Nina Simone And Her Friends (1959)

Nina Simone and Her Friends is an album released by the Bethlehem Records label that compiled songs by Jazz singers Nina Simone, Carmen McRae and Chris Connor.

All three artists had left the label and signed with other companies by the time Bethlehem released this album. The songs of Nina Simone were previously unissued “left overs” from the recording sessions for her debut album Little Girl Blue (1958) and released without her knowing.

The tracks by Chris Connor and Carmen McRae were already issued together this way as Bethlehem's Girlfriends in 1956 accompanied by the debut recording session of Julie London.

Tracklist:

01.  He's Got The Whole World In His Hands

02.  Cottage For Sale
03.  Old Devil Moon
04.  I Loves You, Porgy
05.  Try A Little Tenderness
06.  You Made Me Care
07.  For All We Know
08.  What Is There To Say
09.  Too Much In Love To Care
10.  African Mailman
11.  Good Bye
12.  Last Time For Love

Nina Simone And Her Friends (1959)
(320 kbps, front cover inlcuded)

Harry Mudie Meet King Tubby's - Dub Conference Volume 1 (1976)

Harry Mudie combined the sweetness and the heaviness that have always been integral to Jamaican music, even on occasion successfully integrating lush string arrangements. Tubby mostly made obvious the sheer weight of Mudie´s rhythms, but wisely maintained snatches of strings on some tracks.

"Produced by living legendary reggae producer Harry Mudie and mixed in conference at King Tubbys Studio, Kingston, Jamaica, W.I., with the late, great dub inventor, sound system and recording engineer Osbourne Ruddock a.k.a King Tubbys. King Tubbys, the creator of dub music in the late '60s, mixed reggae musical tracks that the drum and bass predominated in the mix and at irregular intervals introduced echo reverbs and delay with other sound effects he conjured up at his will. Dub Conference Volume 1, mixed in 1976, is making history for the second time with producer Harry Mudie's introduction of strings to dub music as he did in reggae music with strings and flute in a classical form."

Tracklist:

A1	Full Dose Of Dub	3:17
A2	Madhouse Dub	3:02
A3	Dub For The Dread	3:11
A4	Dub With A Difference	2:54
A5	Caught You Dubbing	3:43
B1	Roman Dub	3:02
B2	Dub Conference	3:09
B3	Heavy Duty Dub	3:09
B4	Strip Tease Dub	3:19
B5	String Dub In Rema	2:59

Harry Mudie Meet King Tubby's - Dub Conference Volume 1 (1976)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Katja Ebstein - Singt Heinrich Heine (1975)

Although she had to wait until early 1970 before she enjoyed her first hit, German singer Katja Ebstein’s involvement in the hippy and student scenes of the late 1960s meant she was often perceived as a voice of the 1968 generation.  

She was born Karin Witkiewicz on 9 March 1945 near what was then the German town of Breslau and is now Wroclaw in Poland. She and her mother fled the approaching Red Army and ended up in Berlin.

After swapping Karin for Katja, the young singer became a familiar face on the local music scene. She performed backing vocals for local group Insterburg and Co and for orchestra conductor James Last.

In 1966 she landed a recording contract with the Ariola label, where she released her first single, Irgendwann. That year she also took part in the Knokke Cup in Belgium, appearing alongside singers such as Britain’s Truly Smith and Belgium’s Ariane.

She met Liberty label bosses at a German Woodstock-type festival in Burg Waldeck and they showed an interest in signing the singer.

With the addition of a surname, which she adapted from the name of the street where she lived, Ebsteinstraße, she joined the Liberty label in 1969.

In 1975 she took to the stage with the Heinrich-Heine-theatre company. Together they performed a Heine-cycle with music composed by Christian Bruhn. This song-cycle was released on the album "Katja Ebstein - Sing Heinrich Heine".

Apart from her musical career Katja is politically very active and outspoken. She was an active member of the 1968 student movement, she supported Willy Brandt in 1972 and was arrested in the eighties for participating in a blockade of an American atomic weapon depot in Germany. In 2003 she demonstrated against the war in Iraque. In 1992 she founded the 'Katja Ebstein Foundation' which has the goal to support children in socially weak families. She also supports the social development program in Mali called 'Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe', which helps local people to build houses for poor people.

Heinrich Heine (13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder (art songs) by composers such as Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert. Heine's later verse and prose is distinguished by its satirical wit and irony. His radical political views led to many of his works being banned by German authorities. Heine spent the last 25 years of his life as an expatriate in Paris.

 
Tracklist:
1. Es erklingen alle Bäume
2. Die schlesischen Weber
3. Wir saßen am Fischerhause
4. Es ist eine alte Geschichte
5. Kleines Volk
6. Es fällt ein Stern herunter
7. Lied der Marketenderin
8. Du hast Diamanten und Perlen
9. Auf die Berge will ich steigen
10. Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten
11. Panaschierter Leichenwagen
12. Eine grosse Landstraß' ist unser Erd
13. Meeresstille
14. Es war ein alter König
15. Mein Kind, wir waren Kinder
16. Die Liebe begann im Monat März
17. Die heil'gen drei Könige
18. Das Fräulein stand am Meere

Fresh link:
Katja Ebstein - Singt Heinrich Heine (1975)
(192 kbps, front & back cover included)

The Newport Folk Festival 1960, Volume 2

Bob Gibson was a close friend of Pete Seeger who inspired Gibson to buy a banjo and study American folk music. Before long, Gibson had become a major talent in his own right as well as "discovering" and fostering the talents of many other musicians such as Joan Baez, Glen Yarbrough, Odetta and Judy Collins. He sings traditionals as well as his own compositions "You can tell the world" and "Well, well, well", which he co-wrote with English folk-singer and actor Hamilton Camp (credited as Bob Camp at the festival).

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs were part of the hugely influential bluegrass band the Foggy Mountain Boys, who formed in 1948.

