This is by way of a follow-up to Wednesday's post in which I gave a detailed review of a gig by two Jon Langford related combos.
The day after the gig I wandered over to the very estimable Flashback Records on Bethnal Green Road who are currently having one of their rare 'ten CDs for £5' clearance sales. I picked up a bundle of goodies which included albums by Orchestra Baobab, Eek-a-Mouse, The Weather Station and Anthony Braxton among others.
Top of the pile was a further fine slice of Langfordiana, 'I ♥ Mekons' by... well, you can work that out for yourselves. It came out in 1993 after a bit of a delay when Warner Bros rejected it for not being good enough. The foolishness of this assertion was clear to all when it eventually got released by Chicago's Quarterstick Records, the start of what proved to be a long and productive relationship.
At the time of its release some twerp in Melody Maker described the album as being "simultaneously a brilliant, exhilarating pop record and an exploration of the assumptions behind other people’s pop records." I'm not sure what the second part means but I would have to concede he is right about the first.
I had the pleasure of seeing The Mekons live last year with a line-up featuring most of the members involved in 'I ♥ Mekons'. It was a great night. They are coming back to the UK again later in the year. I may be on a secret mission when they play London but fingers crossed I will be able to get to the gig. If they come to your town you should definitely go along.
Following on from King Ayisoba in Dalston, last week Mister F and I made our way to the Lexington in London's swinging Islington to see the Waco Brothers. It was an evening of delights both expected and unexpected.
The expected delight was the Brothers themselves. They were out in full force with their three front men - Jon Langford, Dean Schlabowske and Tracey Dear - and the rest of the gang all in fine raucous form. They bashed their way through hit after hit leaving no shit left unkicked and a great time was had by all (apart from one sour-faced old bastard but he doesn't count).
The unexpected delight was the support act, a Jon Langford project that had previously passed me by. Jon Langford's Men of Gwent is mainly him and a bunch of other blokes from his home town of Newport. Most of their set was performed without La Langford - we were encouraged to think of them as The Shadows without Cliff "but not the Glitter Band" - but the show did not suffer at all from his absence.
Musically they reminded me a bit of 1970s pub-rock (in a good way). Think Brinsley Schwarz or Ducks Deluxe if they only sang songs about Newport and other seaside towns in South Wales.
Today's selection features two of the 20+ highlights of the Brothers' set, plus a song about Tenby from the Men of Gwent. I chose it because back in the early 1970s my uncle managed a zoo on the St. Katherine's Island mentioned in the song.
This time out you were challenged to insert a reference to a capital city into a popular song title. And between you you've come up with what can only be described as an interesting and varied selection. Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry, and give yourselves a collective bonus point for resisting the temptation to suggest some Seoul music.
Voting is open to all readers not just those who entered. Let me know your top five in order of preference. I'll award 7 points for every first choice, 5 for second and then 3, 2 and 1 for the rest.
You can either submit your votes in the comments section below or by email to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk if you would rather preserve the sanctity of the ballot.
Thedeadline for voting is Saturday (11 July) and the results will be announced first thing on Sunday. Normally voting closes on the Sunday and the results are announced on the Monday, but I am off on my travels again on Sunday morning so need to fit it in before then. We can't leave you all on tenterhooks until I get back.
Here are capitals that made the cut:
Bern Baby Bern - Ash
Pyongyang-a-lang - Bay City Rollers
Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into Dakar- Billy Ocean
Its Oslo Quiet – Bjork
Nobody Does It Ulaanbaatar - Carly Simon
I'm Tallinn You Now - Freddie & The Dreamers
(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Djibouti - KC & The Sunshine Band
Tashkent Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minogue
Mouldy Old Doha - Lieutenant Pigeon
Nuuk What They've Done To My Song Ma - Melanie
When Amman Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge
Pretty In Minsk – Psychedelic Furs
Beat On The Bratislava - Ramones
Hurry Up Harare - Sham 69
Pulling Brussels (From The Shell) – Squeeze
Making Plans For Taipei - XTC
Before we leave, here are the official sponsors of this edition of Pun Fun with an important message to you all.
The United States of America celebrates its 250th birthday tomorrow. I don't work weekends so we're marking the occasion today.
This post is dedicated to all of our highly prized American readers - from California (the state from which we have had most visitors according to my flag counter) all the way to Alaska (no visitors for six years) and all points in between.
I imagine many of you will be celebrating in traditional style by hosting a wrestling contest on your front lawn and then vandalising your local swimming baths. But whatever you are doing, have fun.
The first track in today's selection was recorded when the US was only 151 years old and a veritable spring chicken. The second was released to coincide with its bicentenary. The rest are all dangerously modern.
Last week the mighty King Ayisoba was in the UK for a short tour to promote his new Adrian Sherwood produced album "Pure Confusion".
