Tom Liwa - Private Collection

.
Yesterday an old friend stopped by with a good bottle of wine, some sentimental stories about his long lost love and his private compilation of Tom Liwa tracks, solo and with his band "The Flowerpornoes".

By the time the bottle was empty he agreed in sharing his compilaton with you, so here it is...

Tom Liwa was the frontman of one of Germany’s most influential but less known rock bands in the Eighties and Nineties, the "Flowerpornoes". Or rather is, as there were some new Flowerpornoe albums in the last years, after a long break. In the meantime we had the opportunity to witness some Tom Liwa solo albums.

Tom Liwa live gigs are always very special evenings: He is bringing along a lot of charisma and dry humour to make the sometimes long breaks between the songs very entertaining and a good counterpoint to his mostly very melancholic songs.

Tom Liwa is a great songwriter whose solo material invites the audience absolutely into his very personal world of thinking and triggers a lot of reflections.

 

Tom Liwa - Private Collection

(192 kbps, cover art included)

 

You like it? Please check out http://www.tomliwa.de/.

Mississippi John Hurt - Ain't Nobody's Business

No blues singer ever presented a more gentle, genial image than Mississippi John Hurt. A guitarist with an extraordinarily lyrical and refined fingerpicking style, he also sang with a warmth unique in the field of blues, and the gospel influence in his music gave it a depth and reflective quality unusual in the field. Coupled with the sheer gratitude and amazement that he felt over having found a mass audience so late in life, and playing concerts in front of thousands of people - for fees that seemed astronomical to a man who had always made music a sideline to his life as a farm laborer - these qualities make Hurt's recordings into a very special listening experience.

 

Tracklist:

 

01. Nobody's Business But Mine 

02. The Angels Laid Him Away 

03. Baby What's Wrong With You 

04. Casey Jones 

05. Candy Man 

06. Lonesome Blues 

07. My Creole Belle 

08. Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor 

09. Trouble I Had All My Days 

10. C H I C K E N Blues 

11. Coffee Blues 

12. Shake That Thing 

13. Monday Morning Blues 

14. Salty Dog 

15. Spike Drivers Blues 

16. Here Am I Lord Send Me 

17. Talking Casey 

18. Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight 

19. I'm Satisfied 

20. Richland Women Blues 

Mississippi John Hurt - Ain´t Nobody´s Business

The Victoria Kings - The Mighty Kings of Benga

Benga is the king of Kenyan dance music and the Victoria Kings (along with Shirati Jazz) are the foremost exponents of the style.

Boisterous, bouncy bass-led guitar dance music (with the fast-jumping bass line contrasted against high-pitched guitar lines and upper-register falsetto voices), the benga beat is one of East Africa's most contagious. It's sparkling, zingy influence can be felt in the musical styles of many of Kenya's neighbouring countries. The Victoria Kings hail from Suna in the hills of South Nyanza towards the border with Tanzania. "The Mighty Kings Of Benga" features songs from the golden age of benga in the late '70s and early '80s. All were originally released as singles (by the band's own Oula Record Company) and all became African top sellers. This album brings the sound of benga from the shores of Lake Victoria to a living room near you.

Victoria Kings - Mighty Kings Of Benga
(192 kbps, front cover included)
            

VA - Raunchy Business - Hot Nuts & Lollypops

Blues, of course, was expressive of many aspects of African-American life, and a remarkably high proportion of blues on records is about sex. The impression given by these bawdy songs is one of an optimistic sexuality, charged at times with a challenging aggressiveness which hints at their function in black music.

The integrity of these artists and their mark on the development of the blues is indisputable. At the same time, these songs reveal their own personal way of expressing some of the more primal and explicit of human emotions. Above all, this collection is fraught with good humor and, in final analysis, great fun!

This sex-based set of early blues-oriented recordings has 19 double entendre songs and a humorous (and quite profane) "alternate" version of Lucille Bogan's "Shave 'Em Dry" that still could not be played on the radio. Among the performers are Lil Johnson, Lonnie Johnson, Barrel House Annie, Bo Carter and Buddy Moss. With titles such as "Sam The Hot Dog Man," "The Best Jockey In Town," "If It Don't Fit, Don't Force It," "Banana In Your Fruit Basket" and "You Got To Give Me Some Of It", the subject matter is easy to figure out.

