Chet Atkins and Les Paul - Chester and Lester

No introduction needed to this one.


Chet Atkins and Les Paul - Chester and Lester, 1977
http://lix.in/545d7e
190VBR, 48 mb
1. It's Been a Long, Long Time
2. Medley: Moonglow/Picnic
3. Caravan
4. It Had to Be You
5. Out of Nowhere
6. Avalon
7. Birth of the Blues
8. Someday, Sweetheart
9. 'Deed I Do
10. Lover, Come Back to Me

Lenny Breau and Chet Atkins - Standard Brands

I believe that Chet Atkins' best solo records come from the 50s and 60s. Afterwards he settled into the role of a "country gentleman", big label executive and godfather of the country music. While all that success was certainly well-deserved, it took some of the edge from his playing; Chet did not take risks on his records anymore, preferring instead a smooth, very produced and orchestrated sound. However, he did not lose his spark of genius, but it often took another musician to bring it out. In addition to his radio fodder, Chet recorded a number of duo records with other guitar players, and you can hear that these were done not for the commercial demand, but for the pleasure of playing with a fellow musical giant. The duet with Lenny Breau is a case in point.
Lenny Breau is a fingerstyle jazz player, whose life fits only too well in the "troubled genius" mold: his brilliance on guitar was combined with a difficult personal life, complete with psychological instability and drug addiction, and an untimely, violent end at 43yo. Chet's playing was a major inspiration for Lenny Breau; they were introduced to each other and Atkins, very impressed, also became Lenny's producer, mentor and musical partner.

Standard Brands is a record amazing for the virtuosity of the players, for the telepathic rapport between them, for the effortless genre-hopping - the pair feels equally at home with the jazz standards, bossa of Batucada, and country of Cattle Call, - and for the simple joy of making music that rings in every note. Most highly recommended!


Lenny Breau and Chet Atkins - Standard Brands, 1981
http://lix.in/ac7208
190VBR, 44 mb
1. Batucada
2. Tenderly
3. Cattle Call
4. Taking A Chance On Love
5. Somebody's Knockin'
6. This Can't Be Love
7. This Nearly Was Mine
8. Going Home
9. Polka Dots And Moonbeams

You can read more about Breau here or here.
A solo Lenny Breau album here: The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau Live

Willie Bobo - Spanish Grease & Uno Dos Tres 1-2-3

I am an obsessive music freak (why else would I want to have a music blog?). As such, I like to be in control of what I am listening to. Before a record even gets into my player, I have to know what is the style, why I should be checking it out, who recommends it and what he says etc.etc. Today's disc is special as one that I bought simply on hearing it. It was playing in a music store, and I liked it enough to go to the counter and ask for the name; and some time later I bought it, still not knowing who the hell is Willie Bobo and what's his shtick. So, what can I say? - this is not a "must-hear-if-you-cool", it's not an "influental historical recording", it's just good music, pure and simple.
However, I will still give some background for those of you who might be obsessive music freaks like me. Willie Bobo is a salsa percussionist and bandleader, who played with Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Santana and many others; this disc is a Verve reissue combining two of his own mid-60s albums. The music is a latin/jazz/pop fusion, mellow and groovy. There are some covers of the contemporary pop tunes (It's Not Unusual, Michelle, Goin' Out Of My Head), some jazz tunes (Horace Silver's Blind Man, Blind Man), and some originals (most notably, Fried Neck Bones, later covered by Santana), but all of it sounds like seamless whole.
I should add that his music, although not as popular as it should have been in its day, is now being enthusiastically molested by the remix crowd on all sorts of Verve Remixed albums and the like.


Willie Bobo - Spanish Grease & Uno Dos Tres 1-2-3
192 kbps, 95 mb
REUP: 4shared
1. Spanish Grease
2. Hurt So Bad
3. It's Not Unusual
4. Our Day Will Come
5. Haitian Lady
6. Blues In The Closet
7. Nessa
8. Elation
9. It's Not Unusual (Instrumental)
10. Shot Gun / Blind Man, Blind Man
11. Boogaloo In Room 802
12. Come A Little Bit Closer
13. Goin' Out Of My Head
14. I Remember Clifford
15. Rescue Me
16. Michelle
17. No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)
18. Fried Neck Bones And Some Homefries
19. Ol' Man River
20. One, Two, Three (Uno, Dos, Tres)
21. Night Song
22. The Breeze And I

Another fine album featuring Willie Bobo is here.

Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley

Kyuss is the archetypal cult band. Think of all the things that make a cult, and Kyuss have them. They were short-lived - 1990-95. They only left three LPs. They became more famous after the dissolution then they ever were in their lifetime. They are called the progenitors of a new style, and music critics are falling over themselves thinking of the catchy names for it: stoner rock/metal, sludge-metal, desert rock... The members went on to the higher-profile projects - Fu Manchu, Mondo Generator, Queens of the Stone Age. Finally, through the 90s there were a million bad bands trying to emulate what Kyuss were doing.
The "desert rock" tag points to the origins of their music. They started out by playing parties in the desert, and their expansive sound is intended to fill up all that endless space. It rolls slowly, but heavily, in all directions, like hot lava, melting everything in its path. On this album, the songs also expand in time, fusing together into three long cuts for the maximum psychedelic effect. This is truly a must for any self-respecting stoner.


Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley
~200VBR, 70 mb
REUP: rapidshare or megaupload
1. Gardenia / Asteroid / Supa Scoopa And Mighty Scoop
2. 100 degrees / Space Cadet / Demon Cleaner
3. Odyssey / Conan Troutman / N.O. / Whitewater

Korea: San Ul Lim - Best Of + Shin Joong Hyun & The Men

Two albums of Korean psychedelic rock - does it get more obscure than that? I've heard them on the third, and possibly the best, disc from the Love Peace and Poetry series, entitled "Asian Psychedelic Rock".