On Thursday I went over to the air-conditioned Cafe Oto in London's fashionable Dalston together with some local hipsters and some ex-pat Ghanaians to take in the show. A great time was had by all.
The King barked and crooned to his heart's content while plucking away furiously at his kologo (a traditional Ghanaian two-stringed instrument that produces a sound reminiscent of a banjo), pausing regularly to ask us whether we were happy. We were.
The King was accompanied by three percussionistas bashing and shaking assorted drums and gourds. Together with the King and his kologo they rattled along in a manner that was hard to resist (not that I really tried to resist to be honest).
The band included Ayuune Sule who is a very talented singer and kologo player in his own right as he proved by doubling up as the support act. It would have been worth going for his set alone.
Our mini-set consists of the opening track from the King's new album, a track from "Work Hard" (2023) which features Ayuune Sule, then finally something from the latter's own "Putoo Katare Yire" album (2021) which was a real crowd pleaser last Thursday.
One of the King's guests on "Pure Confusion" is Ghanaian reggae titan and three time Grammy nominee Rocky Dawuni. After I posted a couple of photos from the gig up on Instagram last week whoever manages his social media put four flame emojis in the comments. Normally I would ignore such a flagrant attempt to ingratiate themselves but MAR rules apply. So here's Mr Dawuni for you.
Pun Fun returns for a quick outing before the summer holiday season starts (although the holiday weather has arrived early, at least for those of us in Europe).
I thought about picking the World Cup as a topical theme but I suspect there is too much of that happening already for some folks. So instead I have chosen a theme that is even more global:
CAPITAL CITIES
We will accept entries using the capital cities of any of the countries, territories, dependencies, non-sovereign states and even entities whose sovereignty is disputed that appear on this list.
As it says in the introduction "the capitals included on this list are those associated with states or territories listed by the international standard ISO 3166-1", so if you have any quibbles please take them up directly with the International Organization for Standardization (contact details here).
To avoid upsetting our many Scottish readers we will follow the example of FIFA and treat the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom as separate countries. We also endorse FIFA's recommendation that you take regular hydration breaks while punning to reduce the risk of your brain cells overheating. Unlike FIFA we don't take bribes (although you are welcome to try).
Entries are to be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday 5 July. Voting opens next Monday.
Good luck everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can come up with for Bandar Seri Begawan, Yamoussoukro, Ngerulmud or any one of the three Georgetowns (all named after the twice winner and patron saint of puns I believe).
Some songs about melting. I can't think where I got the idea from. In fact I can't really think at all until it cools down a bit, hence this brief introduction.
After a bit of a hiatus caused by real travel we are resuming our virtual tour of the Americas. We are onto the final stretch, with just four more countries to go after this one.
On some stops on the tour we have been hampered by the relatively limited availability of local music - and that is likely to be an issue on our next stop as well - but is certainly doesn't apply to Peru. There is loads of great music from there and we have featured a fair amount of it here in the past, mostly boogaloo and psychedelia. We are going to kick things off today with a couple of examples of each.
Boogaloo originated in New York in the early 1960s, blending jazz and R 'n B with mambo and other Cuban rhythms to create a truly groovy new sound. It became popular across Latin America but particularly in Peru where everyone who was anyone had a go.
Back in 2019 the Vampisoul label released a four volume series called "¡Gózalo! Bugalú Tropical" capturing the Peruvian boogaloo and related scenes of the 1960s and 1970s. Our opening double salvo from Charlie Palomares y Su Yuboney and Tito Chicoma y Su Orquesta both adorn Volume 1, but the other three records are worth a listen as well.
For those young Peruvians who turned their noses up at boogaloo there was always psychedelia, which started flourishing in Peru in the late 1960s. Foremost among the many bands turning their hands to it were Traffic Sound, who between 1969 and 1971 released three top notch albums, "Virgin", "Traffic Sound" and "Lux" (from which today's selection comes). The band's original bass player Willy Thorne left just before they recorded "Lux", presumably in order to commit himself fully to his snooker career.
After Traffic Sound the next biggest act on the Peruvian psych scene was Laghonia whose 1970 debut album "Glue" is considered a standard in some quarters. Most of the tracks on the album had originally been released under the band's previous name New Juggler Sound. This included the title track - they overdubbed some organ for the 'new' version but otherwise it is the same recording. I've opted for the original which you can find on the compilation "Back to Peru Vol. 1".
Before moving on, a quick plug for the excellent Munster Records of Madrid who reissued all of the albums mentioned in the previous two paragraphs and many other goodies as well.
I know nothing at all about our next act, who bring us some funky flute-infused cumbia from the early 1970s. If Discogs is correct this was the A-side of El Comienzo's only single. I found it on "Cumbias Psicodelicas: Vol. 1 Ayahuasca", a compilation on Peru's own Repsychled label.
