musictraveler

Terry Riley - In C (1968) (@320)

2012-01-23T23:26:00.000+02:00

I've done worse.... With a 2-month delay (...) here's the post dedicated to the 50 years of minimalism. It was in London's Kings Place on Nov. 24, 25 and 26 that the relevant events took place to honour artists such as John Cage, Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, La Monte Young, Howard Skempton, Terry Riley, Eric Satie, Brian Eno and Glenn Branca among others.

Today's upload offers a fundametal work of minimalism. "In C is a semi-aleatoric musical piece composed by Terry Riley in 1964 for any number of people, although he suggests "a group of about 35 is desired if possible but smaller or larger groups will work". It is a response to the abstract academic serialist techniques used by composers in the mid-twentieth century and is often cited as the first minimalist composition." (quote from wiki)

info link: here

download link: here

Pentangle - Basket of Light (1969) (@320)

2012-01-15T19:32:00.000+02:00

This is the final post of the Bert Jasch tribute. Here as a part of a dream team of musicians including John Renbourn, Danny Thompson, Terry Cox along with the angelic voice of Jacqui McShee. Enjoy.

review link: here

download link: here

PJ Harvey - The Peel Sessions 1991 - 2004 (@320)

2012-01-07T18:16:00.002+02:00

It's the first time that the three major UK music mags (Mojo, Uncut, NME) chose the same best album of the year. It was of course PJ Harvey's Let England Shake. I have to admit I didn't expect from Polly Harvey to return with such a magnificent album since in her last two she seemed to have lost the plot. Her glorious return is thus celebrated with these Peel Sessions. Enjoy.

review link: here

download link: here

Various - Maybe This Christmas (2002) (@320)

2011-12-25T08:00:00.001+02:00

Happy holidays to all of you. Today it's also the 5th birthday of this blog. Thank you all for your support.

Tracklisting:
01-Phantom Planet - Winter Wonderland
02-Ron Sexsmith - Maybe This Christmas
03-Coldplay - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
04-Vanessa Carlton - Greensleeves
05-Bright Eyes - Blue Christmas
06-Sence Field - Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
07-Jimmy Eat World - 12/23/95
08-Jack Johnson - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
09-Barenaked Ladies Feat. Sarah McLachlan - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
10-Ben Folds - Bizarre Christmas Incident
11-Dan Wilson - What A Year For A New Year
12-Neil Finn - Sweet Secret Peace
13-Loreena McKennitt - Snow

review link: here

download link: here

Buzzcocks - Spiral Scratch (12'') (1977) (@320)

2011-12-17T10:44:00.002+02:00

Following the previous post's subject, this is about the reunion of the Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto for two special shows as part of the Buzzcocks "Back to Front" tour on the 25th and 26th of May 2012 in Manchester and London. Their sole release while Devoto was in the group was the EP that is offered today; an inflammable material that captured the sign of the times in the most natural way and at the same time a fundamental independent release since it was the group itself that manufactured, released and distributed it making it sensible for any group after them to work outside the established record industry.

review link: here

download link: here

Stone Roses - Fools Gold 9.53 (12'') (1989) (@320)

2011-12-12T00:34:00.002+02:00

Last year, it was the reunion of the Pavement that was nominated (by me!) as the reunion of the year. This year it's a very tough competition. We have two groups, both coming from my beloved Manchester, both being among the leaders of the music movements they belong to.
The first one is the Stone Roses. Their reunion was announced in October and they've already booked two reunion concerts in Manchester at the end of June, followed by a world tour. They even plan to record new material together.

This was a brilliant opportunity to upload Fools Gold, a mythical single back from 1989. In a recent issue of Mojo (September 2011), Noel Gallagher describes brilliantly what Fools Gold is all about: "Everything comes together for a brief moment. The Stone Roses get into one of the greatest grooves in the history of music as a result. You get records that could have been recorded yesterday and this is one of them. It's also the sound of a band peaking: they never did anything that matched it. This is 20 years old and it still sounds like the future. (...) The amazing thing about it is: There's barely a tune in it. Try and play it on an acoustic guitar. There is no song. It's a bass line. It's alchemy. I can imagine how it would have happened. Someone would have started playing something and someone else would have said, "Do that again." It's an unbelievable piece of music. How can it have never dated, when it was so of its time?"

info link: here

download link: here

Δεν ξεχνώ

2011-12-06T12:41:00.002+02:00

Bert Jansch - The Black Swan (2006) (@320)

2011-12-04T20:04:00.002+02:00

Here's another post for Bert Jansch. In the previous post his first album was offered, this one is his last. Enjoy.

review link: here

download link: here

Bert Jansch - Bert Jansch (1965) (@320)

2011-11-27T21:12:00.002+02:00

Let's start a tribute to Bert Jansch who left us recently. A musician of tremendous importance but, sadly, relatively unknown outside the folk circles although his influence on rock artists is huge. Donovan has covered Do You Hear Me Now, Bob Dylan was based on Jansch's cover on the traditional Nottamun Town to create Masters of War, while Jimmy Page did the same with Blackwaterside and Waggoner's Lad to create Black Mountain Side and Gallows Pole (Nottamun Town, Blackwaterside and Waggoner's Lad can be found in Jack Orion lp, posted here some years ago). Jansch's influence is also apparent on Paul Simon, Nick Drake, Neil Young, Johnny Marr, Devendra Banhart, Fleet Foxes, to name just a few, while Jansch's major influence was Davy Graham, the subject of an older post as well. In addition, every "best guitarists ever" list that respects itself includes Jansch; his ability on acoustic guitar was so unique that Neil Young has said that what Hendrix was to the electric guitar, Jansch was to the acoustic. And of course we shouldn't forget Pentangle, one of the greatest folk acts of the 1960s to which Jansch was a member, for whom there will be a post and an upload as well. The album offered here is Jansch's first; his last is also on the way.

Further reading: Bert Jansch - a modest man with an immodest talent by Pete Paphides in Guardian

Further viewing: Acoustic Routes, a relevant BBC documentary (in 8 parts)

review link: here

download link: here

Sleater -Kinney - The Hot Rock (1999) (@320)

2011-11-20T13:33:00.002+02:00

This post is a good reminder of an era, not many years ago, when an indie album was expected in much anticipation, when an indie album was full of fuzzing guitars and songs were according to the definition of the rock sound. It is also a good reminder of my beloved Sleater-Kinney, now that Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss (along with Mary Timony from Helium and Rebecca Cole from Minders) formed the female super group Wild Flag. Their first release is highly recommended.

review link: here

download link: here

R.E.M. - Live in Athens, Greece, Oct. 5, 2008 (@320)

2011-11-06T20:23:00.002+02:00

Thank you for the great songs and the brilliant albums, for the consistency, for the memories. Thank you Peter, Mike, Michael and Bill.

Tracklisting:
01-Living Well Is The Best Revenge
02-What's The Frequency, Kenneth
03-Drive
04-Man-Sized Wreath
05-Ignoreland
06-Bad Day
07-Hollowman
08-Electrolite
09-(Don't Go Back To) Rockville (vocals by Mike Mills)
10-The Great Beyond
11-The One I Love
12-She Just Wants To Be
13-Losing My Religion
14-Let Me In
15-Horse To Water
16-Orange Crush
17-Imitation Of Life
18-Supernatural Superserious
19-It's The End Of The World As We Know It
20-Man On The Moon

download link: here

Gil Scott-Heron - Pieces Of A Man (1971) (@320)

2011-09-16T12:22:00.001+02:00

Another post prepared months ago... There isn't much to write about Scott-Heron rather than to copy the wiki paragraph about his tremendous infulence:

"The music of Scott-Heron's work during the 1970s influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. He has been described by music writers as "the godfather of rap" and "the black Bob Dylan". Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot comments on Scott-Heron's collaborative work with Jackson, "Together they crafted jazz-influenced soul and funk that brought new depth and political consciousness to ‘70s music alongside Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. In classic albums such as 'Winter in America' and 'From South Africa to South Carolina,' Scott-Heron took the news of the day and transformed it into social commentary, wicked satire, and proto-rap anthems. He updated his dispatches from the front lines of the inner city on tour, improvising lyrics with an improvisational daring that matched the jazz-soul swirl of the music". Of Scott-Heron's influence on hip hop, Kot writes that he "presag[ed] hip-hop and infus[ed] soul and jazz with poetry, humor and pointed political commentary". Ben Sisario of The New York Times writes that "He preferred to call himself a "bluesologist," drawing on the traditions of blues, jazz and Harlem renaissance poetics". Tris McCall of The Star-Ledger writes that "The arrangements on Gil Scott-Heron's early recordings were consistent with the conventions of jazz poetry – the movement that sought to bring the spontaneity of live performance to the reading of verse". On his influence, a music writer later noted that "Scott-Heron's unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists". The Washington Post wrote that "Scott-Heron's work presaged not only conscious rap and poetry slams, but also acid jazz, particularly during his rewarding collaboration with composer-keyboardist-flutist Brian Jackson in the mid- and late '70s." The Observer's Sean O'Hagan discussed the significance of Scott-Heron's music with Brian Jackson, stating: "Together throughout the 1970s, Scott-Heron and Jackson made music that reflected the turbulence, uncertainty and increasing pessimism of the times, merging the soul and jazz traditions and drawing on an oral poetry tradition that reached back to the blues and forward to hip-hop. The music sounded by turns angry, defiant and regretful while Scott-Heron's lyrics possessed a satirical edge that set them apart from the militant soul of contemporaries such as Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield."
Will Layman of PopMatters writes of the significance of Scott-Heron's early musical work, "In the early 1970s, Gil Scott-Heron popped onto the scene as a soul poet with jazz leanings; not just another Bill Withers, but a political voice with a poet’s skill. His spoken-voice work had punch and topicality. 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' and 'Johannesburg' were calls to action: Stokely Carmichael if he’d had the groove of Ray Charles. 'The Bottle' was a poignant story of the streets: Richard Wright as sung by a husky-voiced Marvin Gaye. To paraphrase Chuck D, Gil Scott-Heron’s music was a kind of CNN for black neighborhoods, prefiguring hip-hop by several years. It grew from the Last Poets, but it also had the funky swing of Horace Silver or Herbie Hancock—or Otis Redding. Pieces of a Man and Winter in America (collaborations with Brian Jackson) were classics beyond category". Scott-Heron's influence over hip-hop is primarily exemplified by his definitive single "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," sentiments from which have been explored by various rappers, including Aesop Rock, Talib Kweli and Common. In addition to his vocal style, Scott-Heron's indirect contributions to rap music extend to his and co-producer Brian Jackson's compositions, which have been sampled by various hip-hop artists. "We Almost Lost Detroit" has been sampled by Brand Nubian member Grand Puba ("Keep On"), Native Tongues duo Black Star ("Brown Skin Lady"), and underground notable MF DOOM ("Camphor"). Scott-Heron's 1980 song "A Legend in His Own Mind" was sampled on Mos Def's "Mr. Nigga". The opening lyrics from his 1978 recording "Angel Dust" were appropriated by rapper RBX on the 1996 song "Blunt Time" by Dr. Dre. CeCe Peniston's 2000 song "My Boo" samples Scott-Heron's 1974 recording "The Bottle".
Among the most notable is rapper/producer Kanye West, who has sampled Scott-Heron and Jackson's "Home is Where the Hatred Is" and "We Almost Lost Detroit" for his song "My Way Home" and the single "The People," respectively, both of which are collaborative efforts between West and Common. Scott-Heron, in turn, has acknowledged West's contributions, sampling the latter's 2007 single "Flashing Lights" on his latest album, 2010's I'm New Here. Scott-Heron admitted ambivalence about his association with rap, remarking in 2010 in an interview for the Daily Swarm, "I don't know if I can take the blame for it", referring to rap music. He preferred the moniker of "bluesologist". Referring to reviews of his last album and references to him as the "godfather of rap", he said, "It’s something that’s aimed at the kids." He added, "I have kids, so I listen to it. But I would not say it’s aimed at me. I listen to the jazz station.”

review link: here

download link: here

Original Cast - Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (1972) (@320)

2011-09-02T16:04:00.000+02:00

I know, I know. I've been missing for too long again. Things got tough lately, so I wasn't in the mood for my labour of love here. Nevertheless, since I have prepared some uploads I'll post them, even if their subject is a little bit dated.
The first one is about Jerry Ragovoy, who left us recently. He composed Time Is on My Side, Cry Baby, Piece of My Heart, Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) among others; these songs alone are more than enough to earn him a prominent place in music history.
The obvious upload for Ragovoy would be a Janis Joplin album, most obviously Pearl, where five of his songs are interpreted in the most unique way. Nevertheless, trying once more to avoid obvious selections, I chose the brilliant original cast of Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope, the Broadway play that was nominated for four Tony awards in 1972, with the two being for Best Musical and Best Original Score. The production was by Ragovoy, earning him the Grammy Award as producer on Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album in 1973. Enjoy.

Jerry Ragovoy obituary by Guardian: here

Brilliant (as always) Back to mono article for Ragovoy way back from 2008: here

download link: here

Various - Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour: Season 1, Ep.10: Summer and Season 3, Ep. 19: Happiness

2011-07-05T06:20:00.001+02:00

These two uploads were requested by my fellow blogger David, the famous metalbastard. Since in the previous TTRH post, a broadcast from season 2 was uploaded, I chose to upload one broadcast for each of the remaining seasons. Furthermore, the themes chosen were "Summer" (an obvious selection amidst a mild heatwave) and "Happiness" (for which all of us are in its constant pursuit).

Tracklisting for "Summer":
Summertime — Billy Stewart (1966)
Summertime Blues — Eddie Cochran (1958)
(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave — Martha & the Vandellas (1963)
Heat Wave — Sol K. Bright and His Hollywaiians (1935)
Sunny — Bobby Hebb (1966)
Juneteenth Jamboree — Fatso Bentley (?)
So Nice — Astrud Gilberto and Walter Wanderley (1966)
Youth of 1000 Summers — Van Morrison (1990)
Hot Weather Blues — Mr. Sad Head (1951)
Summer in the City — Lovin’ Spoonful (1966)
Too Hot — Prince Buster (1967)
In the Summertime — Mungo Jerry (1970)
Ice Cream Man — John Brim (1953)
Fourth of July — Dave Alvin (1994)
Hot Fun in the Summertime — Sly & the Family Stone (1969)

Tracklisting for "Happiness":
Feelin' High and Happy - Hot Lips Page (1938)
Love and Happiness - Al Green (1972)
(I Wanna Go Where You Go) Then I'll Be Happy - Jimmy Heap and The Melody Masters
Happy Home - Elmore James (1955)
Happy - The Rolling Stones (1972)
I Want To Be Happy - Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb & His Orchestra (1937)
Happy - Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins (2006)
You've Made Me So Very Happy - Brenda Holloway (1967)
Happy Rovin' Cowboy - The Sons of the Pioneers (1935–1936)
Everybody's Happy Nowadays - Buzzcocks (1979)
Smile - Judy Garland (1963) - [music by Charlie Chaplin, from "Modern Times"]
Happy Trails - Roy Rogers & Dale Evans with Frank Worth & His Orchestra (1950)

download link for "Summer": here
download link for "Happiness": here

Athens, June 29, 2011: Flirting with death

2011-07-05T00:03:00.002+02:00

Quoting from exandas, a text written by Yorgos Avgeropoulos. A must read (and watch). All videos and photos were shot during June, 29, 2001 in Athens, during the mostly peaceful protests that began in May, 25 and take place everyday in the centre of Athens (Syntagma square opposite the Greek Parliament) and in many other Greek cities as well.

"Flirting with death

I have covered conflicts of protestors and police in various places around the world outside Greece, such as in Argentina, Italy, Bolivia, and Mexico. Especially in Mexico the police, as many know, are considered savage, untrained and corrupt. However, what I lived through and recorded along with my co-workers yesterday Wednesday 29/6 at Syntagma, surpasses all limits in savagery. The Greek police rightly, and by a wide margin, gets the prize for barbarity. A barbarity which has no relation to repression but which was a constant flirt with death.

It is a miracle that we did not mourn any dead. And Mr. Papoutsis [the Minister of “Citizen Protection”] should light a candle to the God he believes in, since it is only due to his good luck that he is not apologising today for any dead.

