Well here we are...last post of 2012 and we have some heads down, punky rock 'n' roll to see the year out. Little Bob Story were from Le Havre in France but somehow became involved in the London punk scene in '76 and '77. Their frantic blend of rockin' R&B made them popular on the pub rock circuit and they gathered enough of a following to release some records on Chiswick, the UK's first indie label...
The singer is a dead ringer for that popular Irish comedian, Frank Carson:
That's it, Happy New Year everyone!
Tracklist:
01 Little Big Boss
02 All Or Nothing
03 I'M Gonna Dress In Black
04 'Round The Corner
05 Riot In Toulouse
06 When The Night Comes
07 Baby
08 You Make Me Crazy
09 Mister Tap
10 Nothin' Else (Can Give It To Me)
A couple of weeks ago I spent a rainy afternoon wandering around the charity shops of a small town called Horley. There isn't much there, a sports centre, a few pubs, a couple of supermarkets, but it is the closest town to Gatwick Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, a jumping off point to pretty much anywhere. I had a fairly uninspiring afternoon until I hit the last charity shop (the one closest to the train out of there), and happened upon a pile of albums from Chile, the first of which I am posting today. Transport of an entirely different kind.
This triple album was released in 1964 and is something like a musical postcard for "...tourists, travellers or foreigners who stopped in Cerrillos or were once in Valparaiso, [for] dreamers of all latitudes who came to this end of the world to fish, to ski or....casually came to Chile for a day and remained here the rest of their lives". The record documents the wealth of Chilean folkloric musics that spread in popularity through Chile and other South American nations through the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s. This music prepared the way for the South American Nueva Cancion - the protest music of Latin America's turbulent 1970s.
Record 1:
01 Chile Lindo - Los Huesos Quincheros
02 Despierta, Quierida Duera - Conjunto Cuncumen
03 Alba - Conjunto Millaray
04 El Cachimbo - Coro Chile Canta
05 Cuando Doblan Las Campanas - Elena Montoya
06 El Pampino - Los Condores
07 El Tortillero - Los Huesos Quincheros
08 Serena en Navidad - Elena Montoya
09 Buenas Noches San Jose - Conjunto Cuncumen
10 Casamiento de Negros - Violeta Parra
11 Yo Vendo Unos Ojos Negros - Los Huesos Quincheros
12 Cantarito de Greda - Los Baqueanos
13 Echandole E Lpelo - Silvia Infantas y Los Condores
14 Cueca del Payoso - Banda de Circo
Record 2:
01 Pregones Tradicionales - Jose Olegario Ramos
02 La Coquetona - Hipolito Jofre
03 La Nina Sin Creito - Manuel Lizana
04 Adios, Adios, Mundo Indino - Conjunto Millaray
05 Patitos en la Laguna - Silvia Infantas y los Baqueanos
06 Rio Rio - Los Huesos Quincheros
07 Sau Sau - Cuarteto Llaima
08 Mi Banderita Chilena - Silvia Infantas y los Baqueanos
09 El Aire - Ricardo Acevedo
10 El Negrito - Coro Chile Canta
11 Corazones Partidos - Los Dos Alicias
12 Camino Agreste - Los Huesos Quincheros
13 Taba La Pequena Un Dia - Conjunto Cuncumen
14 El Jote - Conjunto Cuncumen
Record 3:
01 Camino de Luna - Cuarteto Llaima
02 Te Juiste Pa Ronde - Los Huesos Quincheros
03 El Hachero - Conjunto Millaray
04 Mi Cutral - Coro Chile Canta
05 A Motu Yanei - Ricardo Acevedo
06 La Batalera - Silvia Infantas y los Baqueanos
07 El Pavo - Conjunto Millaray
08 Si Vas Para Chile - Silvia Infantas y Los Condores
09 Donde Habra Como Mi Cueca - Los Huesos Quincheros
10 El Guaton Loyola - Hermanos Lagos
11 La Viudita - Hermanas Parra
12 La Enaguita - Silvia Infantas y Los Condores
13 Atame Con Un Hilito - Conjunto Cuncumen
14 Tonadas de Manuel Rodriguez - Silvia Infantas y los Baqueanos
OK folks, here's another fantastic compilation of cumbias, gaitas and merengues from Colombia. If you enjoyed the Cumbiando! compilation i posted a few weeks ago then you'll love this.