Moving forward to 1981 we find Los Orientales De Paramonga and their album "Lo Fuerte Del Gua Gua". Their career had peaked in the previous decade under the watchful eye of Argentinian ex-pat musical Svengali Enrique Lynch, but at this stage they were resorting to jumping on any passing bandwagon open to expanding their sound. They made a decent job of it in my view.
The most prominent artist we are featuring today by some distance is Susana Baca. A three time Latin Grammy winner, former Minister of Culture, singer and folklorist, Ms Baca is a key figure in the revival of Afro-Peruvian music and culture. Between 1997 and 2011 she released six albums on David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. This track comes from the second of those, "Ecos de Sombras" (2000).
Finally we bring things right up to date with our MAR selection. Rolo Gallardo and Triblin Sound both have a long list of production credits to their respective names. Last year they teamed up to release an album called "Peru Dub Dealers". This track features Rawa on vocals. Whether he is the shaman of that name who appeared at London's South Bank in 2019 or whether it is a Willy Thorne type case of mistaken identity I do not know.
Zoila Emperatriz Chávarri Castillo was just a humble Peruvian warbler when she signed to Capitol Records. They changed her name and her fame began. Here's Eddie Cantor to introduce her.
My secret trip to Nigeria ended up being a bit of a disappointment. That is no reflection on the country or the many friendly people I met there, it was just a bit jinxed.
I was there to do some work in Lagos and the plan was to head on to Calabar for the weekend. That did not happen because the airline cancelled the only flight so there was no way of getting there (not an unusual occurrence according to my local contacts).
In Lagos itself torrential rain on both days when I had a bit of free time led to a fair amount of flooding which, added to the already very busy traffic, meant that I was not able to get to most of the sights on my to do list. With more of the same predicted for the weekend, I decided to cut my losses and head home a couple of days early.
However, I really liked the little of Lagos I was able to see, and if I get an opportunity to go back in the future and explore the city further I'll definitely do so.
I very much enjoyed visiting the J. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History (head to City Mall and look for the giant eyo figure across the road). The visit was enhanced by my self-appointed guide Tishe, aged about 10, who took pity on the old tourist and shared lots of interesting information about the exhibits until his Mum came to get him for family photos.
The biggest highlight though was The Jazzhole, which has gone straight into my list of Top 10 record stores. As you enter you find yourself facing huge piles of books, vinyl and CDs. If and when you get past them there are a few tables and a cafe serving tea, coffee and excellent cake and a small performance area behind that with a drum kit all set up and ready to go.
I could happily have spent a whole day there browsing, eating cake and chatting to the charming owner but regrettably I only had 90 minutes to spare. I still managed to come away with a small pile of CDs, most of them Nigerian but a couple from elsewhere in Africa and one by Alpha & Omega from far-flung Devon.
The only one that I have had the chance to listen to yet is "Selfishness & Greediness", the 2022 album by Lekan Animashaun (Baba Ani for short). Mr A was a long-time member of Afrika 70 and Egypt 80, taking over as leader of the latter group when Tony Allen left and remaining so when they started working with Seun Kuti after Fela's death.
By sheer coincidence, Strut records will be reissuing Mr A's 1977 solo album "Low Profile" this Friday. If you can't wait until then here is a track from his more recent record. At 13 minutes long it also counts towards Monday's Long Song for those of you who celebrate it.
I'm off on my travels again early tomorrow morning, a few days work in one location followed by a hopefully relaxing long weekend in another. As usual I'll need to draw a veil over exactly where I'm going.
I'll be back on here towards the end of next week. Until then here are some randomly selected tunes for you to enjoy.
We're back with more from the gift that keeps giving, Dust-t0-Digital's "Excavated Shellac" box set. More details of what it contains and how I came to acquire it through the good offices of the mysterious JWA can be found in Monday's post.
This time we are featuring two tracks each from Discs 3 and 4 of the box set. In order, the place and time they come from are: Mauritius (l958 or thereabouts), Malta (1932), Iraq (1930) and South Africa (1967).
I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days in Mahebourg last year while working in Mauritius. A lively town and a lovely spot (see photo below) but I didn't do any dancing. I was wary of getting dizzy.
It was sad to hear the news yesterday that the great guitarist and all round cool dude James Blood Ulmer left us last week.
Born in 1940, for the first part of his career Mr Ulmer was a sideman plating with the likes of Art Blakey, Paul Bley and Ornette Coleman. The latter featured heavily on 1979's "Tales Of Captain Black", the first LP released under Mr Ulmer's own name. But it was his next record that first brought him to many people's attention, including mine.
I may have told the story here previously of how way back in the days of fanzines I wrote to Rough Trade asking whether they could spare any 7" singles for me and my pals to review. In return they sent some goodies by the likes of The Fall and Fad Gadget and a single by someone I had never heard of before. That was James Blood Ulmer, the record was "Are You Glad To Be In America?", and it blew open my then tiny mind.