The first album is at À bientôt j'espère - a good blog with few, but very intriguing postings.
San Ul Lim started as an amateur college band, but gradually evolved into a flagship Korean psychedelic group. The best from that 60's sound - fuzz guitars, organ, melodic bass - fertilized by the Far Eastern melodic sense. A truly unusual and beautiful music.
San Ul Lim - Best Of (AKA Dragon Records compilation), 140mb on mediafire.
01 It was probably late summer
02 Narrow alleys
03 My soul lies on silk
04 A flower has bloomed
05 The day the white flower bloom
06 When I don't say anything
07 There is nobody there at night
08 Such a joy (Demo version)
09 You are already me
10 Jingle bells
11 An island without a name
12 Can't forget
13 Red ballooon
14 T.V. ending
15 There San Ul Lim
16 Afternoon (unreleased)

The second one is from Cities on Flame with Rock'n'roll, a most excellent blog with a variety of great and obscure sounds, whose owner, Dirk, is now battling with cancer.
Shin Joong Hyun is the Korean psychedelic guitar god, and this collection presents three of his lengthy mind-warping excursions.
Shin Joong Hyun & The Men
High VBR, on mediafire.
1. Beautiful Country
2. It's A Lie
3. A Woman In The Mist

Attack of the killer tomatoes from Mars

Half the links are dead, somebody reported them to BigUpload. Everything older than Feb.5 is gone. The albums will be re-upped in the next few days, starting with Takeshi Terauchi. Sorry for the inconvenience, check back soon! Say hi to the trolls!

Chet Atkins Picks On The Beatles

I think I will ran a short Chet Atkins retrospective in the next few days. A good way to begin it would be with the first Atkins album I have heard. Chet Atkins was very prolific, and not all of his records are top-notch; this one is, though. Chet plays his fingerstyle arrangements of the Beatles' tunes. This album was recorded when the Fab Four were still merseybeat-playing, teenage-girl-pleasing moptops, and the selections on it are drawn from their first albums. The music comes full circle on this record: the Beatles grew up listening to Chet's guitar sounds on the Everly Brothers' songs, and now Atkins salutes them back. The liner notes are written by Harrison. My own rip, high VBR.


Chet Atkins Picks On The Beatles
REUP: megaupload
43 mb, ~200VBR

Side 1
I Feel Fine
Yesterday
If I Fell
Can't Buy Me Love
I'll Cry Instead
Things We Said Today

Side 2
Hard Day's Night
I'll Follow the Sun
She's a woman
And I Love Her
Michelle
She Loves You

Grazin' in the Grass: The Best of Hugh Masekela + The Best Of Miriam Makeba & The Skylarks

Two more South African albums: a best-of from the first Miriam Makeba vocal group, The Skylarks, and a collection from her countrymate, colleague and former husband, trumpeter Hugh Masekela, who scored his biggest hit in the 60s with a highlife/jazz fusion instrumental "Grazin' In The Grass". The first album has recent rerecordings of "Grazing in the grass" and some of his other hits, Still Grazing culls from the Uni and Blue Thumb labels (1966-1973) and includes the original versions.


The Best Of Miriam Makeba & The Skylarks
192 kbps, 60mb
REUP: sharebee
1 Uthando Luyaphela
2 Table Mountain
3 Miriam & Spokes' Phatha Phatha
4 Mtshakasi
5 Ndimbone Dluca
6 Ndamcenga
7 Makoti
8 Ndidliwe Zintabe
9 Inkomo Zodwa
10 Sindiza Ngecadillacs
11 Nomalungelo
12 Kutheni Sithandwa
13 Vula Amasango
14 Owakho
15 Baya Ndi Memeza
16 Yini Madoda
17 Ekoneni
18 Uyadela


Grazin' in the Grass: The Best of Hugh Masekela
192 kbps, 101 mb
REUP: depositfiles
1. Grazing In The Grass
2. Vasco Da Gama :: The Sailor Man
3. Khauleza
4. Ziphi'nkomo
5. Mama
6. Chileshe
7. Market Place
8. Don't Go Lose It Baby
9. Strawberries
10. Thanayi
11. African Secret Society
12. Ha Le Se Le Li Khanna
13. Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)
14. Stimela (Coal Train)


Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela
95mb on depositfiles
1. Child Of The Earth
2. Ha Lese Le Di Khanna
3. A Felicidade
4. Up Up And Away
5. Bajabula Bonke (The Healing Song)
6. Grazing In The Grass
7. Gold
8. Mace And Grenades
9. Languta
10. Been Such A Long Time Gone
11. Stimela (Coal Train)

Diamanda Galas - The Litanies of Satan

Diamanda Galas - The Litanies of Satan
1. The Litanies of Satan (12:04)
2. Wild Women With Steak-Knives (The Homicidal Love Song For Solo Scream) (17:47)

Not sure where I got this, but a quick googleblogsearch tells me it is available at least in three different places: rapidshare, megaupload, uploading.com.

I actually did listen to it, yes. This is a very interesting album. Interesting usually implies "I don't know what to call it so let's call it interesting". In this case, however, interesting quite literally means that Diamanda Galas is capable of doing an LP-side-sized solo voice performance with hardly any text to lean on, and sustain the listener's interest throughout - and that is a very difficult feat, indeed. She has a compositional approach that strings together her shrieks, moans, and stutters into a coherent and engaging story, and they have enough variety to avoid repetetion for thirty minutes.
The reviews say that Litanies are "based on the work of Baudelaire", but the few discernable phrases (something about meatballs and steak?) are totally superfluous to the emotional impact. If anything, the work would be better without these shreds of meaning that only distract you from the soundwaves washing over you, lifting you up and smashing you on the rocks. There is some electronic voice processing, but it is fairly minimal - echo, delay, a stereo knob and maybe a pitchshifter in the second piece.