From almost the beginning of recorded music, songs have had some kind of sexual content. Compared to today where little is left to the imagination, this artists make clever use of double-entendres to tell their stories.
For example, there's Lil Johnson's "My Stove's in Good Condition" in which she asks someone to "stick your match right in the hole." In Bo Carter's "My Pencil Won't Write No More" he complains that when he tries to write his pencil is "drooping."  For those who want something a little less subtle there's Lucille Bogan's previously unreleased version of "Shave 'Em Dry." Lucille Bogan was as raunchy as any contemporary rapper way back in 1935! If you thought gangsta rap started the use of graphic language in music - think again. There are lines in this track that would make Ice Cube blush (well, almost). In one of the track's tamer verses she says, "I'm going to turn back my mattress and let you oil my springs/I want you to grind me daddy till the bells do ring." If that's too much for you, there's her very different "clean" version. It's so different that you'll swear it was sung by a different person (who knows, it might be!).


Tracklist:

Sam-The Hot Dog Man - Lil Johnson
My Stove's in Good Condition - Lil Johnson
Wipe It Off - Lonnie Johnson
Best Jockey in Town - Lonnie Johnson
Shave 'Em Dry, No. 1 - Lucille Bogan
Shave 'Em Dry, No. 2 - Lucille Bogan
He's Just My Size - Little Mae Kirkman
If It Don't Fit (Don't Force It) - Barrel Huse Annie
Furniture Man Blues, Pt. 1 - Lonnie Johnson
Furniture Man Blues, Pt. 2 - Lonnie Johnson
My Pencil Won't Write No More - Bo Carter
Banana in Your Fruit Basket - Bo Carter
Get 'Em from the Peanut Man (Hot Nuts) - Lil Johnson
Get 'Em from the Peanut Man (The New Hot Nuts) - Lil Johnson
Driving That Thing - Mississippi Sheiks
Bed Spring Poker - Mississippi Sheiks
Lollypop - Hunter and Jenkins
Meat Cuttin' Blues - Hunter and Jenkins
You Got to Give Me Some of It - Buddy Moss
Butcher Shop Blues - Buddy Moss

VA - Raunchy Business - Hot Nuts & Lollypops
(192 kbps, front & back cover included)

VA - Savoy Blues 'N' Boogie

Savoy compiled these solid blues and boogie woogie sides, including tracks by Tiny Bradshaw, Gatemouth Moore, and others.

While these tracks are available elsewhere, "Blues N' Boogie" is still a nice budget-priced introduction to some raw, postwar sounds. A fince colletion of hard rockin´ early R´n´B!!!

Tracklist:
1. Man Eater - Big Jay McNeely & His Blue Jays
2. Double Faced Deacon - Tommy Brown
3. Did You Ever Love A Woman - Gatemouth Moore
4. I Want To Rock - Little Miss Sharecropper
5. Bookie's Blues - H-Bomb Ferguson
6. The Rainy Day Blues - Sonny Wilson
7. Airplane Blues - Helen Humes
8. You're The Greatest - Dallas Bartley
9. My Good Pott - Doc Pomus
10. Fine Brown Frame - Milton Buggs
11. Take The Hands Off The Clock - Tiny Bradshaw & His Orchestra
12. I Know What It's All About - Dallas Bartley & His Band
13. I'm Still In Love With You - Melvin Moore
14. Married Woman's Boogie - Billy Wright
15. My New Chick - Doc Pomus Listen Listen
16. I Ain't Mad At You Pretty Baby - Gatemouth Moore
17. V-8 Baby - Tommy Brown
18. Helen's Advice - Helen Humes

VA - Savoy Blues´N´Boogie
(192 kbps, small front cover included)

Country Joe & The Fish - CJ Fish

Country Joe and the Fish went through a personnel change for their fifth album, "CJ Fish", adding Greg Dewey, Doug Metzner, and Mark Kapner in place of David Cohen and "Chicken" Hirsh. They retained, however, their primary composers Barry Melton and Country Joe MacDonald, keeping the sound and style of the original band.