The plan to clear Syntagma Square during the last two days, was a violent attack, an “onslaught” as it was put aptly by Ayman, a Spanish journalist who works for Al Jazeera. An onslaught against everyone and anyone to the death. “But what kind of police is this that you have”?, he asked me indignantly. You are a member of the European Union, at least for now” he said to me with a meaningful smile.

Let’s take things from the beginning. At about 13.30 there are a lot of people gathered in front of the Parliament. They are not hood-wearers. They are not throwing rocks. They are elderly, young, women, men, students, workers, unemployed who are shouting slogans, who are making the familiar hand gesture to the Parliament, and the most hot-blooded are right in front---at the most they launched insults and shook the railings which were set up in front of the monument of the Unknown Soldier. Nothing important in other words which would justify what would follow. All of a sudden, from everywhere, from right, from left, and from the centre, a general attack of the police forces began which pushed the protestors towards the steps of Syntagma Square. Imagine thousands of people running frantically towards a narrow opening of a width of not more than 10 metres. From behind them the riot police throw stun and flash grenades into the crowd and teargas, creating panic. People are burned by the flames, drowned in the tear gas, they can’t see in front of them, and they start to step on one another and to tumble down the steps. People faint, others are stepped on in the blood. Despite all this, the police to do not leave. They hit anyone they find in front of them with their clubs, people in other words who are running to save themselves, stepping on one another.

What follows is well-known. Beyond the action of the agents provocateurs, which has been recorded on video and in photographs which have been released and which will continue to be released in the following days, beyond the action of the troublemakers who I despise and totally disagree with, it is now easy for a rock to be thrown from anyone’s hand, anyone who has been hit, chemically sprayed, who is unemployed, homeless---yes there are now neo-homeless---and every day becomes poorer without seeing a way out anywhere.

I won’t hide from you that I was scared watching a savagery without precedence taking place before my eyes. I felt the same fear that I have felt in tough regions of the planet. I felt the fear of death. As I thought it was my imagination and that I was unaccustomed to working in Greece---I hadn’t worked in my country since 2000—I asked my old colleagues if they had ever lived something like this before here. They answered that they had never experienced anything like it.

(Comment on video: The officer has been put repeating that "no cs gas was thrown in metro stations", were the videos in between were shot in Syntagma and Acropolis metro stations.)

Therefore, as a rational person, I would like the Ministry of “Citizen Protection” (I put it in quotation marks as the title reminds me of the Ministry of Love in 1984 by Orwell) to answer the following question:

1. Who gave the command for the general attack at 13.30 and why? Whose idea was it to order the police forces to hunt down a panicked crowd stepping on one another on the steps, to throw stun and flash grenades and tear gas, to beat indiscriminately, taking a 50-50 risk that someone among the thousands would leave their last breath in the square?

2. Why didn’t the police respect the medical centre of Syntagma Square? Professional doctors, pulmonologists and others, all of them volunteers, were treating those injured during the entire duration of the attacks. They were not “hood-wearers”, they were doctors. They shouted at the police “this is a medical centre” but the police paid no attention. Fanatically, the police threw tear gas and beat them. As one doctor said to us “These things don’t even happen in war. Even in war, there is a truce, so that the wounded can be picked up and treated.” The doctors gathered everything up in haste and set up the medical centre down in the metro, but they didn’t escape the chemicals which were thrown in down there either.

3. Why were the teachers at the Teaching Federation of Greece beaten? Were they hood-wearers too? I don’t think so. After the riot police threw tear gas into the entrance of their building at 15 Xenofondos Street, they threw rocks (!) and hit teachers on the head using their clubs upside down, hitting with the handle, according to their testimonies. Three were wounded: one with broken ribs, one with head injuries, and one with light injuries on his arm. The teachers said: “When a society abuses its teachers, it can’t go any lower”.

4. What was the logic behind the police using chemical sprays and beating people in the greengrocers and souvlaki restaurants of Monastiraki and Plaka, terrorising the customers and the tourists?

5. And finally, something personal for Mr. Papoutsis: Why did you hit me? Not you, in other words, but one of the men of your police. Because however I don’t know the “anonymous” riot policeman, but I do know you, I would truly like a response. The situation was relatively calm at that time and, with my camera, I was recording a riot squad which was going up towards the Parliament, when one of them left his squad, came up to me, and stood in front of me, a breath away. I stopped shooting and lowered the camera. He looked at me in the eyes. I said to him, what do you want, and his response was to hit me with his club, so I could remember this day. People started to shout: “Hey, you’re hitting Avgeropoulos!!?” I didn’t react at all and he went away. If I had reacted we might be talking in the police department where you would be apologising for the.... “misunderstanding”.

By the way: in Oaxaca, when I was cornered along with my cameraman by Mexican police, who as I said before, are considered savage, untrained and corrupt, I shouted “Journalist” and they didn’t do anything to me. In my own country I was beaten for the first time.

*Yorgos Avgeropoulos (Greek: Γιώργος Αυγερόπουλος; born 1971) is a Greek journalist and documentary filmmaker. He is the creator of the Greek awarded documentaries series "Exandas". He was born in Athens in 1971. He has worked for Greek television stations covering news stories in Greece and major events around the world. He has, also, worked as a war correspondent in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Palestine. In 2000, he created the documentary series "Exandas" (meaning sextant) which has won many awards in film festivals and documentary festivals in Greece and around the world and is currently broadcasted on Greek public television."

Bob Dylan - Folk Rogue 1964-1965

2011-06-26T22:20:00.001+02:00

It's always tough when trying to have a post about artists and groups with tremendous importance such as Dylan since I believe that whoever is seriously interested in music will own at least 12-15 Dylan albums. So, avoiding to upload something from his official discography, here is one of the very many Dylan bootlegs circulating among fans, considered by many as one of the best ones both in sound quality and in recorded material.

review link: here

download link: here

Various - Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, Season 2, Ep.60 (aired December 5, 2007): Party

2011-06-18T18:54:00.000+02:00

Bob Dylan turned 70 on May 24. For the most important composer of the second half of the 20th century we're celebrating his birthday with a party. So, for the first of the three posts dedicated to him, I uploaded one of his broadcasts for the Theme Time Radio Hour, with the theme being... "Party"

Tracklisting:
All Tomorrow’s Parties — Velvet Underground (1967)
Ain’t Nothin’ But A House Party — Showstoppers (1968)
Hot Barbeque — Brother Jack McDuff (1965)
Let’s Have A Party — Wanda Jackson (1958)
Let’s Party — Jesse Allen (1952)
Baby Gotta Party — Don & Dewey (1957)
It’s My Party — Lesley Gore (1963)
Soul Bossa Nova — Quincy Jones & His Orchestra feat. Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1962)
Party Doll — Buddy Knox (1957)
Caldonia’s Party — Smiley Lewis (1953)
I Paid For The Party — The Enchanters (1965)
Party Lights — Claudine Clark (1962)
Carnival Time — Al Johnson (1960)
House Party — Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five (1953)
The Party — Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner (1968)
After The Bacchanal — Lord Beginner (1939)
Party Girl — Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1979)
The Party’s Over — Blossom Dearie (1959)

download link: here

Άκης Φιλιός - Φίλε ΜΑΤατζή

2011-06-18T18:53:00.000+02:00

OST - I Was a Teenage Zombie (1987) (@320)

2011-06-11T17:10:00.015+02:00

"There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency." This is the first paragraph of a recent article of the Centers of Disease Controls and Prevention (CDC) in its attempt its guidelines for the upcoming US cyclones as well as for a possible future pandemic to reach to a wider percentage of people than usual. The attempt was very successful; during the first few days CDC had 60,000 hits, while the normal was around 3,000.
So, this was a very good chance to upload something to add my bit to CDC's effort. I though that the soundtrack of I Was a Teenage Zombie, a brilliant cult splatter comedy with an equally enjoyable soundtrack, was the wisest choice. Enjoy.

Tracklisting:
A1-Fleshtones - I Was A Teenage Zombie
A2-Del Fuegos - Have You Forgotten
A3-dB's - Neverland
A4-Dream Syndicate - Halloween
A5-Violent Femmes - Good Feeling
A6-Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like
B1-Smithereens - Time and Time Againhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
B2-Los Lobos - Why Do You Do
B3-Alex Chilton - Stuff
B4-Ben Vaughn Group - Vibrato in the Grotto
B5-Bob Pfeifer - Nobody Knows Where Love Goes

movie review link: here

album review link: here

download link: here

Σταύρος Ξαρχάκος - Ιάκωβος Καμπανέλης - Το Μεγάλο Μας Τσίρκο (1974) (@320)

2011-06-06T22:14:00.000+02:00

... η χούντα δεν τελείωσε το '73

download link: here

Guerilla Radio

2011-05-28T16:38:00.008+02:00

It has to start somewhere It has to start sometime
What better place than here, what better time than now?

ALL HELL CAN'T STOP US NOW
ALL HELL CAN'T STOP US NOW

Various - Blue Moon: A Tribute To Manchester City

2011-05-28T16:31:00.009+02:00

Manchester City is my favourite team fullstop. This season rewarded all us patient supporters during the many years of moderate performances which included the years of relegation, with the FA cup and with the third place in Premier League that qualified our team for the Champions League.
The offered upload is obviously aimed at the fellow supporters; I already know that the interest for this one will be very narrow. Even the quality of the music here (as with the vast majority of this particular genre), is low and full of sub-pub-rock samples, with the bright exception of Lord Fitzroy's brilliant track. Never mind, we're celebrating for Man City now.

download link: here

Αγανακτισμένοι στο Σύνταγμα. Ραντεβού στις 25/5, στις 18.00 σε όλη την Ελλάδα

2011-05-24T21:16:00.008+02:00

Για Αθήνα εδώ
Για Θεσσαλονίκη εδώ
Για Πάτρα εδώ
Απ' ότι έχω ψάξει ήδη οργανώνονται και σε άλλες πόλεις της Ελλάδας. Ψάξτε το
Update: Εδώ για όλη την Ελλάδα

Debtocracy

2011-05-22T16:18:00.005+02:00

A documentary that tracks the evolution of global capitalism from the ’70s until today, considering the position of Greece in the global economy but also the traps of the so called “free market system”, such like… debt! It also explains “the concepts of pernicious and illegitimate debts of the Greek economy”, after talking to economists, journalists, intellectuals, politicians and other specialists from around the world such as David Harvey, Samir Amin, Kostas Lapavitsas, Gerald Ntimenil, Alain Badiou, The President of CADTM Eric Toussaint, the Argentine director Fernando Solanas, journalists as Avi Lewis (writer / director of the documentary The Take – The seizure), Jean Katrmer (Liberation), the Second World War Greek Veteran Manolis Glezos and the vice president of the German left party “Die Linke” Zara Vagkenknecht.

Aris Hadjistefanou and Katerina Kitidi, inform us of similar situations prevailed in some Latin American countries, such as Argentina and Ecuador, countries that also faced unbearable debt. Through shining descriptions and interesting analysis, we see the disastrous effects of the International Monetary Fund dominance in the living standards of those countries. The imposed austerity measures had as a result that whole populations confronted the nightmare of mass unemployment and poverty.

In Ecuador, however, the Socialist government of Rafael Correa, set up a Commission of Public Debt, as an alternative solution. A similar effort could begin in Greece, with dozens of international known intellectuals, such like the American linguist Noam Chomsky, signing in favour. Nevertheless, the Greek ruling party (PASOK) refuses to implement such a plan, while its leadership constantly has threatened with expulsion members who are against the IMF memorandum.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interview of Aris Hatzistefanou & Katerina Kitidi (as posted on owni.eu)

How has Debtocracy been received so far?

We had more than half a million views in less than a week, and are now reaching 700,000 views. Despite its success, the Greek media did not report a single word on it. When they saw that we had half a million views, they could not pretend it didn’t exist – some newspapers started to attack and discredit the documentary. So far not one TV Channel has mentioned Debtocracy, not even negatively. The day mainstream TV channels talk about us will be the last step towards victory.

In a nutshell, what is Debtocracy about?

The journalists: Katerina Kitidi and Aris Hatzistefanou. It should be mentioned also that Hatzistefanou was presenting the counter-information broadcast called "Infowar", every Sunday on the Greek Radio Station, Sky 100.3 (Athens). The journalist was among the few who refused to sign wage cuts and for that reason he was fired. However, his broadcast stopped just a few weeks after announcing the release of Debtocracy. There are many similar examples of censored activists in Greece.

We argue that the current situation is part of a world-wide economic problem, as well as a eurozone issue. Because the eurozone is divided into the core and periphery, we are condemned to suffer from losses of competitiveness in the global economy, and we cannot devalue our currency.

What happened cannot be all blamed on the “PIIGS”- as they call us – although we have our share of the blame. The problem is that Greece created a welfare state without taxing more companies. So the deficit increased. We also have a problem of corruption, but those are details. Even if all politicians were put in prison, the crisis would remain unsolved.

We also argue Germany is not a model to follow – they freezed salaries for a whole decade! That is not a sustainable model for all of Europe.

Some people claim your documentary is not balanced. How would you respond to these claims?

We never meant to be balanced, quite the opposite, since our counterparts had enough time and media space to put forward their views. And they are not balanced either.

Critics also argue Ecuador is not an accurate example, because it’s a developing country and has oil. But oil only represent 25% of their GDP. Besides, we have our own oil: tourism. You could take any country other than Ecuador, and people would still tell you that these are two different countries, even though we face a similar situation with a growing debt and a similar “solutions” put forward by the IMF. In the end, they are just trying to divert the discussion to avoid talking about the main topic of the movie: the need for an audit commission.

In your opinion, what should Greece do now?

It’s clear that Greece cannot repay its debt – whether legally or not, regardless of the interest rate. 350 billions dollars doesn’t just grow on trees (and ironically, the market was the first to reach that conclusion). The government keeps on saying they will find the money, but the market is not stupid. The bailout plan designed by the European Union and the IMF was not about rescuing Greece – it was about saving the German and French banks which would collapse if Greece went bankrupt.

So our point of view is that we should not expect anything from them. It will be too late if we wait for them to take the necessary measures. We need to find the solutions ourselves and create initiatives.

Considering that, first we have to carry out the debt audit in order to distinguish what is legal or illegal. There are indications that a huge amount of our sovereign debt is pernicious or illegal. But only an audit commission could determine and prove this. This is why we completely support this proposal. However, it should be driven democratically and transparently, and not by parliamentarians.

We are more radical than others advancing this proposal, because we think we should stop paying the debt, exit the eurozone, and nationalize the banking system. That is not something easy to get support for as it may seem too radical – but even some politicians and economists from the center are beginning to consider it.

Nationalizing the banks may sound like a communist idea but the problem is so serious and we have to protect the country. If we exit the eurozone the banking system will most likely collapse, and thus we have to protect it from a capital flight out of the country.

Are you linked to other initiatives of this type in Europe?

We were contacted by a number of groups and were asked to put subtitles on our film. At the moment, we are working on releasing it in several languages. We’re not collaborating with anyone per se, but we’ve released everything under a creative commons license (so that anyone can use our footage).

How do you envision the future of Greece?

Last year there was a lot of unrest against the bailout of the country, but Greek citizens are too disheartened now. In the past ten years, the opposition hasn’t come up with a decent proposal that could muster popular support. Some people believe that the unrest was appeased when the EU introduced interest rates in the bailout package. But I feel it is still growing underneath our feet. And it may be revived at any time.

It’s worth noticing that no political party has control over the protest movements, and no one is able to provide guidance to these feelings. So I’m afraid it will probably erupt suddenly and in a violent way, even though we cannot predict when and why.

What’s next for Debtocracy?

As people were donating money, even once we collected enough funds for the movie, we decided to create a special account for them to deposit their donations, which we will return if we don’t come up with a detailed and transparent project within the next six months.

We didn’t expect such a success with so little means. It wasn’t easy, but we have proved to ourselves that big things can be done with few resources – especially when you have the support of talented people.

The Internet helped us a lot, but we can now see its limits. Though our documentary was viewed by nearly one million people, we must still reach an audience that lacks an internet connection, especially outside of Athens. We plan to distribute DVDs and organize projections in theaters and cinemas.With the Internet alone, our approach would end up being elitist.

We definitely want to go further, and address the taboos the Greek mainstream media dare not to report. If people don’t take part in the production and release of information, they’ll never find someone within big media corporations willing to speak on their behalf.