Maybe the secret to liking it is to listen to it at the end of a long, bad day, stuck behind the wheel, with forty minutes of traffic ahead of you, and feeling all numb on the inside.

P.S. More Satan-a-licious recordings for your education, enjoyment, and devil-worshipping needs.

Trojan Calypso

A great Trojan compilation of the calypso classics from the golden age. Many great songs unavailable elsewhere, although it has some filler, too. My favorites are Nora Dean's The Valet, The Maytals' Bam Bam, Lord Invader's Cat'O'Nine, and the tracks by Count Lasher, Sparrow, and Lord Creator.
Read a thorough review here.


Trojan Calypso
192 kbps, 190 mb (all three CDs in one archive)
REUP: megaupload
or two parts on sharebee: one and two.

Vol.1 - Jamaican Mento, Calypso and Jump Up Sounds
1. Count Lasher with Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - The Weed (aka Man Pyabba)
2. Lord Kitchener - Love In The Cemetery
3. Lord Creator - Big Bamboo
4. Charlie Binger & His Quartet - Jamaica Is The Place To Go
5. Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Get Me To The Church On Time
6. Nora Dean - The Valet
7. Lord Spoon & David - Woman A Love In The Night Time
8. The Mighty Vikings - Do Re Mi
9. Aston & Yen - Skillamy
10. Phyllis Dillon - Nice Time
11. Count Alert with Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - In The Park
12. Derrick Harriott - Our Time Fe Celebrate
13. Marva Moore & The Gaysters - Great '68
14. The Maytals - Bam Bam
15. Count Lasher & Williams with Lynn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - Bam Bam
16. Lord Kitchener - Jamaica Woman
17. The Undergrounds - Savito

Vol.2 - Caribbean Calypso Carnival
1. Lord Kitchener - Neighbour, Neighbour
2. Nora Dean - Must Get A Man
3. Count Lasher & Williams with Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - 'Mufridite
4. Charlie Binger & His Quartet - Country Gal
5. Lord Creator - Paint Up, Clean Up Time
6. Lord Spoon & David - The World On A Wheel
7. Derrick Harriott - Happy Times
8. Count Alert with Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - Hard Time
9. Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Reggae Merengue
10. Lord Cristo - Dumb Boy & The Parrot
11. The Mighty Sparrow - Village Ram
12. The Mighty Dougla - Teacher Teacher
13. Baldhead Growler - The Sausage
14. Mister Calypson - Muhammad Ali
15. Sampson The Lark - Undemocratic Rhodesia
16. Lord Kitchener - Kitch, You So Sweet
17. Lord Tanamo - A Dash Of The Sunshine

Vol.3 - Calypso War in the UK
1. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - Calypso War
2. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - Me One Alone
3. Lord Ivanhoe & His Caribbean Knights - The Water Gobbler
4. Ben Bowers & Bertie King's Royal Jamaicans - Not Me (aka Man Woman, Woman Smarter)
5. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - Brownskin Girl
6. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - You Don't Need Glasses To See
7. Lord Ivanhoe & His Caribbean Knights - Belinda
8. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - Heading North
9. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - I'm Going Back To Africa
10. Lord Ivanhoe & His Caribbean Knights - Africa, Here I Come
11. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - Little Jeannie
12. Ben Bowers & Bertie King's Royal Jamaicans - Naughty Little Flea
13. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
14. Lord Ivanhoe & His Caribbean Knights - Lift The Iron Curtain
15. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - T.V. Calypso
16. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - Teddy Boy Calypso (Bring Back The Cat-o-Nine)

Musette

Two compilations of musette (AKA bal-musette), a french accordion style of the first half of XXth century. You can hear it grow from simple folk dance tunes into a beautiful, harmonically complex style of jazz-influenced virtuosos like Tony Murena and Gus Viseur. The material overlaps a little. Viseur's signature tune (and, possibly, the most famous musette piece of all), Flambee Montalbanaise, is a soundtrack to the Pixar short about an old man playing chess (Geri's Game). Also, listen to Tony Murena's Passion on the second CD for some truly mind-warping virtuosity.



Cafe De Paris 1930-41 (24 Accordeon Classics)
160 kbps, 72 mb
REUP: depositfiles
1. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Flambee Montalbanaise
2. Edith Piaf Avec Accompagnement De Grande Orchestre - L'Accordeoniste
3. Medard Ferrero Et Ses Clochards - El Ferrero
4. Les Freres Peguri - Enivrante
5. Michel Warlop Et Son Orchestre - Strange Harmony
6. Emile Vacher - Mado
7. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Matelotte
8. Jean Gabin - Quand On Se Promene
9. Emile Vacher - Sporting Java
10. Tony Murena Et Son Ensemble - Pepee
11. Damia - La Guinguette A Ferme Ses Volets
12. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Swing Valse
13. Guerino Et Son Orchestre Musette De La Boite A Matelots - Brise Napolitaine
14. Orchestre Musette Victor Sous La Direction De Boris Sarbeck - Coeur Vagabond
15. Tony Murena Et Son Ensemble - Nostalgia Gitana
16. Gus Viseur Et Son Ensemble - Soir De Dispute
17. Le Quartette Swing Emile Carrara - Le Charmeur De Serpents
18. Medard Ferrero Et Ses Clochards - Les Triolets
19. Guerino Et Son Orchestre Musette De La Boite A Matelots - Gallito
20. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Swing 39
21. Emile Prud'homme Et Son Orchestre Musette Du Tourbillon - Pinsonnette
22. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Rosetta
23. Tony Murena Et Son Ensemble - Melancolie
24. Gus Viseur Et Son Ensemble - Jeannette