Tracklist:

Side One

This Little Light Of Mine - Bob Gibson

Wayfaring Stranger - Bob Gibson
You Can Tell The World - Bob Gibson
Well, Well, Well - Bob Gibson w/Bob Camp
Railroad Bill - Cisco Houston
The Cat Came Back - Cisco Houston
Hush Little Baby - Ed McCurdy
The Lavender Cowboy - Ed McCurdy
Blood On The Saddle - Ed McCurdy

Side Two

Handsome Molly - Peggy Seeger
Willie Moore - Peggy Seeger
Lang A Growing - Ewan MacColl
The Ballad Of Springhill - Peggy Seeger & Ewan MacColl

Salty Dog Blues - Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs

Before I Met You - Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
Cabin On The Hill - Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
Jimmy Brown - Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs

The Newport Folk Festival 1960, Volume 2
(192 kbps, front cover incuded)

Tyrannosaurus Rex‎ - For The Lion And The Unicorn In The Oak Forests Of Faun

Its abysmal sound quality notwithstanding, "For the Lion and the Unicorn" is one of the earliest known live recordings of Tyrannosaurus Rex and, as such, stands among the most precious artifacts in the entire Marc Bolan catalog. One of the first shows to feature Bolan stepping out with an electric guitar, it sees the group already poised for the transition that would, a couple of years later, take the entire country by surprise. But still it captures precisely the same mystic magic that the duo was already renowned for, a world of elves and unicorns, Afghan women and Abyssinian seas, and Bolan's inimitable grasp of life through lyrics set to a churning sea of half-electric rumination.

Certainly the live appeal of the duo is not hard to see, even if it is a little difficult to discern - the sound quality is akin to standing outside the hall with a tin can pressed to the fire escape, and some of the subtler nuances of the music are certainly lost in the translation. But a powerful set drawing from all three Tyrannosaurus Rex LPs to date highlights the glory that was theirs for the taking, and if a better quality tape ever turns up, it would be the rival of any other live Bolan out there.      


Tracklist:

1-1	Unicorn / Hot Rod Mama	3:32
1-2	Afghan Woman	1:49
1-3	Debora	3:30
1-4	Mustang Ford	3:01
1-5	Stacey Grove	2:04
1-6	Salamanda Palaganda	2:16
1-7	Wind Quartets	2:59
1-8	One Inch Rock	2:18
1-9	Chariots Of Silk	2:43
1-10	Seal Of Seasons	1:57
1-11	Consuela	2:35
1-12	Nijinsky Hind	2:21
1-13	Once Upon The Seas Of Abyssinia	2:21
1-14	Interstellar Overdrive	0:28
1-15	Do You Remember	3:35
1-16	The Wizard	4:02
1-17	Eastern Spell	1:58
1-18	Strange Orchestras	2:12
1-19	Misty Coast Of Albany	2:45
1-20	Evenings Of Damask	2:27
1-21	Pewter Suitor	3:16
1-22	Travelling Tragition	1:49

Tracks 1 to 16 recorded at The Lyceum, London on 11.4.69; 17 & 18 at Broendby Club, Copenhagen in 1969; 19 at Café Au Gogo, New York on 16.8.69; and 20-22 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on 13.1.69.          

Tyrannosaurus Rex‎ - For The Lion And The Unicorn In The Oak Forests Of Faun 
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Sun Ra - Calling Planet Earth (1971)

"The Paris concert was supposed to be the last of this ill-fated tour -- but at the last minute, Sun Ra decided to go to Egypt. Someone had tipped him off to cheap airfare from Copenhagen to Cairo and a handful of gigs in Denmark were cobbled together to pay for a trip to the Land of the Pharaohs (see Campbell & Trent p.178). Egypt was a place of obvious spiritual importance to Sun Ra, but half of the rapidly shrinking Arkestra bailed out and returned home. Nevertheless, the core musicians dutifully carried on with the shoe-string adventure. As it turned out, the Danish promoters failed to pay, and Sonny financed the trip by selling a batch of tapes to the Black Lion label, the desperate transaction taking place on the tarmac as the Cairo-bound plane awaited its departure (Id. p.179; Szwed p.292). Among those tapes was a recording from Odense on December 3, 1971 but never issued (has anyone heard this?) and the December 5th concert from the Tivoli Theatre in Copenhagen, which was finally released by the DA Music/Freedom label as Calling Planet Earth in 1998.

The homemade stereo recording was made from the stage (probably by Tommy Hunter), and while it sounds fine, there is some distortion during the loudest parts and you can hear the seams of a hasty editing job. Hunter’s voice (likely recorded in the hotel room afterwards) announces the date and venue before cutting into a brief turbulent percussion jam, which serves as an introduction to “Discipline 5.” The through-composed sequence of sweet-n-sour harmonies rises and falls over the busy percussion section, yielding to an unaccompanied alto saxophone solo by Danny Davis, and returning for the reprise. Kwami Hadi remains as the only brass player, but the saxophone section is full and lush: besides Davis, mainstays Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, Danny Thompson, and Eloe Omoe and newcomers Larry Northington and Hakim Rahim are all present and help to flesh out the intricate arrangement. “Discipline 10” is more groove-oriented, propelled by Ra’s barbequed organ comping over which the Arkestra riffs on a handful of big-voiced chords. Ra solos interestingly on organ while Patrick grinds out a stumbling bass line until Gilmore enters with a fiercely overblown solo on tenor sax. Unfortunately, he’s way off-mic and hard to hear. Even so, you can tell he’s really blowing his ass off! After a return of the head, Ra steers the band into a nicely sung rendition of “Enlightenment." A severely truncated version of “Love in Outer Space” ends what would have been side one of the LP, fading out just as things start to come to a boil.