Tracklist:
01 Antolin Y Su Combo Orense – La Tabaquera
02 Los Planetas – La Estera
03 Lisandro Mesa Y Su Conjunto – La Chiva Ferrulitica
04 Antolin Y Su Combo Orense – Sonia
05 Antolin Y Su Combo Orense – Caballo Melao
06 Conjunto Repauto – La Pelea
07 Conjunto Repauto – Planchame E' Calzon
08 Lisandro Mesa Y Su Conjunto – El Pillao
09 Antolin Y Su Combo Orense – La Yeguaza
10 Los Planetas – La Hojita
11 Lisandro Mesa Y Su Conjunto – Marta Elena
12 Antolin Y Su Combo Orense – La Ciroma
Izanzaren should need no introduction to regular visitors to this here little backwater of the internet. If you haven't heard them before, here's what you can expect:
Beautiful, intricate banjo lines. Call and response vocals (sung in Tachelhit) with socially conscious lyrics discussing the problems faced by a newly urbanised youth. Amazing percussion.
Certainly my cup of tea and maybe its yours too.
Here's some gorgeous Indian classical music for your listening pleasure.
"Sharan Rani Backliwal (neeMathur)
(9 April 1929 – 8 April 2008) was an Indian classical instrumentalist
and music scholar, best known for her expertise with the sarod. She was India's first woman sarod exponent[1]
and came to be popularly known as Sarod Rani (Queen of Sarod) paved way
for a generation women to play of Hindustani instrumental music, She
was a disciple of Ustad Allaudin Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan of Maihar Gharana school of Hindustani classical music.[2][3]
Her private collection of 370 musical instruments ranging from the
15th to the 19th century are now part of the "Sharan Rani Backliwal
Gallery of Musical Instruments" at the National Museum, New Delhi"
Tracklist:
01. Raga Yaman Kalyan
02. Tabla Solo
03. Bhairavi Raga
Deliciously deep and dubby, dark and disorientating, like a fall down the rabbit hole. This is the first album from Paul Webb & Lee Harris, formerly of Talk Talk. It features guest appearances by Beth Gibbons (Portishead), Matt
Johnson (The The), Graham Sutton (Bark Psychosis, Boymerang), Mark
Feltham (Talk Talk) and Anthony Thistlewaite (The Waterboys). I think you need to hear it.
Tracklist:
01 Orang
02 Little Brother
03 Mind On Pleasure
04 All Change
05 Anaon, The Oasis
06 Loaded Values
07 Nahoojek ~ Fogou
Okay...there are 6 songs on this fine cassette and I don't know the titles of any of them so, as usual, any information you good people could provide would be greatly appreciated. Anyone who's listened to the previous Archach posts will know what to expect, gorgeous pastoral Berber pop music from this Souss Valley superstar.
"The learned music of Java - one of the largest islands of Indonesia - is characterized by the use of a large orchestra based on metallophones named gamelan...there are several thousand types, the structure of which varies according to the kind of music they are used for, according to the period when they were built, finally according to the districts. The oldest gamelan still in use nowadays date back to the hinduist period of Java, i.e. before the fourteenth century, and still have an extremely pure sonority"
Jacques Brunet
In sharp contrast to the often frantic gamelan music of Bali, these strange sounds emanating from Java exude an airless sense of stasis, or maybe the movement is slower than can be perceived, like evolution or galaxies being formed.
Tracklist:
01 Gending Babad, mode Slendro Nem
02 Gendin Tejanata suivi de Ladrang Playon, mode Pelog Lima
I can find no mention of this compilation album anywhere on the internet and in such cases I always welcome comments and contributions from those in the know. What I get from a few listens to the music is that this is a lovely compilation of big and brassy South American pop-cumbia, so if that's your thing, here's a chance to grab something nice.
Here's a taste of what the album has to offer, Pepe Bustamante's 'El Guanaquito':
Tracklist:
01 Los Moonlights - Rosa Maria
02 Danny Chilean - Linda, Bailos Cumbia
03 Hnas Navarro y Orq. P. Beltran Ruiz - La Cumbia de Rosina
04 D. Guttierrez y Conj. Tropical - El Zapato de Rosina
05 J. Bedoya y su Conj. - El Globo
06 T. Camargo - El Pelequero
07 Luisin Landaez - La Banda Borracha
08 T. Camargo - Filosofito
09 Hnas. Navarro y Orq. Beltran Ruiz - Mira Que Coincidencia
10 Luis Landaez - Mira Que Coincidencia
11 Los Bambys - Por Arriba Y Por Abajo
12 P. Bustamante - El Guanaquito
Here's another of the cassettes I picked up on my most recent Marrakech excursion. This one is quite unusual in that the guitar, violin and flute take centre stage on these recordings and help Mbarek develop a very gentle, pastoral backing for his songs. This album was recorded and released in the year that Mbarek split from the group Ousman, another of the groups (alongside Nass El Ghiwane, Lemchaheb, Jil Jilala and Izenzaren) credited with spearheading a resurgence in the use of the Berber dialects in Moroccan popular culture.