"CJ Fish" is not as strong as their other albums, but it does have a few highlights. The content is typical Country Joe and the Fish: more love, less war, and the tunes are only a little fresher than the ideas. On their previous release "Here We Are Again", they experimented with various styles. On "CJ Fish", they tried to recapture the sound of their previous success, but they "went back to the well" only to find there wasn't much there.

Most of the lyrics are thoughtful and bright; many are in rhyme as many of that time were. The overall timbre is interesting, being both joyful and sobering at the same time. Some bright spots in the material are "Hey Bobby," "She's a Bird," and "Hang On," which are delightfully Country Joe. Overall it's not a bad album and no Country Joe and the Fish collection is complete without it.                


Tracklist:                           

A1	Sing Sing Sing	3:02
A2	She's A Bird	4:34
A3	Mara	2:58
A4	Hang On	4:08
A5	The Baby Song	2:50
A6	Hey Bobby	2:09
B1	Silver And Gold	2:47
B2	Rockin' Round The World	4:54
B3	The Love Machine	5:49
B4	The Return Of Sweet Lorraine	3:48
B5	Hand Of Man	2:50

Country Joe & The Fish - CJ Fish
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Peter, Paul & Mary - same (1962)

Peter, Paul and Mary were part of the 1960s folk revival, but they can trace their roots and inspiration back to music and events from the late '40s, and the founding of the Weavers.

The debut album by Peter, Paul & Mary is still one of the best albums to come out of the 1960s folk music revival, a beautifully harmonized collection of the best songs that the group knew, stirring in its sensibilities and its haunting melodies, crossing between folk, children's songs, and even gospel ("If I Had My Way"), and light-hearted just where it needed to be, with the song "Lemon Tree," which became their first hit single, and earnest where it had to be, particularly on "If I Had a Hammer." Ironically, the trio's version of the latter song, which Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes had written in the early days of the Weavers' history, helped push popular folk music in a more political direction at the time, but it was another song in their repertory, Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," that also helped indirectly jump start that movement. The group had performed it in Boston at a concert attended by the Kingston Trio, who immediately returned to New York and cut their own version, which charted as a single early in 1962. Other highlights include "It's Raining" and "500 Miles." Peter, Paul & Mary, which hit the top spot on the album charts as part of a 185-week run, is the purest of the trio's albums, laced with innocent good spirits and an optimism that remains infectious even 40 years later.

Tracklist:

Early In The Morning
500 Miles
Sorrow
This Train
Bamboo
It's Raining
If I Had My Way
Cruel War
Lemon Tree
If I Had A Hammer
Autumn To May
Where Have All The Flowers Gone

Peter, Paul & Mary - same (1962)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

The Kingston Trio - Sold Out (1960)

"Sold Out" is an album by American folk music group The Kingston Trio, released in 1960. It was their third LP to reach #1, stayed there for twelve weeks, and received an RIAA gold certification the same year. "El Matador" b/w "Home From the Hill" was its lead-off single, though it just made the Top 40. "Sold Out" remained in the Top 40 for 54 weeks, longer than any other Trio album.

The version of "Raspberries, Strawberries" included is a remake of the Trio's follow-up single to "Tom Dooley." Two songs recorded during the Sold Out sessions were not released until The Kingston Trio: The Capitol Years anthology - "Home From the Hill" and "The World's Last Authentic Playboys". The latter was re-recorded on the Whiskeyhill Singers' debut album.

Though the packaging might seem to imply that this is a live album, the 12 tracks are definitely studio cuts - meaning that, as always, the very slick and studied Kingston Trio sound is intact. The majority of those songs are spirited and up-tempo, such as the classic "El Matador" and the banjo-driven "Don't Cry Katie," though the collection does boast some fine balladry on "The Mountains of Mourne" and "Raspberries, Strawberries," which is included in its second version, and is notable for its slower tempo and slightly different lyrics. Most of the tracks haven't turned up on too many compilations over the years. "Sold Out" is solid, pleasant listening, though not particularly challenging in any sense.    