Many years later I was lucky enough to see Mr Ulmer live in London a couple of times. Despite being well into his 70s by then he still sounded great and it was a privilege to be there.
Here is the record that started it all for me, a track from "Tales Of Captain Black" and one from "Odyssey" (1983) in which he explains that he had to go, as he now has. And if you have 52 minutes to spare you might enjoy the video.
Some people (well, Rol) claim that I am some sort of international man of mystery. I'm not really but I play along with it.
Someone who really is mysterious is the entity known only as JWA, a regular reader and underrated punster whose corporeal form appears to exist in both Sweden and the USA at exactly the same time. Other than that I know nothing about their identity.
What I do know though is that JWA is extraordinarily thoughtful and generous. They recently sent me a copy of a box set called "Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World’s Music" released by the Dust-to-Digital label. As the name suggests Dust-to-Digital specialises in restoring and reissuing vintage recordings and we have featured tracks from its great catalogue a number of times here over the years.
"Excavated Shellac" includes 100 tracks from 89 countries over four CDs, all of which were originally recorded between 1907 and 1967. It comes with a fascinating 180 page book that discusses not just all the tracks themselves but the history of recorded music in different parts of the world. I can't possibly thank JWA enough for the gift.
Today we have two tracks each from Discs 1 and 2 for you to tap your toes to. They hail respectively from Mozambique (1953), Serbia (1927), Jamaica (1937) and Tahiti (1936).
We'll be back with some selections from Discs 3 and 4 later in the week. In the meantime here is a song that celebrates Dust-to-Digital's mission (although you would probably need to replace "Rockin'" with "Capturing rare and unusual recordings" for it to be completely accurate).
Last week I asked readers to choose a number between 1 and 7000 to help me mark the appearance in the previous post of the 7000th song to be featured on the blog.
Six of you kindly did so. These are the songs that correspond to those numbers on my spreadsheet (on which songs are listed alphabetically by artist and then alphabetically for each artist where there has been one song from the aforementioned artist - for those of you taking notes).
The Big 6 have come up with a pretty cool playlist. Of course that would not have been possible if I hadn't been cool enough to share the songs in the first place. Collectively we're a pretty cool gang. Bonus points go to C and her ESP for picking a number with the word "number" in the title.
Walter chose 1893 because it is the year the mighty VfB Stuttgart were founded. While I'm always happy to hear the young Marianne Faithfull singing old British folk songs - and similarly happy to hear a bunch of Breton hippies doing the same on Pete's selection - I can't help wishing Walter's team had been founded just a year earlier. If it had been he would have selected what I consider the greatest mash-up of all time. Here it is.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have another winner, or rather winners. After some of the most extraordinary voting I have ever witnessed, tied at the top of the 'Herbs and Spices' chart are...
GEORGE with "Chive Talking" and...
MODESTY FORBIDS with "The Bitterest Dill (I Ever Had To Swallow)"
The votes were scattered far and wide, which I think you should take as a tribute to the overall quality of your entries. Nine different puns (i.e. half the entries) received at least one first choice vote. Weirdly the pun that got the most first places - "Thyme Is On My Side" (Chris) - picked up just a single point from the rest of the voting panel combined and as a result didn't even make the Top 5. Here's what did.
=1. Chive Talking - The Bee Gees
(George) =1. The Bitterest Dill (I Ever Had
To Swallow) - The Jam (Ernie) 3. What A Fool Bay Leaves - The
Doobie Brothers (Steve) 4. Parsley Dutchie - Musical Youth
(Charity Chic) 5. The First Time Ever I Saw Your
Mace – Roberta Flack (Alyson)
As well as the top 5 and Chris, I should also commend Rol (Roxette) and Pete (whose Smiths pun was described by one enthusiastic voter as "not only the best offering this month, but one of the best puns of the series so far"), both of whom narrowly missed out on fifth place.
Thanks to all of you who submitted a pun and/or voted, your enthusiasm is much appreciated. I'm not quite sure when we'll be back with Pun Fun 7 as I'm going to be out and about quite a bit in June and July, but we will return.
Until then, as is traditional, we hand over to our winners to see us out.
Part 1. We passed a landmark in Wednesday's post on the music of the noble nation of Paraguay. If my WIAA-approved spreadsheet is correct we have now featured over 7000 songs in the audio files that I include in posts. 7006 to be exact, at an average of roughly 400 a year.
I know 7000 isn't much of a landmark but I can't wait another eight or nine years to reach 10000, I may be completely gaga by then. So 7000 it is. Feel free to drop a number between 1 and 7006 into the comments section and if we get enough of them I'll collate them in a post.
Part 2. I went to see Rickie Lee Jones at the Barbican on Wednesday. This doesn't really qualify as news either as I have seen her umpteen times over the years.
Rickie Lee was in good form with a fine backing band providing a bit of shading to the songs using guitar, violin, piano and accordion (a special shout out to Petra Haden on violin and vocals, who has done interesting stuff in her own right).