Musette
160 kbps, 62 mb
REUP: depositfiles
1. Emile Vacher - Reine De Musette
2. Emile Vacher - Les Triolets
3. Marceau - Ca Gaze
4. Fredo Gardoni - Galopade
5. Les Freres Peguri - Reproche
6. Medad Ferrero - Perles De Cristal
7. Guerino - Brise Napolitaine
8. Colombo & Tony Murena - Caprice Musette
9. Emile Prud'homme - Pinsonette
10. Colombo - Germaine
11. Medard Ferrero - La Rafale
12. Adolphe Deprince - Edelweiss
13. Jean Vaissade - Sombreros Et Mantilles
14. Gus Viseur - Jeannette
15. Gus Viseur - Gracieusette
16. Gus Viseur - Flambee Montalbanaise
17. Gus Viseur - Swing 42
18. Emile Prud'homme - Caravane Rabouine
19. Tony Murena - Passion
20. Emile Carrara - Mon Amant De Saint-Jean

There is also another musette compilation at the very interesting http://eldiablotuntun.blogspot.com

Ananda Shankar - Ananda Shankar + Okko - Sitar and Electronics

Two artifacts of the late 60's sitar craze. The first one is an eponymous album by Ananda Shankar, Ravi's nephew, and a great musician in his own right. Ananda plays a psychedelic/funk/raga fusion. This may sound like a sardines/ice cream fusion, but in fact, Ananda excercises enough taste and restraint to allow the flavors to complement and enrich each other. The result is a head-bobbing, finger-snapping stew of sounds, spiced up by the Rolling Stones' and the Doors' covers, expertly balancing the exotic and the familiar, the traditional and the experimental.
He enjoyed some fame in the US in the late 60s and 70s, and his career picked up again in the 90s, after the exposure his music received on the rare grooves compilations like The Blue Note Breakbeats and Rhino's What It Is. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1999 from heart failure.


Ananda Shankar - Ananda Shankar (Snow Flower), 1970
192 kbps
REUP: megaupload
1. Jumpin' Jack Flash
2. Snow flower
3. Light My Fire
4. Mamata (Affection)
5. Metamorphosis
6. Sagar (The Ocean)
7. Dance Indra
8. Raghupati

Also, get his 1975 LP Ananda Shankar and His Music at the consistently wonderful Lost In Tyme blog.

The other one is an album by a Dutch hippie Okko. This LP is much more obscure, but equally good. As the name suggests, Okko plays sitar and moog over the psychedelic rock backing. There are two Beatles covers (and I should mention that Okko displays none of the Harrison excesses and his music never degrades into the boring Blue Jay Way-like noodling), and the rest are originals that draw on the contemporary psychedelic rock as much as on the Indina tradition. I will speculate that East Indian Traffic is inspired by Hendrix' Crosstown Traffic. A great album all around!


Okko - Sitar and Electronics, 1971
192 kbps, 31 mb
REUP: megaupload
1. Ganges Delta
2. Himalaya Highway
3. East Indian Traffic
4. If I Needed Someone
5. Shivas Lullaby
6. Painted Sails on Ganges
7. Santana
8. A Day in the Life

Turkish psychedelia

The 60's spread their fuzzy day-glo tentacles in some surprizing corners of the globe. Turkey was one of those corners, where the touch of peace, love, and mind-altering substances sparked a rich and vibrant psychedelic scene. Imagine Harrison going after the turkish ethnic music instead of the indian ragas. Great pop songs, processed guitars (e.g. phasers and fuzzes going wild), Farifsa organs etc.etc., but still clearly growing from the anatolian folk tradition.
Love, Peace and Poetry is an ongoing series on Normal Records, documenting the 60's psychedelic music of the non-english-speaking lands, and this is Vol. 9, dedicated to the tukish scene.



Love, Peace & Poetry Vol.9: Turkish Psychedelic Music
REUP: megaupload
192 kbps, 77 mb
1. Selda - Bundan Sonra
2. Özdemir Erdogan ve Orkestrasi - Uzun Ince Bir Yoldam
3. Alpay - Kirpiklerin Ok Ok Eyle
4. Mazhar ve Fuat - Sür Efem Atini
5. Erkin Koray - Yagmur
6. Ersen - Kara Yazi
7. Edip Akbayram - Yakar Inceden Inceden
8. Hardal - Bir Yagmur Masali
9. Selda - Ince Ince Bir Kar Yagar
10. Erol Büyükburç - Hop Dedik
11. Cem Karaca - Tatli Dillim
12. Üç Hürel - Aglarsa Anam Aglar
13. Baris Manço - Kirpiklerin Ok Ok Eyle
14. Mogollar - Haliçte Günesin Batisi
15. Bülent Ortaçgil - Sen Varsin
16. Erkut Taçkin - Gitmek Düstü Bana


Also, a plug for the wonderful Sounds Of Champaign (Side 2), where I got Danses et Rythmes de la Turquie. It's an LP by Mogollar, who are well represented on the compilations of turkish 60's psychedelia (Hava Narghile, Altyn Microfon, 26 Turkish Delights and a few others). I have no info on this LP, but looks like it was recorded specifically for the french market. The band name is frenchified from Mogollar into Les Mogol. The "folk music" factor is turned up with more prominent traditional instrumentation (saz, duduk etc.), and the freak factor turned down somewhat. However, the result is no less engaging than their own mega-psychedelic records for the turks. Some of it reminds me of mugam-jazz of the great azerbaijani pianist Vaquif Mustafa-Zadeh or perhaps Coltrane's ethno-modal explorations.


