The legendary Greek composer, singer and musician in a full-length double CD program of new works, and songs from previous his
two recordings (Vrachnos Profitis and Agrypnia
) given a whole new perspective by the amazing ensemble he has backing
him up. One of the best recordings of 2004, from anywhere on the
planet. Highly recommended, especially for those who like creative,
roots-inspired progressive rock-folk music.
Buried beneath Jerry Garcia’s endless side
projects, guest appearances and solo endeavors is the rarely mentioned
Legion of Mary. The LOM lineup consisted of Merl Saunders, JGB bassist
John Kahn, Martin Fierro on sax and flute along with Ronnie Tutt on
drums (who replaced Paul Humphrey in early ’75). The band was short
lived—lasting only from July of ’74 to July ’75—but during the time it
lasted the Legion of Mary was a rare force, blending the sounds of jazz,
rock and R&B with a touch of psychedelia.
The two discs here feature 14 selections recorded at either the aforementioned club, the Portland Theater and the Great American Music Hall; none of the material has been previously released.The first disc includes readings of Bob Dylan's "Tough Mama," and Robbie Robertson's
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," as well as the staple "I Second
That Emotion." But the greatest surprise is the improvisation in
"Talkin' 'Bout You" that closes the disc. Garcia's
interplay with Saunders is simply magical, and Fierro's saxophone work
here pushes them both. The second disc ranges from rollicking early rock
& roll classics like "Let It Rock" and "Mystery Train," to more Motown
tunes such as "Money Honey" and "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved by You."
The playing is off-kilter funky, relaxed but adventurous throughout.
Formed in Athens (Greece) in 1998 by six former members of The Last
Drive, Honeydive, Rockin’ Bones and Engine-V. The Earthbound recorded
their self-titled debut album with producer Jim Spliff, which came out
in 2000. The album contains three cover versions, namely Kyuss
(Gardenia), Woody Guthrie and Guillermo Portaballes. Expect on this
platter a sultry mix between americana and rock.
The Moonflowers were a Bristol-based
rock band formed in 1987. The band was active as a performing and
recording unit until 1997. To date they have released eight EPs and
seven LPs on their own PopGod Records label. Famed for colourful and spectacular live shows, designed and built by Liam Yeates. Moonflowers in 1993 released their
second (though first really good) LP called 'From Whales to Jupiter and
Beyond the Stars to Rainbohemia' which mixed folk, dub, rock and dance
influences.
Yet still they aimed higher and dreamt they could free themselves -and
us all- from the bonds of commercial modern existence and so decided to
remove themselves from society to create their own utopia, their
'Rainbohemia', a place where days are spent in creativity with music and
art a way of life.
The band waved goodbye to their friends and drove away in their yellow bus across the sea and far away...
In 1995 masters for an LP were sent to Pop God offices (from an unknown
destination) which was the masterful 'Colours and Sounds' LP. This
record was released and though not well known, very worth tracking down
for its incredible range and orchestration.
In an off-beat but original way Mariza Koch began her musical career in
1971 with an album titled "Arabas". It consisted of a collection of
traditional Greek folk songs blended with unusual beats from traditional
and modern electronic instrumental sounds. One could even term the
sound as folk rock. On the other hand Mariza's unique vocals became the
center piece of the music which on more than one occasion needed no
accompaniment. No matter what one called it, the album was a resounding
success,as it was the first gold album in Greece.
Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, and Noel Redding were the rage of
England in that summer of love and psychedelica but they had yet to play
the United States and thus were no more than a rumor to most of the
Monterey crowd. Their appearance at the festival was magical: the way
they looked, the way they performed, and the way they sounded were light
years away from anything anyone had seen before. The
Jimi Hendrix Experience owned the future and the audience knew it in an
instant. The banks of amplifiers and speakers wailing and groaning as
Hendrix's fingers scurried across the strings of his guitar gave the
trio's music as much density as other rock groups were getting out of
the studio 8-track tape machines. And, of course, Hendrix is a masterful
--though seemingly off-hand-- performer. Pete Townshend of The Who had
become famous for destroying his guitar. Hendrix carried the ritual a
couple of fantasies farther with lighter fluid and dramatic playing
positions in "Wild Thing." When Jimi left the stage he had graduated
from rumor to legend. Otis Redding had been performing and recording for five
years, but his fame and his following --despite a couple of undeniable
hit records-- were largely confined to black rhythm and blues audiences
in America and to Europe, where he and the Stax/Volt Revue had a justly
fanatic following. The Monterey International Pop Festival was comprised
of rock people who were still a year or two away from rediscovering
their roots, "the love crowd," as he characterized them. It's
difficult to characterize the extent of his impact Saturday night. He
was the last act in a day of music which had left the spectators
satiated and pleasantly exhausted. Redding went on around midnight,
close to the curfew agreed upon by festival organizers and the local
police department and sherrif's office. Booker T. and the MGs and The
MarKeys had played a brief instrumental set and played onstage to back
Redding. Within moments after Otis Redding hit the stage, the crowd was
on its feet, and --for the first and only time in a weekend of five
massive concerts-- was impulsively rushing toward the stage to dance in
the warmth of his fire. He rocked and rolled past the
curfew with a dazzling performance which no one could think of stopping.