“Discipline 15” begins with a fugue-like organ solo, outlining the highly chromatic harmonic areas of the piece. Then the ensemble enters tentatively with the richly orchestrated rubato theme, dark, reedy saxophones contrasted with airy flute and trumpet. Ra takes a dramatic unaccompanied organ solo before suddenly shifting gears, launching into “The Satellites Are Spinning” which is taken up by June Tyson and Gilmore in a sung duet. After the urgent chanting of “Calling Planet Earth,” the Arkestra slams into “The Outers,” some high-energy free jazz skronk: the horns wail, the drums bash, and Sonny attacks his electronic keyboards with fists and elbows. This goes on for a while, until Sun Ra takes over for good with an agitated mad-scientist-style solo on organ. A deft edit drops us into the floating space-groove of “Adventures Outer Planes” (mis-titled “Adventures Outer Space” on the CD), a two-chord vamp supporting a wandering melody for flute and trumpet that never quite seems to gel. Ra again leads the way with a genially meandering organ solo, while the Arkestra takes up small percussion instruments. A second time through the composition sounds a bit more confident than before, although there are some weird (and possibly wrong) notes strewn about. The track fades out inconclusively. Hmm. According to Campbel & Trent, this piece was only performed this one time (p.811); too bad as it definitely had potential. It is astonishing to discover so many tantalizing but rarely performed works scattered throughout the discography!

While there is some interesting music here, the Arkestra sounds hesitant on the newer material and some of the more exciting improvisational music has obviously been edited out from a much longer performance, making this album less than totally satisfying to me. Then again, I’m spoiled. Any good-sounding Ra music from this vintage should be heartily welcomed. Next stop: Egypt."
 - Thanks to NuVoid for the review.

Sun Ra - Calling Planet Earth (1971)
(256 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)

Richie Havens - Alarm Clock (1971)

Richard P. "Richie" Havens (born January 21, 1941; died April 22, 2013) is an American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense rhythmic guitar style (in open tunings), soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

Following the success of his Woodstock performance, Richie started his own record label, "Stormy Forest", and delivered "Stonehenge" in 1970. Later that year came "Alarm Clock", which yielded the George Harrison- penned hit single "Here Comes the Sun", and became Havens's first album to reach Billboard’s Top 30 Chart.


Tracklist:

A1 Here Comes The Sun 3:43
A2 To Give All Your Love Away 2:48
A3 Younger Men Grow Older 3:34
A4 Girls Don't Run Away 4:17
A5 End Of The Seasons 3:38
B1 Some Will Wait 2:40
B2 Patient Lady 4:45
B3 Missing Train 4:55
B4 Alarm Clock 5:17

Richie Havens - Alarm Clock (1971)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Arlo Guthrie - Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys (1973)

.
In the midst of the singer/songwriter era, Arlo Guthrie chose to become his generation's true folk singer, closer in spirit to Pete Seeger than to James Taylor, more an interpreter than a prolific songwriter.

In this role, he kept songs alive that may have been forgotten or were never known, and recorded songs from the pens of his contemporary peers. "Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys" follows a formula similar to its predecessor, "Hobo's Lullaby", with one exception - there is no hit single à la "City of New Orleans."

However, this release has some very strong material woven into its mix. Guthrie gives his father's "Gypsy Davy" a bouncy Caribbean feel, breathing new life into this tale of wanderlust in a way probably not envisioned by Woody Guthrie. He also pays tribute to Hank Williams with a yodeling rendition of "Lovesick Blues," and delivers his customary Dylan song. This time it's "Gates of Eden," featuring the fingerpicked electric guitars of Clarence White and the bottleneck slide of Ry Cooder. The album also contains two of Guthrie's finest original songs, "Last Train" and "Cooper's Lament."

Arlo Guthrie - Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys (1973)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

These Arlo albums are posted with special greetings to a special person. You know who you are...

Pete Seeger - Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Fishes (Little and Big)

Previously available on two separate 1955 Folkways LPs ("Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Little Fishes" and "Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Bigger Fishes"), this CD combines both of these children's records onto one disc, complete lyrics included in the accompanying booklet.

Pete Seeger released 28 songs and stories about animals on two short LP records in 1955 to an enthusiastic audience. Ever since, they have been sung by generations of parents, grandparents, and children. The two original releases have been combined on this single CD creating an irresistible collection of songs to sing along with, to draw pictures about, to play hand games to, and to be enjoyed by the entire family.

As the titles make plain, the songs were devoted to animals of all sorts; "Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Little Fishes" was aimed toward younger kids, and "Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Bigger Fishes" for older ones.


Pete Seeger - Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Fishes (Little and Big)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

  

Inti-Illimani - Viva Chile! (Pläne, 1973)

For well over 30 years, Inti-Illimani (the name translates as "Sun God") has held a beacon for Chilean music, both the traditional folk styles and the more contemporary nueva cancion. Back in 1967 a group of students at Santiago's Technical University formed a band to perform folk music. Taking their name from the Aymaran Indian language of the Andes, they began playing traditional music - something few did back then - and quickly earned a reputation around the capital, becoming more and more adept on their instruments. By the '70s they'd grown into a political beast, taking on the nueva cancion (literally "new song") of many young groups, and being quite outspoken lyrically - enough to be forced into exile in 1973, where they'd stay for 15 years. However, they refused to be cowed by the Chilean dictatorship. Basing themselves in Rome, Italy, they continued to record, and toured more heavily then ever before, earning a powerful reputation around the globe, and becoming very unofficial ambassadors of Chilean music, as well as opponents to the ruling regime. In addition to performing with a number of famous, political figures like Pete Seeger and Mikis Theodorakis, they were included on the famous 1988 Amnesty International Tour, along with Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Bruce Springsteen.