Director / Writer: Katerina Kitidi, Aris Hadjistefanou
Editor: Leonidas Vatikiotis
Illustration / Animation: Magda Plevraki, BitsnBytes
Music: Giannis Angelakas
Editor: Aris Triantafillou
Video: Thanassis Bag, Julia Reinecke
Cinematography: Aris Hadjistefanou
Contributors: Michael Alimani, Angeliki Gaidatzi, Fanny Gaidatzi, Julia killer, Margarita Tsomou
Producer: Costas Efimeros
2011 – BitsnBytes.gr

source: Deptocracy.gr

Big Audio Dynamite - No. 10, Upping St. (1986) (@320)

2011-05-20T23:36:00.002+02:00

There is a strange feeling, like meeting old friends of yours that you haven’t seen for quite a while, when a reunion of a beloved group takes place; this was indeed the case with B.A.D. Mick Jones’ and his clan’s delightful cross-genre hybrid was the reason that I (among many with a strict UK punk background) started enriching my collection with funk and dance essentials. Finally, since it was impossible for me to be present to one of their reunion concerts, I need to express my envy for those lucky bastards who were.

review link: here

download link: here

Various Artists - Workers Unite! (@320)

2011-05-05T23:59:00.005+02:00

I had an extremely heavy occupational load during the last month so it was impossible to follow the more or less standard weekly updates. As a result, I missed the May Day update, which has turned into a tradition in this blog. Last year it was a compilation that was dealing with Joe Hill, while two years ago it was the compilation Songs of the Industrial Workers of the World. There was of course the first May Day post of this blog, which although it didn’t offer any sound files for downloading, it did offer very interesting articles about the history and the significance of the day. So, in order not to destroy such a tradition, I decided to upload, even with some days of delay, a home-made compilation with songs dealing strictly with labour issues. Unions, unemployment, strikes, tedious jobs, unfair wages, workers’ dignity vs. bosses' greediness are all subjects of (at least to my opinion) an extremely powerful array of songs.
This year we have to honour the public workers of Wisconsin, who, against all odds, are fighting against an unfair, dramatic cut back of their rights and wages. Mr. Scott Walker, the man behind the idea of the cut backs, is one more link in the long chain of governors who realised the power of the people extremely late and only when he decided to stand against them. During the demonstrations, new songs have been added to the marvellous labour songbook; Dropkick Murphys’ Take' Em Down, which has become the anthem of the strikers of Wisconsin and IfIhadahifi’s (a name reminiscent of the classic If I Had A Hammer) brilliant Imperial Walker. The latter can be bought online and all proceeds will go (copying from their page) "to Russ Feingold's new Progressives United PAC. Progressives United was formed to take on the ever-growing influence of corporate America in our political process, as further empowered by the Supreme Court's erroneous "Citizens United" decision. Nowhere in the country right now is that influence felt more dramatically than in Wisconsin, where the Koch Brothers currently work in tandem with Governor Scott Walker to bust public sector unions." I do hope that all of you who will download this compilation will go just right after to buy the Imperial Walker.

01-Judy Collins - Bread & Roses (wiki)
02-Kinks - Dead End Street (wiki, lyrics)
03-White Stripes - The Big Three Killed My Baby (wiki, lyrics)
04-Bob Dylan - Maggie's Farm (wiki, lyrics)
05-Kinsgston Trio - M.T.A. (wiki, lyrics)
06-Billy Bragg - There Is Power In A Union (lyrics)
07-Dead Kennedys - Take This Job And Shove It (lyrics)
08-Bob Smith's Ideal Band - The Red Flag (wiki)
09-Ewan Mac Coll acc Peggy Seeger - Fourpence A Day (lyrics)
10-Enemy - Away From Here (lyrics)
11-Almanac Singers - Which Side Are You On (wiki, lyrics)
12-Steeleye Span - Blackleg Miner (wiki, lyrics)
13-R.E.M. - Finest Worksong (lyrics)
14-The Nightwatchman - Union Song (lyrics)
15-Chelsea - Right To Work (lyrics)
16-Almanac Singers - Union Maid (wiki, lyrics)
17-Mekons - Abernant 1984-5 (wiki, lyrics)
18-Ewan Mac Coll acc Peggy Seeger - The Coal-Owner And The Pitman's Wife (lyrics)
19-Bruce Springsteen - Johnny 99 (wiki, lyrics)
20-Dick Gaughan - Worker's Song (lyrics)
21-Clash - Career Opportunities (wiki, lyrics)
22-Housemartins - Me And The Farmer (lyrics)
23-Chumbawamba - Coal Not Dole (wiki, lyrics)
24-John Lennon - Working Class Hero (wiki, lyrics)
25-Almanac Singers - Talking Union (lyrics)
26-Bruce Springsteen - John Henry (lyrics)
27-Gene Autry - The Death Of Mother Jones (wiki, lyrics)
28-Woody Guthrie - Going Down The Road Feeling Bad (lyrics)
29-Agathonas Iakovidis & Katerina Tsiridou - Fabrikes (lyrics)
30-Pete Seeger - Solidarity Forever (wiki, lyrics)

Hope you equally enjoy it and be inspired by this; I also hope to get your suggestions for next year’s May Day, for which I'll try to post on time :)

download link: here

PS I just realised that the Dropkick Murphys have covered M.T.A., Which Side Are You On and Worker's Song from the above list. Well done Murphys...

OST - Natural Born Killers (1994) (@320)

2011-04-03T17:44:00.003+02:00

I felt very happy that Trent Reznor, a hero of my late-teens, won the Oscar (along with Atticus Ross) for the original score of Social Network. It was very bizarre though, to see his brutal presence striving to fit in a tuxedo.
Today's upload is the soundtrack of Natural Born Killers which was produced and compiled by Reznor back in 1994. His stunning work though, deserved to be heard in a much better film since I still consider N.B.K. as one of the worst movies ever. Totally appalling, morally questionable (to say the least) was the result of the combination of Oliver Stone's immoderate ambition, shallow swank, strong belief of self-importance, confused ethics and artistic mumbo jumbo, it easily wins the title of the utter nonsense. After all I can't think of another movie which I rate with zero, where its soundtrack takes ten out of ten!

Tracklisting:
01-Leonard Cohen - Waiting For The Miracle (edit)
02-L7 - Shitlist
03-Dan Zanes - Moon Over Greene County (edit)
04-Patti Smith - Rock 'N' Roll Nigger (Flood remix)
05-Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane (edit)
06-Bob Dylan - You Belong To Me
07-Duane Eddy - The Trembler (edit)
08-Nine Inche Nails - Burn
09-BB Tone Brian Berdan feat. Robert Downey Jr. - Route 666
10-Remmy Ongala & Orchestre Super Matimila - Totally Hot
11-Patsy Cline - Back In Baby's Arms
12-Peter Gabriel and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Taboo (edit)
13-Jane's Addiction and Diamanda Galas (based on 'Ted, Just Admit It...') - Sex Is Violent
14-A.O.S. - History Repeats Itself (edit)
15-Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have (edited and extended)
16-Russell Means - I Will Take You Home
17-The Hollywood Persuaders - Drums A Go-Go (edit)
18-Barry Adamson - Hungry Ants
19-Dr. Dre - The Day The Niggaz Took Over
20-Juliette Lewis - Born Bad
21-Sergio Cervetti - Fall Of The Rebel Angels (edit)
22-Lard - Forkboy
23-Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra - Batonga In Batongaville (edit)
24-Nine Inch Nails - A Warm Place (edit)
25-Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Allah, Mohammed, Char, Yaar
26-Leonard Cohen - The Future (edit)
27-Tha Dogg Pound - What Would U Do

review link: here

download link: here

OST - When The Wind Blows (1986) (@320)

2011-03-25T19:59:00.001+02:00

The whole world was holding its breath during the previous weeks; the nuclear threat in Japan was extremely serious. Fortunately, it seems that the worst have passed (?). What remains though, is that even in a totally organised country such as Japan a nuclear disaster can indeed take place. It is evident now that all these voices that and were deliberately downgraded all these years by the mainstream media for being "excessive screams from youngster with dreadlocks" were right, since it is the second time after 1986 that the "youngsters with dreadlocks" prove to be right: Nuclear energy cannot be used without a huge amount of risk. Even the strongest argument of those who insist in nuclear energy (all in all the same neo-liberals who run the markets and for whom "profit" being the one and only buzzword in their minds) is that the produced energy by the nuclear plants is cheap. Probably... in the short term. But if someone calculates in the produced energy's unit production cost (a) the cost of decommissioning of the nuclear power plants, who have a 30-year life, (b) the cost of abnormal situations such as in Chernobyl and Fukushima and (c) the cost for the safe disposal of the nuclear waste, the nuclear energy will become pretty expensive. I do not calculate of course the large number of human lives that each accident costs; the devastating ongoing effects of every nuclear accident on the health of some hundreds of thousands people is only an insignificant "detail" for the neo-liberals.

Today's upload is the soundtrack of When The Wind Blows, a strong animation film that presents the progressive physical effects of a nuclear assault on an old couple. The soundtrack's first side contains tracks from David Bowie, Hugh Cornwell, Genesis, the Squeeze and Paul Hardcastle, while side B contains music composed by Roger Waters.

You can also watch the whole movie here.

info link: here

download link: here

Nikos Xidakis & Manolis Rasoulis - I Ekdikisi Tis Gyftias (1978) (@320)

2011-03-25T19:58:00.001+02:00

Manolis Rasoulis, a unique Greek lyricist, passed away recently. A deliberate outcast, he always expressed himself in a direct and at the same time poetic (but not in its cheap form) way, he paved a new way for the Greek folk by handling a new ethos and meaning to it.
Today's upload, gives the chance to the 90% of the visitors of this blog (i.e. to the visitors outside Greece) to discover one of the best samples of Greek music, far away from the horrible, cheesy touristic covers of Zorba. As for the remaining 10%, a replay of this album will make us realise that Rasoulis is irreplaceable. Enjoy.

Further reading: Rasoulis official site: here

Further viewing: A documentary for Rasoulis from the Greek TV archives: here

download link: here

Various - A Tribute to John Barry (@320)

2011-03-13T01:33:00.001+02:00

Although in a totally different genre from Gary Moore, John Barry's death was another great loss for music within just a few days; film music is now extremely poorer without him. It is difficult to think of the classic James Bond films without his music and the same applies to Midnight Cowboy, Dances With Wolves to name just a few of the many films for which his music earned them a higher ranking. The home-made compilation uploaded here offers some of his first hits (from 1960) with which he and his group had success in the UK, some of the most characteristic scores from the body of his work including of course most of the great songs he wrote for the Bond films as well as pieces from the three of the four scores for which he won the Oscar. An interesting trivia is that the famous James Bond Theme, although played by John Barry & his Orchestra, officially, it is not a track that Barry composed since the credited composer is Monty Norman.

Tracklisting:
01-John Barry Seven - Hit And Miss (1960)
02-John Barry Seven - Walk Don't Run (1960)
03-John Barry Orchestra - Beat For Beatniks (1960)
04-John Barry Orchestra - The James Bond Theme (1962)
05-Matt Monro - From Russia With Love (1963)
06-John Barry Orchestra - 007 (1963)
07-Shirley Bassey - Goldfinger (1964)
08-Tom Jones - Thunderball (1965)
09-John Barry - The Ipcress File (1965)
10-John Barry - The Knack (1965)
11-John Barry - Wednesday's Child (1966)
12-Matt Monro - Born Free (1966)
13-John Barry - The Girl With The Sun In Her Hair (1967)
14-Nancy Sinatra - You Only Live Twice (1967)
15-John Barry - Midnight Cowboy (1969)
16-Louis Armstrong - We Have All The Time In The World (1969)
17-John Barry - The Persuaders Theme (1971)
18-Shirley Bassey - Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
19-Lulu - The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)
20-Shirley Bassey - Moonraker (1979)
21-John Barry - Out of Africa (I Had A Farm In Africa) (1985)
22-John Barry - The John Dunbar Theme (1990)

download link: here

Gary Moore - Wild Frontier (1987) (@320)

2011-03-03T00:09:00.001+02:00

Late as always, this is the post dedicated to Gary Moore, one of the best guitarists of his generation.
I know that some of you will disagree with the selection of Wild Frontier, but as it is one of the first records I bought, I tend to judge it more sentimentally than anything else. Moreover, the beautifully presented Irish-trad influences, apparent throughout the album, make me forgive the other weaknesses. Finally, the dedication "For Philip", seen on the lower right of the rear cover, gives to the album an eerie feeling now that Gary and Phil Lynott jam together.

Real also: Metallica's Kirk Hammett remembers Gary Moore

album info link: here

download link: here

Various - Yalla: Hitlist Egypt (@320)

2011-02-12T21:39:00.000+02:00

The Egyptians struggled and managed to get rid of their PM. It's always the same story. No matter how strong an oppressive regime is, the common people, sooner or later, find the strength to oppose it. So, within a short period, after the Tunisians, this is the second successive uprising in the Mediterranean. Hoping the next uprising will soon come from the people of a nation from the northern part of the Mediterranean, we celebrate the Egyptians' victory with an enjoyable compilation of the contemporary music scene of Egypt, released by Mango, a subsidiary of Island records in 1990.

review link: here

download link: here

Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts (@320)

2011-02-08T16:54:00.004+02:00

Last year it was the Vampire Weekend (read here for the relevant post) that reached the no1 of the US album chart, this year it's the Decemberists. When a group that I like of the so-called indie finally finds its way to bigger audiences without selling out, I always feel it as a small victory. Moreover, I notice many such small victories during the last weeks. Mumford & Sons entered the top10 and remain there from Jan, 15 (!), the Cake (!) were no1 before the Decemberists and Amos Lee (!) after them, while Iron and Wine (!!) is at no2 this week. The cherry on the cake was of course the Social Distortion's (!!!) first top 10 ever; it's for sure that Mike Ness would never expect this after almost three decades from his group's first release. Unfortunately though a fact that cannot be overlooked is that the album sales show a constant decline (check here for some very interesting figures).
In order to celebrate this fantastic array of albums at the top 10 of the US album chart, I upload the Decemberists' brilliant first album from 2002.

review link: here

download link: here (link removed due to a relevant request :-((

Asian Dub Foundation - Keep Bangin' On The Walls (@320)

2011-02-02T17:09:00.001+02:00

FORTRESS EUROPE
Keep bangin' on the wall
Keep bangin' on the wall
of Fortress Europe!

2022 -A new European order
Robot guards patrolling the border
Cybernetic dogs are getting closer and closer
Armoured cars and immigration officers
A burning village in Kosovo
You bombed it out now you're telling us go home
Machine guns strut on the cliffs of Dover
Heads down people look out! we're going over
Burnin up! can we survive re-entry
Past the mines and the cybernetic sentries
Safe european homes built on wars
You don't like the effect don't produce the cause
The chip is in your head not on my shoulder
Total control just around the corner
Open up the floodgates Time's nearly up
Keep banging on the wall of Fortress Europe

Keep banging
Keep banging on the wall of Fortress Europe
We got a right , know the situation
We're the children of globalisation
No borders only true connection
Light the fuse of the insurrection
This generation has no nation
Grass roots pressure the only solution
We're sitting tight
Cos assylum is a right
Put an end to this confusion
Dis is a 21st century Exodus
Dis is a 21st century Exodus

Burnin' up can we survive re-entry
Past the landmines and cybernetic sentries
Plane, train, car , ferry boat or bus
The future is bleeding coming back at us
The chip is in your head not on my shoulder
Total control around the corner
Open up the floodgates Time's nearly up
Keep banging on the wall of Fortress Europe

Keep banging
Keep banging on the wall of Fortress Europe
This is a 21st century Exodus
This is a 21st century Exodus

They got a right - listen not to the scaremonger
Who doesn't run when they're feel the hunger
From where to what to when to here to there
People caught up in red tape nightmare
Break out of the detention centres
Cut the wires and tear up the vouchers
People get ready it's time to wake up
Tear down the walls of Fortress Europe

We read that a new Greece - Turkish border fence will be constructed to keep away the immigrants from Greece. This is the second such fence across the EU borders after the ones constructed in Ceuta and Melilla, in the Spanish-Moroccan borders. We can't forget of course the similar purposed fence across the US-Mexican borders. But as indictos, one of my favourite Greek bloggers, has written, "it's behind the fences that the serpent's egg hatches and grows immensely".