The Kingston Trio - Sold Out (1960)
(256 kbps, cover art inluded)

The Weavers - On Tour (1957, vinyl rip)

A sleeve note claims this album, like its predecessor, "The Weavers at Carnegie Hall", was "recorded on location at Carnegie Hall, Christmas 1955," but other sources suggest it was drawn from subsequent shows.

Wherever the recordings were made, the album is a worthy successor to its landmark predecessor, leading off with "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena," a spirited early hit not included on the first live album.

The set is divided into four parts, "songs that never fade," "tall tales," "history and geography," and "of peace and good will," and the selections range from traditional folk songs of various countries to originals like Lee Hays' "Wasn't That a Time." Not as historic as "The Weavers at Carnegie Hall", "The Weavers on Tour" is at times just as enjoyable.

Tracklist:

Tzena, Tzena
On Top Of Old Smoky
Drill Ye Tarriers, Drill
Fi-Li-Mi-Oo-Ree-Ay
Over The Hills
Clementine
The Frozen Logger
The Boll Weevil
Talking Blues
I Don't Want To Get Adjusted
So Long, It's Been Good To Know You
Michael, Row The Boat Ashore
The Wreck Of The "John B"
Two Brothers (The Blue And The Grey)
Ragaputi
Wasn't That A Time
Go Tell It On The Mountain
Poor Little Jesus
Mi Y'Malel
Santa Claus Is Coming (It's Almost Day)
We Wish You A Merry Christmas

The Weavers - On Tour (1957, vinyl rip)
(320 kbps, cover included)

The Weavers - The Reunion at Carnegie Hall, 1963, Pt. 2

"So this is the final Weavers record," writes Vanguard Records head Maynard Solomon in his liner notes to the second album (mostly) culled from the group's May 2-3, 1963, stand at Carnegie Hall, performances at which Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman were joined by all four occupants of the tenor position: original member Pete Seeger; his replacement, Erik Darling; then-current member Frank Hamilton; and his replacement, Bernie Krause.

The album doesn't spell out who's singing when, but it's not hard to tell that Seeger is present on old favorites like "The Frozen Logger," "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," and "Rock Island Line." The Weavers made a lot of live albums, and a lot of them at Carnegie Hall (this was the fourth), so they can be difficult to tell apart, even when you're listening to one. Happily, they all share the qualities of humor, passion, and good singing. And though the Weavers broke up more than a year before this album was released, it wasn't their final record, not even their final record to be recorded live at Carnegie Hall.

The Weavers - The Reunion At Carnegie Hall, 1963, Pt.2

(192 kbps, cover art included)

The Kingston Trio - ...From The Hungry I (1959)

The Kingston Trio's self-titled debut album, recorded in early 1958, had been successful in capturing their range, but not the excitement or the good humor that the group generated on-stage. Their second LP, recorded live at the "Hungry I" in San Francisco on August 15 and 16, 1958, just a few days after the debut LP's release, captured a better picture of their total act, distilling down a major chunk of their live act to vinyl.

Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds, and Bob Shane obviously are all having a great time, and they're in top form musically, which brings the crowd (and the rest of us) along. Among the established parts of their current and future recorded repertoire represented here are "Zombie Jamboree" (identified as "the song that killed calypso") and "The Merry Minuet," interspersed with suitable live material, including "They Call the Wind Maria," featuring Shane in a breathtakingly beautiful take on the song from Paint Your Wagon.

The recording was about as fine as any live music document of this period - the microphone placement seems almost miraculous in terms of capturing the voices, guitars, banjo, bass, and bongos, plus the crowd reactions, and the only flaw (not perceived as such at the time) was that the show was recorded only in mono, which would eventually doom the album to deletion after more than a decade.

There have since been other live recordings by the group unearthed from this period, and within a year they would record a concert in stereo, but "...From the "Hungry I" is still the album by which most original fans first came to take in their sound, especially as its release coincided with the rise to the top of the charts of the single "Tom Dooley." 