The set was heavily weighted towards Rickie Lee's first two albums. While they are both great records personally I would like to have heard more from the rest of her extensive catalogue. The 'newest' song she played was "A Tree On Allenford" from 2003 and for me it was one of the highlights of the set.
There was some exciting news. Rickie Lee told us she currently working up new material with Brad Cook, the producer and session musician who has worked with the likes of Waxahatchee, Hiss Golden Messenger, Iron & Wine and many more. It has been ten years since Rickie Lee released an album of original songs so hopefully the new stuff will see the light of day before too long.
Rickie Lee has featured here on plenty of occasions, but if my WIAA-approved spreadsheet is correct these particular songs have not.
And we roll into Paraguay. Perhaps the most interesting fact I learned while doing what passes for research was that it is the only country in Latin America where the indigenous language is still more commonly spoken than the language of their colonisers - 90% of the population speak Guarani compared with 85% who speak Spanish. Good for them.
There is also a sizable German-speaking minority, most of them highly respectable and no relation to Nazi war criminals, the former dictator Stroessner or the failed Aryan settlement set up by Nietzche's sister in the 1880s.
We will make a couple of brief nods to Paraguay's cultural mix today. But compared to most other stops on the tour I've not been able to find out much information about many of the acts that we are featuring in the post, and there is also a bias towards more recent music as that comprises the bulk of what is on Bandcamp. So rather than attempting to construct my usual compelling narrative to accompany the music we are just going to whack through them alphabetically.
Which is why we are kicking off with some Paraguayan prog. The band is called Agharta, this track is on a demo recorded in 2015 and there has been no sign of them on social media since 2018. That's all I've got.
Next, El Brujo y Sus Cromaticos, a "tropical noise" band from Asuncion. This track is on a 2020 compilation from the Música Okápe label and they have two more on Spotify where you can join their 12 monthly listeners. I quite like their Arabian and jazz influenced take on cumbia music.
I have just spotted that the line-ups of both bands include a Marcelo Fonseca. Is he the same person or are they ten a penny in Paraguay? Who knows.
My favourite act of those we are featuring today is Jodi, two brothers of German descent who studied under Stockhausen and who made all sorts of weird and occasionally wonderful noises in the 1970s in a homemade studio in their parent's basement.
None of these recordings were released outside Paraguay and Argentina at the time, many of them were never released at all until 2016 when the Guerssen label started putting out a series of releases. This track comes from "Pops De Vanguardia", originally released in 1971, but all the albums are worth a listen.
As with El Brujo, you can thank the Música Okápe label for our next selection. Las Hijas De La Alquimia released an EP titled "Ánga Mestiza" (Mestizo Soul) in 2022 According to the sisters: "We chose the name because the soul is our primary source of inspiration when composing, and "mestiza" (mixed) because of our Guarani heritage—because we are from everywhere and part of the whole". So now you know.
Los 3 Sudamericanos were a sort of Paraguayan Peter, Paul & Mary who formed in 1959 and who enjoyed a lot of success internationally after relocating to Spain in the mid 1960s. This track comes from a 1969 EP released on the magnificently but misleadingly named Belter label.
From the Paraguayan PP&M we move to a sound that can perhaps best be described as Joe Meek does polka. Los Electrónicos Disonantes were apparently very popular domestically in the 1960s and 1970s. And why wouldn't they be? This track appears to be a medley of Guarani folk tunes and comes from their album "Un Domingo En Buenos Aires".
Bringing us much more up to date is Sandy Pylos. No, not the ancient seat of King Nestor that features in Homer's work but the Paraguayan artist of the same name (although I could tell you a good deal more about the ancient seat of King Nestor than I can about her). Her real name is Ana Belén, she is now based in Portland Oregon, and this was the lead single from her 2023 album "Notas de Voz".
We end, as all things must, with some MAR. This skanking little number is provided by Tempranos and appears on their self-titled album from 2014. All the blurb tells us is that they play rocksteady and reggae but you could probably work that out for yourself.
You were challenged to insert a reference to herbs or spices into a popular song title, and you have come up with a veritable potpourri of puns. Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry.
Unfortunately the anonymous commentator who suggested "Cumin Feel The Noize" never got in touch to submit that as an official entry, so you can't vote for it. But there are plenty more ace aromatic puns to choose from. Will it be a herb or a spice that carries off the crown? Will the chive, dill, mace and bay leaf votes get split letting other contenders surge past? That's all down to you lot.
Voting is open to all readers not just those who entered. Let me know your top five in order of preference. I'll award 7 points for every first choice, 5 for second and then 3, 2 and 1 for the rest.
You can either submit your votes in the comments section below or by email to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk if you would rather preserve the sanctity of the ballot.
The deadline is next Sunday (31 May). We will announce the results a week today.
Here are the contenders, listed alphabetically by artist.