That night he gave the Monterey International Pop Festival its high
point and he was embraced by the rock crowd as a new-found hero. Six
months later he was killed in a place crash, leaving Monterey as perhaps
the high point in his performing career.
For those who don’t know, Mr. Blaine was a session drummer, and, though
you might not recognize his name, many drummers of the early ’60s,
considered him their “Chet Atkins!” Well, with his solo LP he gets down
on some heavy instrumental, Hot Rod heat. For me, this is one of the
better, more inventive, Hot Rod records as DTR&D is royally executed
by the top LA session fellas. The list of “Young Cougars” is as long as
my right arm, and DTR&D is produced in bright, booming ’60’s
“Soundtrack” clarity by Lee Hazelwood.
It isn’t often that a young musical group
discover themselves, and at the same time, discover their music. Such
was the case with the Shades Of Black Lightning. When the Shades first
came to my attention, the group was in the midst of developing. They had
an exciting style in Rhythm and Blues.
Coming into the studio gave them further
opportunities for experimentation. Here, the creativity and imagination
of the individual members flowered, matched by enthusiasm and the joy
found only in people who love what they are doing.
They have come to this happy point in their
development. They want to share it with you. I think you’ll agree that
the Shades are different. They bring with them sound of today and
previews of tomorrow. (Freddie Piro – Album Liner Notes)
This is the soundtrack of the movie Paraggelia of Paulos Tassios that was made in 1980.It is a collaboration between the poet Katerina Gogou and composer Kyriako Sfetsa. Gogou was one of the most important underground poets of that period.On this album she recites poems from her first two poetic works. Excellent album!
If you think Mali is all about the kora or the Super Rail Band, you need to take a listen to Amadou & Mariam,
a blind married couple who take Malian music in a whole different
direction. They keep to the bluesy, pentatonic root that's the heart of
the desert sound of Mali, but bring it toward the West, even letting
guitars howl here and there and funking things up with some lovely
keyboard work. Amadou & Mariam
sing both separately and together (indeed, they're at their strongest
together, when the two voices can work off each other on songs like
"Chauffeurs"), and they're both strong writers, using rhythm as much as
melody for a sound that's remarkably down-home. There's nothing complex
about it -- perhaps the Bamako equivalent of a bar band, albeit a very
good one. "Sarama," for example, rocks wonderfully and hypnotically, and
wouldn't sound out of place in a roadhouse, getting the crowd up and
dancing. Perhaps it's because they don't sound especially African in
their approach to music -- allowing the roots to be just one part of the
whole.
Stratavarious is an album by Ginger Baker, the drummer
from Cream, released by Polydor in 1972. Baker had many associations
with an eclectic mix of musicians brought together under numerous band
titles bearing his surname. Stratavarious is the only album which was
released under the name of Ginger Baker without other associated names.
The lineup on Stratavarious includes Bobby Tench, vocalist and guitarist
from The Jeff Beck Group, who plays guitar under the pseudonym Bobby
Gass and the Nigerian pioneer of Afrobeat, Fela Ransome-Kuti who
appeared at concerts with Baker at this time.Great album!
This band was one of the best rock groups to come out of Nigeria in
the 70s, during that country’s post-Civil War musical explosion. They formed in the eastern university and oil town of Warri, in Delta
State, and the members were veterans of the Biafran Army; their
connections to people who traveled abroad often gave them access to a
lot of British and American records that competing bands couldn’t hear. After a series of singles, the band upped stakes and moved to London,
where they quickly established a fierce reputation on the live circuit and recorded two LPs. before they disbanded in 1977. This is their second album,a fantastic combination of funk and rock mixed with african elements.
This is the second album that the great flamenco guitar player Sabicas is mixing his skills with rock elements,as he had done in '66 at the Rock Encounter album with Joe Beck.It is one of the first flamenco rock albums,a genre that a few years later became more popular in Spain.
Here we have five instrumental tracks,each one experimenting with a different backing rhythm.Probably the flamenco purists wouldn't love that kind of mix,but for the rest it is an interesting album.