Hey, hey, here's some more juju for yer ears! Sir Shina Peters started out playing guitar for General Prince Adekunle before forming a group with Segun Adewale in the early eighties. He formed his own juju troup in the late eighties and this was his first release. It's a frantic fusion of juju and fuji - a surefire hit on the dancefloors of my dreams - and I hope you like it.
And while you're here, you may want to check this out - a bizarre Shina Peters jungle remix:
Tracklist: 01 Afro-Juju 02 Je Kajo 03 Ijo Shina 04 Moju Kuro 05 Oyin Momo 06 Omoge To Rewa 07 Omo Enia Lo Sora 08 Jesu Gbadura Mi 09 Atoto Arere 10 Irawo Lagba (Ace) 11 Adebisi Odutayo 12 Afro-Juju Lo Gbode
I picked up this lovely double LP in the bargain bin of local second hand shop, unfortunately the first disc was missing - maybe someone else has it?
Regular visitors will know that I'm quite partial to a bit of Sunny Ade's juju sound, especially these vintage recordings (of which there seems to be very, very many). These songs are fairly genteel in pace making the LP quite a languid affair. Perfect for the warm sunny days we've been having recently.
Gorgeous, summery pop music from Brazil that has sounded superb drifting around my home on the balmy evenings we've been having recently.
"While many of the performers during the heyday of Tropicalia and the rise of MPB (música popular brasileira) opted for a more radical stance in their challenge to Brazil's political and cultural authorities, artists like Jorge Ben took a more understated approach. Rather than use overly theatrical performance to shock the audience or write songs loaded with political content, Ben became known as one of the country's great musical alchemists, a furiously eclectic songwriter who combined elements of indigenous Brazilian music with a groove from the west coast of Africa. Never a controversial figure in the manner of the tropicalistas like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, Ben became one of the most respected and resilient figures in Brazilian pop.
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1940, Ben took up bossa nova guitar playing after hearing João Gilberto but found the style too complex to execute. This led to his developing his own approach to the bossa nova that focused on playing the guitar as one would a bass -- his early recordings are in fact bass-less. His first big hit as a singer/songwriter came at the age of 23 with "Mas, Que Nada." The song's subtle bossa nova groove proved so seductive that it was quickly covered by a number of Brazilian artists, most successfully by Sergio Mendes. During the military dictatorship's cultural crackdown in the late '60s Ben, whose music wasn't scrutinized as rigorously as that of tropicalistas like Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, was able to perform without too much trouble into the early '70s. Still, he felt the long arm of Brazilian censorship when a 1971 performance was stopped in midsong because censors felt as though Ben's backup singers were dancing too suggestively.
Benjor
It was from the late '60s to mid-'70s that Ben established himself as a songwriting force within Brazil. Over the next ten to 15 years he expanded his reach, with varying success, to Europe and America (he's more popular in Europe than America). In 1989 he released the album Benjor, simultaneously announcing that he was changing his last name to Benjor. During that same time period Ben realized his dream of working with prominent African musicians when he collaborated with Nigeria's King Sunny Ade, and also was represented on an anthology of Brazilian music compiled by former Talking Head David Byrne. Although not as politically radical as many of his contemporaries, Ben proved that in certain contexts and under unusually repressive restraint, music takes on a radical political dimension."
01 Oba, Lá Vem Ela
02 Zé Cangica
03 Apareceu Aparecida
04 Caramba! ... Galileu Da Galiléia
05 Morre O Burro, Fica O Homen
06 Vendedor De Bananas Cosa Nostra - Bicho Do Mato
07 Paz E Arroz
08 O Circo Chegoo
09 O Namorado Da Viuva
10 Eu Vou Torcer
11 Hermes Trimegistro E Sua
12 Errare Humanum Est
Here's a treat. Lanrewaju Adepoju was (is?) a famous Yoruban poet an on this 1975 recording they deliver an exciting blend of highlife, juju and afrobeat sounds that you just might like. And if you do, you can find another wonderful LP over here.