The Kingsto Trio - ...From The Hungry I (1959)
(256 kbps, cover art included         

Prince Far I - Cry Freedom Dub

A far more appropriate title for this set would have been "Roy Cousins Meets Roots Radics at Channel One Studio", for there's very little Prince Far I within to justify the title. In fact, the late, great, gravel-voiced sermonizer is heard on only two tracks -- "Free Jah Jah Children" and "Famine in Africa," with virtually the entire rest of the set comprising vocal-less instrumental dubs. There again, it would be wrong to assume that Cousins was merely cashing in on the DJ's name, better to think of "Cry Freedom Dub" as a tribute set.

Prince Far I was, of course, recording a new album, "Umkhonto We Sizwe" (aka "Spear of the Nation"), with Cousins right before his death, so profoundly affected by his murder was the producer that he emigrated from Jamaica soon after. So, in many ways this set could be considered a labor of love, a final farewell to Far I. To this end, the album is an overwhelmingly celebratory affair, almost joyous in mood, and far removed from the militancy that defined Channel One's sound. The bulk of the riddims are sublime versions of Studio One classics, and although the Radics had given most of them a sharp edge, Cousins' production smoothes much of that away. Like many singing producers, Cousins loved melody, and laced virtually all the dubs here with it.

Engineers Scientist and Lancelot "Maxi" McKenzie are given some room to maneuver however, most obviously on the "classic" deconstruction styled dubs of "Idlers Rest," "Famine in Africa," and "Freed Jah Jah Children." In contrast "Tired Fe See the Mothers Cry," "Rudeboy Anthem" and "Tribute to Cry Cry" are almost dub instruction manuals, honing in specifically on the guitars, keyboards, and drums respectively. Most magnificently "Mothers Cry" actually creates one of the most laid-back guitar duels of all times. From the brooding "Love Rasta" and "Ethnic Cleansing," two of the moodiest tracks on the set, to the gorgeous "We Will Be Free from Poverty" and the almost breezy "Sacrifice for the Truth," "Cry Freedom" is filled with sublime music, a diversity of atmospheres, and an uplifting aura, with the track titles a pointed reminder of Prince Far I's deeply cultural concerns. All told it makes for a glorious set, a fitting homage to one of Jamaica's most revered artists.    

Tracklist:

1	Free Jah Jah Children
2	Blood At The Corner Of Orange Street
3	Idlers Rest
4	Tired Fe See The Mothers Cry
5	Rudeboy Anthem
6	Tribute To Cry Cry
7	Love Rasta
8	Famine In Africa
9	Ethnic Cleansing
10	Will We Be Free From Poverty
11	Posse For Hire
12	Sacrefice For The Truth
13	Feed Jah Jah Children
14	Peace Brokers

      
Prince Far I - Cry Freedom Dub
(192 kbps, cover art included)    

John Coltrane - Blue Train (1957)

Although never formally signed, an oral agreement between John Coltrane and Blue Note Records founder Alfred Lion was indeed honored on "Blue Train" -- Coltrane's only collection of sides as a principal artist for the venerable label.

The disc is packed solid with sonic evidence of Coltrane's innate leadership abilities. He not only addresses the tunes at hand, but also simultaneously reinvents himself as a multifaceted interpreter of both hard bop as well as sensitive balladry -- touching upon all forms in between.

The personnel on "Blue Train" is arguably as impressive as what they're playing. Joining Coltrane (tenor sax) are Lee Morgan (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Kenny Drew (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums). The triple horn arrangements incorporate an additional sonic density that remains a trademark unique to both this band and album. Of particular note is Fuller's even-toned trombone, which bops throughout the title track as well as the frenetic "Moments Notice." Other solos include Paul Chambers' subtly understated riffs on "Blue Train" as well as the high energy and impact from contributions by Lee Morgan and Kenny Drew during "Locomotion." The track likewise features some brief but vital contributions from Philly Joe Jones -- whose efforts throughout the record stand among his personal best.

Of the five sides that comprise the original "Blue Train", the Jerome Kern/Johnny Mercer ballad "I'm Old Fashioned" is the only standard; in terms of unadulterated sentiment, this version is arguably untouchable. Fuller's rich tones and Drew's tastefully executed solos cleanly wrap around Jones' steadily languid rhythms.