This was not the first album to be released by the Chilean folk group Inti-Illimani. But it was the first of the group's albums to emerge from a new life as exiles in Rome; so, literally, this spirited music of revolution and rebellion was recorded within a short stroll from the type of hearty lunchtime pasta that is more likely to inspire a siesta. The decisive summarization of thoughts that sometimes occurs as a preamble to dreamland is a nice way to describe the choice of both repertoire and final program sequence. "Viva Chile!" lays bare the musical roots of this ensemble, in large part a style of folk music from the Andes that has unfortunately become a trifle stereotyped due to overexposure. In the case of Inti-Illimani, the growth from this original starting point has been lush, extending into a challenging form of expression known as nuevo cancion, or new song. Rich emotions and musical surprises bloom almost constantly from these pieces. In combination with politics, as in "Venceremos" or "Cueca de la C.U.T.," it becomes a garden that any lover of protest songs will want to sit in and meditate. Sniffing along while the military industrial complex is overthrown is hardly the only sweet bouquet provided, however. From the very start of the album, intricate and terrifically mixed percussion breaks provide some of the finest moments. "Cueca de la C.U.T." is simply amazing, sounding like small drunken men have invaded the speaker box with wooden mallets. Instrumental pieces involving various combinations of stringed instruments such as guitar, tiple, and charango are also part of the program, a style that the group seems to have downplayed in later releases. "Ramis," "Tatati," and "Subida" are short and simple treats; "Longuita" utilizes a picking style that sounds like country & western, though it is uncertain what country. "Venceremos" is the big vocal hit, an anthem among anthems, and as is typical in the effective sequencing, it is sandwiched between two of the instrumentals.           

This album was released in different countries on different labels, in Germany on the Pläne label as part of the "Serie Sieg".

• 01. Fiesta de san Benito - 3:41
• 02. Longuita - 2:00
• 03. Cancion del poder popular - 3:04
• 04. Alturas - 3:02
• 05. La segunda independencia - 2:37
• 06. Cueca de la C.U.T. - 1:46
• 07. Tatati - 3:32
• 08. Venceremos - 2:29
• 09. Ramis - 2:22
• 10. 'Rin' del angelito - 3:23
• 11. Subida - 2:03
• 12. Simon Bolivar - 2:46

Inti-Illimani - Viva Chiloe! (Pläne, 1973)
(256 kbps, cover art included, vinyl rip)

Richie Havens - Something Else Again

As a little thank you for all the nice comments related to the earlier Richie Havens postings, here´s one more of his albums: "Something Else Again".

The sound here is more keyboard-heavy than its predecessor "Mixed Bag", but Richie Havens continues in a similar vein with his distinctive smoky voice and thumb-fretted open-tuned guitar.

"No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed" and "Don't Listen to Me" are propelled by Warren Bernhardt's percussive electric piano, while "Inside of Him" and "Sugarplums" are pretty ballads featuring the flute of Jeremy Steig. "The Klan" and "Run Shaker Life" are cut from the same mold as "Handsome Johnny," the Woodstock show-stopper from "Mixed Bag". The melody of "New City" has attractive, expansive intervals, and "From the Prison" is an intense piece of balladry built around a riff on the guitar's bass strings. Finally, the title track is seven-and-a-half minutes of sitar, flute, tamboura, and tabla, very much of its time, when George Harrison's interest in Ravi Shankar led many musicians to experiment with Indian instruments, rhythms, and melodies. This cut could be the soundtrack to a flower-power dance in the park or an incense-laced gathering around a hookah beneath posters and black lights.

Tracklist:

A1 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed 2:58
A2 Inside Of Him 4:27
A3 The Klan 4:31
A4 Sugarplums 2:54
A5 Don't Listen To Me 4:25
B1 From The Prison 3:40
B2 Maggie's Farm 4:35
B3 Somethin' Else Again 7:26
B4 New City 2:50
B5 Run, Shaker Life 5:45


Richie Havens - Something Else Again
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Lokomotive Kreuzberg – Fette Jahre (Pläne, 1975)

From "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg": Lokomotive Kreuzberg was an inventive Berlin polit-rock band, who were launched onto the scene in early 1972 with enthusiastic help from Floh De Cologne, to whom Lokomotive Kreuzberg were comparable in many ways. Amazingly creative, even on their debut, Lokomotive Kreuzberg blended hard-rock and blues together with more progressive sounds, with socio-political lyrics and elements of satirical theatre. "Kollege Klatt" was remarkable for its invention, accomplishing a sound that pre-dated Floh De Cologne's "Tilt!", witty and creative, with original use of synthesizer and theatric elements. Later albums varied the mix somewhat. Their third album "Fette Jahre" was much more tongue-in-cheek, being a parody of various musical styles from doo-wop through to psychedelic and experimental, feeling very much like a German Mothers Of Invention. "Mountain Town" is the most Zappa cum Floh De Cologne mixture of all, and makes use of some luminary jazz guests for a wide ranging and engaging palette of styles, all with that wry tongue-in-cheek edge of political theatre, yet I'm not so sure about the reggae track! Latterly the nucleus of Lokomotive Kreuzberg (without Andreas Brauer, who went on to release a couple of solo albums) ended up as being the backing musicians for Nina Hagen, and eventually transmuted into the pop-satire group Spliff.

Tracklist:
1. Rondo 05:00
2. Comeback 02:48
3. Requiem 04:28
4. Fette Jahre 05:36
5. Nostalgie 05:52
6. Leise Sohlen 04:19
7. Verfassungslied 03:07
8. Parlamentsmarsch 04:43

Artists:
Bernhard Potschka: ac. guitar, el. guitar, vocals
Andreas Brauer: violin, piano, flute, percussion, synthesizer, vocals
Manfred Praeker: bass, ac. guitar, percussion, vocals
Uwe Holz: drums, percussion, harmonica, vocals
Karl-Heinz Scherfling: percussion, vocals, text
Conny Plank: engineer
Dieter Süverkrüp: graphics
Recorded Januar 1975 @ Connys Studio, Neunkirchen

Lokomotive Kreuzberg – Fette Jahre (Pläne, 1975)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Melanie - Born To Be (1968)

"Born to Be", Melanie Safka's 1968 debut, is an intriguing curate's egg. Neither Melanie, nor her producer-husband Peter Schekeryk, seem sure exactly where her strengths lie, so she is cast in a number of roles: Piaf-imitating chanteuse ("In the Hour"), soul-searching, angst-heavy troubadour ("Momma Momma"), giggling novelty figure ("Animal Crackers") and children's entertainer ("Christopher Robin Is Saying His Prayers").