Stand Down Marjoram - The Beat
Chive Talking - The Bee Gees
Turmeric! Turmeric! Turmeric! (To Everything There Is A Seasoning) - The Byrds
Bay Leaf Christina - Chicory Tip
What A Fool Bay Leaves - The Doobie Brothers
Sexy Chives - Dr Hook
Oregano Flow – Enya
The Bitterest Dill (I Ever Had To Swallow) - The Jam
Love Dill Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Saffron And On - Longpigs
Parsley Dutchie - Musical Youth
Don't Kala Namak in Anger - Oasis
Rose Of Cinnamon – Poco
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Mace – Roberta Flack
Thyme Is On My Side - The Rolling Stones
It Mustard Been Love - Roxette
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mace Elf Agin) - Sly & the Family Stone
William It Was Really Nutmeg - The Smiths
If you want to sing along with the missing hit mentioned above now's your chance.
Me and Swiss Adam (of Bagging Area fame) have been having a friendly competition to see who can come up with the most Japanese psych bands. At the start of the month he posted a track by The Boredoms; this is my delayed response.
Kuunatic are an all-female trio from Tokyo who describe their sound as "tribal dreamy tale music". The blurb from Glitterbeat, the label which has released both their albums, expands on this, calling it: "a mix of psychedelic garage and prog rock, ritual drumming, chanting female vocals, lush keyboard textures and Japanese folk instruments".
I saw them live in London in 2022. It was quite an experience. Dressed in white robes they hopped about doing all of the above but turned up to 11.
Kuunatic's two albums to date are "Gates Of Kluna" (2021) and "Wheels Of Odom" (2025). You can find both albums and other bits and pieces on their Bandcamp page. Here is a track from each.
I've recently returned from a trip to Tanzania - a couple of days work followed by a week's holiday. I had a great time. It is a beautiful country and the locals are very friendly. I would love to go back and see more of it if I get the chance.
In the time I had available I limited myself to Fumba in Zanzibar - with a side trip to Stone Town - and Arusha on the mainland, with a side trip to the Ngorongoro crater and conservation area. The crater, formed when a volcano imploded a couple of million years ago, is one of the most stunning places it has ever been my privilege to visit. In the unlikely event you are interested you can find photos of the views and wildlife along with my other holiday snaps on Flickr.
The only disappointing bit of the trip was the inability to track down any live or recorded music, but I did visit a couple of music-related sites in Stone Town. The first was the Freddie Mercury Museum, housed in one of his childhood homes.
The other was the Dhow Countries Music Academy, located up a rickety staircase in an alley near Jaws Corner and dedicated to music education and preserving Zanzibar's musical traditions. One such tradition is the genre known as taarab, and the Academy had a display devoted to the pioneering taarab singer Siti Binti Saad.
Siti was born in about 1880 in Fumba, not far from where I was staying, and became the pre-eminent taarab performer of her time (arguably of all time). In 1928 she became the first East African artist to be recorded for those new-fangled phonographs and she went on to record over 250 songs before her death in 1950.
I don't know that Arusha can claim anyone quite that iconic but Arusha Jazz, formed there by the Kiyonga brothers in 1970, went on to bestride the East African music scene like a colossus for the best part of 20 years after changing their name to Simba Wanyika.
Interesting fact: tying your mother down during religious festivals was a longstanding tradition among the Zoroastrian community in Zanzibar of which the Bulsara family were part. Hence this song.
After a short break we return with the sixth instalment of Pun Fun. The theme is inspired by my recent visit to Zanzibar, referred to as the Spice Islands back in the days when it was a major trading hub and the world's leading producer of cloves. It is:
HERBS AND SPICES
You know the rules by now - one entry only, all entries to be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday 24 May. Voting opens next Monday.
If you need some inspiration this list of herbs and spices might help. And if that doesn't do the trick, here is another Herb and several Spices.
Things are going to be fairly quiet around for the next couple of weeks. On Sunday I am off on my travels - a few days' work followed by a few days' holiday.
Given the alleged nature of my work it would not be appropriate for me to reveal where I'm going. There is no point for looking for clues about my itinerary in the songs selected for this post, you won't find any. They are as random as one of Charity Chic's Saturday Shuffles.
And before you ask, yes it is that Mike Harding. Coming soon, Richard Digance sings hits from the golden age of Khmer Soul.
So we've made it down to Panama. At first I thought about recreating the playlist the US used to get General Noreiga to leave the sanctity of the Vatican Embassy and surrender back in 1989 but having now read it I think that might be classified as a war crime (if only because it includes Lee Greenwood).
We'll get to the actual music shortly but first a few quick random facts. Panama's border with Colombia is where the two American continents meet. Scotland briefly had a colony there that proved so financially ruinous it is considered to have contributed to the Act of Union. The hats don't come from there. Their football team will be playing England in the World Cup in June. And I believe there is some sort of canal.