Without reservation, "Blue Train" can easily be considered in and among the most important and influential entries not only of John Coltrane's career, but of the entire genre of jazz music as well.                


John Coltrane - Blue Train (1957)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Lightnin' Hopkins & the Blues Summit

It's surely a sign of blues mastery: you sit down with your guitar, open your mouth, and the blues comes out. That's the impression one gains from this recording, made in 1960 and, incredibly, never issued, except piecemeal on albums by some of the artists involved. Now at last, here's the whole thing, featuring improvisatory riffs - the whole recording is ostensibly off the cuff and unrehearsed, which, given the talent involved, isn't hard to believe - from Lightnin' Hopkins, Big Joe Williams, and dynamic duo Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Just getting these four in the same room is something of an achievement, given the temperaments and busy careers involved, but any blues fan would admit that the results are worth it. Though they're admittedly pretty rough cuts, they're also heartfelt, enthusiastic, and overwhelmingly genuine, with the kind of musical intimacy that comes from sitting around and playing whatever's on your mind--and you're a good enough musician that what comes out is worth hearing. --Genevieve Williams

An official issue of a much bootlegged studio and live session, "Lightnin' Hopkins & the Blues Summit" was recorded in Los Angeles on July 6, 1960. Along with Hopkins, in town at the behest of John Lomax Jr., the participants were Big Joe Williams, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee, who were all completing a residency at the Ash Grove nightclub.

The first half of the album is a well-lubricated studio jam session, while the even wilder second half takes place at the Ash Grove later that night. Like most straight jam sessions, this is loose to the point of messiness most of the time, with every song but one running well past the five-minute mark, with the foursome trading choruses and solos seemingly at random.

Frankly, the whole thing sounds like it's on the verge of collapse three-quarters of the time, which makes moments like the sharp interplay of Terry's harp and Hopkins' finger-picked acoustic in the middle of a rave-up version of "Blues for Gamblers" that much more impressive. However, newcomers to these artists should probably start elsewhere; this is strictly for fans.   - allmusic.com

In 1960 World Pacific Records, once an important jazz label, put four of the great blues masters - Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Big Joe Williams - together with many bottles of whisky in a sound studio, turned on the Ampex tape decks, got out of the way and let the men jam. Afterwards, about half of the tracks available on this new CD were released on the classic but often elusive World Pacific 1298. The recording needs no new rave notices. Such bellwether critics of the time as Leonard Feather and Nat Hentoff already gave it the ultimate canonization it deserves those 41 years ago. There's nothing to add to the praise. No collection of basically acoustic black blues is anywhere near complete without this masterpiece. Several of the cuts that weren't on WP 1298 have been reissued on various albums by the individual artists, but this is the biggest single assembly out of the sessions ever. The Ampexes supposedly wound World Pacific's tapes for several hours on end, so this release too is only a selection, but the biggest yet. The sound quality is superlative, which one came to expect from World Pacific even in 1960. The music - fully improvised, totally jammed bragging dirty blues. Titles like "Wimmen From Coast to Coast" and "You Can Steal My Chickens But You Can't Make My Hens Lay" say it all.  - Mark Oliva

Tracklist:

       1. Ain't Nothin' Like Whiskey

2. Penitentiary Blues

3. If You Steal My Chickens, You Can't Make 'Em Lay

4. First Meeting

5. How Long Have It Been Since You Been Home?

6. Wimmin From Coast to Coast

7. Right on That Shore

8. Early Morning Blues (aka Chain Gang Blues)

9. Blues for Gamblers

10. I've Been Buked and I've Been Scorned

11. Brand New Car (aka New Car Blues)

Lightnin' Hopkins & the Blues Summit    
(320 kbps, front cover included)

Happy New Year!

Rüdiger Klose R.I.P. - 39 Clocks - Pain It Dark (1981)

Originally posted on September, 26th, 2010:

Rüdiger Klose, drummer in a lot of interesting music projecst like 39 Clocks, Cocoon, Kastrierte Philosophen, Mythen in Tüten, Dakota, rk2, Treson, Die Unheilige Allianz died September, 26th at the age of 58. Rest in peace!