Tracklist:
Side One - Igba oro ki i fo/Maa see e niso/Oyinbo Kare
Side Two - Timi agbale waja/Baba dari ji wa/Oga l'olowo
Laayoun Ainya is one of the most famous Moroccan songs of the 1970s and something of an unofficial national anthem for many Moroccan nationals. This is a song you will hear played by the groups that gather in the Djemaa el Fna on balmy nights when crowds gather to be entertained and sing along to popular and familiar tunes. The song itself deals with important aspects of Moroccan nationalism and questions over the Moroccan claim to sovereignty over the Western Sahara and deals explicitly with the Green March, during which hundreds of thousands of unarmed Moroccans occupied desert lands.
On October 16th 1975, the International Court of Justice in the Hague issued an advisory opinion on the legal status of the area known as the western Sahara prior to the Spanish colonisation of the region in 1884. That night, King Hassan II appeared on Moroccan television and radio asking for 350000 volunteers to occupy the territory in an attempt to secure Moroccan sovereignty over the land. This sovereignty was contested by Mauritania, Algeria and many of the inhabitants of the sparsely populated desert region as represented by the Polisario movement. As a result of the occupation an agreement was signed which divided the land between Morocco and Mauritania, this resulted in fifteen years of Polisario's guerilla warfare against the Moroccan government.
I don't wish to get into the politics of the Green March, but the music contained in the grooves of this record is absolutely wonderful:
I suppose my views on nationalism and the idea of the nation state are best summed up by Benedict Anderson:
"In an anthropological spirit, then, I propose the following
definition of the nation: it is an imagined political community - - and
imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.
"It is imagined because the members of even the smallest
nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even
hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their
communion...all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face
contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined. Communities are to be
distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in
which they are imagined. Javanese villagers have always known that they
are connected to people they have never seen, but these ties were once
imagined particularistically-as indefinitely stretchable nets of kinship
and clientship. Until quite recently, the Javanese language had no word
meaning the abstraction 'society.'...The nation is imagined as limited because even the largest
of them encompassing perhaps a billion living human beings, has finite,
if elastic boundaries, beyond which lie other nations. No nation
imagines itself coterminous with mankind. The most messianic
nationalists do not dream of a day when all the members of the human
race will join their nation in the way that it was possible, in certain
epochs, for, say, Christians to dream of a wholly Christian planet.
"It is imagined as sovereign because the concept was born
in an age in which Enlightenment and Revolution were destorying the
legitamcy of the divinely-ordained, hierarchical dynastic realm. Coming
to maturity at a stage of human history when even the most devout
adherents of any universal religion were inescapably confronted with the
living pluralism of such religions, and the allomorphism between each
faith's ontological claims and territorial stretch, nations dream of
being free, and, if under God, directly so. The gage and emblem of this
freedom is the sovereign state.
"Finally, it is imagined as a community, because,
regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in
each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship.
Ultimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over the past
two centuries, for so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as
willingly to die for such limited imaginings.
"These deaths bring us abruptly face to face with the central
problem posed by nationalism: what makes the shrunken imaginings of
recent history (scarcely more than two centuries) generate such colossal
sacrifices? I believe that the beginnings of an answer lie in the
cultural roots of nationalism."
This 1978 compilation of songs by Alla Pugacheva is a quite incredible collection of Communist era prog rock, soul, psychedelia and big, ballsy balladeering from one of Russia's most popular and enduring stars. For all the funky goodness on display here, Alla was, for many, the epitome of the State-endorsed Culture Industry of the late Soviet era - safe, manufactured entertainment designed to pacify the mind. Sound familiar? For all that, I'm loving some of these mad tracks at the minute - the producers obviously had lots of fun, and it sometimes seeps into a lovely kind of Pink Floyd-esque territory. Anyone who enjoyed the Patty Pravo album I posted a while back will want to check this out.
Here is a severely abridged version of 'Shaman's Tambourine':
Tracklist:
01 Бубен Шамана · Witch-Doctor's Tambourine 02 Верю В Тебя · I Believe In You 03 Сонет · Sonnet 04 Приезжай · Come 05 Не Отрекаются Любя · Those Who Love Don't Renounce 06 Песенка Про Меня · A Song About Me 07 Женщина Которая Поет · The Woman Who Sings
Tapper Zukie was one of the most popular roots artists of the mid to late '70s, both here in the UK and in Jamaica. In 1976 he was the warm up act on Patti Smith's UK tour.
