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.
Swiss Adam and I are currently engaged in a sort of 'duelling banjos' exercise but substituting Japanese psych bands for banjos, the main purpose of which seems to be to help George refine his list of favourite Japanese bands.
Last time out Adam went big on every respect, treating us all to a 15 minute slab of the mighty Bo Ningen. At the time it felt like a knockout blow but I managed to stagger to my feet on a count of eight. Having taken some time to unscramble my brain I am fit to fight my corner.
After some thought I narrowed my options down to two bands, both of which have been featured here before (although not recently) and both beginning with K. The other one might appear next if we continue with this thing, but for now I've gone for Kikagaku Moyo.
Originally from Tokyo but latterly based in Amsterdam, Kikagaku Moyo released five albums and assorted odds and sods over the course of a decade before going their separate ways in 2022. Three of the members - Go Kurosawa, Tomo Katsurada and Popal Daoud Akira - have since gone on to release solo albums.
Today's selections come from "Masana Temples" (2018) and their self-titled album from 2017. In an attempt to compete with Adam on both quantity and quality I have added an 18-minute long collaboration with Ryley Walker from 2021. All these and much more can be found on their Bandcamp page.
The blurb for their final album "Kumoyo Island" says that "while their decade-long career can be summarized as a series of kaleidoscopic explorations through lands and dimensions far and near, there’s a strong intention in each of their works to take the listener to a particular place, however real or abstract they may be". Have a listen, let me know where you end up.
You were challenged to insert a pun related to farming into a popular song title. You have clearly been toiling in fertile soil as you've produced a fine harvest between you.
Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry and particularly welcome to Chris who is making his punning debut and joins us just in time to help with the bale-hauling.
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 secret ballot.
The deadline is next Sunday (19 April). We will announce the results a week today.
Here are the contenders, listed alphabetically by artist.
1.While My
Deutz-Fahr Gently Reaps - The Beatles
2.As Long As We Got
Each Udder - BJ Thomas and Jennifer Warnes
3.Barn In The USA –
Bruce Springsteen
4.Sow it Hoes -
"Chick" Lowe
5.Love Is A
Cattlefield - (Cow) Pat Benatar
6.Wheat Wheat Wheat
- The Damned
7.Cracked Tractor -
David Bowie
8.Manure in Love
With a Beautiful Woman - Dr Hook
9.Drake, Cattle
& Foal - (Duck) Bill Haley & His Comets
10.Swede Dreams Are Made Of This - Eurhythmics
11.Grow Your Own Whey - Fleetwood Mac
12.With Weed On Our Side - Half Man Half Biscuit
13.Battery Hen - Meat Loaf
14.There's A Goat In My House - R Dean Taylor
15.Top Of The Crops - The Rezillos
16.You Can't Slurry Love - The Supremes
17.You And Your Harvester – This Mortal Coil
18. Anyway Any Plough Anywhere - The Who
A number of you have said nice things about this series but I can't take the credit. You are the ones who come up with the puns, I just put them all together. Now...
We have now made it two-thirds of the way through our musical tour of continental America and we have arrived in Nicaragua.
The political history of the country is pretty much the same as all the other Central American countries that have featured in the series and sadly the noble Sandinistas of our youth have turned out to be no better than the dynasties before them. Daniel Ortega is now in the 19th year of his reign and passes the time jailing opponents, closing media outlets, fiddling elections and doing the whole despot thing.
So lets instead praise Nicaragua's scenery, architecture, folklore and people, all of which I had the pleasure of encountering when I went there on holiday in 2014. There are photos of my visit over on Flickr if you are interested. There are lots of bright colours, fine buildings and smiling faces and a fair old dollop of weirdness as well, like so...
That's enough of me, let's get on with the show. We'll start with a couple of bands from among the small pile of mp3 discs I chose pretty much at random when I was there.
The cumbia funsters Fuzion 4 are still going strong and are active on Facebook and probably other places as well. The same can be said forLos Nuevos Panzer's (their apostrophe not mine) who are not to be confused with the original Los Panzer's, whose heyday was in the 1970s. I have not yet been able to establish what if any connection there is between them. Perhaps our many Nicaraguan readers can help.
Speaking of the 1970s as we were, that's where we are heading next for some soulful Latin sounds. I have not been able to find out anything at all about Grupo Africans but this 1974 single is decidedly funky. You can find it on the "Sonidos Perdidos de Centroamérica" compilation that has featured a few times in this series.