Stranger still, half the time the experiment works; the small ensemble, led by her own enthusiastic (if thoroughly inexpert) guitar playing creates an arty, coffeehouse ambience in which Melanie's idiot-savant act flourishes. But the less said about her attack at "Merry Christmas" the better.    

"Born to Be" was  Melanie's debut album, released on Buddah Records in 1968.
Following Melanie's success at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 Buddha repackaged and reissued the album as "My First Album."

Tracklist:

A1	In The Hour	3:04
A2	I'm Back In Town	2:17
A3	Bo Bo's Party	3:58
A4	Mr. Tambourine Man	4:20
A5	Momma Momma	4:00
B1	I Really Loved Harold	4:05
B2	Animal Crackers	2:12
B3	Cristopher Robin (Is Saying His Prayer)	2:35
B4	Close To It All	3:22
B5	Merry Christmas	2:50

Melanie - Born To Be (1968)
(320 kbps, cover art included)          

Franz K. - Wir haben Bock auf Rock

Band history translated from Wikipedia:

In 1969, Franz K. was established by Mick Hannah (guitar, born 15 July 1951), Peter Josefus (bass, vocals, November 6, 1951, † 14 November 1997) and Stefan Josefus (drums, born 24 February 1947). First, the trio played blues and impressively covered blues-rock from bands like Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After – down to jazz/crossover. Initially they held gigs e.g. combined with local political cabaret of their roadie Manfred Günther, after 1970 they worked often together with lyricist Arnold Leifert. The style was in this period increasingly rocking up to hard rock.

In 1972 they released their first album "Sensemann", and thus belonged to the pioneers of German Rock. On this LP, there were only two tracks, each of 20 minutes length. In 1973 came the second album in less progressive vain in German. Both records sold poorly, however. In the next few years Franz K. released several singles. The breakthrough came in 1977 with the album "Bock auf Rock". In the years 1978 to 1983 the band released another six albums. Then it became quiet around the band and with producer Peter Orloff they moved into the pop field.

In 1997 Peter Josefus died of lung cancer. Mid 2000, his brother Stefan released the last recording with Peter "Nachts sind deine Küsse heiß" (Your kisses are hot at night) and put together a CD with pop songs from recent years. On a concert in December 2004 in the sold-out "Zeche Bochum" Mick Hannes and Stefan Josefus played together for the first time in over 20 years. The appearence, in which only six songs were played, was held at the event "Rock for animals". In fall 2008, SPV published a double CD with the two LPs "Bock auf Rock" and "Geh zum Teufel". In the summer of 2009, Franz K. started a comeback. In September 2009, their new album "Mehr Respekt" was published. The 2010 released single "Die Gute" is the only German version authorized by Steve Miller of his world hit "The Joker". A big party for old friends was the open-air concert in their home town Witten-Annen in July 2010.

Line Up 2010: Stefan Josefus (drums), Mick Hannah (guitar), Michael "Momo" Grimm (bass, vocals), Klaus Vanscheidt (guitar), Tim Husung (drums, percussion).

Tracklist:

A1	Wir haben Bock auf Rock	4:36
A2	Bye bye, Johnny	4:30
A3	Eh, Mann!	3:55
A4	Der König	4:15
B1	Tiger	4:05
B2	Halt mich fest	3:25
B3	Halt mich fest, Teil II (Boogie)	5:10
B4	Condor (Instrumental)	4:12

Franz K. - Wir haben Bock auf Rock
(ca. 256 kbps, cover art included)

Trio - Halt mich fest, ich werd verrückt (Single) - Gert "Kralle" Krawinkel R.I.P.

Originally posted in February, 2014:

Gert Krawinkel (21 April 1947 – 16 February 2014) was a German musician and guitarist. He was better known as "Kralle". He died last sunday at the age of 66 in Cuxhaven.

Krawinkel's father was a sailor in his hometown of Wilhelmshaven. Krawinkel's music career started in the mid-1960s in nearby Bremerhaven, where he played the guitar in a band called "The Vampyr". He then teamed up with vocalist Stephan Remmler in a Rolling Stones-influenced band called MacBeats (later renamed Just Us). The band was successful in Northern Germany, during its existence, Just Us played a two-week engagement at Star-Club in Hamburg. In 1969, Just Us disbanded, and Krawinkel started a new band called Cravinkel with some of its former members, including Remmler. Cravinkel's folk and progressive rock influences did not break them into the mainstream, despite the release of two studio albums. In 1972, after only three years, Cravinkel disbanded.
Krawinkel subsequently got a teaching job, but still played guitar in several bands, including the Emsland Hillbillies and George Meyer & Company. In 1979, he teamed with his former bandmate Stephan Remmler in an attempt to get back into the commercial music business. After an intensive training phase, they formed the band Trio with drummer Peter Behrens.

Trio was a German band, formed in the small German town of Großenkneten in 1980. The band is most noted for the song "Da da da, ich lieb dich nicht, du liebst mich nicht, aha aha aha" (usually simply "Da Da Da") which was a hit in 30 countries worldwide. Trio was part of the Neue Deutsche Welle (or NDW); however, the band preferred the name "Neue Deutsche Fröhlichkeit", which means "New German Cheerfulness", to describe their music. At that time, as now, popular songs were based on extremely simple structures that were ornately produced. Trio's main principle was to remove almost all the ornamentation and polish from their songs, and to use the simplest practical structures (most of their songs were three-chord songs). For this reason, many of their songs are restricted to drums, guitar, vocals, and just one or maybe two other instruments, if any at all. Bass was used very infrequently until their later songs, and live shows often saw Remmler playing some simple pre-programmed rhythms and melodies on his small Casio VL-1 keyboard while Behrens played his drums single-handedly while eating an apple.