When it comes to Panamanian music there is really nowhere you can start except with Rubén Blades. He made his first album in 1970 and apart from a five year stint as the Minister of Tourism in the 2000s has been recording and performing regularly ever since. In that time he has won 12 Grammys and a further 12 Latin Grammys. He also had a pretty successful acting career in parallel.
The song that I've chosen is from his 1977 album "Metiendo Mano" and it addresses the treatment of the native population in Latin America's colonial times. The album is a collaboration with Willie Colon and their follow-up "Siembra" is apparently still the biggest selling salsa album of all time.
The next biggest name on the Panamanian salsa scene was Francisco Buckley, known as Bush for reasons unclear. He was most prominent in the 1970s and 1980s when he fronted groups known variously as Su Nuevo Sonido, Sus Magnificos or simply Su Orquesta. It was under the latter name that he released this track in 1989 and it was a smash hit despite its lyrical complexity. You can find it on the album "¡Ahora O Nunca!".
The global centre for salsa music is New York City, and that was where Ralph Weeks found himself back in the late 1960s. Ralph was more of a Latin soul man and while in NYC gigged regularly with his band as Ralph & The Telecasters. Their most popular number was "Something Deep Inside". Back in Panama in 1972 he cut a Spanish version, which is the one I have gone with.
The Names You Can Trust label reissued both of them a few years back, and also teamed Ralph up with Combo Lulo in 2019 to make new reggae-tinged versions of both songs. Ralph's voice sounds as good on them as it does on the originals nearly 50 years before.
The soca comes from The Beachers who are celebrating 50 years in the business this year. Their 2019 album "Cincuenta" is packed with fun soca and calypso tunes.
Los Timidos were a pioneering Panamanian punk band formed in 1987. In 1995 they recorded an album called "Crónicas de Lujurias" (Chronicles of Lust), some tracks of which are randomly available as free downloads on Bandcamp. This tribute to salted cod is one of them. Other than that I know nothing about them.
I know a good deal more about Yejo Cedeño and his (literally) banging tunes thanks to a highly informative article in El Ciglo Panama, the title of which Google rashly claims can be translated as "the man who sings and performs traditional songs under the awnings".
Yejo is a traditional musician who is following in the footsteps of his late father. He performs in the saloma style, described as "characterized by high-pitched, melodic shouts", as you shortly be able to confirm. Today's track is from his 2017 album "Ya Amaneció".
Finally we come to the MAR slot. Pureza Natural are doing the honours this time out. They've been putting the R in Panama-r since 2005 and appear as guests on one track on The Beachers album that I was raving about earlier. Today's pick comes from their own album "Larga Distancia" that came out in 2015.
Our extremely irregular series returns for the first time this year. Unlike your Rols and Charity Chics I am constitutionally incapable of keeping several series running in parallel. With Ernie's El Dorado - returning next post - and now Pun Fun on the go Single Song Sunday has rather fallen by the wayside.
But we are belatedly back with a song that became an instant standard when the first version to be released came out in late 1967. Second Hand Songs lists over 40 cover versions during 1968 and 1969 alone and there are now nearly 2000 known recordings. We're talking about Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now".
Joni wrote "Both Sides Now" in 1966 but she was not the first person to record the song. That was Judy Collins, who included it on her 1967 "Wildflowers". It was released as a single the following year and was a top ten hit in the US and Canada.
It was the Judy Collins version that prompted the early rush of cover versions. Joni herself did not get around to releasing it until her second album "Clouds" in mid 1969 by which time the bandwagon was well and truly rolling. I'm sure you are all familiar with that version so instead you're getting a 1972 live recording that can be found on "Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 3".
Many of the cover versions are dreadful - take a bow Carly Rae Jepsen, Mel C, John Barrowman, Paul Young and Clannad (together), Leonard Nimoy and an endless stream of TV talent show wannabes - and many others are nice enough but are straight takes that don't add anything to the song. But there are some decent and/or interesting versions hidden in the haystack.
This post was prompted by hearing a very early unreleased demo by Fairport Convention on an album of Joni covers that comes with the current edition of Mojo, so they make the cut. After them we have: their fellow 1960s folk moderniser Davy Graham, Dion in his "Abraham, Martin & John" period...
(deep breath)
...The Tokens in 1971 keen to remind listeners of their big hit of 1961, some smooth South African jazz, a rather good French version, a grungy pop take from the 1990s and finally an MRV from the early 1970s.
As for the videos I particularly enjoy the one by Dexys as it was shot in my manor and all the locations are very familiar to me. I lived a few hundred yards from Blackman's shoes on Cheshire St for about 15 years and I know at least one reader will recognise the interior of Pellicci's cafe and the ever cheerful Nev behind the counter.
According to my spreadsheet Tom Rush has never featured here in all the long years we've been going, which is a good enough reason to have him now (that and the fact that I really like his voice which has a touch of the Gordon Lightfoots about it). Tom is 85 now and I'm pleased to say is still going strong. His first record was released in 1962 and his most recent in 2024.