By contrast I am positively awash with information about Poder Del Alma, a local supergroup originally put together for a benefit concert following an earthquake that hit Managua in 1972. They enjoyed it so much they went on to release a couple of albums in 1974 and 1975. The first, from which this track comes, is mainly cool Latin rock and soul. The second goes a bit more jazz-funk with liberal splashes of mini-Moog, but they are both worth a listen.
Speaking of the 1970s and jazz-funk as we were, Alfonso Lovo has an interesting tale to tell. The son of a government minister in the Somoza regime, he was shot by Sandinista hijackers on a flight from the US to Nicaragua in 1971 and got his dodgy dad to finance his music career.
So far so bad you may think, but he was no dilettante and in 1976 he recorded some really far out psychedelic jazz sessions for an album that was to be called "La Gigantora", named for the giant lady who features in street festivals around the country (like this one that I met in León, standing next to a moustachioed Frank Sidebottom). For one reason and another it was never released at the time, only finally seeing the light of day in 2015 thanks to the Numero Group.
In the interests of balance we probably should have some music from old school Sandinista supporters now. It was a toss up between Carlos Meija Godoy andGrupo Pancasanand for the mp3s I have opted for the latter, specifically the self-titled song from their 1978 debut. Carlos can be found in the video clips (when the cameraman can tear himself away from the ladies in the audience).
Grupo Pancasan wound up in 1990 when the first Sandinista government lost the election. Carlos is still going strong at 83 and unlike Ortega has stayed true to his principles, including taking part in the 2018 protests than resulted in multiple deaths and the banning of political marches.
For the last couple of tunes we are off to Caribbean coast where we encounter the Miskito people (you may remember meeting them when we were in Costa Rica). There is a lively music scene in the main city of Bluefields and the Bluefields Sound System label does a great job in capturing it on record. From their catalogue I have chosen this track from "Palo De Mayo", the 2012 album by Barbaros Del Ritmo.
If you head about 50 miles north from Bluefields you'll find the small town of Tasbapauni, birthplace of Philip Montalbán, provider of this episode's MAR. You can read all about him in this article if you are so inclined You can find today's track is on a 2023 album called "Viva La Vida" although the song itself has been available on YouTube since 2009.
Mr. Montalbán's solo work is pretty good but his old band Soul Vibrations were a bit special. I couldn't track down any of their records but I think the first clip below from 1989 will explain their appeal.
Me and that Swiss Adam bloke are currently engaged in a fiercely fought game of Japanese psych band tag (although he may not know that yet).
I opened with Nagisa Ni Te. He raised the stakes with Yura Yura Teikoku. It requires a strong response so I'm going with Barbican Estate, originally from Tokyo but now based in London, much closer to the brutalist block from which they took their name (and where I used to work many years ago).
To make sure they were the right choice I went to watch them live in the hipster haven of Hackney last week. My friend Mr F saw them last year and has been raving about them ever since. He was right to do so, they were great. Their records don't fully prepare you for the storm of sound they conjure up live.
Barbican Estate are Miri on vocals, bass, flute and mellotron and Kazuki Toneri on guitar and songwriting. Koh Hamada has drummed on all their records to date but he's back in Japan so for gigs they have a rotating cast of drummers (probably because the poor buggers need to go for a lie down after a few sets). Go and see them if they come to your town.
You can find their back catalogue on Bandcamp. I have picked a track from each of their two most recent EPs, "Viscum" (2024) and "The Fall" (2022).
Hello, Pun People! We are back with a fifth instalment of this feast of fun, timed to help those of you who celebrate Easter to retrieve your minds from a chocolate haze.
Our themes are chosen with the aim of providing food for thought. So this time round we are paying our respects to the people who literally help to put food on your table, including our most recent winner George and his goats-to-peanuts agricultural empire. The theme is:
DOWN ON THE FARM
Animals, crops, workforce, buildings, equipment, anything to do with running a farm is in scope. The only things I might rule out are repeats of entries received when we did fruit and vegetables back in Pun Fun 2.
You are all familiar with the rules by now - one entry only, to be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday 12 April. Voting will open next Monday.
I hope to get a bumper crop of cringeworthy puns. Maybe these hordes of horny-handed sons of the soil from the 1980s can help inspire you.
I was leafing through the latest issue of Uncut the other day. When I reached the last page there was Ziggy Marley telling us all about his favourite records. Obviously his Dad featured, and we learned that the album that means most to Ziggy is "Survival" (1979).
