It was 40 Years Ago

when Billy Joel released his fifth solo album The Stranger. Way back in time it was definitely not the music I used to listen to and I didn't knew anything about him. I remember the days when he came to my town to promote this record. There were a few gigs at this day in the late 70's I could choose. Fats Domino and Jethro Tull were opportunities to go but my local radio recommended Billy Joel as a hidden secret and an artist that could have a bright future. With no expectations I went to his concert in a small venue in Stuttgart and was surprised about him playing his songs with a lot of emotional and intensive voice. Just him and his piano made this evening very special. Seldom heard something very special live any more until now. Since then Billy Joel and his songs accompanied until now and I have to admit that I didn't featured him at this place until now. You might like him or not but he wrote and recorded one of the best and most personal love songs ever. It is time to feature songs from this record right now.

Billy Joel - Get It Right The First Time
Billy Joel - She's Always A Woman To Me
Billy Joel - Just The Way You Are

Robert Palmer Reload

It is 14 years ago Robert Palmer died on a heart attack in Paris at the age of 54. Of course too early because because sometimes I ask myself what he could made during the last decade. From his first appearance with Vinegar Joe when he replaced Jess Roden (another great voice I should feature on this place sometime) and played guitar and sung with Elkie Brooks. A band that was different to all others in the early 70's. Based on blues-rock they had a very unique sound based on both vocals. Palmer started a solo career in the 80's and had big success with a mixture of blues-rock based songs added with reggae. His songs were always present in the 80's and at every time it was possible to play one of his songs when your were DJ-ing. Just for reminding Robert Palmer, there were some songs from his career.

Enjoy.

The Return Of A Giant

There are only a few voices during the last decades that I could listen to to mostly every time and made a relaxed feeling to me. One was Kevin Rowland and the other was Marc Almond. Both were the ones that made me feel like every word of suffering came true out of their mouth. I always listened to him from the early days of Soft Cell until now. And I have to say I am pleased that he released a new album after long time. It is a record filled with classic songs from the last 30 years. He covered them in his very unique sound and arranged with strings and sometimes horns. Based on the Bacharach sound it is a record that is timeless and I am sure this record will be played at my place often. It shows all the quality Marc has as a crooner. Never thought that anyone could make a cover of Still I'm Sad by The Yardbirds. It is like a journey back in the early 60's when great vocalists were the next big thing. Of course totally retro but if you're in the mood for this, I am sure you can enjoy this.

Marc Almond - Still I'm Sad
Marc Almond - How Can I Be Sure
Marc Almond - I Know You Love Me Not

New Germany

The election in Germany is over and our darkest fears were confirmed. AFD, the self called Alternative for Germany won more than 13% at all. Almost 90 of them will take place in our parliament for the next four years. During the last weeks I discussed a lot with friends, fellows and other people about this fascist base party. Now we have a lot of representatives of them in our parliament. I can't agree with a party that is built on hatred of any foreign people and fears poke around the putatively suppressed to pay court to. It is a party that denies the crimes of German Wehrmacht in WWII and tells me that I should be proud of our soldiers almost 80 years ago. I can't stand it and feeling a little helpless. Now I can understand much more the people in USA that was surprised by the election of Donald Trump. It seems like I have to fight against them and their ideas for the next years. But I will never give up looking forward to brighter days.

Heaven 17 - We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang
Billy Bragg - All Your Fascists
Woody Guthrie - I ain't got no home in this world anymore

German Oak

Warning: Don't be dazzled about the band and the record cover - this is not a nazi tribute!

The recent days I noticed that there was a re-release of one of the most obscure German bands at all. In the early 70's a few musicians got together in Düsseldorf experimentation on very new sounds. Influenced by very early Krautrock and free improvisations they made a very unique sound. I have to admit that I never heard of them before and curious about their music. Most of their songs were very long and instrumentals and had a very hypnotic sound. Based on the blues rock of the late 60's they created a different guitar sound with riffs, short guitar solos on a steady rocking ground of drum abd bass. Not that I would call them psychedelic and their songs were not structured at all and if someone would spent some times to arrange them well they could be classics. German Oaks are one of those bands that played their own style and had less supporters but listening now to this music after almost 45 years they sound more fresh and innovative than many of nowadays acts. They sampled a speech of Adolf Hitler at the Nuremberg rally and I don't like listening to this. But it was a giant step in these days acting like that. They were hippies and surely were dismissed the fucking third reich but it is the only band that made things like this in the early 70's in Germany. I don't know if Julian Cope knows them but I am sure he would love them - another one who will play them could be Andrew Weatherall. But this will be another story.

German Oak -  Raid Over Dusseldorf
German Oak -  Swastika Rising
German Oak -  Third Reich

Maximum Joy

We all know the Bristol sound from the 80's that came smooth and rhythm to our ears but there was a band that appeared in 1981 with a very fresh sound inspired by NWC's Nu-punk sound. Based on funky rhythms, a weird saxophone and fantastic vocals they were something different an new. Sadly they were just a small notice in music history but listening to them decades ago it still sounds fresh, new and unique. It is mixture of post-punk, funk and no-wave and I didn't listen to this kind of music for long time. Glad to remember them again.

Alvvays

It should be allowed to feature different genres at this place. It is a long time ago I posted something about Indie-pop here. Not that I ignore this kind of music - it is more that I don't know many bands that are worth to be featured. A few days ago I realized that Alvvays, a Toronto based band around vocalist Molly Rankin released their second album Antisocialites. My first thought about how to describe their music was jangle-pop. Flimsy, sweet Indie songs and an unobsrusive Slacker pop on which one can agree in this form already since the sixty-year-old's years of the last century well and with pleasure. Sounds dull, however, it is not.Maybe it is Rankin's fantastic voice, maybe the impression that this band pours her sound simply thus from the sleeves, maybe it is also just good. If it would be released a few month earlier this could be a record that accompanies you during the summer.

Truth

Last week CC featured on his fantastic blog The Faces and Rod Stewart. This brought me back to the early times of Rod the mod once again. He first got his first expectations in rock music while he played with his buddy Ronnie Wood in the Jeff Beck Group. It is almost 50 years ago when this album was released and I still go back to this record and enjoy the songs. I am not the one that is into blues/blues-rock and guitar slinging but this record accompanies me during decades because of it grounded and earthy music. Jeff Beck played a terrific guitar on this record and Rod Stewart had so much soul to make this songs great. For me a timeless album and still worth to listen.

Jeff Beck - Shapes Of Things
Jeff Beck - Morning Dew
Jeff Beck - Blues De Luxe
Jeff Beck - Beck's Bolero

Reggae Time Again

There were a lot of bands from Jamaica that were forgotten during the last decades. One of them were The Kingstonians and they only released one record back in 1970 called Sufferer on Trojan Records. They could be typed as another rocksteady / reggae vocal group and I discovered this records a few weeks ago. They were a little famous in UK during the period of the first boom of Skinhead Reggae in the early 70's. I really like their songs, their harmony singing and the positive vibes they exude to us. One of the forgotten bands of times long gone by.

The Kingstonians - Winey Winey
The Kingstonians - Sufferer
The Kingstonians - The Clip

Day I Die

A few days ago the latest album by The National was released and it is a very good record like the other ones before. There are still songs with a lot of melancholy on it and the baritone of Matt Berninger rules the songs. You can surely say: Another record with the same ingredients I have heard before and I say yes, this might be true but it is like my favourite meal: I ate it a lot of times but I can enjoy it every time again.