Zero Rated Soul

We finish the week with some smooth soul from Ronnie Dyson. This took some negotiating as Ronnie refused to help us out until I was able to guarantee him that there would be no tax liability as a result of being featured here. Him and his cousin James, they are like two peas in a pod.

"The More You Do It (The More I Like It Done To Me)" - Ronnie Dyson

"Emmie" - Ronnie Dyson

Being a bunch of sophisticates you will have spotted that "Emmie" is a Laura Nyro cover, so let's round things off with the Great Lady herself.

Change The A To An I

On Monday we featured a Candy, today we feature a Cindy. Cindy Lee Berryhill, to be precise. Here are a couple of tracks from her excellent 1996 album "Straight Outta Marysville".

"High Jump" - Cindy Lee Berryhill

"Elvis Of Marysville" - Cindy Lee Berryhill

Contrary to her claim in the album title, Cindy does not come straight outta any one of the 12 Marysvilles in the US (or the four in Canada or the one in Australia), having been born in Silver Lake in California. But someone who did was the legendary Moondog, born 105 years ago this month in Marysville, Kansas.

Some Candy Singing

I went to my local second-hand record shop on Friday for the first time since The Great Reopening. After sanitizing scrupulously I had a good old rummage around in the bargain bins and found some goodies. 

The pick of the bunch was the album that Kilburn's own Candy McKenzie recorded with Lee 'Scratch' Perry in Black Ark Studio in 1977. The story of the album, and of Candy herself, can be found here. Never released in her all too short lifetime, it finally came out ten years ago under the title "Lee 'Scratch' Perry Presents Candy McKenzie".

And now, so do I. 

"Ice Cream" - Candy McKenzie

"When The Big Day" - Candy McKenzie

Beached

Nagisa Ni Te are a Japanese duo whose music is variously described as folk-rock, psychedelic and progressive. They have been knocking around for the best part of a quarter of a century but, to my great shame, had completely passed me by until a couple of months ago when I read a review of one of their albums and I decided to explore. Better late than never

A number of their albums were released on the Jagjaguwar label and you can find them all on Bandcamp going for $10 each. Those include their 1996 debut album "On The Love Beach", which is probably my favourite of the ones I have had a chance to listen to so far.

They obviously have a bit of a thing about beaches, because Nagisa Ni Te means "on the beach". I have absolutely no evidence to support this theory, but I think it is possible they named themselves after one of my favourite Neil Young albums. There is certainly a noticeable early Neil vibe on "On The Love Beach".

"Me On The Beach" - Nagisa Ni Te

"They" - Nagisa Ni Te

Goat Roastin' Rebel Music

It has been a while since we had any country music on here. We'll put that right with a bit of Johnny Rodriguez.

Johnny was big in the 1970s, with six No. 1 country hits between 1973 and 1975, and continued charting regularly until the mid 1980s. He was the first Mexican-American to top the country charts, beating the great Freddy Fender to it by a couple of years.  

He sounds quite a character. He was discovered at the age of 18 by a prison warden, having been jailed for stealing and roasting a goat. He has been married three times to date, to a flight attendant, a hair salon owner and Willie Nelson's daughter. And then in 1998 he faced a murder charge after shooting a pal in his house in the mistaken belief they were a burglar. Pretty much the archetypal Good Ol' Boy.

"Pass Me By (If You're Only Passing Through)" - Johnny Rodriguez

"Ridin' My Thumb To Mexico" - Johnny Rodriguez 

Kids of Today

You desert blues fans out there may remember me raving about the self-titled debut album by Timasniwen a few years ago. They disappeared from the scene for a while but are now back with a fantastic brand new single, "Tihoussay Tenere", and a brand new name. 

The brand new name is Dag Tenere, which means Desert's Children. To mark their return here are a few more children. The last track doubles up as our tribute to Les McKeown, who sadly left us last week.

"The Sidewalks of the Ghetto" - Eternity's Children

"Tribal Fence" - Freedom's Children

"Summerlove Sensation" - Shelley's Children

A Boy Named Nigusuu

Ethiopian pop for you today from the extravagantly vowelled Nigusuu Taammiraat. Both tracks are from his 2010 album "Haadhakoo", which is pretty vowelly too.

"Ljaan Dhugaa" - Nigusuu Taammiraat

"Looshaa" - Nigusuu Taammiraat

I picked the album up while on holiday in Ethiopia in 2012. Its a magical place going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment, and I would love to get back there when that sort of thing is allowed. 

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting a series of monasteries on Lake Taha, all of them heavily decorated. Many of the people in these decorations appeared to have been modelled on The Commodores circa 1974.