The 39 Clocks were "the best German band of the eighties" (German pop scholar Diedrich Diederichsen). The Hanoverian band cultivated a heavy accent and invented the Original Psycho Beat: futuristic, hypnotic 60s psychedelia with a beatbox deferred to the early 80s.

Originally released in 1981, "Pain It Dark" was the debut album from the band and owed no small debt to the Velvet Underground, Suicide, and Nuggets-era garage rock. The band’s spare arrangements, cold German-inflected English vocals, and comfort with discomfort still sounds great today. 
It’s such a joy to discover something from the past that sounds so vital, so ripe for broader discovery and adoration. If the sometimes-harsh sonics and low vocal levels don’t offend, they’re not doing their job. For a band known in their time as tricksters and provocateurs, it’s simply their mode of operation. That’s not to say that songs like “Psycho Beat” and “Radical Student Mob in Satin Boots” aren’t “accessible”—it simply depends on your definition of the word. 

Although VU is clearly the band’s touchstone, the band simply uses them as a jumping-off point. "Pain It Dark" sounds like American garage and proto-punk filtered through some shadow-filled masterpiece of German expressionism.

39 Clocks - Pain It Dark (1981)
(256 kbps, cover art included)

Dakar Sound - Volume 1

This is the first in a series of collections of tracks from the famous "Dakar Sound" series.

It brings you some interesting representatives of Dakar´s new urban music of the 1970s to 90s as well as a mingling of passionate and very enchanting songs of Senegal´s most talented traditional singers.

"Dakar Sound" is pleased to invite you to an evening of finest entertainment with the Horoya Band, Madiop Seck, Sekou Diabate, Etoile 3000, Number One, Baobab and many more.

Dakar Sound - Volume 1
(192 kbps, ca. 100 MB)

Blaze - 25 Years Later

This essential album is a journey thru the life of Lakim, a black activist in the streets of New York and we follow him thru his days - getting exposed to his emotions in songs from spiritual high on "YOU`RE SO SPECIAL" - maybe the best song to the angry and bitter "YOU`RE GONNA MISS MY LOVE" after his babymama told him to leave - he get`s ripped off by a 13 year old girl he is searching for their grandma and so on - motown didn`t like the concept of putting this spoken words interludes on the album , so it`s on the CD only ..respect to Blaze, this album still stands the test of time .

The New Jersey trio's '90 debut album for Maze. Blaze's roster featured vocalist Chris Herbert, keyboardist Josh Milan, and drummer Kevin Hedge, who came together in the '80s doing a good blend of gospel-tinged soul and East Coast dance. They got some attention from the single "So Special," and also the cuts "Get Up" and "Lover Man." They never really hit it big, but did have potential...

Tracklist:

1	Get Up	5:04
2	So Special	5:32
3	Miss My Love	5:20
4	You Don't Really Love Me	4:19
5	Anything For Your Lovin'	5:22
6	We All Must Live Together	6:43
7	I Wonder	5:59
8	Gonna Make It Work	6:45
9	All That I Should	8:24
10	Missing You	3:34
11	Lover Man	3:49
12	Love Is Forever	4:40
13	Broad & Market, NWK	2:13
14	The Hope Song	6:06

Blaze - 25 Years Later
(192 kbps, cover art included)    

           

Country Joe & The Fish - Together (1968)

"Together", Country Joe & the Fish's third album, was the group's most consistent, most democratic, and their best-selling record. Unlike their first two albums, which were dominated by Country Joe McDonald's voice and compositions, "Together" featured the rest of the band - guitarists Barry Melton and David Cohen, bassist Bruce Barthol, and drummer Chicken Hirsh - almost as prominently as McDonald.

That's usually a formula for disaster, but in this case it gave the album more variety and depth: McDonald tended to favor droning mantras like the album-closing "An Untitled Protest," which worked better when contrasted with the likes of Melton's catchy anti-New York diatribe, "The Streets of Your Town," and the group-written "Rock and Soul Music."

