylvie (Bring Me A Little Water)
B4 - Greensleeves
B5 - Along The Colorado Trail
B6 - Hard Ain't It Hard

The Weavers - Folk Songs Around The World (1959)
(192 kbps, cover art included, vinyl rip)

Kurt Weill - Bertolt Brecht - Meisterwerke (2 CDs)

This double album is a good Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht overview. It contains excerpts from "Die Dreigroschenoper", "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny", "Die sieben Todsünden", "Der Jasager", Happy End" and "Lady In The Dark". Kurt Weill wrote the music, Bertolt Brecht contributed most of the lyrics (plus some lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Arnold Sundgaard). These are the "classic" 1950s/60s recordings, mostly with Lotte Lenya.


Tracklist:

1.01: Die Moritat von Mackie Messer
1.02: Anstatt-Dass-Song
1.03: Kanonensong
1.04: Die Ballade von der sexuellen Hörigkeit
1.05: Die Seeräuber Jenny
1.06: Die Zuhälterballade
1.07: Die Ballade vom angenehmen Leben
1.08: Ballade über die Frage "Wovon lebt der Mensch"
1.09: Das Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit
1.10: Salomon-Song
1.11: Die Schluss-Strophen der Moritat
1.12: Alabama-Song
1.13: Havanna Song
1.14: Von nun an war der Leitspruch
1.15: Zweitens kommt die Liebe...
1.16: Sieh jene Kraniche
1.17: Meine Herren, meine Mutter prägte
1.18: Erstens, vergesst nicht, kommt das Fressen

2.01: Bilbao-Song
2.02: Matrosen-Tang
2.03: Das Lied vom Branntweinhändler
2.04: Fürchte dich nicht
2.05: Surabaya Johnyy
2.06: In der Jugend goldnem Schimmer
2.07: Die Ballade von der Höllen-Lilli
2.08: Stolz
2.09: Zorn
2.10: Unzucht
2.11: Neid
2.12: Ich bin der Lehrer
2.13: Seit dem Tag, an dem uns dein Vater verließ
2.14: One Life To Live
2.15: Girl Of The Moment
2.16: The Greatest Show On Earth
2.17: The Saga Of Jenny
2.18: My Ship
2.19: Septembre Song
2.20: Lover Man

Kurt Weill - Bertolt Brecht - Meisterwerke (2 CDs)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Hammerfest – Schleudertest (1981)

 

This is down-to-earth rock with German lyrics, perfect for their thousands of live gigs. The style runs from psychedelic via prog-rock to political agitation. Only 8 songs didn't sum up to a regular LP, so they used a nice trick and pressed one with 45 rpm, at least it gives a better sound. The album was recorded at Cottage Studio, Spenge, and released on the Schneeball label. Track B4 is a cover of Shadows' Apache.           


Tracklist

A1	Arbeitslos	3:43
A2	Bubi-Lubi	2:22
A3	Delirium	3:30
A4	Die Irren	3:36
B1	Panik, Panik	4:30
B2	Nachtschicht	3:12
B3	Bäume statt Beton	2:25
B4	A. Patsche	3:45

Musicians
Wolfgang Kuhlmann (Wolli Kuhl): guitar
Rüdiger Friese (Rubbel Rüdi): guitar
Achim Patz (Ako Patz): keyboard, vocals
Jakob Künzel (Jesus Caneloni): sax
H.F. Schänder: bass, vocals
Klaus Otto (Fetzenotto): drums


Hammerfest - Schleudertest (1981, Schneeball)
(ca. 256 kbps, cover art included)