Les Mogol / Mogollar - Danses et Rythmes de la Turquie
REUP: depositfiles or megaupload
256 kbps, ~70 mb
1. Toroslar
2. Lorke
3. Ilgaz
4. Madimak
5. Iklig
6. Cheminées de Fées
7. Sunset In Golden Horn
8. The Legend Of Mount Ararat
9. Hamsi
10. Wild Flower
11. Cahit’s Tune
12. To A Clear Mind
13. Kaleidoscopic Dream

The Rough Guide to South African Jazz + The History of Township Music

Two compilations showcasing the music of South Africa, the first giving a broad overview and the second focusing on the history of Township Jive, or Marabi, a catchy, jazzy style of the 40s-60s.


The Rough Guide to South African Jazz
LINK DEAD
192 kbps, 100 mb
1. African Jazz Pioneers - Nonto Sangoma
2. Sipho Mabuse - Thaba Bosiu
3. Abdullah Ibrahim - African Marketplace
4. Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath - Tunji's Song
5. Deepak Ram - Cabbage And Roti
6. Sheer All Stars - Mabarane
7. Thelani Ajb Feat. West Nkosi - Marabi Kwela
8. Miriam Makeba & The Skylarks - Siyavuya
9. Jazz In Africa AKA Jazz Epistles - Twelve Times Twelve
10. Lemmy Special - See You Later
11. Moses Taiwa Molelekwa - Genes And Spirits
12. Pops Mohamed - Election Day Serenade
13. Bheki Mseleku - Closer To The Source
14. Chris McGregor & The South African Exiles - UDF
15. Winston's Jive Mix Up - Wait Awhile
16. Zim Ngqawana - You Think You Know Me


Via the most excellent http://zerogsound.blogspot.com/

The History of Township Music 1944-81
192 kbps, 103 mb
REUP: megaupload
1. Thomas Mabiletsa - Zulu Piano Medley no 1 part 1
2. Pietersburg Melodians - Rea Gae
3. Soloman Linda1s Original Evening Birds - Mbube
4. Royal Players - Khala Zo'Me
5. Nancy Jacob and her Sisters - Meadowlands
6. Dolly Rathebe & The African Inspots - Unomeva
7. Manhattan Brothers - Jikela Emaweni
8. Mabel Mafuya & The Green Lanterns-nomathemba
9. Dorothy Masuka - Ufikizolo
10. Solven Whistlers - Something New in Africa
11. Kippie Moeketsi & The Marabi Kings - Goli Kwela
12. Miriam Makeba & The Skylarks with Spokes Mashiyane -Uile Ngoan1a Batho
13. Jazz Dazzlers - Diepkloof Ekhaya
14. Elite Swingsters - Thulandivile
15. Ten Troubadours - Umbuzi
16. Four Yanks - Msenge
17. Young Stars - Ulova
18. Reggie Msomi1s Hollywood Jazz Band - Midnight Ska
19. Big Four - Mr Music
20. Mahotella Queens - Mama Thula
21. Makhona Tsohle Band - Ngikhala Ngiya Baleka 2
22. John Ramotsie - Mkatakata
23. Boyoyo Boys - Tsotsi
24. Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje - Omzala Bakho
25. Soul Brothers - Bayeza
26. Mpharanyana & The Cannibals - Thakane
27. Shoe Laces - Ndakwa Njalo
28. Marumo - Toitoi

Emmett Miller - The Minstrel Man From Georgia

One of the stranger musical artifacts of the early XXth century, this record straddles the fence between the minstrel shows, country music, and early jazz. Emmett Miller is a white man in blackface, doing the minstrel routines, complete with stand-up comedy and singing. His backing band, the Georgia Crackers, is truly a stellar assembley of the early jazz luminaries, including Gene Krupa on drums, the Dorsey brothers on clarinet/sax and trombone, and Eddie Lang on guitar.
Miller is a cult figure among the connoisseurs of the weird and the obscure. Virtually nothing is known about him, which only adds to his mystique. Only two photographs survive, but he is in blackface on both, and it is impossible to tell what he really looked like. We are unsure of his birth and death dates, and we don't know where he lived, outside of the short period in the late 30s, when he was recording in New York.
Many reviews say that Emmett Miller's recordings are interesting only for the backing musicians, and trad jazz fans are usually put off by the presumed cultural imperialism of a white man having his way with black music, by the racial stereotyping of his - not always tasteful - jokes, and by the his minstrel show roots, which are associated with the segregation, oppression and the indignities suffered by the american blacks for so long. However, if one is to look at it in the cultural context, one would see a middle-class white boy who loved the negro music enough to make it his life's ambition, and who was stuck in the minstrel mask complete with the watermelon-stealing, happy-go-lucky stereotypes, because he perceived it as a ticket into the jazz circles.
None of this would elevate Miller beyond a footnote in a history of jazz, if it wasn't for his singing. He may have been a part of a tradition, doing jokes from the old minstrel repertoire and singing jazz standards, but his singing style is truly his own, sounding like nothing else before or since. His singing is a cross between a jazz balladeer, a pigmy yodel, and a cat's meow. He often breaks into his signature melisma, switching from the chest voice to make several shaky slides from one falcetto note to another, and then back, sounding like a baby crying inside the chest of a grown man. My favorite tracks here are Dusky Stevedore and St. Louis Blues. These are truly unique sounds - enjoy!