Way back in the late 1960s Tom developed a reputation for helping to raise the profile of emerging singer-songwriters by covering their songs on his albums. The prime example is his "The Circle Game" album from 1968 which included songs by Joni Mitchell (including the title track), James Taylor and Jackson Browne (see below) before any of them had released an album themselves.
Tom only wrote two songs on that album himself but one of them is not just the best song on the record but one of the best songs ever. You will probably know it from the Walker Brothers version, or maybe Midge Ure.
Last week was a busy week for gigs - three in five days.
It started on the Sunday with a visit to Theatreship, an excellent little bar and venue on a converted small cargo ship in Canary Wharf. I first went there last year to see Angeline Morrison and was very taken with the place.
The line-up on Sunday was Beth Jones (below), Binti Red and Albertine. They were all perfectly pleasant but I don't think any of them will live long in the memory.
The same can't be said for the artist we went to see on Wednesday, the mighty Ms Suzi Quatro at the London Palladium.
As a close personal friend of Suzi I had been expecting an invitation to the VIP area but it must have got lost in the post so we were way up in the Grand Circle. Or at least I was for the first set. In contrast to the comfy former cinema seats at the Theatreship there is no legroom at all for anyone above about 5 foot 8, and by the interval I was in physical pain. So for the second set I stood at the back of the Royal Circle, one level down, where I could leap around to my heart's (and legs') content.
As for the show itself, Suzi was magnificent. Two sets of over an hour each, her voice was sounding as good as ever at 75 and she had loads of chunky basslines and a fine band behind her. We got treated to all the hits and more including an unexpected (and unexpectedly good) cover of Neil's "Rockin' In The Free World". All in all a great night.
After a brief trip home to change my socks it was off to the Shacklewell Arms in Dalston - a venue that gets mentioned here on as regular basis -to see Umut Adan & Zebânis on Thursday night.
Umut is a Turkish singer-songwriter who was heavily influenced by the psychedelic Anatolian rock scene of the 1960s and 1970s (the likes of Erkin Koray and Cem Karaca). Now based in Italy he teamed up with the Turin trio Zebânis to record the "Başka Bahar" album which came out in March. Overall I enjoyed the gig but it was a bit of an odd one.
The first half of the set was fairly straightforward heads down Anatolian boogie. Umut then left the stage for a bit while the Italian lads indulged in overlong glitchy noise experiments I could have managed without.
When he returned Umut told us that "danceable dissent" was his thing and then proceeded to play a series of numbers that were pretty much impossible to dance to, starting with one that sounded like a highlife guitarist attempting to escape from a cement mixer.
That was followed by one that had five distinct parts. According to the note I scribbled on the bus home they were: "Back Of My Hand" by The Jags; Husker Du play "La Bamba"; Steve Hillage on mogadon; feedback; and a lively Turkish jig. Even the woman next to me who until then had been frugging like a frantic ostrich struggled with that lot.
On Friday I went for a lie down.
For the music we have what appears to be Beth Jones' only recording to date, on a compilation from the Slow Dance label that just came out in March, another unexpected cover from Suzi and two tracks from Umut - one from the new album and one from "Bahar" from 2019.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have another winner! Topping the 'Down On The Farm' chart is...
The Swede with "Manure In Love With A Beautiful Woman".
It was a very close run thing with just a couple of points between the top three. Here is the Top 5 in full:
1.Manure in Love
With a Beautiful Woman - Dr Hook (The Swede)
2.Grow Your Own
Whey - Fleetwood Mac (Dave)
3.There's A Goat In
My House - R Dean Taylor (George)
4.You Can't Slurry
Love - The Supremes (Steve)
5.Love Is A
Cattlefield - (Cow) Pat Benatar (Rol)
Many congratulations to The Swede, whose punning power has clearly been improved by the apparent recent removal of his beard. Well done also to Dave (a.k.a. Chuck) and Steve who make their first appearances in the Top 5. And to Rol, Parsley and Anita of course.
You may have noticed that three of the top five puns contain references to excrement. After the prodigious penis voting in Pun Fun 4 I'm starting to worry about what sort of crowd I attract here.
As for my own entry, I still maintain that "like a battery hen I'll be gone when the morning comes" is a great line when sung out loud. Sadly very few of you agreed with me. With hindsight maybe I should have gone for my second choice, "Cropduster" by Sweet. Or something with poo in it.
Thanks to all of you who submitted a pun and/or voted, your enthusiasm is much appreciated. We will be back with Pun Fun 6 at some point in the second half of May. Until then, we will hand over to Dr. Hook to see us out.
Links stay up for a month or so. If you are an artist or copyright holder and want me to remove the link, or if you want to get in touch for any other reason, e-mail me on leggies27@hotmail.co.uk.