Songs like the latter cast the group as a soul revue, true, and they couldn't quite pull that off, but "Together" had the charming quality of unpredictability; you never knew what was coming next. Unfortunately, what came next in the band's career was a split. Barthol was out by September 1968, Cohen and Hirsh followed in January 1969. Thereafter, McDonald and Melton fronted various Fish aggregations, but it was never the same, even when this lineup regrouped for "Reunion" in 1977.                

Tracklist:

1. "Rock and Soul Music" (McDonald, Melton, Cohen, Barthol, Hirsh) – 6:51
2. "Susan" (Hirsh) - 3:28
3. "Mojo Navigator" (Denson, Melton, McDonald) - 2:23
4. "Bright Suburban Mr. & Mrs. Clean Machine" (Hirsh, Melton) - 2:19
5. "Good Guys/Bad Guys Cheer / The Streets of Your Town" (Melton) - 3:43
6. "The Fish Moan" - 0:27
7. "The Harlem Song" (McDonald) - 4:19
8. "Waltzing in the Moonlight" (Hirsh, Melton) - 2:13
9. "Away Bounce My Bubbles" (Hirsh) - 2:25
10. "Cetacean" (Barthol) - 3:38
11. "An Untitled Protest" (McDonald) - 2:45

Country Joe & The Fish - Together (1968)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Semer Reloaded

Maybe this project finds your interest and your support:

"A Golden Age of Jewish music almost forgotten - the songs captured in 30s' Berlin by Hirsch Lewin on his Semer label. “Semer Reloaded” brought this amazing music back to life with critically acclaimed concerts throughout Europe in 2012-15. Now it is our dream to record this music live in concert so that, 70 years after the Holocaust, the legacy of the Semer label can be passed on to present and future generations.    


From Artistic Director, Alan Bern:

We're asking for your help to cover the basic costs of the recording of “Semer Reloaded." With your support we can bring Hirsch Lewin's Semer Label and the legacy of Jewish musicians in Berlin in the 1920s-30s back to life, 70 years after the end of the Holocaust, with fresh interpretations, re-workings and arrangements of originals, to be recorded live by a world-class ensemble of artists based in Berlin and New York, such as Grammy winner Lorin Sklamberg, Daniel Kahn, Sasha Lurje and others.

It's an almost incredible story. Berlin in the 1920s was home to a true Golden Age of Jewish music and musicians. Then, in the 1930s, even as the Nazis came to power and brutally repressed Jews and Jewish culture, Hirsch Lewin's Semer label recorded dozens of Jewish artists for posterity, before they were silenced by the Holocaust. On November 9, 1938, SA hordes destroyed Hirsch's Hebraica/Judaica shop in Berlin's Scheunenviertel district, including 4,500 records and about 250 metal plates and the Semer label was shut down. For decades, the recordings were lost and virtually forgotten, until they were heroically recovered and restored by musicologist Rainer E. Lotz. In 2012, the Berlin Jewish Museum commissioned me (Alan) to create a concert of new arrangements of the archival recordings. To realize the project, I put together a great band that unites senior pioneers of Jewish music like Lorin Sklamberg and Paul Brody with the new generation of amazing performers such as Daniel Kahn, Sasha Lurje, Mark Kovnatskiy and others. The result is Semer Reloaded.

With your support, we can present this incredible music not only as an archive of 80-year-old recordings or for a few lucky concert audiences, but as living music for the whole world through a state-of-the-art album release with great sound quality. We've got a strong a supporter in the Gorki theatre in Berlin, which has agreed to host our recording sessions live in concert. We'll team up with London-based music producer Ben Mandelson, and Berlin-based Piranha Records will take on the task of producing a high-quality recording as well as publishing and distributing it. Only 80 seats will be available for the concerts on on the 3rd and 4th November: by contributing only 30 EUR to the campaign you can witness the recording first-hand!"

You will find more information via https://www.startnext.com/en/semer-reloaded.

And here is a report about Semer Reloaded from "3sat" that shows some insights, musical performances and the musicians involved in Semer Reloaded - Alan Bern, Paul Brody, Mark Kovnatskiy, Martin Lillich, Sasha Lurje, Fabian Schnedler and Lorin Sklamberg:
_ www.youtube.com/watch?t=12&v=1Xky4Omql5g.