Emmett Miller - The Minstrel Man From Georgia
REUP: zippyshare
VBR 160, 66mb
1. God's River
2. I Ain't Got Nobody
3. Lovesick Blues
4. The Lion Tamers
5. Anytime
6. St. Louis Blues
7. Take Your Tomorrow
8. Dusky Stevedore
9. I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None Of This Jelly Roll
10. (I Got A Woman Crazy For Me) She's Funny That Way
11. You Lose
12. Right Or Wrong
13. That's The Good Old Sunny South
14. You're The Cream In My Coffee
15. Lovin' Sam (The Sheik Of Alabam')
16. Big Bad Bill Is Sweet William Now
17. The Ghost Of The St. Louis Blues
18. Sweet Mama (Papa's Getting Mad)
19. The Pickaninnies' Paradise
20. The Blues Singer (From Alabam')

Vintage Hawaiian Music: Steel Guitar Masters 1928-1934

Another recording rescued from disappearing in the cracks of the american pop-culture.
Lap steel style is playing guitar with a steel bar - somewhat like the bottleneck slide as used by bluesmen - but with guitar flat on your lap, rather than in the regular position. Hawaiian steel guitar playing was invented sometime in the late 1890s and became a raging fad in 1915, when several steel guitarists played to the crowds during the The Panama-Pacific International Exposition AKA San Francisco World Fair. Steel guitar became the sound of the islands - faraway and exotic places at the time. Hawaiian orchestras played in clubs, guitar teachers set up sold-out classes to teach the steel playing, and every guitar sold through the Sears-Roebuck mail order included a raised nut as a default accessory. The first commercial electric guitar was Rickenbacker "Frying Pan", a lap steel; the SG of the famous Gibson SG stands for "Spanish Guitar", to distinguish it from a hawaiian lap steel.
It is hard to believe that a style that once was so popular may disappear so completely and without a trace. All we are left with are the recordings from the steel's golden age, and this CD collects some of them. The high points of this collection are a track by Sol Hoopi, the biggest name in Hawaiian music and a real virtuoso player with a jazzy style, who had a long and successfull career and recorded many albums; and a track from Jim and Bob - a duo that performed on a Chicago radio show for a short while in the 30s. They made literally a handful of records, which are cherished by collectors and the musicians, and hardly anything is known about them; follow this link for more info.


Vintage Hawaiian Music: Steel Guitar Masters 1928-1934
REUP: zippyshare or uloz.to
66mb, 192kbps
01. George Ku Trio - Na Pua O Hawaii
02. Hilo Hawaiian Orchestra - Hula Love Medley March
03. King Benny Nawahi - Waikiki Waltz
04. Tau Moe & The Moes - Ellis March
05. (Unknown German Orchestra) - The Road To Paradise
06. Sam Ku West Harmony Blues - Wang Wang Blues
07. Sol Hoopii Trio - Lady Be Good
08. King Benny Nawahi's Red Devils - Dinah
09. George Ku Trio - Na Ali'i
10. S. Cortez Y Sus Hawaiianos - Lirios
11. Charlie Wilson - Palolo
12. Kanui & Lula - My Little Grass Shack
13. Walter Kolomoku - Medley Of Old-Time Waltzes
14. Kalama's Quartet - Maile Lau Li'l Li'l
15. Jim & Bob, The Genial Hawaiians - Hula Blues
16. Unknown - Unknown

Also, I will most highly recommend Sol Hoopii - Master of the Hawaiian Guitar, Vols. 1 and 2 [EDIT: zippyshare or uloz.to], a great compilation of Hawaiian swing by the master himself at http://eldiablotuntun.blogspot.com; I have it on CD, too.

Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener

I am a big fan of calypso music. I wrote about it at length elsewhere, so I'll keep it brief. It's a caribbean tradition that appeared early in the XXth century and is still alive, after a lot of permutations. Although calypso is played all over the Caribbean basin, the main source is Trinidad (and Tobago, too!). My favorite period is the 50's-60's, when calypso was musically influenced by the american bebop and the contemporary latin styles like samba of the neighboring islands. This was a time when a new, post-war generation of calypsonians appeared; it is comparable to the punk revolution of the 70s, with the shocking, lurid lyrics and a driving, danceable beat.

The Mighty Sparrow is my favorite calypsonian, and this is an album from his best period. May May could be his most sexually explicit song, with a deathless post-coital line "When a man is finish / I think it's foolish / to play licorice". I suspect that Maria borrows a riff from some jazz tune of the period (Gillespie?) but I can't quite place it. Leave the Damn Doctor is about the politics ("Doctor" is Dr. Eric Williams, trinidadian prime minister at the time, whom Sparrow supported). Cowboy Melo is a swipe at a famous calypsonian Lord Melody in the tradition of "calypso wars" (an equivalent of today's freestyle rap battle).


REUP: mediafire
192 kbps, 56 mb
1. Lulu
2. Keep The City Clean
3. Cowboy Melo
4. Maria
5. Charlie
6. Leave The Dam Doctor
7. Monica Doo Doo
8. May May
9. Benwood Dick
10. Raphaela

Here's a Lord Kitch / Sparrow split with their greatest songs. Jean and Dinah is the Sparrow's first hit that won him the calypso crown in 1956.


Mighty Sparrow / Lord Kitchener - 16 Carnival Hits
REUP: mediafire
160 kbps, 74 mb
1. Jean & Dinah (Mighty Sparrow)
2. Pay As You Earn (Mighty Sparrow)
3. May May (Mighty Sparrow)
4. Royal Jail (Mighty Sparrow)
5. The Road (Lord Kitchener)
6. Mama Dis Is Mas (Lord Kitchener)
7. My Pussin (Lord Kitchener)
8. Obeah Wedding (Mighty Sparrow)
9. Sixty Seven (Lord Kitchener)
10. Miss Tourist (Lord Kitchener)
11. Sa Sa Yea (Mighty Sparrow)
12. Margie (Lord Kitchener)
13. Mas In Madison Square Gardens (Lord Kitchener)
14. Drunk & Disorderly (Mighty Sparrow)
15. Rain-o-Rama (Lord Kitchener)
16. Tribute To Spree Simon (Lord Kitchener)

Retro-electronica from 1968

Fred Weinberg - The Weinberg Method Of Non-Synthetic Electronic Rock, 1968
REUP 2/13/2014: zippyshare
90mb, 320kbps

...an album simultaneously exploiting the possibilities of electronic-scientific music and producing the visceral excess of late-60’s psychedelia... worthy predecessors to Faust and the Yellow Magic Orchestra... the pre-Kraftwerk outfit The Organisation or Raymond Scott.