Furter reading: Melilla: Europe's dirty secret (Guardian)
Further viewing: Eden Is West

review link: here

download link: here

Spade Cooley - Swingin' The Devil's Dream (@320)

2011-01-25T14:50:00.002+02:00

It was today that I read the nominations for this year's Golden Raspberry Awards and noticed that Jessica Alba is nominated for four (!) films; The Killer Inside Me, Little Fockers, Machete and Valentine's Day . Well done Jessica, wish you go for more next year.
Jessica's success, made me remember The Killer Inside Me, the only of the four movies that I've watched. An interesting, yet very disturbing film with an even bigger disturbing parallelism. Spade Cooley, whose music is heard in the film, murdered his wife, just like Casey Affleck did with Alba in the film. Cooley's music though, remains an essential chapter in country music, thus gaining him the title of the King of Western Swing.

download link: here

Update: A nice post for the same subject by my fellow blogger Barrie.

ΠΑΓΚΑΛΟΣ

2011-01-10T18:45:00.002+02:00

Various - Tziganes: Paris/ Berlin/ Budapest/ 1910-1935 (@320)

2011-01-09T14:58:00.002+02:00

The Roma expulsions and the demolition of their camps that Sarkozy has ordered was the event that shocked me the most during my months of absence. Such treatment shows the real brutal face of the "civilised" west and brings us appalling memories of the Nazi pogroms. And, yes, it is a round-up, even if they want to hide behind more elegant words only to hide their fascism.

Today's upload is a rewarding release which presents pre WWII gypsy violin-led orchestras before the massive Nazi wipe out.

download link (cd1): here
download link (cd2): here

Various - 100 Club Punk Special (Sep. 20, 1976)

2011-01-02T18:44:00.008+02:00

100 Club, a London venue of great importance is under a closure threat. The story emerged in September, but I couldn't help to write about it even if I am very late. A relevant campaign is running.

Although its history as a venue starts from the 40's its focal point was in the late 70's where many of the groups of UK punk found a place to play. Most importantly, on 20 and 21 September 1976 the 100 Club Punk Special took place there, an event with which punk entered the limelight.

The line-up was:
Monday, 20 September
Sex Pistols
The Clash
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Subway Sect
Tuesday, 21 September
Buzzcocks
The Damned
Chris Spedding & The Vibrators
Stinky Toys

Siouxsie, Michelle and Steve Severin at the front of the queue, the 100 Club, 20 September, 1976

Jon Savage writes in "England's Dreaming" (p.217,218): "'Always announce your music in the most theatrical manner possible' McLaren wrote in a retroactive manifesto. He was preparing his final media assault; the movement was to be born by caesarian if necessary. The idea of a festival was good: if it could be done at CBGBs or Mont de Marsan, then he would make the English festival the way to secure England's lead. The 'Punk Rock Festival' was the climax of his campaign to woo the record companies." (...) 'Its was a good idea of Malcolm's,' says Simon Barker, 'because it gave the media the idea that Punk Rock was big enough to have a festival. Really it was just a couple of nuts down at the 100 Club, but people still go there just to see the place. It's like some Mecca.'(...) 'That first afternoon, when people were first putting down their gear and sound checking,' say John Ingham, 'Ron Watts was saying that there were going to be hundreds of people down that night and the place would be packed. People told him he was out of his mind, but he went out, came back and said there were about five hundred people outside. This was the first time I'd seen a Punk I didn't know in the street.'"

Tracklisting:
01-Siouxsie & the Banshees - The Lords Prayer
02-Clash - White Riot
03-Clash - London's Burning
04-Clash - I'm So Bored With The USA
05-Clash - How Can I Understand The Flies
06-Clash - Protex Blue
07-Clash - Deadly Serious
08-Clash - Deny
09-Clash - 48 Hours
10-Clash - What's My Name
11-Clash - Janie Jones
12-Clash - 1977
13-Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK
14-Sex Pistols - I Wanna Be Me
15-Sex Pistols - Seventeen
16-Sex Pistols - New York
17-Sex Pistols - No Lips
18-Sex Pistols - Submission
19-Sex Pistols - Liar
20-Sex Pistols - No Feelings
21-Sex Pistols - Substitute
22-Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant
23-Sex Pistols - Problems
24-Sex Pistols - No Fun (cut)

download link (part1): here (link removed due to a relevant request) :-(
download link (part2): here (link removed due to a relevant request) :-(

Various - It's a Cool Cool Christmas (2000) (@320)

2010-12-25T07:28:00.002+02:00

Hello, again. In a rather bleak Christmas day, which is also the 4th birthday of this blog, I wish you all happy holidays. Although many things have changed since my last upload, during my six months of absence I often found myself thinking about this blog. I kept notes about some of the news that would "deserve" a post here and I tend to give it a try to cover the gap for some of them.
PS Thanks for the comments during my hiatus.

Tracklisting:
1 Grandaddy - Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland
2 Dandy Warhols - The Little Drummer Boy
3 Webb Brothers - Everyday Is Christmas
4 Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas
5 El Vez - Feliz Navi-Nada
6 Morgan - Christmas in Waikiki
7 Drugstore - Maybe at Christmas Time
8 Belle & Sebastian - O Come, O Come Emmanuel
9 Giant Sand - Thank You Dreaded Black Ice, Thank You
10 Flaming Lips - White Christmas [Demo for Tom Waits]
11 Saint Etienne - My Christmas Prayer
12 Departure Lounge - Christmas Downer
13 Six By Seven - I Believe in Father Christmas
14 Snow Patrol - When I Get Home for Christmas
15 Spiritual Guidance - Titan
16 Big Boss Man - Christmas Boogaloo
17 Teenage Fanclub - Christmas Eve
18 Calexico - Gift X-Change
19 Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Hwiangerdd Mair
20 Low - Just Like Christmas
21 Laverne - In the Bleak Midwinter

review link: here

download link: here

On temporary hiatus

2010-09-26T08:30:00.002+02:00

Some issues keep me from blogging, but I'll return soon; that's a promise (or a threat?)

OST - Colors (1988) (@320)

2010-07-10T10:20:00.000+02:00

Late as always, this is the dedication post for Dennis Hopper. An actor/director that although his career went through much turbulence, he gave us some tremendous roles for which he has attained a huge cult status. Naturally, most of the references about him were for the Easy Rider, for which he was also the director, so I thought that it would be too obvious to upload its soundtrack. Colors, although of course not reaching the importance of Easy Rider, was a very good effort to depict the gang life in South Central Los Angeles. As a result, its soundtrack is full of rap standards of the time.

Tracklisting:
A1-Ice-T - Colors
A2-Decadent Dub Team - Six Gun (44 Mag. Mix)
A3-Salt-N-Pepa - Let The Rhythm Run
A4-Big Daddy Kane - Raw
A5-Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full (Cold Cut Remix)
B1-Kool G Rap - Butcher Shop
B2-7A3 - Mad, Mad World
B3-Roxanne Shante - Go On Girl
B4-MC Shan - A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
B5-Rick James - Everywhere I Go (Colors)

review link: here

download link: here

Various Artists - Rock 80's Vol.1 (@320)

2010-07-04T22:23:00.003+02:00

The previous post was the first one in Greek, after a long, long time. It was a matter between Greeks but, after all, I thought that it should be also delivered in English since it is also a matter that reflects the treatment that the contemporary politicians, led solely by financial figures, hold for cultural issues.
The Greek Ministry of Internal Affairs, under an attempt to lower the running costs of the Greek Broadcasting Corporation ("ERT"), decided that all its producers must pass exams in order to be re-hired. All employees would stop on July 1st, while nobody knows either when the exams will take place, or when (and how many of) the producers will be rehired. Under this situation Giannis Petridis a famous radio dj had announced that he would stop his radio program on July, 1. Petridis is the owner of one of the largest record collections in the world and among the members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who vote for the annual inductions. He is often mentioned as "the Greek John Peel". His legendary radio program that takes place from 4.00 to 5.00 pm, aptly named "From 4 till 5" has been run by him and his collaborator Kostas Zougris from 1975, in the same radio frequency, at the same hour, making it one of the (if not the) longest running radio programs in the world. During all these years, he has developed a hardcore base of devoted listeners (one of whom is me) to whom he granted his love for music. Since his motto is "There aren't good or bad kinds of music, there is only good or bad music", you can easily understand that the variety of the music played in his program is enormous. The best thing though is that for whatever song is played, there is always a reason; it's not the kind of radio programs with songs played the one after the other just for the sake of it. Under the aforementioned circumstances, and although the treatment on him is totally unrespectable, he announced that he and Zougris will continue their broadcast without being paid until a solution is found!!!
Since Petridis is known among artists, many of them have shown interest on the case; here are some of their statements:

Carla Torgeson (Walkabouts)
"Greetings! I understand that Giannis Petridis was the first DJ in Greece to play The Walkabouts on the air! That had to be at least 20 years ago meaning that you, Giannis have been in the music industry for a long time and I tip my hat off to you! You have brought such pleasure undoubtedly to many, many people. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! love, Carla"

Andy Gill (Gang of Four) - also producer for Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Stranglers, The Futureheads, Michael Hutchence, Therapy? etc.
"A brilliant DJ. We are grateful for promoting Gang of Four in Greece

Lester Square (Monochrome Set)
"It is a sad and inevitable example of the Peter principle (now to be renamed 'Petridis principle'?) when those at the top become divorced from the real and become elevated to a point where they cannot distinguish between map and territory, or spot a rhizomatous zeitgeist from so high on the greasy pole. Just as the world, tiring of the accepted, the homogenous and anodyne, takes a step forward in re-evaluating the limits imposed by the corporate canon, the ERT suits take two steps back. Talent and experience will out though. The grass roots will find a niche for experience and expertise. Petridis will prevail."

Martyn Bates (Eyeless in Gaza)
"Here in the U.K. we know you as the 'Greek John Peel'. I really hope that this is 'ok' for you to be described this way - because John Peel was very very well loved for his fantastic radio presence, and for all the amazing music that he introduced to generations on the airwaves. Mr Petridis - you ARE indeed like this, and I say 'SAVE GIANNIS'!! SAVE GIANNIS' - we need people like you now more than ever..."

Hugo Race (ex member of the Bad Seeds)
"Dark times indeed. Corporate music eliminates the best boundary-pushing djs from the airwaves, world-wide. The absence of real music content is the issue! Free the airwaves..."

Sean Price (owner of Fortuna Pop Records)
"This sounds like another example of a government trying to save a little money without understanding the value of what they are getting rid of. It's the same thing here in the UK with the radio station BBC 6music. Good luck with your fight, what you're doing is important. If we lose people who genuinely care about music in radio then the major labels and bland music win."

Today's upload is one of the many brilliant releases that Petridis compiled. Do not object on the title regarding the release year of some of the songs; it's obviously a compilation that attempts to depict the post-punk scene along with some bits of the UK punk of the late 70's. Its first release was at the beginning of the 80's and some years before it was reissued for the first time in cd format.
Tracklisting:
cd1
01-Devo - The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprise
02-The Records - Starry Eyes
03-XTC - Making Plans For Nigel
04-Skids - Working For The Yankee Dollar
05-The Flying Lizards - Money
06-Human League - Empire State Human
07-Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Electricity
08-Martha & The Muffins - Echo Beach
09-Motors - Love And Loneliness
10-Ruts - Babylon's Burning
11-Killing Joke - Wardance
12-Ultravox - All Stood Still
13-Gang Of Four - I Love A Man In Uniform
14-Spandau Ballet - To Cut A Long Story Short
15-The Vapors - Turning Japanese
16-The Stranglers - (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
17-The Buzzcocks - Orgasm Addict

cd2
01-Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay
02-Human League - Only After Dark
03-Martha And The Muffins - Saigon
04-Motors - Metropolis
05-Devo - Whip It
06-Skids - Goodbye Civilian
07-Public Image Ltd. - Theme
08-XTC - Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)
09-Records - Hearts In Her Eyes
10-Talk Talk - It's My Life
11-Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
12-Heaven 17 - Let Me Go
13-The Stranglers - Strange Little Girl
14-Wire - 1.2.X.U.
15-Penetration - Don't Dictate
16-Blondie - One Way Or Another
17-999 - Homicide

download link: here (for cd1 - reuped) and here (for cd2) (links removed)

PS You can also visit the Don't Stop Giannis Petridis show! facebook group.

ΠΕΤΡΙΔΗΣ

2010-06-22T23:13:00.005+02:00

Μα καλά, εκεί στην ΕΡΤ ληγμένα παίρνουν; Τον Πετρίδη θα διώξουν; Αυτοί οι τύποι πρέπει να καταλάβουν επιτέλους ότι οι άνθρωποι δεν είναι αριθμοί. Δεν είναι δυνατόν να αντιμετωπίζονται όλα τραβώντας γραμμές. Στην εποχή του μίξερ που ζούμε, ο πολύ σπάνιος συνδυασμός της σεμνότητας με την τεράστια γνώση, ενώ θα έπρεπε να χρησιμοποιείται ως οδηγός, πετιέται στα σκουπίδια. ΔΕΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΔΥΝΑΤΟΝ.
Προσωπικά, το αίσθημα που νιώθω είναι θυμός για το ότι έχουμε φτάσει στο σημείο να αποφασίζουν για εμάς οι απολίτιστοι/ άγαρμποι/ άσχετοι/ αστοιχείωτοι/ ανόητοι/ ανιστόρητοι/ αμόρφωτοι/ ανάξιοι/ ασεβείς/ μικροαστοί/ καρεκλοκένταυροι/ χαρτογιακάδες/ υπαλληλάκοι/ λογιστάκοι/ τεχνοκράτες του κώλου/ τεμπέληδες/ ερασιτέχνες/ ευτελείς/ πλούσιοι στην τσέπη/ φτωχοί στο μυαλό/φτωχοί στην καρδιά, που η προσφορά τους στον τόπο δεν είναι και δεν πρόκειται να γίνει ούτε το ένα εκατομμυριοστό αυτών που πρόσφερε και προσφέρει ο Πετρίδης και φυσικά μία απέραντη θλίψη. Θλίψη για τον άνθρωπο που μαζί του έχω περάσει απίστευτα πολλές ώρες έστω κι αν δεν με γνωρίζει, για τον άνθρωπο που σε μεγάλο βαθμό καθόρισε όχι μόνο τα μουσικά μου γούστα αλλά εν πολλοίς τον τρόπο που σκέφτομαι και αντιμετωπίζω τη ζωή.
ΥΓ1 Το ευχαριστώ σε τέτοιες περιπτώσεις αποδεικνύεται εξαιρετικά μικρό ως έννοια.
ΥΓ2 Ελπίζω οι "σοφοί" της ΕΡΤ έστω και την ύστατη ώρα να καταλάβουν το τεράστιο λάθος τους
ΥΓ3 Θα σας δω όλους στη συναυλία στο Gagarin
ΥΓ4 Εδώ και εδώ

10,000 Maniacs - In My Tribe (1987) (@320)

2010-06-19T10:47:00.001+02:00

Natalie Merchant released an album earlier this year that you simply cannot miss. The richness of her emotions and the honesty of her intentions are combined to give us a warm, witty and bold array of songs.
The uploaded album is the most successful one of her group, the 10,000 Maniacs. The music is a beautiful blend of subtle pop with elements of folk, while the social commentary of the lyrics is expressed in a not so apparent way yet making it more effective. Finally, the production of Peter Asher (one half of the duo Peter and Gordon and famous producer of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt among many others) should not be overlooked since it added decisive points to the final result.

review link: here

download link: here

Various - Stoned To The Bone - Songs The Rolling Stones Made Famous (@320)

2010-06-13T23:28:00.000+02:00

The Rolling Stones remain a fundamental ingredient for rock music and it's for sure that they will be among the very few groups and artists that will be mentioned when rock will die and will be a museum section and a topic for the researchers of the future. It's therefore a shame that for three and a half years that this blog exists, there hasn't been a single post dedicated to them. Better late than never I reckon. The return after 38 years of Exile On Main Street to the top of the UK album chart, as well as its runner-up position in the US album chart was an excellent opportunity for me in my attempt to make up my unexplainable omission.
I think (any comments that will prove the opposite are welcome) that the uploaded cd is the first in the long series of premiums that compiled tracks that influenced/were covered by the Stones. It's not a surprise that it came along with a 1997 issue of the Greek magazine Zoo that, believe it or not, could only be compared with the best moments of Mojo! The compilation itself is of course full of blues and early rock'n'roll standards, which comprised the solid ground on which the Stones built their career.