When Trio was on a creative break in 1984, he collaborated with Marius Müller-Westernhagen, playing lead guitar in his band. He was featured on his album "Die Sonne so rot" (The Sun is so Red) and went on his "Westernhagen" album tour in Germany. In 1985, Trio broke up.
In 1989 Krawinkel moved from Großenkneten to Berlin. In 1993, he worked with a friend Wilfried Szyslo who was a musician, on a solo album called "Kralle". Krawinkel had written the lyrics for the album entirely in English, but allowed another friend, Rio Reiser to translate them into German. He sang a duet with Nena on the single "’N Zentimeter Liebe".

From an article in a german newspaper about Trio: "Unter den Avantgardisten des westdeutschen Postpunk gehörten sie zu den wagemutigsten, formstrengsten und schönsten. Niemand sonst reduzierte das Format des romantischen Liebeslieds so erbarmungs- und scheinbar emotionslos auf sein Gerüst wie die niedersächsiche Band Trio. Niemand sonst – außer eventuell D.A.F. – machte so früh so radikalen Gebrauch von minimalistischen elektronischen Beats.   (...) Die Haltung dieser Band, ihre schwer zu entwirrende Verbindung von Ernsthaftigkeit und Witz, ihr genialer Dilettantismus – all das ist aber bis heute ein Maßstab geblieben."

Thank you, Kralle. Thanks for the unique music. New, oblique, anarchic, funny - your music was something very special. You brought - together with the Trio - a lot of fun to the days of my youth!

Here´s their wonderful single "Halt mich fest ich werd verrückt" ("Stop Me Before I Go Crazy") (Germany only) with the flip-side "Lady-O-Lady".

Trio - Halt mich fest, ich werd verrückt (Single)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

3. Festival des politischen Liedes (Eterna, 1972)

The third festival of political songs took place in Berlin between February,13th and February, 19th, 1972. Here are some recording from this festival, released on Eterna in the same year.

Tracklist:

01 Lied Vom Vaterland [Oktober-Klub]
02 Har Ni Hört, Kamrater [Fria Proteatern]
03 Ballade Von Hans Dickhoff [Dieter Süverkrüp]
04 Kenen Joukoissa Seisot [Agit-Prop]
05 Fusil Contra Fusil [Silvio Rodríguez]
06 Loschadi W Okeanje [Sergej Nitkin]
07 Befria Södern [Fria Proteatern]
08 Por Vietnam [Quilapayún]
09 Lang Lebe Bangladesh [Bhupen Hazarika]
10 Camilo Torres [Basta]
11 Zigeunerlied [Kalaka]
12 Europavalsen [Agit-Prop]
13 Wem Soll Getraut Werden [Die Conrads]

3. Festival des politischen Liedes (Eterna, 1972)
(192 kbps, front & back cover included)

Singkreis Mauthausen - Memento - Gedenkkonzert 50 Jahre Befreiung KZ Mauthausen

Let us celebrate the liberaton of the Mauthausen concentration camp 80 years ago.

The Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp was the hub of a large group of German concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Sankt Georgen an der Gusen (Gusen) in Upper Austria, roughly 20 kilometres east of the city of Linz. The camp operated from the time of the "Anschluss", when Austria was annexed into the German Third Reich in early 1938, to the beginning of May 1945, at the end of the Second World War. Starting with a single camp at Mauthausen, the complex expanded over time and by the summer of 1940 Mauthausen had become one of the largest labour camp complexes in the German-controlled part of Europe, with four main subcamps at Mauthausen and nearby Gusen, and nearly 100 other subcamps located throughout Austria and southern Germany, directed from a central office at Mauthausen.

As at other Nazi concentration camps, the inmates at Mauthausen-Gusen were forced to work as slave labour, under conditions that caused many deaths. The subcamps of the Mauthausen complex included quarries, munitions factories, mines, arms factories and plants assembling Me 262 fighter aircraft. In January 1945, the camps contained roughly 85,000 inmates.The death toll remains unknown, although most sources place it between 122,766 and 320,000 for the entire complex.
Mauthausen was classified as a so-called "category three camp". This was the fiercest category, and for the prisoners it meant "Rûckkehr unerwünscht" (return not desired) and "Vernichtung durch arbeit" (extermination by work).

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp,
the Singkreis Mauthausen together with der "Chor der Pfarre Mauthausen musica viva" gave a concert titeld "Memento". They produced an album with the same title with songs from concentration camps and the cantate "Memento.

The album contains the song 'Die Lebenden Steine' (The Living Stones), referring to a phrase used to describe the prisoners of Mauthausen-Gusen, who were subjected to back-breaking labour in the quarries surrounding the camp. The lyrics were written by Włodzimierz Wnuk in 1941, and set to music by Aleksander Kulisiewicz in Sachsenhausen in 1943.

Tracklist:

Moorsoldaten
Mein Vater wird gesucht
Die lebenden Steine
Dachaulied
Buchenwaldlied
Lied der Hoffnung
Ich träume
Herr, gebäre ein Volk
Bedenk, o Mensch
Verhöhnt und geschändet
Vom Leben hin zum Tod
Herr-Nie wieder

Singkreis Mauthausen - Memento - Gedenkkonzert 50 Jahre Befreiung KZ Mauthausen
(320 kbps, front cover included)

Fasia - Portrait (Pläne, 1976)

Fasia Jansen was a German political songwriter and peace activist, born 20 June 1929 in Hamburg.

The illegitimate daughter of the Liberian Consul General Momulu Massaquoi and the German chambermaid Elli Jansen experienced as a child discrimination due to their skin color and due to their illegitimate birth.
She grew up in a worker quarter of Hamburg and lived through the discrimination of an obviousliy "nicht-arischen" woman in the time of the fascist dictatorship. Her hope, oriented at Josephine Baker, to cover her life with music and dance  was destroyed as she was thrown out of a dance school at the age of 11 years. Three years later she was forced to work in the kitchen of the KZ Neuengamme. The fifteen-year experienced the brutality of the SS and the despair of the prisoners - experiences, which shaped her life crucially.