It is also my favourite of Bob's albums, but its not the album by one of the founding members of The Wailers that I listen to most often. That would be Bunny Wailer's "Protest" (1977) followed by Peter Tosh's "Bush Doctor" (1978).
Here's one from each of them, then one from them all together.
My live music experiences this month have been mostly Brazilian. After Nyron Higor and the gang in Brussels in the middle of the month, last Friday Mr F and I went to see Lucas Santtana nearer to home at the 229 in London's groovy Great Portland Street.
Mr Santtana was in town to promote his new album "Brasiliano", the tenth of his career that now stretches back a quarter of a century. It features eight different language and a long list of collaborators from Brrazil and elsewhere of which Gilberto Gil is the best known.
According to the blurb, on the album Lucas "questions cultural heritage, identity, colonial memory, and the possibility of a shared language" - something he evidently feels strongly about as he had a bit of a rant in response to a comment from an audience member that I didn't catch. The gist of the rant was that Brazilian culture and language was much richer than just its colonial inheritance.
On first listen I quite like the new album and I think it will be a grower, but it is a lot mellower than the only other album of his that I have - "3 Sessions In A Greenhouse", described by Mojo on its release in 2006 as a "futuristic splicing of samba with Black Ark-style dub". Maybe that is just the effect of time passing.
As for the show itself, I enjoyed it. Lucas was fronting a four piece band so had to manage without some of the nuance and enhancements you can get in the studio, but they got all our toes tapping and our hands clapping. I particularly enjoyed the louder and more up tempo numbers on which they were almost able to drown out the idiots talking.
For your delectation and delight here is a track apiece from the new album and "3 Sessions In A Greenhouse". The latter features an American journalist reading extracts from Virginia Woolf - because you can - and clocks in nearly nine minutes for you long Monday fans.
On Wednesday evening I was inside the Japanese Embassy in London's swinging Piccadilly. I can't say why but hopefully the Cadbury's Milk Tray reached the intended recipient.
More importantly for the purposes of this post my visit prompted me to dig out some albums by my favourite Japanese band, Nagisa Ni Te. It is only a few months since they were last featured here but it is never too soon to have them back.
This time out we have a couple of tracks from their most recent album "Newocean", released in 2022. Between them the two songs clock in at 15 minutes so purists may want to wait until Monday before listening to them.
Thank you once again to the Random Adjective/ Noun Generator which I used last time The Nagisas joined us for the title of the post. It seemed suitable for the album title. Two of the other options that the generator offered up were "fanatical words" and "oily allegiance". Its randomness appears to be in sync with the randomness of the so-called real world.
According to my search function it is 13 years since Elyse Weinberg last appeared on these pages. As many of you weren't even born then it is time for a long overdue comeback. Her debut - and for many years only - album "Elyse" has long been a favourite of mine.
Elyse was a Canadian singer-songwriter who hung out with the likes of Neil and Joni in Toronto in the mid-1960s. In 1968 she followed them down to L.A. where she was signed up by the Tetragrammaton label, best known (if at all) as being the label that released all the early Deep Purple albums in the US.
"Elyse" came out to moderate acclaim the following year. Produced by Don Gallucci, the former keyboard player with The Kingsmen (thats him playing the opening riff on "Louie Louie") and later the producer of The Stooge's "Fun House", backing was provided by a band called Touch and allegedly an uncredited Neil on some tracks.
Neil was definitely involved in the planned follow up LP "Greasepaint Smile", produced by David Briggs and also involving the likes of Nils Lofgren and J.D. Souther. Unfortunately the label went bust before it could be released. It finally saw the light of day in 2015, after Elyse had been rediscovered by hipsters and lured back into music from her steady job selling insurance in Oregon.
Sadly Elyse died of lung cancer in 2020 aged 74. She never really got the recognition I think she deserved in her lifetime but she left us with one great record, which is more than can be said for most of us.
I have not been able to find any clips of Elyse or even of Cher doing her version of "Band Of Thieves" (renamed "Chastity's Song" for the purposes of a terrible film). But here are Courtney Barnett and Waxahatchee a few years back covering "Houses" from the second album. There is also a very poor quality clip on YouTube of Jeff Tweedy having a go at the same song last year.
Normally I open each episode of our tour of the Americas by telling you a bit about the country we are visiting. But I am going to assume that you all know enough about Mexico to make that unnecessary this time.
I am also going to assume that if you were asked to name a well-known Mexican tune many of you would choose "La Cucaracha". If instead you chose "Speedy Gonzalez" you are disqualified - that was written by David Hess, a songwriter from New York City who was also a bit part player in horror films.