Tracklisting:
01-Muddy Waters - Rolling Stone
02-Howlin' Wolf - The Red Rooster
03-Muddy Waters - I Just Want To Make Love To You
04-Bo Diddley - I'm A Man
05-Muddy Waters - Look What You've Done
06-Tommy Tucker - Hi-Heel Sneakers
07-Dale Hawkins - Suzie Q
08-Bo Diddley - Mona
09-Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Not Fade Away
10-Bo Diddley - Crackin' Up
11-Muddy Waters - I Just Wanna Be Loved
12-Howlin' Wolf - Little Baby
13-Muddy Waters - I Can't Be Satisfied
14-Hank Snow - I'm Moving On
15-Chuck Berry - Come On
16-Chuck Berry - Round And Round
17-Chuck Berry - Bye Bye Johnny
18-Chuck Berry - Carol
19-Chuck Berry - You Can't Catch Me

download link: here

OST - Orfeu Negro (Antonio Carlos Jobim & Luiz Bonfa) (1959) (@320)

2010-06-05T13:53:00.003+02:00

My favourite album during the last month was Anais Mitchell's "Hadestown". A "folk opera" as she describes it, it modernises the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to put it in an America of hard times. Mitchell as Eurydice, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) as Orpheus and Ani DiFranco as Persephone are the most famous participants.
It is not the first time that the extremely influential myth is put in a different context from ancient Greece; the most famous is Orfeu Negro, a 1959 film directed by Marcel Camus that won the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival as well as the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The soundtrack of the film which is offered here, is the starting point of the spreading of bossa nova to western audiences. The music here comes with the movie's background noise which, in this particular case, in an add-on.

download link: here

OST - Mitte Ende August (Vic Chesnutt) (2009) (@320)

2010-06-02T22:13:00.004+02:00

After the tribute album for Vic Chestnutt, here's the music he wrote for a soundtrack.

download link: here

Various - Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation - The Songs of Vic Chesnutt (1996) (@320)

2010-06-02T22:00:00.004+02:00

This one is for Vic Chesnutt, for whom I mysteriously forgot to have a tribute.
A wide range of artists (from R.E.M. to Madonna...) offer to us covers of his songs.

review link: here

download link: here

Joy Division - Live in London, Nashville Rooms, Sep,22, 1979

2010-05-18T14:42:00.000+02:00

30 years without Ian Curtis. We still miss him...

download link: here

OST - Touch (Dave Grohl) (1997) (@320)

2010-05-17T22:08:00.001+02:00

I've promised David from the excellent blog Metal Bastard to give him a link for Dave Grohl's soundtrack of Touch. I was too late (sorry David), so he managed to find it elsewhere and gave us a brilliant and highly recommended Dave Grohl compilation. Since I've ripped and uploaded the cd, I though that it would be a pity not to offer it here as well. Enjoy!

review link: here

download link: here

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 4 Way Street (1971) (@320)

2010-05-16T10:33:00.008+02:00

It's been a shock reading in the news that the army of Thailand is shooting civilians. It's always the same case... Some arrogant governors, insisting to ignore the voice of the people, believe that by shooting some of the protestor, all mouths will shut. They soon realise that the shootings only make the voice of the people stronger.
It was exactly the same case, almost 40 years ago (on May, 4, 1970) that Nixon's army started shooting on the students of Kent State University, who were protesting against the Vietnam War. The tragic incident led to a flood of student demonstrations and strikes throughout the United States as well as to a 100,000 people demonstration in Washington D.C.

Neil Young wrote the song Ohio based on the Kent State shootings.

4 Way Street, which is uploaded here, contains the live version of Ohio.

info link: here

download link: here (part1) and here (part2)

PS For those interested, another brilliant recording of CSN&Y can be found in an older post, here

Greece (again)

2010-05-05T17:29:00.006+02:00

Well, many who follow this blog probably know that I'm from Greece. You know, that country where its citizens "are lazy, don't work, spend more that they can afford to, and after all, deserve the IMF driven extremely harsh austerity measures". I'm from that country where its citizens' rallies and demonstrations are "unexplainable, unreasonable and preposterous". Since I'm not very good at words, I quote an excellent article by the BBC journalist Kate Forbes, who got into deep and managed to find some (correct) answers to the whole situation.

The original article can be found here

"Angry Greeks 'carrying the can' for politicians

Like the sting of police tear gas, popular anger hangs heavy in the air as protesters take to the streets of Athens, for the third time in less than a week.

Some Europeans have been surprised by the extent of Greeks' anger over government cuts in wages, pensions and increases in VAT - all measures needed to get the Greek economy back from the brink of default.

The measures are a condition for the huge bailout agreed by the IMF and EU, amounting to loans to Greece worth 110bn euros (£95bn; $146bn).

Why are Greek people so angry? From the outside, it looks like a spendthrift country getting what it deserves in painful cuts to public spending.

At street level, however, the anger stems from a sense of injustice. Many feel that the average citizen is now paying the price for corruption and government spending that they did not benefit from.

A civil servant in the finance ministry spoke on condition of anonymity. "Greek people are willing to contribute and make sacrifices. The vast majority of people do want to contribute to ease the economic problems of our country," he said.

"But first of all they want to stop political corruption. So if we see the people responsible for this being brought to justice, we are really willing to pay and make sacrifices."

"In the past I've seen government offices or committees being set up which don't actually do anything. They are designed only to give important political supporters a wage. In the ministry we've highlighted these and said 'Really, don't do this! We can't afford it!' But no one listens."

"Also we knew for years in the ministry about the wrong figures being shown to the world about our GDP and our debt. We protested to our seniors but again no one would listen. We are very unhappy about it - taking to the streets is really our only option."

'Strangling business'

The mood on the street is bitter because of this sense that pensioners and public sector workers on some of the lowest wages in the European Union are paying for these so called "ghost workers" in government.

However, lots of those marching in Athens this past week have accepted the need for cuts.

Evyenea owns a ceramics shop in the tourist district of Placa.

"This mess started 30 years ago but the politicians are shoving the responsibility for their bad management [of finances] onto others who can't afford it," she says angrily.

"If they need to cut big salaries of civil servants of course do so, but to punish those on pensions by cutting them is really not fair."

"I'm worried about VAT increases because that's going to have a knock on effect on business as people will spend less. The Greeks have no money to spend so the smaller shops like mine are closing, and soon the only thing we'll have left is the multinationals."

Odysseas Roussos owns a jewellery shop just down the street. He feels that the cuts imposed are unfair.

"Those that have to pay don't have the means to pay," he says.

"And they are strangling small businesses. A lot of people with shops and businesses are finding that the trade has gone down by around 50%. I'm worried that with people earning even less they will spend less and there'll be a recession. My wife has already lost 3,000 euros a year from her salary, which is about a 20% cut."

"There's not much I can do about it - we could burn Athens down but that wouldn't be the solution."

'Tough on the kids'

Thrasyvo Paxinos, a teacher with three children, has seen his salary cut by 12% and he faces another cut in the next few months.

"We have cut back on luxuries of course, he said. Cigarettes, wine, cheese, using the car. Although maybe cutting back on cigarettes is a good thing!" he concedes.

"But it's also tough on the kids - we used to take them out at the weekend, to the zoo or whatever, but VAT increases with our pay cuts will mean we really won't be doing that so much anymore."

"I am willing to take a cut, because we all have to. But I'm feeling more and more angry every day, because those who got us into this mess are not held responsible. Their children aren't going to suffer because of this."

Most Greeks we spoke to acknowledged that sacrifices would have to be made, and some were in support of cuts.

But nearly all referred to lower paid workers "carrying the can" for decades of mismanagement and political corruption, and it is this sense of injustice which is propelling people out onto the streets."

updt: We all mourn for the loss of three innocent people.

Various - Don't Mourn-Organize! Songs Of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill (1990) (@320)

2010-05-01T23:55:00.002+02:00

It's May Day today. Like in the last year's relevant post, as well as the one from 2007, I feel obliged to honour the people who struggled for better working conditions for all of us. Unfortunately, during the last decade we all witnessed a harsh reduction of the working people's rights that leads us to loose one by one all the rights for which our ancestors fought for. At the same time, in my country, the leaders of the unions didn't rise to the occasion and let the clan of the bankers and the politicians to increase excessively their profits at the expense of all of us, while many of them have used their position to later become members of parliament! With the hope that a new form of struggle is shaping, I'm giving you an album about Joe Hill. Named after his famous last words, it consists of Hill songs performed by important interpreters and songs about Hill, again in historically important performances.

review link: here

download link: here

RAGE

2010-05-01T23:52:00.000+02:00

Cramps - Songs The Lord Taught Us (1980) (@320)

2010-04-24T13:02:00.000+02:00

This is the last post for Alex Chilton. As with the Gories, he was the man behind the console and obviously a key person in this historical album.

review link: here

download link: here

PS For those that found this post interesting there is also an older post with a Cramps bootleg.

The Gories - I Know You Fine, But How You Doin' (1990) (@320)

2010-04-19T22:48:00.001+02:00

This is an album that surely paved the way to the whole infamous Detroit scene of the 00's that is brilliantly captured, (among many others of course) in the compilation Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit, posted earlier in this blog. But, apart from the group members, it's for sure that Alex Chilton (as the producer) played a vital role to the creation of this primitive garage dynamite.
An interesting trivia, is that since the Gories included in their album a cover of the Suicide's "Ghostrider", the connection between the previous and this post is Alan Vega as well.

review link: here

download link: here

Alex Chilton, Ben Vaughn & Alan Vega - Cubist Blues redux (1996) (@320)

2010-04-17T23:38:00.000+02:00

This is the second post dedicated to Alex Chilton; here he is one third of an all-star line up.

review link: here

download link: here (studio) and here (live)

Big Star - A Compilation (@320)

2010-04-14T23:53:00.002+02:00

It's been some time since my latest post, but some occupational obligations kept me away from blogging. Now, I'm back for good with a home-made compilation of Big Star, who, although they never achieved stardom, proved extremely influential for many indie artists, including R.E.M and the Replacements. The compilation is based on a concert that was orginised to pay tribute to Alex Chilton who passed away recently. The concert took place at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, on March, 20, three days after Chilton's death. It was originally scheduled as a reunion show for Big Star, but Chilton's tragic absence from the group's line-up led it to become a tribute show to his memory with the participation of artists such as M Ward, Mike Mills, Kurt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets), Evan Dando, Chuck Prophet and The Watson Twins, among others. The setlist of that night (minus the Chris Bell song "I Am The Cosmos") was followed to create this decent Big Star compilation.

Check also:
Spin's tribute to Alex Chilton
Guardian's obituary
Paul Westerberg's article in the New York Times for Alex Chilton
Alan McGee's article in Guardian for Alex Chilton

Tracklisting:
Back Of A Car (from Radio City, 1974)
Don’t Lie To Me (from #1 Record, 1972)
In The Street (from #1 Record, 1972)
When My Baby’s Beside Me (from #1 Record, 1972)
Big Black Car (from Third/Sister Lovers, 1978)
Way Out West (from Radio City, 1974)
Daisy Glaze (from Radio City, 1974)
Jesus Christ (from Third/Sister Lovers, 1978)
For You (from Third/Sister Lovers, 1978)
I’m In Love With A Girl (from Radio City, 1974)
Ballad of El Goodo (from #1 Record, 1972)
Thirteen (from #1 Record, 1972)
Feel (from #1 Record, 1972)
Thank You Friends (from Third/Sister Lovers, 1978)
Night Time (from Third/Sister Lovers, 1978)
Try Again (from #1 Record, 1972)
September Gurls (from Radio City, 1974)

Three more posts will be dedicated to Alex Chilton. Stay tuned.

download link: here

Teddy Pendergrass - A compilation (flac & 320kbps mp3)

2010-03-27T12:00:00.000+02:00

Teddy Pendergrass, a beloved figure of the Philly sound died at the age of 59. The upload (offered for the first time in this blog in the lossless format flac and in the best possible mp3 quality (320 kbps)) offers an enjoyable (for me at least) mix of songs with lavish instrumentation and the forceful, baritone, erotic but never explicit, equally gruff and silky voice of Pendergrass.

Tracklisting:
01-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - I Miss You
02-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - If You Don't Know Me By Now
03-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - The Love I Lost
04-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - Where Are All My Friends
05-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - Bad Luck
06-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - Hope That We Can Be Together Soon
07-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - Wake Up Everybody
08-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - Don't Leave Me This Way
09-Teddy Pendergrass - I Don't Love You Anymore
10-Teddy Pendergrass - Close The Door
11-Teddy Pendergrass - Love T.K.O

download link
mp3 320 kbps: here
flac: part1 here and part2 here

Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Dancer with Bruised Knees (1977) (@256)

2010-03-25T21:09:00.002+02:00

Today, we pay tribute to Kate McGarrigle who left us recently. Along with her sister Anna, they gave us a series of stunning melodies where their voices seemed to be coming from a chorus of angels.
Kate was the mother of Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright from her marriage to Loudon Wainwright III.

Read also the New York Times obituary

review link: here

download link: here

For those interested the sisters' first release has been one of the early posts of this blog and can be found here. Loudon's release of the same year was the subject of the consequent post and can be found here.

Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain (1974) (@256)

2010-03-25T00:58:00.001+02:00

This upload is dedicated to Willie Mitchell, who passed away recently. His contribution to the evolvement of soul music, through a bunch of releases for Hi Records is enormous. By establishing a house band of extremely talented musicians, he managed to create a unique sound which is easily recognisable in his productions for Al Green, Ann Peebles and Syl Johnson, among others. "It’s the laziness of the rhythm. You hear those old lazy horns half a beat behind the music, and you think they’re gonna miss it, and all of a sudden, just so lazy, they come in and start to sway with it. It’s like kind of shucking you, putting you on." That's the way he beautifully defined it in Peter Guralnick’s book "Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom".

Read also the New York Times obituary

review link: here

download link: here

Steeleye Span - Hark! The Village Wait (1970) (@256)

2010-03-19T11:53:00.000+02:00

Next posts will pay tribute to some of the artists that passed away recently. In this post we remember Tim Hart, one of the most prominent figures of the 60's British folk revival. His works with Maddy Prior and with Steeleye Span will, without any doubt, keep his memory alive. RIP

The uploaded album is the group's first (and best, to my opinion) release.

Check also:
Tim Hart's natural photography site
Guardian's obituary
The tribute of the fellow blogger Standin at the Crossroads

review link: here

download link: here

Various - Songs We Taught The White Stripes (@256)

2010-03-13T00:25:00.002+02:00

Without further delay, I present you a compilation of all tracks the White Stripes have covered in their official releases. The reasons of this upload are the release of their documentary "Under Great White Northern Lights" and that I couldn't miss to dedicate a post to the most important musician of the previous decade. Thanks for the music, Jack.