Liner notes:
The Weinberg Method of Non-Synthetic Electronic Rock (or the Electronic Rock Method of Non-Synthetic Weinberg) is a revolution in sound (or sound in revolution). To be more precise, the W.M.N.S.E.R., as it is affectionately known, is a way of taking the sounds of common musical instruments (twang), sounds of every day life (beep-beep), sounds of the human body (hic-cup) and altering them electronically to create a totally new concept of recording. In the hands of Mr. Weinberg, the human heart-beat becomes a bass drum, an ambulance siren becomes a slide trombone and the sound of a secretary filing her nails becomes a 24 piece string section. Undoubtedly, Fred Weinberg is the first man in history to orchestrate an alka-seltzer fizzing, a computer-card computing and a toilet flushing. When Mr. Weinberg leads his orchestra, the whole world is in the pit. One of his earliest experiments in sound was the time he recorded an ant walking on sand. Unfortunately, the experiment was cut-short by a myopic ice-cream vendor. Of course, this is not to say that Fred Weinberg was the first man ever to discover that the sounds of every day life can be more harmonious than the sounds of traditional music. For instance, George Bernhard Shaw once said, 'Nothing soothes me more, after a long and maddening day of pianoforte recitals, than to sit and have my teeth drilled.' (Shaw? Didn't he used to be the lead singer with the Del-Vikings?) To sum up, then, The Electronic Weinberg Rock of Non-Synthetic Method is simply an assortment of natural sounds that are slowed-down, speeded-up, turned upside-down and inside-out. Sound like sound never sounded before.

1. 1958 Revisited
2. A Childs Life
3. A Theme For Julie
4. Animosity
5. Big Fat Woman
6. Cowboy Gregg
7. Heavy Breathing
8. Money Talks
9. Keen Machine
10. Muck De Foog
11. Ode To Billy Joe
12. Sanctuary
13. Gumball
14. Supersonic
15. Aum Mau Mau
16. Ah,Ha!
17. El Condor Pasa
18. Speedo


From http://rangeraver-lounge.blogspot.com/:


Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman, 1968
192 kbps, 63 mb
on 4shared
1. Topless Dancers Of Corfu
2. The Legend Of Johnny Pot
3. The Moog & Me
4. Tap Dance In The Memory Banks
5. Four Duets In Odd Meter
6. The Minotaur
7. Total Bells & Tony (Mottola)
8. Improvisation In Fourths
9. Evening Thoughts
10. Give It Up Or Turn It Loose
11. Kolumbo
12. Time Is Tight

Takeshi Terauchi and the Bunnys - The Bunnys' Singles Vol.1&2

Back by popular demand - more of the japanese surf guitar god Terry and the Bunnys.
Two more links to his albums are in the comments to the previous post about him.

REUP 2/05/2014: depositfiles, two albums in one archive


Bunnys' Singles Vol.1 - Little Devil (Akuma no Baby)
192 kbps, 73 mb
1. Terry's Theme
2. Test Driver
3. Irrevocable Vow
4. Dream In The Ocean
5. Kanjincho
6. Genroku Hanami Odort
7. Let's Go Dance
8. Shake No. 1
9. Rising Guitar
10. South Pier
11. Little Devil
12. Hey? You Stop !
13. Symphony No. 5
14. Unfinished Symphony
15. Al No Remember
16. Futari No Izumi
17. Taugaru Jaongarabushi
18. Dark Eyes
19. Czardas I


Bunnys' Singles Vol.2 - Taiyo No Hana
192 kbps, 63 mb
1. Taiyo Yaro
2. World Boy
3. Feedback Guitar
4. Omoide No Hoshizora
5. Taiyo No Hana
6. Seishun Wo Kakete
7. Let's Go Bugalu
8. Summer Bugalu
9. Tokyo No Sunset
10. Hono No Koi
11. Tasogare
12. Samishisona Shojo
13. Usukudara
14. Dark Eyes
15. Blue Star
16. Unchainned Melody
17. Jingle Bell

Two retro-electronica comps

Best of Moog: Electronic Pop Hits from the 60's and 70's
REUP: depositfiles
120mb

1. Popcorn - Hot Butter
2. The Savers - Perrey-Kingsley
3. E.V.A. - Jean Jacques Perrey
4. The Look Of Love - Richard Hayman
5. Midnight Cowboy - Martin Denny
6. One Note Samba/Spanish Flea - Perrey-Kingsley
7. Foggy Mountain Breakdown - Gil Trythall
8. Bond St - Enoch Light And The Light Brigade
9. Winchester Cathedral - Perrey-Kingsley
10. I Apologize Mr. Rossini - Armando Trovaidli
11. Baroque Hoedown - Perrey-Kingsley
12. Jeepster - Electrik Cokernut
13. Kinky Peanuts - Armando Trovaioli
14. Back Off Boogaloo - Elektrik Cokernut
15. Shank - First Moog Quartet
16. Moog Power - Hugo Montenegro & His Orchestra
17. Give It Up Or Turn It Loose - Dick Hyman
18. Hey Hey - First Moog Quartet
19. E.V.A. - Jean Jacques Perrey (Fatboy Slim remix)



Electronic Toys: A Retrospective of 70's Synthesizer Music
REUP: mediafire
38mb, ~128kbps, these are .m4a not .mp3!

