Monday's Long Song

 

I recently listened to Fairport Convention's second album Unhalfbricking again and realized that I've never given this band the credit they deserve on this blog. 

In 1974, I watched a World Cup match at the home of Andreas, a school friend (I can't remember exactly which one, but I suspect it was one of the Dutch team, who played the best football at the time and who we will play again tonight). Afterwards, we retired to his older brother's room, who even then had exceptional taste in music. Whilst we were still listening to glam rock, he was already playing Velvet Underground and, in total contrast, Fairport Convention.

I was so impressed by this music that I bought this record. FC was the product of the very young Richard Thompson on guitar and Sandy Denny, who sadly died far too young, with her clear and expressive voice. 

The album contains many songs by Bob Dylan, taken from his Basement Tapes and introduced to the band at the time, as well as his own songs. These include A Sailor's Life, a traditional on which Thompson shows what an exceptional guitarist he is. At just under 12 minutes, it was an extremely long song even for its time, but with its gently driving rhythm it never gets boring. 

Fairport Convention - A Sailor's Life

New Song On Sunday

 

It's the middle of October and some artists are already thinking about Christmas. I could always imagine a collaboration between Dean Wareham, the former member of Galaxie 500 and Sonic Boom, but I never thought it possible that they would release an album of Christmas songs together.

But that's exactly what happened. In November, they will release A Piece Of Us, their personal compilation of Christmas songs. Only a cover of Willie Nelson's Pretty Paper has been released in advance. What in the original is nothing more than another sentimental country ballad now becomes a pulsating synth piece carried by Sonic Boom's baritone and Britta Phillip's alto voice. I'm certainly not a fan of Christmas albums, but this is one I'll be listening to.

Black Sunday On Saturday

 

West Coast hip hop established itself at the beginning of the 90s. Snoop Dog, 2Pac and Dr Dre were the protagonists and sold millions of albums with their gangsta rap. All in all, many of the songs sounded the same to me, although I have to admit that I understood very little of the lyrics.

At that time, there was little that really excited me about this genre. Firstly, there was House of Pain, who added the attitude of white rappers to hip hop with a fantastic debut. 

The other was Cypress Hill, who incorporated influences from Latin American music into their sound. It was phenomenal to hear the samples DJ Muggs used in his songs, which had socially critical lyrics as well as advocating the unpunished use of cannabis. Their second album Black Sunday was included in many annual lists in 1993 and has not lost much of its fascination even today. And a song that contains a sample from Son of a Preacher Man can't be bad.

Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain

Cypress Hill - Hits From The Bong

Cypress Hill - When The Shit Goes Down

Leather Friday

 

Let's start the second round with Vince Talyor, a British singer who became well known more than 60 years ago. Impressed by the music of Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley he tried to copy them in his own style. What remains of him is his hit Brand New Cadillac, to which The Clash also paid tribute, and the inspiration for David Bowie when he created Ziggy Stardust.

I have already mentioned Elvis, but he should not be missing from this series. He wore leather from time to time at the beginning of his career, but deliberately chose it as an outfit for his live comeback in 1968, when he was probably able to get himself together for the last time to return to his musical roots after years.

 

Khayem commented last week that Julian Cope should not be missing from this series, especially as he sang about the subject with his song Look After Your Leathers. He also discovered leather for his outfits very early on and has earned his place in this series.

Keep On Keeping On

 

The world is changing faster and faster for the worse. Real wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, trade wars with China, a global arms race, the economy is in tatters, the cost of living is rising, healthcare systems are ailing and more and more people are losing their jobs, to name just a few things that are not going right. To be honest, I don't have any final solutions to offer either, but everything reminds me of the time 40 years ago when we faced similar problems.

At that time, a left-wing and ecologically orientated policy seemed to be the right way forward. It was precisely at this time that The Redskins came into the limelight with their first album. A buch of far left wing skinheads with a Trotskyist background that brought us only one album but a lot of powerful, catchy and danceable tunes mixing soul, rockabilly and punk to a unique sound.

They didn't changed the world but they let us dance and gave us hope for better days.

And as a bonus a footage of their last gig in Munich.

Hot Rats

 

A few days ago, I remembered a friend who had a fatal accident on his motorbike a good 20 years ago. Peter was a total fan of Frank Zappa, had almost every album of his and gave me access to Zappa. Apart from his debut album with the Mothers of Invention and his foray into the mainstream on Sheik Yerbouti, I only own Hot Rats. 

On this album, Zappa made it clear what he meant by fusion and jazz-rock. The songs on this album are arranged in such a complex way, with breaks and changes of time signature, but still with a playful lightness. Hardly any other album from this period has such solid and sophisticated drums and bass. 

The rather playful and catchy Peaches in Regalia, which stands in stark contrast to the electronic blues of Willie The Pimp, which is characterized by sprawling wah-wah solos to explore the boundaries of crossover in Son of Green Genes, shows just how contradictory his music is on this album.

Frank Zappa - Peaches In Regalia

Frank Zappa - Willie The Pimp

Frank Zappa - Son Of Green Genes

From The Inbox

 

For today, I have selected a few noteworthy entries from my mailbox. The first one is from Andres y Xavi, the Balearic alter ego of Glenn Fallows and Steve Ellis. An excellent bass line prepares the floor for an hypnotic groove and later some vocals appear in the back. Another remarkable piece of music from them.

Martin Jenkins aka Pye Corner Audio returns with another dark sci-fi tune. A pulsating beat and hi-hats drive the song forward, which is only interrupted by a few echoing synth passages.