Tracklisting:
01-Marlene Dietrich - Look Me Over Closely (from Let's Shake Hands single - 3/98)
02-Robert Johnson - Stop Breakin' Down Blues (from their s/t album 6/99 and from Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground single 8/02)
03-Blind Willie Johnson - John The Relevator (the track "Cannon" from their s/t album and from the dvd Under Blackpool Lights (in "Take a Whiff on Me") is in fact John the Revelator
04-Bob Dylan - One More Cup Of Coffee (from their s/t album)
05-Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five - St. James Infirmary (from their s/t album)
06-Dolly Parton - Jolene (in Hello Operator single - 05/00, in their live dvd (12/04), and in the s/t single - 11/04)
07-Son House - Death Letter (in De Stijl lp - 6/00, and in the live dvd)
08-Blind Willie McTell - Southern Can Blues (in De Stijl)
09-Blind Willie McTell - Lord, Send Me An Angel (from their s/t single - 10/00)
10-Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band - Party of Special Things to Do (from the s/t Sub Pop singles club - 12/00)
11-Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band - China Pig (from Party of Special Things to Do single)
12-Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band - Ashtray Heart (from Party of Special Things to Do single)
13-Loretta Lynn - Rated 'X' (in Hotel Yorba single 11/01)
14-Bob Dylan - Love Sick (in Fell In Love With A Girl single 4/02)
15-Tommy Hunt - I Just Don't Know To Do With Myself (in Fell In Love With A Girl single, in Elephant lp (4/03) and in the s/t single - 9/03)
16-Brendan Benson - Good To Me (in Seven Nation Army single 4/03)
17-Steeleye Span - Black Jack Davy (in Seven Nation Army single)
18-Soledad Brothers - St. Ides Of March (in The Hardest Button To Button single 12/03)
19-Bob Dylan - Outlaw Blues (from the dvd Under Blackpool Lights 12/04)
20-Screaming Lord Sutch - Jack The Ripper (in Under Blackpool Lights)
21-Leadbelly - Boll Weevil (in Under Blackpool Lights)
22-Leadbelly - Take A Whiff On Me (in Under Blackpool Lights)
23-SonHouse - Grinnin' In Your Face (in Under Blackpool Lights)
24-Ernest Cotton - Goin' Back To Memphis (in Under Blackpool Lights)
25-Greenhornes - Shelter Of Your Arms (in the Denial Twist single - 3/05)
26-Tegan and Sara - Walking With A Ghost (from the s/t EP - 12/05)
27-Patti Page - Conquest (from Icky Thump lp - 6/07 and s/t single - 12/07)
28-Hank Williams - Tennessee Border (bonus track in Icky Thump lp)

image taken from putrithewicked

download link: here

Yes - Yessongs (1973) (@256)

2010-03-08T23:13:00.006+02:00

Now, normally this should had been posted yesterday, before the Oscars, but it was a very busy weekend, so what the heck... The reason of this upload is the obvious inspiration that James Cameron has drawn from the landscapes of Roger Dean. Dean is an artist that dominated the album cover design of a significant part of the progressive scene of the 70's. His extraterrestrial, eerie drawings fit perfectly with the classical inspired, complex compositions of the genre; Yes in particular found in his art the best accompaniment to their music. Their triple live album uploaded here offers three (!) gatefolds all of which could be blueprints of Avatar.

I also found some blue-skinned children in the back cover of Yesterdays!

The same topic is explored beautifully here, by putting side by side the floating islands of Dean (as presented in the front cover of the album An Evening of Yes Music Plus) and of Avatar's as well as the arched rock formations which Dean presented first in the cover art of Yes' Keys to Ascension. A good idea is also expressed here; like the Dark-Side-Of-The-Moon-soundtrack-of-the-Wizard-of-Oz, it would be interesting to try to sync up Yessongs with Avatar. Finally, the meaning of all drawings of Yessongs, and their connection with past and future works of Dean is explained here.

Roger Dean's Floating Islands

review link: here

download link: here (part1) and here (part2)

Bob Friedman Orchestra - Anatomy Of A Murder - Music from the Duke Ellington score (1959) (@256)

2010-03-08T03:32:00.002+02:00

In this post, we'll deal with the brilliant film Precious and its fantastic movie teaser poster. The film definitely deserves its awards and nominations; the six Academy Award Nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress (Sidibe), Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique), Best Director (Daniels), Best Adapted Screenplay (Fletcher), and Best Film Editing (Klotz) are the most famous of them. The film's poster art is also a good opportunity to remember Saul Bass, one of the most prominent graphic designers in Hollywood.

His tremendous work has influenced many; the similarity between his poster of Anatomy of a Murder and the poster of Precious is the last evidence of his influence. Between the two films, there is also Spike Lee's Clockers which is also based on the same concept.

Furthermore, Bass has created some of the most memorable movie title sequences; his work for Vertigo is characteristic of the body of his work and is simply astonishing.

The uploaded album here, although it definitely worth a listen, is one of the most misleading albums in history! When I bought it I believed I bought the Duke Ellington original score, since the name of Bob Friedman who (along with his Orchestra) actually offers us an adaptation of the original score, is not printed anywhere on the front or back cover! Someone has to notice the circular stickers in the middle of the record to read the name of his group.

download link: here

Pavement - Stuff Up The Cracks (1994) (@256)

2010-02-21T14:33:00.008+02:00

If there were such a category as "most anticipated reunion of 2010", Pavement would have already secured their place at the top. Their first announced show in Central Park was sold out in two minutes! After that, they booked for Coachella (April 2010), for All Tomorrow's Parties (May 2010) and for Roskilde (July 2010), among others. For a group that defined, in both music and attitude, what is considered today as indie, these shows aren't to be missed.
The related upload offers a bunch of live recordings, Peel sessions and rarities, which will definitely satisfy the fans of the group and the newcomers alike. Enjoy!

review link: here

download link: here

Various - The Indestructible Beat of Soweto, Vol. 1 (1985) (@256)

2010-02-14T09:19:00.001+02:00

The Vampire Weekend did it again! They made me rave as I did with their first album. These guys are truly admirable. I watch them still being some simple, ordinary lads, although they have succeeded to become massive by reaching no1 of the US albums some weeks ago, by releasing the second brilliant album in a row. Again though, now that they have passed to wider audiences (without deteriorating their sound), I read here and there that "Ah, I didn't like them in the first place" or "they copy african elements" etc. So did the Rolling Stones with Muddy Waters. So fuckin' what. Miserable points of view for a group that it would be wonderful to initiate a row of success for other similar groups.

As for this upload, you will easily understand that it is a core album for Vampire Weekend's sound. This was obviously the core album for Paul Simon's Graceland which was uploaded earlier in this blog, while presenting the first V.W. album. All in all, do not miss the chance to listen to a compilation that will drive you directly to valuable, enjoyable roots.

review link: here (glidemagazine) and here (rootsworld)

download link: here

Billy Bragg - Talking With The Taxman About Poetry (special reissue bonus edition) (1986/2006) (@256)

2010-02-07T22:21:00.000+02:00

This post comes partly as a succession to the previous post, where the 4th track named "Bragg Reshuffle" is indeed an echo of the basic elements that characterise Billy Bragg's music. A beloved figure of the British music scene, he is in a sense my generation's Woody Guthrie.
Always in the front line of political activism, he proved once more his consistency by refusing to pay his taxes unless the excessive bonuses at Royal Bank of Scotland are curbed. Bragg has also set up a campaign called NoBonus4RBS on Facebook to convince the Treasury to use the right of veto over the bank's bonus payments. Bragg wrote: "What I don't understand is why, now that we taxpayers are the majority shareholders of these banks, we seem powerless to curb their excessive bonus culture." You can also view Bragg's article "Why I'm withholding my tax" in Guardian.

review link: here

download link: (original album) here, (bonus material & covers, credits etc.) here

SMASH - (I Want To) Kill Somebody (12'') (1994) (@256)

2010-01-31T20:05:00.002+02:00

Shouldn't a contemporary band update the lyrics of this song by putting the names of those who would "frankly, do it all again" and feel "responsibility but no regrets"?
Read here for the full story.

a statistician studies titian
the hand up his arse is a politician
red-headed women and a disraeli disposition
what lack of vision
i want to kill somebody

hold my hate like a knife to their throats
cut through every muscle
and breake every bone
i want to chop their fucking heads off
and stick them on a stake
that's the extent of my hate

its not that i want them dead
it's just this world would be a better place
if they had never existed
i want to kill somebody

a statistician studies titian
red-headed women and a disraeli dispoistion
what lack of vision
whoever's in power
i'll be the oppisition
i want to kill somebody

so i'm a hyprocrite
cos i don't believe in capital punishment
but here's my paradoxical quip
"the people who prescribe to it are
the people who should subscribe to it"
it's not that i want them dead
its just this world be be a better place
if they never existed
i want to kill somebody

margaret thatcher, jefferey archer,
michael heseltine, john major, virginia bottomeley
especially gill shepherd's got an appauling enemployment record
i want to kill somebody

i want to kill somebody
everbody knows somebody
i want to kill somebody
(don't you?)

i want to kill somebody
i want to kill somebody
i want to kill somebody

download link: here

Everything is OK

2010-01-31T18:52:00.001+02:00

You can find more of the same here

The Clash - The Vanilla Tapes (1979/2004) (@256)

2010-01-31T01:12:00.000+02:00

I couldn't miss to have a post about the best album of the last 30 years (and a month and a half), which was released... 30 years (and a month and a half) ago, by "The Only Band That Matters". Now, for the five of you who do not have this album, go out NOW and buy it.
This upload offers the legendary Vanilla Tapes, offered in the 25th anniversary edition of London Calling, which for many years were considered lost, until Mick Jones found them while moving to a new home. The Vanilla Tapes are rough rehearsal sessions of the tracks of London Calling, named after the London studio where they were recorded. As Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes: "The Vanilla Tapes are very good, at least when judged against the standards of rough rehearsal tapes. Keeping in mind that these are low-fidelity recordings mainly consisting of the band working out new songs, this is very enjoyable stuff. What's interesting about these rehearsals — and, excluding a stab at "Remote Control," all but five of the 21 tracks on The Vanilla Tapes are rehearsals of songs that wound up on the finished LP (some of these boast different titles: "Paul's Tune" is "The Guns of Brixton," "Up-Toon" is "The Right Profile," "Koka Kola" is expanded to "Koka Kola Advertising & Cocaine") — is that the Clash began with arrangements that were quite similar to the finished versions; they were a little ragged, sometimes a little slower, sometimes with slightly different lyrics (as on "London Calling" itself), but their sinewy musicality is as apparent here as it is on the vinyl. While it may disappoint some listeners that there are no forgotten classics among these five previously unheard songs, that doesn't mean they're not enjoyable. "Lonesome Me" has an appealing country bounce; given time, "Where You Gonna Go (Soweto)" could have been worked into a fine piece of white reggae, as could their reinterpretation of Bob Dylan's "The Man in Me"; "Heart & Mind" is a pretty impassioned, catchy piece of punk-pop that's distinguished by Joe Strummer breaking into the 101'ers greatest hit "Keys to Your Heart" in the coda. None of these songs are better than what wound up on London Calling, but they're all excellent outtakes on a CD that does qualify as a major historic find for rock historians."

download link (the booklet's vanilla tapes story is also included): here

Dagmar Krause - Tank Battles: The Songs Of Hanns Eisler (1988) (@256)

2010-01-29T20:09:00.001+02:00

This post suits perfectly in order to continue the Island records tribute, since it is also connected with the previous post. Dagmar Krause along with Fred Frith (who collaborated in the fist lp of the Golden Palominos presented just before) worked together in Henry Cow and in the Art Bears; both groups are among the very few that combined progressive with a strong political agenda in their lyrics. Be sure to check them out; given the opportunity, I'll also choose one of their albums to upload.
Krause is one of the best voices of the last 35 years, full stop. As it is brilliantly described in allmusic, "admittedly, Dagmar Krause's quasi-operatic, very German style can take some getting used to, but she is a daring singer, unafraid to bend and twist her voice into knots or screech with uncontrolled passion and exuberance."
For the lp that is offered here, she covers songs of Hanns Eisler. It wasn't the first time she did so, since the Art Bears' first lp (Hopes and Fears) opening track "On Suicide" (originally "Über den Selbstmord") is written by Eisler and Brecht.
Although Eisler's ability as a songwriter was tremendous, his name is somehow overshadowed by that of Kurt Weil, with whom he shares a common history. They are both Germans, they acted in the same era and had a similar songwriting style, they both worked with Bertol Brecht and shared common strong anti-nazi beliefs which forced them to exile from Germany in 1933, to, finally, continue their careers in the US.

review link: here

download link: here

Golden Palominos - Golden Palominos (1983) (@256)

2010-01-25T01:38:00.001+02:00

Speaking of 2009's reissues, and excluding for obvious reasons the Beatles ones, it was the Feelies' Crazy Rhythms that I enjoyed most since it urged me to return to one of my beloved albums of the 80's only to discover that it remains adorable and unique through its twisted simplicity.
The related upload is from the Golden Palominos, the brainchild of Feelies' drummer Anton Fier. From its first days, the group turned out to be more of a collective with core members being Frier, Bill Laswell and Nicky Skopelitis and different artist appearances on every album. In their first album, which is the subject of this post, we have also Arto Lindsay (with whom Fier had worked again in the Lounge Lizards), John Zorn and Fred Frith among others. With such tremendous line-up it is no surprise that the result is a unique blend of free-funk with no wave, early turntablism and that Zorn driven jazz-punk idiom.

review link: here

download link: here

Various - Kerouac: Kicks Joy Darkness (1997) (@256)

2010-01-23T12:58:00.000+02:00

This is the second to last post about the albums, soundtracks, dvds etc I liked during 2009. So, one among the few exceptional releases of last year was the collaboration between Benjamin Gibbard (from Death Cab for Cutie/ Postal Service) and Jay Farrar (ex Uncle Tupelo/ Son Volt) for the soundtrack of the documentary "One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur". Although someone could argue that their music misses the beat that is embodied in Kerouac's work, my opinion is that their relaxed alt-country along with the lyrics that are taken directly from Kerouac's book succeeded to capture the writer's spirit. For those interested I'll strongly propose the deluxe edition which contains, apart from the soundtrack, a book with never-published photos of Kerouac, the Big Sur novel itself and the brilliant documentary which examines the period of Kerouac's life when he fled to Big Sur, away from the consequences of sudden fame he had experienced in the city, where he wrote the s/t book. Seminal artists such as Patti Smith, Sam Shepard, Tom Waits, S.E. Hinton (writer of Rumble Fish and Outsiders), Robert Hunter, Lenny Kaye etc. talk about Kerouac, while passages of the novel are offered in a beautiful way.

Based on that, this latest upload is an older collection of readings of Kerouac's works. The man behind both projects is the producer Jim Sampas, nephew of Kerouac; as you can notice, some of the artists contribute in both projects as well. Kerouac's passages are set against a musical background created by artists of the widest range which results in a sparkling presentation of Kerouac's prose and poetry. Equally, several actors and some of Kerouac's contemporaries lend their voices while the bonus is Kerouac himself, from a 1950s recording of "MacDougal Street Blues," backed by Joe Strummer.

Tracklisting:
01-Morphine - Kerouac
02-Lydia Lunch - Bowery Blues
03-Michael Stipe - My Gang
04-Steven Tyler - Dream: "Us Kids Swim Off A Gray Pier..."
05-Hunter S. Thompson - Letter To William S. Burroughs & Ode To Jack
06-Maggie Estep & The Spitters - Skid Row Wine
07-Richard Lewis - America's New Trinity Of Love: Dean, Brando, Presley
08-Lawrence Ferlinghetti & Helium - Dream: "On A Sunny Afternoon..."
09-Jack Kerouac & Joe Strummer - MacDougal Street Blues
10-Allen Ginsberg - The Brooklyn Bridge Blues (Choruses 1-9)
11-Eddie Vedder, Campbell 2000 & Sadie 7 - Hymn
12-William Burroughs & tomandandy - Old Western Movies
13-Juliana Hatfield - Silly Goofball Pomes
14-John Cale - The Moon
15-Johnny Depp & Come - "Madroad Driving..."
16-Robert Hunter - "Have You Ever Seen Anyone Like Cody Pomeray?..."
17-Lee Ranaldo & Dana Colley - Letter To John Clellon Holmes
18-Anna Domino - Pome On Doctor Sax
19-Rob Buck & Danny Chauvin as Hitchhiker - Mexico Rooftop
20-Patti Smith with Thurston Moore & Lenny Kaye - The Last Hotel
21-Warren Zevon & Michael Wolff - Running Through - Chinese Poem Song
22-Jim Carroll with Lee Ranaldo, Lenny Kaye & Anton Sanco - Woman
23-Matt Dillon with Joey Altruda, Joe Gonzalez & Pablo Calogero - Mexican Loneliness
24-Inger Lorre & Jeff Buckley - Angel Mine
25-Eric Andersen - The Brooklyn Bridge Blues (Chorus 10)

review link: here

download link: here

Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle - You've Stolen My Heart (2005) (@256)

2010-01-20T00:15:00.001+02:00

This post comes as a reply to Nicolas, who left a comment on the previous post and filled me with envy for his presence in a concert of the Kronos Quartet with Asha Bhosle. The odd, yet fruitful collaboration between a classical quartet who have given us extremely interesting works in the past and the most famous Indian singer also serves as a top-class tribute to R.D. Burman. Finally, if for some of you the last two names are unknown, you can also check this older post.

review link: here

download link: here

OST - The Fountain (2006) (@256)

2010-01-05T11:24:00.000+02:00

After the previous post that was dedicated to the best rockumentary of 2009, this one will be about the best soundtrack. That was The Moon by Clint Mansell. Mansell has turned out to be one of the most interesting film composers and his eerie music is an accompaniment that fits perfectly with one of the best movies of last year.

