O Astro - Soundtrack LP (Rita Lee, Helio Matheus, Clara Nunes, Beth Carvalho and more)

This scratchy old record is the soundtrack to a Brazilian TV mini series from 1977-78 and it features some of the best Brazilian musicians and singers of the period, including ex-Mutantes singer Rita Lee. There's some pretty smooth stuff on here...lots of strings and really thick production on songs that range from slow ballads, to saucy funk and full on samba mayhem. It's well worth a listen.

Here's the opening credits from the TV show:


And here's a clip of Rita Lee looking pretty wasted in the mid-'70s:


This is some great footage of Beth Carvalho:


And this is the Tracklist:

01 Um Jeito Estupido de te Amar - Maria Bethania
02 Que Pena - Peninha
03 Saco de Feijao - Beth Carvalho
04 Estado de Fotografia - Vanusa
05 Nega - Emilio Santiago
06 As Forcas da Natureza - Clara Nunes
07 Bijuterias - Joao Bosco
08 Trocando Em Mudos - Francis Hime
09 Boi Da Cara Branca - Helio Matheus
10 Ambicao - Rita Lee
11 E Hora - Djavan
12 Olha - Marilia Barbosa
13 Enredo de Pirraca - Elza Soares
14 Mais Uma Vez - Marizinha

Get it HERE.

Mirwood: The Sound of Swinging Hollywood (Inferno Soul Club 1984)

This is a collection of Northern Soul classics originally issued in the 1960s on the Hollywood label Mirwood. Northern Soul: Black American music but a White working class dance phenomena here in England. The sound came to be associated with the all night dance parties of Northern venues such as The Wigan Casino or the Twisted Wheel in Manchester.

Here's a fascinating ITV documentary that places the all-nighters into the bleak social context of '70s Britain and really shows the parallels with the early uk rave scene:


Anyway, the Mirwood album kicks out a joyful noise, heartfelt stomping soul music thats heavy on the vibes.

Tracklist:

01 That Beatin' Rhythm - Richard Temple
02 The Duck - Jackie Lee
03 Where There's a Will - Jimmy Thomas
04 My Sugar Baby - Sherlie Matthews
05 The Same Old Thing - The Olympics
06 I Can't Get Away - Bobby Garrett
07 He's Alright With Me - The Mirettes
08 Would You Believe - Jackie Lee
09 Don't Pretend - The Belles
10 My Little Girl - Bobby Garrett
11 Ooh Honey Baby - Earl Cosby
12 Cigarette Ashes - Jimmy Conwell
13 Baby Do The Philly Dog - The Olympics
14 Words Can't explain - The Belles
15 Oh My Darlin' - Jackie Lee
16 Do The Temptation Walk - Jackie Lee

Get it HERE.

Pete Rodriguez Y Su Conjunto - A Mi Me Gusta Asi (Tico 1967)

Picked this album up at a boot sale on Sunday, and had a lovely surprise when I got it home and was treated to some of the most exhilarating and joyous dance music I've heard in years. The title track will probably be familiar to many...I knew I'd heard it before but just couldn't think where until I found this:


(It takes a lot for me to admit so publicly that I sometimes can't think of anything better to do than watch Strictly Come Dance Factor).

Anyway, this is the Nuyorican Boogaloo sound at its most infectious, the perfect sountrack to some libidinous carnival.

Tracklist:

01 I Like It Like That
02 El Hueso
03 Pete's Madness
04 Micaela
05 3 And 1
06 Si Quieres Bailar
07 Soy El Rey

Its over HERE.

BOOGALOO...its a wonderful, theatrical word, a dancing word that some think is related to Bou Jeloud - the Pan-like fertility god of misrule and inversion celebrated at the festivals of the Atlas Montains. The festival of Bou Jeloud is a ritual masquerade during which the young men of the villages dress up in goatskins and smear themselves with egg and flour:

"...the masqueraders are allowed almost unlimited licence. They swear and attack onlookers, enact sexual copulation in in public in front of women, enter the women's homes while the men of the house are absent, demand or steal food...these sacrificial goat clowns even satirize Qu'aranic verses. As part of their routine they enact ploughing, harvesting and a mock wedding. During the whole time they take over the village, senior men are banished and becomes the domain of young men, women and children. The masqueraders scatter great sacks of ash over the people and their houses. They themselves roll in the soot of the great cooking pots that heat the ablution waters at the mosque. The ash from the fires of the ablution is an accumulation of a whole year of burnt firewood. One may speculate that these remains of the burning in the mosque are powerfully imbued with baraka. Hence, despite their licentious and transgressive behaviour, as they scatter the ash and flail people with their hooves and skins, the sacrificial clowns bring desired blessing to each and every household."