Kristi Stassinopoulou has created her own unique electro-world style
with Greek folk rhythms, psychedelia, haunting vocal harmonies and a
crystal clear voice. The successful blend of traditional Greek rhythms and sound colours,
haunting Byzantine vocal lines, rembetika music, psychedelic rock,
ambience and electronica, combined with Kristi's vivid scenic appearance
and personality and her colourful band, sparked great response and led
to frequent appearances in music festivals and clubs mostly in Europe,
N. America and Brazil.. As on this album, she normally collaborates with her long-time musical
partner & husband : composer and multi-instrumentalist Stathis
Kalyviotis. Their current approach is still
internationalist, neo-hippie, paganistic, experimental and described by them as ‘greekadelia’.Normally a 5-piece, the band
on this album play a wide variety of instruments including : saz,
laouto, lyre, gaida (greek bagpipe), saxophones, guitars, keyboards,
percussion & djembe - and is expanded by guest musicians on
individual tracks playing harp, tablas, trumpet & trombone.
Joe Cocker is an album released by Joe Cocker in 1972. It was issued in
the U.S. on A&M Records. It contains the hit single "High Time We
Went", that was released in the summer of 1971.
Although A&M has so far never made the album available on CD in the
U.S., it licensed the recording to UK-imprint Cube Records, which issued
the album on CD (with a different cover and titled Something to Say) in
Europe; that CD is currently out-of-print.
The last of Cocker's classic early period records, it's an almost surprisingly
strong affair. The amazing thing is that this time
Joe wrote most of the material himself - in collaboration with Stainton
and others, but still, this is a really independent record, and thus an
absolute anomaly in the Cocker canon. Even more amazing, these songs are
mostly good. This is also a good album for those who like their Cocker more
rockin': lots of fast, upbeat, punchy grooves on here, and a solid enough
amount of packed energy.
The Word is an instrumental rock/Sacred steel/gospel blues jam band. The supergroup included well-known musicians: Robert Randolph (pedal steel guitar), John Medeski (keyboards), and all three members of North Mississippi Allstars - Luther Dickinson (electric guitar), Cody Dickinson (drums, washboard), and Chris Chew (bass guitar).
The Word developed from a mutual affection for gospel music
and the Sacred Steel tradition shared by Medeski and members of the
North Mississippi Allstars. Chris Chew and Luther Dickinson were
particularly fond of a song called "Without God" on the Sacred Steel
Live! album, the only track credited to a then-unknown Robert Randolph.
They contacted Randolph and recruited him to form their own Sacred Steel
band, likely the first initiated by musicians outside the House of God
church organization.
Their debut self-titled album, produced by Medeski and released on Ropeadope Records . The album contains a
mixture of traditional gospel songs (played with instrumental
arrangements) and original instrumentals written by the group.A great album!
The band made in 2007 in Thessaloniki,Greece.As the city is a passage between the neighbour cultures ,they manage to combine a mix of many different influences as balkan,ska,rock and more in a well favoured blend.The first (self-released) album came out at 2011.Their sound is lively with clever multi-language lyrics.They cover four traditional songs in an imaginable way ,that let us know they have explored the roots of balkan music ,but they are capable enough to transform it in something new.The title of the album truly represents the feeling of the music.Excellent debut!
‘Strictly Personal’ became something of a cause celebre in Captain
Beefheart’s oeuvre- the man himself disowned the album due to the
psychedelic period production trappings added to the mix by producer Bob
Krasnow, in order to make the music a little bit more palatable to a
demographic used to the psychedelic sound. In retrospect, Krasnow’s
decision was understandable- in its original state, this music was not
easy to categorise and, therefore, sell to the general public. However,
Beefheart’s music is definitely not psychedelia and nowadays, perhaps
the music sounds more of its time than it may have done. Nevertheless,
‘Strictly Personal’ remains an excellent entree into the world of
Captain Beefheart, being a little less avant garde than the follow-up
‘Trout Mask Replica’, but also a little bit more abstract than 1967′s
‘Safe As Milk’.
This heady blend of instrumental pop covers, fuzzed-up guitars and
sitar is a kitsch blast from start to finish. Featuring the cream of
LA’s session players alongside sitar virtuoso Harihar Rao (Ravi
Shankar’s senior disciple), it was originally released in 1966, showing itself to be the first
‘sitarsploitation’ album ever recorded.
This
is a highly unusual compilation of murky instrumentals produced by home
studio wizard Joe Meek in the early 60s. Some of the tracks are
super-cool twangy, spooky masterpieces, but more often the tracks have
more of a 50s edge, perhaps reflecting Meek's obsession with Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochrane. Probably the best tracks on here are 'Night of the Vampire' by the Moontrekkers and 'the spook walks' by the Spooks.
Both are dirty, swampy spacey sounding early 60s instrumentals which
capture a very cool sound.One incredibly
interesting bonus on the disc is the original demo of Joe Meek humming
the tune to 'telstar' over a backing track, with loads of echo. He
loses his way a few times. It is pretty cool.