Equally impressive was his soundtrack for The Fountain, for which he collaborated with Mogwai and (again) with the Kronos Quartet.

review link: here

download link: here

Various - All Tomorrow's Parties 1.0 (2001) (@256)

2010-01-03T23:39:00.002+02:00

This post is about the best rockumentary I've seen in 2009, which was about the festival All Tomorrow's Parties. It's a film that was released by Warp X (a subsidiary of Warp for which there is an ongoing tribute) and gives an insightful look at a festival that always brings us the cutting edge of today's music.

The trailer

So, this post's upload is a release that deals with some the groups of the bill of 2001's ATP, which was curated by Tortoise and Foundation.

Tracklisting
01-The Sea and Cake - Bird and Flag (remix by K Brown)
02-Prefuse 73 - Shitslime Garbage Can vs. My MPC
03-Broadcast - DDL
04-Calexico - Piker Sam
05-Yo La Tengo - Our Way to Fall (live)
06-Rick Rizzo & Tara Key - Sinfo
07-Black Heart Procession - Waterfront (The Sinking Road)
08-Tortoise - Cliff Dweller Society
09-Mike Ladd - I Seen What You Say
10-Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country (edit)
11-Atmosphere - If I was Santa Claus
12-Cannibal Ox feat. El-P - Ridiculoid
13-Autechre - All Tomorrow's Linoleum
14-Russell Haswell - Maquette Augmentation

review link: here

download link: here

White Noise - An Electric Storm (1969) (@256)

2009-12-28T19:56:00.001+02:00

This one is part of the tribute to Island records that started some months ago. We are still in the various/uncategorised part of the tribute. This latest upload truly explores uncharted territories. A genre of its own, a totally adventurous recording, I assure you that it will fry your brain cells. Handle with care.

review link: here (allmusic) and here (pitchfork)

download link: here (link removed due to a relevant request)

Sparklehorse - Good Morning Spider (1998) (@256)

2009-12-27T21:40:00.002+02:00

One of the best albums of 2009 hasn't been officially released! It's of course Dark Night of the Soul, a collaboration of Danger Mouse with Sparklehorse (or Mark Linkous). Their cd was supposed to accompany a limited edition book featuring photographs by David Lynch. Unfortunately, because of a copyright dispute between Danger Mouse and his label, the book was released with a blank CD-R. The album quickly leaked to the web and proved to be a great collection of songs featuring guest appearances from Iggy Pop, the Flaming Lips, James Mercer of the Shins, Black Francis of the Pixies, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes, Nina Persson of the Cardigans, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Vic Chesnutt, Suzanne Vega and David Lynch himself. My perception is that Mark Linkous's style is more obvious than that of Danger Mouse, so I thought that a relevant upload would be appropriate. Another remark is that each song could easily fit to a release of the singer (or the group of the singer) who sings it.

Here are the introduction notes that Danger Mouse wrote for the book:
"Back in 2004, I was at SXSW, walking down the street with a group of people. Some musicians, a producer or two, and a few I didn't know. We were talking about music, bands we liked, bands we didn't like, and we stopped in a couple of different bars to check out the music. When one of the musicians asked me what I’d been listening to (a question I usually draw an instant blank on), I remember being able to answer pretty quickly. Sparklehorse was my current favorite. As I was going on and on about the "Static King" (Mark Linkous), one of the members of the group finally spoke up and said she managed Sparklehorse. I told her to pass along my love, and she helped me sneak into a Raveonettes show.
One year later I returned to SXSW to play people the new Gorillaz album I'd helped with. I got a surprise phone call. It was Mark Linkous. His manager has sent him the Grey Album, and he was calling to tell me how much he liked it. I asked him what he was up to, and he said he was trying to finish his next album but was in a rut. By the end of the conversation, I'd somehow been invited to North Carolina to see if I could help in some way.
Soon after that, I found myself driving my father's old van from Atlanta into the mountains of southern
North Carolina. Once there, I stayed with Mark, his wife, and his dog Smokey. Every day, we drove the hour-long trek down the mountain to his studio in a little one-stoplight town. He'd already been working on his album for over three years, and most of what he played was
working, things clicked.
As we got more comfortable, Mark played me "Revolution," an idea he'd had in his head that he had yet to record. Right away, we started messing with it. As we worked on it, it grew up into a pretty special piece of music. But Mark didn’t want to sing the song himself. I thought he could pull it off, but he decided not to even attempt it. After a few more visits, the album was finished, but “Revolution” remained incomplete. I asked him if he ever had other ideas that he never attempted because of not wanting to sing them simply, "Sure."
Later, Mark came out to work with me in Los Angeles. We didn't really have a set goal – we just wanted to make a bunch of music together and see what happened. I played him some ideas I had, and he played me some more of his. I could tell he was a bit more comfortable now that he didn't have to sing. Each day, we’d record music and then go to a movie, or watch one at my house. It was a routine we repeated many times over the next year. During that time, we created the music for what would eventually become Dark Night of the Soul.
As we recorded the music, we assembled a wish-list of singers: people we knew in some way, people we thought would sound great over certain songs. We started making phone calls and sending out the music. Over the next year, we recorded with our friends all over the U.S., and one in the U.K.
We worked with Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd of the Flaming Lips, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes, James Mercer of the Shins, Iggy Pop, Black Francis, Vic Chesnutt, Suzanne Vega, Nina Persson of the Cardigans, and Gruff Rhys from the Super Furry Animals (who helped turn "Revolution" into the song "Just War"). Mark eventually gave in and sang a song, too.
The album was taking shape. As we finished the songs with the various artists, we started to notice some interesting patterns. We'd never given specific direction to any of the singers involved, nor had we played them any of the other songs on the album. Yet, there seemed to be common themes in the lyrics and feel of the songs. There was pain, revenge, war, twisted dreams, and other beautifully haunting visual aspects to it all.
While taking a break from mixing the last Gnarls Barkley album, I watched David Lynch's film Inland Empire. I was already a fan of Lynch's other work, and I knew Mark was, too. I thought he would be perfect to give a visual representation to this album. I'd considered a visual dimension while recording, but never anything too specific. I didn't revisit the idea until I'd finished watching the film. I got together the latest mixes of all the songs on the album and wrote a letter to Mr. Lynch. In the first draft, I begged and begged him to do it and threatened to scrap the whole visual thing if he didn't agree" to do it. Then I thought better; I just asked him to listen to it and let me know if he had time to talk about an idea I had about it. A few days later, he wrote back.
I went to visit David. He was enthusiastic about the project. He even wanted to sing on the album. After we talked, I realized he'd sung some of the amazing songs on the Inland Empire soundtrack. (Check out "Ghost of Love.") Initially, I was there to discuss the visual element - he said that he'd give that some thought, too. Not long afterward, we met again. He said he'd listened to the music quite a bit and had come up with some visual ideas, and that he wanted to shoot them as stills. I called Mark to let him know about it, and at first he didn't believe me. Obviously, we were both pretty excited about it.
We gave David some instrumental ideas. He sat with them and eventually came up with some songs. It was ideal. Aside from Mark and me, he was the only musician who had listened to the entire album. His contributions turned out to be "Star Eyes (I Can't Catch It)" and the final song, "Dark Night of the Soul."
David Lynch's visuals of Dark Night of the Soul are presented here to accompany the album."

review link: here

download link: here

Musictraveler disguises in Santa and gives away a cd

2009-12-26T18:35:00.001+02:00

Since Santa visits the Greek children on the new year's eve (he's probably too busy serving the other countries), my annual present to the readers of this blog will be given away on January, 1. Last year there was a restriction that the participants should be from Greece; the shipping costs prevented me to send it worldwide. But since my compatriot readers have been limited down to only 6-7% of the total visitors, and since the number of the participants last year were only two, I thought that it would be fair to send globally this year. So, everyone of you can send me an eponymous comment along with your e-mail address. If you do not want to show your e-mail address, then leave a comment and send me also an email to music.traveler@hotmail.com. Last year it was the latest Clash live album, this year it will be the brilliant latest release of Unthanks (Here's the Tender Coming), which was awarded Folk Album of the Year by Mojo magazine. After a draw, one of the participants will be informed through the comments of this post on Jan. 1, to be sent the aforementioned original sealed cd. The shipping costs will also burden the musictraveler. For the time being you can download this excellent version of the Greek new year's carols as performed by Bruce Haack.
Bruce Haack - Saint Basil (Κάλαντα Πρωτοχρονιάς) (in wav format)

3 candles for the birthday of the musictraveler

2009-12-25T12:38:00.004+02:00

It's almost unbelievable to me that something that started as a joke exactly 3 years ago has become a labour of love for me. Thank you all for your support.

Summing up the Edgar Allan Poe tribute

2009-12-25T12:15:00.000+02:00

Lou Reed - The Raven (2003) (@256)
The Alan Parsons Project - Tales Of Mystery And Imagination + bonus material (1975/2007) (@256)
Various - Closed on Account of Rabies - Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (1997) (@256)
Tell-Tale Hearts - The Tell-Tale Hearts (1984) (@256)

White Stripes - Merry Christmas from the White Stripes (7'') (2002) (@256)

2009-12-25T11:59:00.005+02:00

Happy holidays to all of you.

download link: here

Lou Reed - The Raven (2003) (@256)

2009-12-24T19:44:00.001+02:00

It's for sure that we'll have more opportunities to deal with Edgar Allan Poe in the future, so I'll keep a number of related albums for a future tribute. For the time being, enjoy this Lou Reed tribute release to Poe to whom he seems to have found a kindred spirit. There are numerous famous participants here among which are Laurie Anderson, Antony, the Blind Boys Of Alabama, Ornette Coleman, Steve Buscemi and Willem Dafoe and Hal Willner as the producer, who was also responsible for the brilliand compilation of Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe uploaded earlier in this blog. Finally, these are the liner notes Reed wrote for this album:
"THE RAVEN
For sure Edgar Allan Poe is that most classical of American writers—a writer more peculiarly attuned to our new century's heartbeat than he ever was to his own. Obsessions, paranoia, willful acts of self-destruction surround us constantly. Though we age we still hear the cries of those for whom the attraction to mournful chaos is monumental. I have reread and rewritten Poe to ask the very same questions again. Who am I? Why am I drawn to do what I should not? I have wrestled with this thought innumerable times: the impulse of destructive desire—the desire for self-mortification. To my mind Poe is father to William Burroughs and Hubert Selby. I am forever fitting their blood to my melodies. Why do we do what we should not? Why do we love what we cannot have? Why do we have a passion for exactly the wrong thing? What do we mean by "wrong"? I became enamored of Poe—once again—and when given the opportunity to bring him to life through words and music, text and dance, why I leapt at it. I surged towards it like a Rottweiler chasing a bloody bone. I read and then recited him out loud and for the first time understood "The Tell-Tale Heart." I dreamt and imagined and then saw the early performance come to life in the Thalia Theatre in Germany (who commissioned me to write this) where the thrill of its existence only made me hunger even more ardently for its American counterpart, its final rewrite, the yearning finally fulfilled by the mad presence of Willem Dafoe, Steve Buscemi, Fisher Stevens, the magnificent Elizabeth Ashley, the transcendental Amanda Plummer and castigating Katy Valk of [the Wooster Group, musicians magnificent galore—D. Bowie, the gospel glory of the Blind Boys of Alabama, the mind-tearing heart-rending sax playing of the incredible Ornette Coleman, the ethereal vocals of Antony, a descendent perhaps of Little Jimmy Scott, Jane Scarpantoni's passionate cello-loving arrangement by her of my guitar solo—strings, real strings—Rob Mathes taking my guitar line and building a universe with it, Steve Bernstein's power-melodic horns—all these pieces together forming for me a universe of sound I'd only dreamed of. My fellow artists...I thank them all from the bottom of my heart and reel with happiness at the CD's existence. My band—Mike, Tony and Fernando, the magnificent production of Hal Willner. I owe them all the greatest thanks.
This is a record made of love, - Lou Reed/NYC 2003"

review link: here

download link: here (cd1) and here (cd2 with liner notes & credits)

Rage Against The Machine IS Christmas Number One!!!

2009-12-21T01:22:00.000+02:00

Celebrating Christmas with Rage Against The Machine at number one of the UK singles chart. Hats off to these guys.
Oh... and I stand opposed to those grumbling "You pay Sony either way" or "the Fuck You I Won't Do What You Tell Me is not what all those people that bought RATM did". RATM already told that part of the proceeds will go to charity. I don't think that it would be the same with the X-Factor shit, would it? As for the second argue, I'll quote a part of the lyrics of Which Side Are You On: "Poor folks ain’t got a chance, unless they organize"; all those people that bought RATM didn't go with the flow, but they organised to oppose it. After all, it's a victory of the music I love over the kind of music that nobody will remember next Christmas.
You can also check here for the same issue.

Now that the campaign has ended you can download a live clip (in avi format) of Killing In The Name performed live at Mexico City here.

The Alan Parsons Project - Tales Of Mystery And Imagination + bonus material (1975/2007) (@256)

2009-12-20T18:31:00.002+02:00

I was about to upload Tales of Mystery and Imagination, as a part of the Edgar Allan Poe tribute, when I read that Eric Woolfson, one of the two members of the Alan Parsons Project passed away on December, 2. Unfortunately, there are now two reasons for this upload. APP was the result of the collaboration of a talented songwriter (Woolfson) with a studio wizard (Parsons). Their first release, a concept album that retells horror stories and poetry of Poe, was an old idea of Woolfson which was abandoned since he realised that it would be impossible to materialise. He changed his mind when he met Parsons and realised the latter's mastery in production. The duo also hired some hundreds (!) of musicians among which were Terry Sylvester (singer of the Hollies after Graham Nash), John Miles and Arthur Brown. The result is a characteristic 70's grandiose concept album which gave "a pulsing beat of life into the body of Poe's work" as Orson Welles described in a relevant radio advertising spot.

Tracklisting:
A. Original album
01-A Dream Within A Dream (Instrumental)
02-The Raven
03-The Tell-Tale Heart
04-The Cask Of Amontillado
05-(The System Of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether
06-The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Instrumental) - Prelude
07-The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Instrumental) - Arrival
08-The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Instrumental) - Intermezzo
09-The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Instrumental) - Pavane
10-The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Instrumental) - Fall
11-To One In Paradise
B. Bonus material
A12-The Raven (original demo) - bonus material
A13-Edgar (demo of an unreleased track)
A14-Orson Welles Radio Spot
A15-Interview with Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson (1976)
B12-Eric's Guide Vocal Medley
B13-Orson Welles Dialogue
B14-Sea Lions In The Departure Lounge - Sound Effects And Experiments
B15-GBH Mix - Unreleased Experiments

review link: here

download link: here (original album) and here (bonus material with info, lyrics, credits etc.)

Flowered Up - Weekender (12'') (1992) (@256)

2009-12-13T22:06:00.002+02:00

Sometimes when you hear about an artist's death you feel that you've lost a close person of yours. It's when this artist's music has been utterly connected with a certain period of your life...

That's the way I felt when I heard about Liam Maher's death, at the age of 41. At the beginning of the 90's, with his group Flowered Up gave us some sparkling singles, a decent album (were Joe Strummer had participated) and... Weekender. A 13-minute single which, along with its video clip, marked the soundtrack of a whole generation by giving a precise documentation of the club culture. Suddenly, all the kids that were just spending their whole week through tedious, low-wage jobs just to become the heroes of themselves from Saturday 6pm to Sunday 6am had found their anthem. It's unbelievable that this masterpiece was the last moment in group's history (they didn't even manage to put it in an album), rather than the beginning of more such glorious moments. But, after all, such hedonistic culture was not meant to last for long. As Heavenly (their first and last label - London records was in between) boss Jeff Barrett said: "Liam and Flowered Up burned beautifully and brightly at exactly the right time. They had their moment and seized it by the bollocks"
RIP Liam. Go out, have a good time...