P. Werbner (2001) "The Limits of Cultural Hybridity: On Ritual Monsters, Poetic Licence and Contested Postcolonial Purifications" in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 7, 2001, p. 140

Here's some Bou Jeloud boogaloo:


And this is some festive lunacy:

Imole Ayo Christina Singers (led by Akin Adebayo) - Nigerian Gospel Sounds of the '80s

Gorgeous, gentle music from Nigeria. It's Yoruban gospel music, but don't let that put you off if you're strictly secular...you'll get some really beautiful gospel harmonies and slightly psychedelic guitar all wrapped up with not quite reggae rhythms.

Tracklist:

01 Late Rev. S.B.J. Oshoffa
02 Ema Besin Je
03 Aiye Nreti Eleya

Get it HERE.

Another Chapter in the Lives and Times of Captain Beefheart (Archive Productions 1989)

What a treat! Here's a double album of rare Beefheart, outakes from 1966 and 1971, and a great Peel session from '67.

Here's a couple of tasters to get you in the mood:



Tracklist:

Side 1:

1. Somebody In My Home
   
2. Somebody's Leaving
   
3. Call On Me (alternate version)
   
4. Sure 'Nuff & Yes I Do (alternate version)
   
5. Yellow Brick Road (alternate version)
   
6. Plastic Factory (alternate version)
   

Side 2:

1. Yellow Brick Road
   
2. Abba Zabba
   
3. Sure 'Nuff & Yes I Do
   
4. Safe As Milk
   
5. Kandy Korn
   
6. Trust Us
   

Side 3:

1. Funeral Hill #1
   
2. Drink Paint Run Run
   
3. Can't Do This Unless I Can Do That
   
4. Dirty Blue Gene
   
5. Sun Zoom Spark
   
6. Kiss Me My Love (2 Lips in a Haystack) [note: not listed on cover or label]

Side 4:

1. Little Scratch
   
2. Sun Zoom Spark (jam version)
   
3. Little Scratch (instrumental)
   
4. Flaming Autograph (instrumental)
   
5. Best Batch Yet (instrumental)
   

Get record 1 HERE and record 2 HERE.

Atoumo/Sonoka - Tambours Antillais (Crazed drumming from the French Antilles)

For your listening pleasure we have this weird album from the French Antilles. It's a split album, side 1 by Atoumo and side 2 by Sonoka, not that those names mean anything to me. When I first played this, I was ready to write it off. I thought it wouldn't be worth a second listen. Side one is awash with those eighties synths that try to imitate the sound of a brass section. Then I checked out side two and had the most fantastic surprise:

Furious, frantic and crazed afro-samba thats unlike anything I've heard before, but reminiscent of so much....and on further listens, even Atoumo's synth heavy stuff has a charm all its own.

Tracklist:

01 Mi Atoumo
02 Tambou A
03 Ye Man Atoumo
04 Djik Djak Po
05 Originalite Nou
06 Minm Bet, Minm Pwel

Get it HERE.

Sunny Ade & His Green Spot Band - Master Guitarist Vol. 5

Well, its been too long, so here's another phenomenal album from the juju maestro, the Minister of Enjoyment, King Sunny Ade. This one was released in the very early '70s and has a lovely organic sound that I've been enjoying immensely.

Tracklist:
o1 Late Dr Nkrumah
02 Ka Ma Buni Lole
03 I. S. Adewale
04 Olulade Wilkey

05 Sunny Special
06 Owo Ko Nife
07 Awon Ti Won Yo
08 Alhaja Bintu

Get it HERE.