01 Cecil Canterburn - Catching Game (2:01)
02 Rex Brown Company - Round Up (0:47)
03 David Vorhaus - The Diy Machine (a) (1:05)
04 Dave Richmond - Movin' Along (1:59)
05 Ron Geesin - Ambling Antics (2:17)
06 Claude Larson - Highway E1 (3:49)
07 Gerhard Trede - Technischer Bewegungsablauf (1:28)
08 Eric Peters - Heystone Capers 2 (1:15)
09 Ted Atking - Childrens Carnival (2:40)
10 David Vorhaus - Mainframe Blues (2:51)
11 Gerhard Trede - Gefahrenzone 1 (3:43)
12 Roland Kovac - Bits (2:19)
13 David Vorhaus - Three O (a) (1:06)
14 Eric Peters - Mechanical Movement (2:36)
15 The Heinz Funk Electronic Combo - Menuett (1:26)
16 Brian Bennett - Ergon (1:35)
17 Steve Gray - The Sausage Machine (1:08)
18 Mladen Franko - Zoolife (3:05)
19 Ron Geesin - Jolly Pranks (2:14)

Brass band blowout

These are two brass bands from very different parts of the globe. BBB plays the covers of indian film music (AKA Bollywood), indian folk and such; Fanfare Ciocarlia (ciocarlia = skylark) is a gypsy wedding band, sort of, although they also cover the James Bond Theme and Caravan. In these two very different pots there grew two equally potent plants that can get you very high on the powerfully explosive sounds of a huge brass section blowing their heads off.
I am not quite sure how to classify these, besides a generic "world music" label. Even "instro" isn't quite right because the Ciocarlias sing, too; in fact, the vocal numbers Ma Maren Ma and Sandala are my favorite on this disc.


The Bollywood Brass Band
REUP 11/11/14: zippyshare or uloz.to 192 kbps, 59mb
1. Loay Loay Aaja Mahi (Safri)
2. Gur Nalon Ishk Mitha (trad. Punjab–Sagoo)
3. Kehna Hi Kya (Rahman–Mehboob; arr. Moore)
4. (Ek Ho Gaye) Hum Aur Tum (Rahman–Mehboob)
5. Hawa Hawa (Ashraf)
6. Pardesi Pardesi (Shrava–Samir)
7. Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna (Jatin-Lalit–Bakhshi)
8. Gur Nalon Ishk Mitha [remix]
9. Kehne Hi Kya [remix]


Fanfare Ciocarlia - Gili Garabdi
192kbps, 79mb
REUP 2/8/2014: 4shared
1. 007 (James Bond Theme)
2. Alili
3. Sirba Moldoveneasca
4. Caravan
5. Ma Maren Ma
6. Hora Arabeasca
7. Golden Days
8. Lume, Lume
9. Sandala
10. Moldavian Mood
11. Hora Evreiasca
12. Time Out
13. Godzila
14. Ibrahim
15. Rumba de la Lasi
16. Alili [Radio Version]

Congo: Rumba on the River

Leeching from Jazzymusic again - what a great resource!
Yesterday's Rumba Congolaise is a modern re-recording of the classic Afro-Rumba hits by the contemporary Congo bands. This one is the original stuff from the 60's. I think these are the CDs that come with the book Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos.
Here's a review of the CDs.


Congo - Rumba on the River
353mb, 320kbps

CD1
4shared
01. Musica tellema - Ok Jazz
02. Ambiance kalle catho - African Jazz
03. Maria valente - Rock a mambo
04. Parafifi - African Jazz
05. Kumbele kumbele - Bantous de la capitale
06. Alliance mode succes - Ok Jazz
07. Miwela miwela - African Jazz
08. Aya la mode - Ok Jazz
09. Pesa le tout - African Jazz
10. Tokumisa Congo - Bantous de la capitale
11. Si tu bois beaucoup - Ok Jazz
12. Indépendance cha cha - African Jazz
13. Kelya - African Jazz
14. Biantondi kasanda - African Fiesta
15. Table ronde - African Jazz
16. Rochereau Pascal - African Fiesta
17. Le temps passe - Ok Jazz
18. Bomonaki yo - African Jazz
19. K J - African Jazz
20. Mama ngai habanera - African Jazz
21. Permission - African Fiesta

CD2
4shared
01. La Vida Africa - Grand kalle 1963
02. Groupo Ok Jazz - Franco 1959
03. Paquita - Tabu Ley 1965
04. Bantous Pachangga - Essou 1964
05. Festival Bilombe - Sam Mangwan 1968
06. Cuento Nama - Mujos 1965
07. Matanga Ya Modibo - Grand Kalle 1963
08. Tabalissimo - Tabu Ley 1965
09. Que Numera El Son - Mujos 1967
10. Bina Ringa - Tabu Ley 1965
11. Maria Lola - Tabu Ley 1965
12. El Que Siembra Su Maiz - Grand Kalle 1961
13. Kayi Kayi - Nico 1962
14. Miguel Canta - Mujos 1961
15. Camaro - Kalle 1968
16. Sey Sey - Tabu Ley 1967
17. Alphonso - Franco 1964
18. Jamais Kolonga - Tino Baroza 1959
19. Tour d'Afrique - Nico 1969
20. Bolingo Ya Bouge - Kwamy 1964
21. Calabosso - Tabu Ley 1965
22. Basi Ya African Jazz - Nico 1962
23. Guantanamera - Tabu Ley 1967