This 1978 album sees the man in fine form toasting over some familiar tracks (I'm sure many listeners will recognise the fabulous 'Ghetto Rock').
Tracklist:
01 Peace In The Arena
02 The City Of Mount Zion
03 Ghetto Rock
04 Tribute To Steve Biko
05 Dangerous Woman
06 Get On The Double
07 Praise Jah In Gladness
08 Peace In The City
09 Bimbo Bimbo
This incredible record contains, without any doubt, my favourite recordings of Balinese gamelan music. Beautifully measured, stately music that just seems to stand outside of time.
I first bought this album in '85 or '86 having read something in NME about Jeffrey Lee Pierce and his self-destructive ways. I made the purchase at the local record shop in Bishop Auckland, Brothertons Music, at the time an old fashioned place that also sold sheet music. David, the shop assistant always wore a suit and the other assistant, Ruby, was good friends with my grandmother. Strange that this dusty place should have held so many weird and wonderful records and played such a crucial part in my musical education. I would regularly spend my paper round money in there and around the same time I bought Captain Beefheart's Safe as Milk on cassette and Fresh by Sly and the Family Stone.
In the mid '90s when I moved South, many of my records were sold and this was one of those that went, but its also long been one of the records that I regretted selling so I was very pleased to find it again recently, and you'll be pleased too as I'm now able to share it here.
The Gun Club were a seminal '80s blues-punk band who, despite a number of line-up changes, managed to channel the spirits of all the dead outlaw rock 'n' rollers through their primal rockabilly howl. This is a stunning live recording of a band at the height of their powers. This line-up sees The Cramps' Kid Congo Powers taking most of the lead guitar and Patricia Morrison (later of the Sisters of Mercy) on bass duty. The performances are electric from start to finish.
Here's some live footage from 1984:
Tracklist:
01 Eternally Is Here
02 Bad America
03 Stranger In Town
04 Gila Monster, New Mexico / Preaching Blues
05 Sleeping In Blood City
06 Goodbye Johnny
07 Give Up The Sun
The brothers Bouchenak were a proto-Rai group from Morocco formed in the late '70s and disbanded in the late '80s. This album was released in 1984 and it contains some rocking cuts, complete with gnawa qraqabs and bubbly synths.
As usual, any more info on this group or these songs would be much appreciated.
Gorgeous! Osadebe is always popular with me, but this music really comes into its own when the sun comes out. So, if the sun is shining where you are then you've really got no excuses not to grab this one.
Robert Christgau said Osadebe's band make relaxation a creative principle and that just about nails it. So, sit back, relax, and let these magical highlife sounds unwind in your mind.
Tracklist:
01 People's Club Special (Part 1)
02 People's Club Special (Part 2)
Fabulously funky sounds from the Soviet Bloc. These tracks are mostly cover versions of songs by American artists but there's enough energy and personality here to make this album a very worthwhile listen with some great party starters. And both sides end with a mind-melting instrumental freak-out!
Tracklist:
01 Big Chain
02 The Weight
03 Hey Lonely Girl
04 Ain't No Way
05 Sunny
06 Chain Of Fools
07 I've Got Dreams To Remember
08 Oh! What A Fool I've Been
09 Nothing's Too Good For My Baby
10 Purple Angels
11 Quasimodo's Dream
Jad Fair and Kramer's first album of twisted pop songs is a rich and dense work that is constantly surpising and will reward your attention. Some of the songs are sharp, dissonant and jarring whilst others are warm and elegant, like this...
Tracklist:
01 Cheerleaders Wild Weekend
02 Double For Me
03 Bird Of Prey
04 Subterranean Homesick Blues
05 If It's O.K.
06 Better Safe Then Sorry
07 Den Of Angels
08 Blind Hope
09 California
10 When Is She Coming
11 Second Thought
12 Best Left Unsaid
13 By And By
14 Help
15 Around And Around
16 What I've Been Waiting For
17 Load And Mount
18 Nosferatu
19 Twist And Shout
20 King Kong
21 Rockin' Chair
22 Easy To See
23 On The Sunny Side Of The Street 24 Paths Of Glory
The music is, of course, for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear then go out and try and buy stuff...or something, give money to a down on his luck musician, or sponsor a good busker, it may be the start of something beautiful.
If any of the zips die, then post a comment and i'll try to repost. And leave comments, abuse, name calling, any response is welcome.
I think all of the albums posted are currently unavailable, but if this is not the case we'll remove the offending files.