Weekender (amazingly its lyrics cannot be found anywhere in the web)
I see you everyday, you walk the same way
Weekender
You go to work, Friday is payday
Weekender
Give it up, give your wife up
Weekender

(Chorus)
Weekender – weekender
Go out, have a good time
Weekender – weekender
Go out have a good, good – good, good time

What you say weekender, we can work it out
We’ll work it all out
Don’t you hate, hate what you are
I’ll give it up, I’ll give it to you, you
Come on weekender, we’ll go out,
We’ll have a good, the best times

(chorus)

Right weekender, hows about we work it out
Weekender we could have such a good time
Show you, help you, a better way, a better day
A better way
A better life – weekender
Right, weekender we’re going out
You wash, blow dry your hair
New shoes, new suit
Oh, I say you look so super
Weekender you’re looking good

(chorus)

Don’t you hate, don’t you hate what you are
Weekender
Don’t you hate what you are I ask, I ask you
Weekender
Look around, don’t you feel a clown
Weekender, fuck off
Fuck off and die – I’m hating you
I hate you – goodbye
I’m slipping, weekender – weekender
Slipping down – down
Weekender weekender
Go out have a good time – the best time
Go away – away away away – sit back
Let it flow
Just like a little (have a good time)
Have a good time, have a good – good time
No work just party – party!
You got a new skirt, you got a new suit
Saved your life for a two day flirt boy
You pay the price coz Monday sure does hurt
Tell at work your weekend tale
Still need the pleasure of dirty sale
Monday’s back – what can you do?

(chorus)

Been away. Been away. You’ve seen a lot wow, wow
Weekender whatever you do - just make sure what
ya doing makes you happy

check also:
Liam Maher remembered by W.I.Z., the director of Weekender (NME)
"How Liam Maher from Flowered Up changed my life" by Robin Turner (Guardian)

download link: here

Muddy Waters - At Newport (1960) (@256)

2009-12-07T22:13:00.000+02:00

It's a little bit dated, but I saw the film Cadillac Records during the weekend. It's a biopic that deals with Chess records, a Chicago-based label that established what is now considered as Chicago blues. Colossal artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley built their careers in the studios of Chess. It's a pity that such a great subject was not developed in a satisfactory way. As Lois Wilson writes in Mojo (issue 190, Sep. 09) "this Chess-inspired romp takes too many liberties with the truth". One could argue that such "liberties" could be justified in a film loosely based in real-life events, where the real names are not used; the film Dreamgirls is I guess a good example. Here is the whole review:
"JUST OVER half way through Cadillac Records, a very-worse-for-wear Etta James played by Beyonce Knowles, kisses her label boss, Chess records co-founder Leonard Chess, played by Adrien Brody. It's implied that they are about to embark on an affair, the action taking place some time in the '60s.
After he saw the film Leonard's son, Marshall Chess — who was consultant on this Darnell Martin-written and directed film based on the Chess label story — rang up Etta James (the real one). "Did you really have an affair with my father?" he asked her, hoping that Leonard hadn't copped off with his leading lady. Of course not, was Etta's reply and therein lies the main problem with Cadillac Records. Not content to just tell the story of the label founded in 1947 by Polish emigre brothers Leonard and Phil Chess (the latter is airbrushed out, presumably to keep the plot simpler), it feels a need to tell great big lies. Like the one wherein blues harpist Little Walter (Columbus Short) shoots a man who is using his name. Perhaps Martin got him muddled up with Sonny Boy Williamson, another important Chess recording artist, who doesn't appear in the film, didn't kill anyone, but did steal his name from a different bluesman called Sonny Boy Williamson after he was murdered. Another player missing from the tale astonishingly is Bo Diddley, who signed to the label in 1955 and whose guitar playing caused a musical revolution. Even those with just a fleeting interest in Chess would recognise how integral Bo is to the label's evolution. And, of course, Leonard Chess didn't really discover Etta James: that was Johnny Otis, who conceived and recorded Etta's 1955 debut The Wallflower, a Number 1 US R&B hit five years before she joined Chess.
So either Martin didn't do, or has ignored, her research to come up with a script so inaccurate
that there's little point running the tag, "based on a true story". Sadly, her bending of the truth hasn't made the screenplay any more enticing.
And yet, when Cadillac Records sticks to the making of the music it delivers some great moments: Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf turns in a mighty fine rendition of Smokestack Lightnin', Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, a convincing I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man, and Mos Def as the wild child Chuck Berry is compelling throughout.
The same can't be said for Adrien Brody, who is expressionless as the elder Chess brother, or Beyonce, who remakes every Etta James song into a hysterical modern R&B number. As such, there's very little to celebrate here. But should you want more, also included is a documentary on the making of the film, another one on the design and a director's commentary."

In any case, the film was a great opportunity to upload this Chess release, which is one of the greatest live recordings ever. And in order to cover the unreasonable absence of Bo Diddley from the film, I urge to discover another Chess release, uploaded earlier in this blog.

review link: here

download link: here

Remember, Remember the 6th of December

2009-12-06T20:30:00.000+02:00

Broadcast - The Noise Made By People (2000) (@256)

2009-11-28T15:55:00.000+02:00

It's been quite long since the last upload about Warp's 20th birthday. So, the tribute continues with an album quite different from the largest part of Warp discography. It's, as Heather Phares describes in allmusic, "a collection of more shimmering, weightless pop that is nostalgic for yesterday's visions of the future but remains on the cutting edge of contemporary music." Brilliant.

review link: here

download link: here

Peter, Paul and Mary - Ten Years Together: The Best of Peter, Paul and Mary (1970) (@256)

2009-11-27T17:35:00.000+02:00

Mary Travers, one of the most beautiful voices of the 60's left us recently. Along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey, are a large (and delightful) chapter of the 60's folk revival, also responsible for popularising Dylan's music.
What I have to notice here, is that a woman of such physical beauty chose to follow a difficult music and social path, unlike hundreds of contemporary female artists who prefer to be spent in lighter than thin air careers.

Rolling Stone obituary

review link: here

download link: here

Primal Scream - XTRMNTR (2000) (@256)

2009-11-26T22:48:00.004+02:00

Probably my no1 in the list of 2009's best albums is Kasabian's West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum. A feverish album, full of excellent ideas and hidden layers of complexity that blend to serve the whole substantial result. It seems that this time they reached very near to the perfection of the album they used (again) as blueprint (minus the heavy political agenda).

review link: here

download link: here (link removed)

Tartit - Ichichila (2000) (@256)

2009-11-25T21:21:00.002+02:00

I'm not the only one that I consider Tinariwen's "Imidiwan: Companions" one of the best albums of the year. Their impressive blues version is evidently a sound that could be created only by these former desert warriors that replaced their riffles with electric guitars.

Tartit is a group that, as with Tinariwen, are Tuaregs (or Tamasheks as they prefer to be called). The former's melodic, meditative and rural style and the latter's raw, intense and powerful one, are simply the two sides of the same coin.

review link: here

download link (with booklet info): here

Watersons - For Pence and Spicy Ale (1975) (@256)

2009-11-13T09:48:00.001+02:00

It could be a tricky question in a music quiz: "Which is Britain's oldest indie label that is still active?" Answers such as "Beggars Banquet", "Rough Trade", "4AD", "Cherry Red " etc. are all wrong! The correct answer is Topic, a legendary label that was founded in 1939. For a company that its stated mission is "Music should be used as a tool of revolution, in a cultural and educational sense" one shouldn't be surprised that Topic had always a strong sense in social issues. But a sense that was only seldom presented in a form of dry rhetoric and largely by observing and commenting the daily life of ordinary people. Topic is (thus) responsible for reserving and spreading British folk throughout the years (one could argue that it is the equivalent to Smithsonian or Folkways), while its contribution to the British folk revival of the late 60's is immense. Recently, in order to celebrate the label's 70th birthday, they released a solid compilation of seven (!) cds, named "Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People" that travels us from pre-WWII recordings up to recent ones. If you bother to spend your quids on it, it's for sure that you'll not regret it. And if you think that releasing a 7-cd compilation is not a business-wise decision, you'll have to know that they celebrated their 60-th birthday by releasing a series of 20-cds!

So, here is a cornerstone of Topic's catalogue, from a "royal family" of British folk, backed by Martin Carthy. As Richard Meyer notes in allmusic: "For Pence and Spicy Ale sounds like the back room of an old pub in its charming immediacy; listeners really get a sense of the fun it is to sing these old songs with affection and respect. "

Further reading:
Topic's selective discography
Guardian for Topic's anniversary
topicrecords.co.uk

review link: here

download link: here

P.S. For those interested, another brilliant Topic release has been posted earlier in this blog and can be found here.

Lou Reed - Berlin (1973) (@256)

2009-11-09T23:53:00.002+02:00

For the city of Berlin obviously, which celebrates its 20th reunification anniversary today. Lou Reed explained (to Ed Pilkingon from Guardian while interviewed on his 2007 tour that brought Berlin on stage) that his idea was to use the divided city of Berlin - which he had then never visited - as a metaphor for human discord. Or as prefixmag puts it: "Berlin (...) is a rock opera about a strung out couple who are divided, much like Berlin was by the wall. Reed uses the city as a narrative device on the album, placing his central character, Caroline, in the city as she indulges in various addictions and love affairs. Berlin itself doesn’t figure much in Reed’s lyrics, but the druggy words and occasional mentions of the Wall help conjure up images of the city."

review link: here

download link: here (link removed due to a relevant request)

Wings of Desire

Various - Closed on Account of Rabies - Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (1997) (@256)

2009-10-31T17:59:00.007+02:00

Well, try the following (for those not afraid of the dark). Lie down on your beds, switch off the lights, close your eyes and put your headphones on to listen to The Black Cat as read by Diamanda Galas. Shivers down your spine will definitely attack you during this totally evocative recording.
The tribute to Edgar Allan Poe continues. Hal Willner gathers a tour-de-force of artists to read works of Poe. It is as attractive as it sounds.

Tracklisting:
A1-Marrianne Faithfull - Alone
A2-Christopher Walken - The Raven
A3-Iggy Pop - The Tell-Tale Heart
A4-Ken Nordine - The Conqueror Worm
A5-Diamanda Galas - The Black Cat
A6-Gavin Friday - For Annie
A7-Ed Sanders - To Helen
B1-Ed Sanders - The Haunted Palace
B2-Jeff Buckley - Ulalume
B3-Dr. John - Berenice
B4-Deborah Harry & the Jazz Passengers -The City An The Sea
B5-Marianne Faithfull - Annabel Lee
B6-Gabriel Byrne - The Masque of the Red Death
B7-Abel Ferrara - The Raven

review link: here

download link (cd1): here
download link (cd2+liner notes, credits etc.): here

Tell-Tale Hearts - The Tell-Tale Hearts (1984) (@256)

2009-10-27T11:04:00.002+02:00

We read from Guardian (October, 8): "By the standards of any age, it was a miserable way to go. Edgar Allan Poe, dark romantic writer and poet credited with inventing the genre of detective fiction, enjoyed a death far more Gothic and gloomy than any of his stories.
It began badly when he was found, aged 40, wandering the streets of Baltimore, penniless, raving unintelligibly, dressed in someone else's clothes, possibly having been beaten up. He died four days later, on October 7 1849, in hospital, having uttered the final words: "Lord, help my poor soul."
From there it only got worse. Although he was at the time probably the most famous writer in America, his cousin Neilson Poe omitted to tell anyone he had died, and so fewer than 10 people turned up for the funeral. The priest couldn't be bothered to give a sermon, and the entire ceremony lasted three minutes.
This Sunday, 160 years almost to the day since his sorry passing, Poe will finally be given the send off that his multitude of fans passionately believe he deserved. At 11.30am, a life-size recreation of his body will be carried in a horse-drawn carriage from his Baltimore home in Amity Street, to the Westminster Burying Ground where not one, but two full-length ceremonies will be held in front of up to 700 admirers, some of whom will have travelled from as far away as Vietnam.
The ceremony is being held as part of a year-long series of events to mark the 200th year of Poe's birth. To the amusement of Poe experts, the double anniversary of the start and end of his life has led to an unseemly scramble between several US cities - notably Baltimore, Richmond, Philadelphia, New York and Boston - to claim ownership of the writer."

Celebrating the aforementioned event as well as the 200th year from his birth, I'll start a series of uploads that will, with one way or another, deal with Poe. After all, as you'll realise/ have already realised, far too many musicians have been heavy influenced by him.
The first related upload is an 80's garage group, which seems to have taken its name from Poe's short story. Their album is easily within the top-5 of its genre. Do not miss it!

download link: here

Various - A Manchester Collection: Bands of the Manchester Musicians Collective (1979) (@256)

2009-10-25T15:13:00.002+02:00

I've promised some time ago that I'll have an upload about Band on the Wall. The reason is the Manchester legendary venue's reopening on September, 25, after a serious renovation that lasted four years.
This upload features bands of the Manchester Musicians Collective. The members of these bands are posing for the cover art of the album in front of the Band on the Wall, which hosted them for quite a while on Sunday nights. Although these bands are unknown, the overall result of this release is pretty good, giving a nice glimpse of how post-punk was perceived by local musicians. It should be also stressed out that members of the Collective were, for short or long, the Fall, Warsaw/Joy Division, Spherical Objects and A Certain Ratio.
Finally, the trivia here is that the label Object Music who is responsible for this release was founded by Steve Solamar, founding member of the Spherical Objects and deejay in the Electric Circus.

Band on the Wall website

download link: here

Booker T. & the M.G.'s - McLemore Avenue (1970) (@256)

2009-10-11T18:01:00.006+02:00

I couldn't miss to have a post about the recent reissues of fourteen Beatles albums. Although I avoid buying cds from albums that were released prior to 1985 (or even later), I think that I'll make an exception with these. The reason is that the current editions have been remastered by expert studio engineers at the Abbey Road studios to offer the recordings of the band that has raised the bar to unreachable levels, in its highest fidelity ever.
The related upload is an album that was recorded as a tribute to Abbey Road. All the songs of McLemore Avenue are covers of Abbey Road tracks; the track order was rearranged to form long medleys, while other tracks (Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling and Octopus's Garden) are absent. Finally, as you can see, the cover art is reminiscent of the famous Beatles album, while McLemore Avenue is the location of the equally legendary Stax studios in Memphis, where Booker T. & the M.G.'s triumphed as it's main house band.

review link: here

download link: here

P.S. For those interested a cover version of Sgt. Pepper's can be found, in an older post, here

Various - Ellie Greenwich songs (@256)

2009-10-11T17:39:00.002+02:00

(1) Ellie circa 1968 (2)The Raindrops (Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich along with Ellie's sister Laura who did not participate in the couple's recordings!)

Another major loss... Ellie Greenwich, one of the most prominent composers of the Brill Building left us on August 26. This upload reminds us some of the songs that Ellie Greenwich co-written; most of them are of course with Jeff Barry. It is amazing how outrageously infectious these songs are.

Tracklisting:
01-Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans - Why Do Lovers Break Each Others Hearts (Spector-Powers-Greenwich) (1962)
02-Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron (Spector-Barry-Greenwich) (1963)
03-Darlene Love - (Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry (Spector-Powers-Greenwich) (1963)
04-Exciters - He's Got The Power (Powers-Greenwich) (1963)
05-Crystals - Then He Kissed Me (Spector-Barry-Greenwich) (1963)
06-Ronettes - Be My Baby (Spector-Barry-Greenwich) (1963)
07-Raindrops - The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget (Barry-Greenwich) (1963)
08-Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Spector-Barry-Greenwich) (1963)
09-Ronettes - Baby, I Love You (Spector-Barry-Greenwich) (1963)
10-Tommy James & the Shondells - Hanky Panky (Barry-Greenwich) (1964)
11-Dixie Cups - Chapel Of Love (Barry-Greenwich-Spector) (1964)
12-Manfred Mann - Do Wah Diddy Diddy (original single version) (Barry-Greenwich) (1964)
13-Dixie Cups - People Say (Barry-Greenwich) (1964)
14-Jelly Beans - I Wanna Love Him So Bad (Barry-Greenwich) (1964)
15-Shangri-Las - Leader Of The Pack (Morton-Barry-Greenwich) (1964)
16-Ellie Greenwich - You Don't Know (Barry-Greenwich-Morton) (1965)
17-Ike & Tina Turner - River Deep - Mountain High (Spector-Barry-Greenwich) (1966)

check also:
elliegreenwich.com
Ellie Greenwich interviewed

download link: here