In the early years of West Germany after the NS dictatorship she tried to cope with the experiences from the camp and to keep the memory of the victims and their ideals alive. She once again started to make music, first as a choir member in Hamburg, with own songs. Jansen moved to the "Ruhrgebiet" and engaged herself in the political fights of the time. She performed at a lot of "Ostermärschen" (part of the peace movement), for example in 1966 together with Joan Baez. She supported the large strikes before the factory gates of Krupp, Hoesch or Thyssen and sung at the "Weltfrauenkonferenz" of the UN in Nairobi and at the "Burg Waldeck Festivals".

She died on December 29, 1997 in Oberhausen.

The album "Portrait" was recorded in September and Oktober 1975 in Hamburg and Köln and released on the Pläne label in 1976.

Fasia - Portrait (Pläne, 1976)
(320 kbps, front cover included)

Manfred Lemm & Ensemble - Majn jowl. Mordechaj Gebirtig, Jiddische Lieder Vol.3

Mordechaj Gebirtig was born 148 years ago.

This is the third collection of songs by Mordechaj Gebirtig in interpretations by Manfred Lemm. 

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.

Tracklist:

1. Mein Yovl
2. Mein Friling
3. De Sun Is Fargangen
4. Shifreless Portret
5. Minutn Fun Ye'ush
6. Erev Yom Kippur
7. A Nedoveh
8. Noch A Hois
9. An Arbetloser
10. Farvus Veinstu, Sheindele
11. Ich Hob Dich Lib
12. Oy, Mamenu Mein
13. Hey, Tsigelech
14. Baym Taichele
15. Hey, Klezmorim, Gut Brider

Manfred Lemm & Ensemble - Majn jowl. Mordechaj Gebirtig, Jiddische Lieder Vol.3
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Melanie - Affectionately Melanie

Affectionately Melanie (aka Melanie) is the second album by Melanie Safka. It contains "Beautiful People", a song that Melanie performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969.

Melanie's second album was a fairly strong pop-flavored singer/songwriter effort, with more serious-minded material and execution than those familiar with only her best-known songs would expect. Although folk-rock is an element here, it's actually just one, combined as well with well-done pop orchestration, a certain sensibility akin to that heard in theatrical musicals, and even a little bit of white soul (particularly on the one non-original, "Soul Sister Annie"). She would have been well advised to concentrate more on her lower, more sensual register throughout her career, as she does on the generally fine and moving vocals on this LP. The New York theater factor comes into play on the darkly semi-comic "Any Guy" and "Take Me Home," and her more utopian sentiments arise in "Beautiful People." But really, this is far more gutsy than sappy, her earnest delivery containing some real grit. Even if her songs occasionally dovetail with childish sentiment, there's just as much earthy realism, as well as some vulnerable loneliness. Don't overlook this in the bargain bins just because of her half-justified reputation as a singer/songwriting lightweight; you might find yourself surprised at how worthy and affecting this early outing is.                

Tracklist:

1. "I'm Back in Town"
2. "Tuning My Guitar"
3. "Soul Sister Annie"
4. "Any Guy"
5. "Uptown Down"
6. "Again"
7. "Beautiful People"
8. "Johnny Boy"
9. "Baby Guitar"
10. "Deep Down Low"
11. "For My Father"
12. "Take Me Home"

Melanie - Affectionately Melanie
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Dieter Süverkrüp - Die widerborstigen Gesänge des Dieter Süverkrüp (1967)

Dieter Süverkrüp is a german painter and songwriter, born 30 May 1934 in Düsseldorf.

Süverkrüp is a founding father of the singer-songwriter movement after the Second World War. He was well known in the alternative cultural scene of the 1960s and 1970s. Politically, he was a membre of the  DKP for a long time. Some of his best known songs are "Die erschröckliche Moritat vom Kryptokommunisten", "Baggerführer Willibald" and "Das Auto Blubberbumm", a musical for children.

Tracklist:

A1 Erschröckliche Moritat vom Kryptokommunisten
A2 Nachtgebet eines Untertanen
A3 Kinderchor für einen sauerländischen Zwergbahnhof
A4 Verkürzte Darstellung eines neuerlichen Deutschlanderwachens
A5 Kirschen auf Sahne
A6 Versuch eines (naturgemäß theoretischen) Wiegenliedes für unser noch ungeborenes Kind, August 1967
B1 Wünsche des Publikums an den Sänger
B2 Landesvaters Abendlied
B3 Lagerlied
B4 Schnulze et iucundum est, fürs Vaterland zu werben
B5 Lied vom Tod
B6 Nach der endgültigen und vollständigen Einführung und Inkrafttretung der Notstandsgesetze werde ich allen leichtfertig gutgläubigen Wählern ein Liedchen singen. Vorsichtshalber singe ich es schon jetzt.

Dieter Süverkrüp - Die widerborstigen Gesänge des Dieter Süverkrüp (1967)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Trotz alledem - Arbeiterlieder

Let us celebrate the International Workers Day with this album.

"Trotz alledem " is a fine compilation of workers' songs and socialist hymns.

It presents classics like "Die Internationale", "Einheitsfrontlied" and "Brüder zur Sonne, zur Freiheit" in german language.

Trotz alledem - Arbeiterlieder (192 kbps, front cover included)

Floh de Cologne - Profitgeier (Amiga, 1972)

In celebration of May, 1st, the internatinal workiers day...

In 1971 the polit rock band Floh de Cologne created the first German-language rock opera called "Profitgeier", an aggressive concept album criticizing exploitation and capitalism. Sometimes Floh de Cologne - an essential part of the left political scene in the BRD in the 1970s - were compared with the wonderful Fugs.

Their rather simple music and their lyrics - strongly influenced by the jargon of the DKP, the german communist party, formed in 1968 by former KPD functionaries in close cooperation with the East Germany's ruling party, the Socialist Unity Party (SED), from which the DKP received both political directives and most of its funds - have an out-dated effect for todays listeners. The theory of Karl Marx and his analysis of the capitalist system were the basis for their reflections about contemporary life. Even if this seems sometimes one-dimensional, the essence of their lyrics is up to date in the present conflicts and the crisis of the capitalist system.

Here´s a fine example of their dialectic lyrics:
"Der Unternehmer heißt Unternehmer, weil er etwas unternimmt.
Der Arbeiter heißt Arbeiter, weil er arbeitet.
Würden die Arbeiter was unternehmen, müssten die Unternehmer arbeiten."
.
The GDR cultural administration supported Floh de Cologne. They arranged live performances at the "Festival des politischen Liedes" and at the "X. Weltjugendfestspiele" in 1973. The label Amiga released "Profitgeier" in 1972 as a licence album from the Pläne label.

Floh de Cologne - Profitgeier (Amiga, 1972)

(192 kbps, front cover included)

Pete Seeger - Children´s Concert At Town Hall (1963)

There have been no shortage of memorable live albums by Pete Seeger across the decades - and, in fact, the Carnegie Hall concert from this same era has tended to eclipse a lot of the other performance documents of Seeger's work from the '60s. But this album has a special charm, showing Seeger directing his appeal at a younger audience which he treats with surprising sophistication - perhaps some of what he says is aimed at parents in the audience, but the mere fact that he enunciates such political sentiments in this setting could not have been lost on the young ones.

In other words, this was an album that one could grow up on, and it sold well enough on vinyl across the decades so that was absolutely the case with many thousands of kindred spirits of the next generation. Musically, Seeger is in excellent voice as he carries us through a mix of lighter political fare - and some topical and consciousness-raising songs aimed specifically at kids, and the kid in all of us - and children's songs such as "Skip to My Lou" and "I've Been Working on the Railroad."

He doesn't do "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," but he does close with "This Land Is Your Land," and includes a few songs he learned from Leadbelly (and mentions him as well - clearly a nod to the parents in the audience). The sound is excellent, state-of-the-art in its time and still crisp and vivid.          

Tracklist:

1 Applause 0:18
2 Little Birdie 3:01
3 Henry My Son 3:52
4 Here's To Cheshire—Here's To Cheese (Froggy) 6:27
5 Oh Shenandoah 1:41
6 Skip To My Lou 2:16
7 Git Along, Little Dogies 2:43
8 Didn' Ol' John Cross The Water On His Knees 2:47
9 Fifteen Miles On The Erie Canal 2:26
10 I've Been Working On The Railroad 1:53
11 Riding In My Car 1:22
12 Put Your Finger In The Air 2:18
13 The Foolish Frog 8:35
14 Ilka's Bedouin Tune 1:31
15 Frere Jacques 1:58
16 Fisherman's Song 0:59
17 It Could Be A Wonderful World 2:27
18 Abiyoyo 5:55
19 Let Everyone Clap Hands Like Me 2:00
20 Michael Row The Boat Ashore 2:04
21 Ha, Ha Thisaway 0:43
22 De Grey Goose 3:26
23 Be Kind To Your Parents 1:10
24 Applause 0:31
25 This Land Is Your Land 1:31
26 Applause 0:30

Pete Seeger - Children´s Concert At Town Hall (1963)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Dave Van Ronk - Sings Ballads, Blues and a Spiritual (1959)

"Although I can appreciate the ‘white approach’ to Negro folksongs and enjoy the work of many of its adherents, I still reserve the right to sing these songs in the style to which I am accustomed, partly because of habit, and partly, I confess, because I feel that my way is the ‘right way'." - Dave Van Ronk

As heard on this, his debut album for Folkways Records, Dave Van Ronk's approach to performing traditional folk songs and blues tunes is sufficiently unusual to require a sleeve note from the singer to justify it. Unlike other white, Northern, urban folksingers, who perform such material but do so in their own natural voices, Van Ronk takes much of his style from the black, Southern, rural singers who have performed it before him.

Pete Seeger, Folkways' flagship artist, also sings "John Henry," for instance, but he sounds like the well-educated, polished performer he is, and renders the song rather than investing himself in it emotionally. Van Ronk sings the same song as if he were a black blues singer. His justification is that he first encountered such songs as performed by such singers, citing Furry Lewis, King Solomon Hill, and Leadbelly, and noting "when I tried to sing these songs I naturally imitated what I heard." Of course, Seeger, who actually knew Leadbelly, could have taken the same approach had he wanted to. Van Ronk reveals more of his stance by referring to the "white approach" (the quotation marks are his), which he contrasts to his way, the "right way" (again, his quotes). Actually, listening to this album, it's hard to imagine Van Ronk even being able to take the white approach, even though he is himself white, since his voice is such a gravel-filled croak. By aping black singers, he is able to use his limited instrument to expressive effect, practically whispering one moment and roaring the next. So, it may be that the way he "naturally" took to performing is really that; he couldn't sing like Seeger if he wanted to, but he can sing in a way that serves the material and, despite the attempt at imitation, comes off as his own individual sound.       

This 1959 release was Van Ronk’s first record. It was also released on LP as Gambler's Blues and as Black Mountain Blues. All these releases are out of print.

Tracklist:

A1	Duncan And Brady
A2	Black Mountain Blues
A3	In The Pines
A4	My Baby's So Sweet
A5	Twelve Gates To The City
A6	Winin' Boy
A7	If You Leave Me Pretty Momma
B1	Backwater Blues
B2	Careless Love
B3	Betty And Dupree
B4	K. C. Moan
B5	Gambler's Blues
B6	John Henry
B7	How Long

Dave Van Ronk - Sings Ballads, Blues and a Spiritual (1959)  
(ca. 192 kbps, cover art included)