"La Cucaracha" on the other hand is the real thing, so we are going to open with an interpretation by Lila Downs from her Grammy-winning 2004 album "Una Sangre = One Blood". Ms Downs comes from a family of high achievers. Her sister Ida is very big in the bedding industry.
We will follow up that traditional Mexican tune with some traditional Mexican disco. Actress and TV host Veronica Castro also dabbled a bit as a disco diva. This track comes from her 1978 album "Sensaciones". You may recognise it as a version of "What's Your Name, What's Your Number", a minor hit for Andrea True Connection written by Roger Cook (or Roger Cocinero as he's known in Mexico).
On the subject of cover versions, our next act are probably best known outside Mexico for teaming up with Neville Staples on a version of "The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum". Los De Abajo - for it is they - also made a couple of albums on David Byrne's Luaka Bop label around the turn of the century. This track comes from "Cybertropic Chilango Power" (2001).
Los De Abajo formed in 1992 and it is quite possible that they were partly inspired to do so by Maldita Vecindad (full name La Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio) and their blend of rock, ska and local music. La Maldita were at the height of their powers then, with their "El Circo" album topping the charts in 1991. Today's selection is from that album.
A few years ago Rolling Stone rated "El Circo" at #8 in a list of the 50 best Latin American rock albums of all time. Further down the list at #48 was the eponymous debut album by La Revolución De Emiliano Zapata. Released in 1971, Rolling Stone says that it "reproduced the acid-rock haze of Cream, Creedence and Quicksilver Messenger Service with touching devotion... [and that] there is a homemade charm to the rough production". See what you think.
From 1971 we step lightly into 1972 where we find Manny Perez y Los Cachiros bashing out some norteñomusic which sounds like it may have been recorded in the same garage used by the local garage rock bands. This one definitely has a homemade charm to the rough production and Manny's even rougher voice.
We will stick with norteño for our penultimate selection. I found this track by Norteno Solido on a 2016 compilation called "Club Corridos Presenta: La Mentira de Tu Amor". I have not been able to find out anything about Norteno Solido other than they are not to be confused with the allegedly better known Solido. Please don't make that mistake.
As always we finish with some MAR. On this occasion it comes courtesy of a band whose name will resonate with all sports fans - Antidoping. They were formed in Mexico City in 1992 by brothers Pedro and Manuel Apodaca, which I suppose makes them the Mexican equivalent of UB40. This track is from their 2004 album "Esfuerzo Universal" and translates as "United Brothers". It is presumably the Apodacas' theme tune (but not the Campbells).
We haven't had any reggae here recently other than of the Mandatory American variety, so we have recruited the late great Michael Prophet to put that right.
If you have 50 minutes to spare you could do a lot worse than watching the video of a Mr Prophet live show with Scientist on the mixing desk as a bonus. It took place in October 2017, two months before his death and when he was already battling health issues - not that you'd have guessed that as his voice sounded as good as ever.
I am delighted to be able to bring you news of an old friend of the blog, Annie Dressner.
When Annie first featured on these pages way back in 2013 I described her sound as "Brooklyn hipsters storming the Brill Building". As you can see, I was prone to pretentiousness back then. I really just meant that she made - and continues to make - smart pop music.
According to my search function Annie last appeared here way back in 2018, which means I have done a great disservice to all of you and more importantly to her as she has had a few records out since then. Sincere apologies all round.
In a belated attempt to put things right I am here to tell you that Annie has a brand new album in the works. No name or release date yet but the lead single "Dumb Boy" came out last week. Charity Chic may be interested to note that the album is being produced by Peter Bruntnell who also plays on the record along with one Peter Noone. I've checked and its not the one from Herman's Hermits.
Annie will also be touring the UK during April supporting Kris Drever, including gigs in Inverness and Norwich which may be of interest to certain bloggers of my acquaintance - further details are on Annie's website, where you can also find a link to her Bandcamp page. If you do go along tell her Ernie sent you. I have already bagged a ticket for her headline show in London in October.
It is probably unlikely that the dumb boy in the new single is one of the Hardy Boys about whom Annie sang on her 2011 album "Strangers Who Knew Each Other's Names", but for scheduling purposes I am going to pretend they are. In addition we have a track from "48 Hours With...", Annie's 2022 collaboration with a real boy, David Ford.
Last Wednesday night I paid what has become my traditional annual visit to the Witloof Bar in Brussels. It is tucked away in the basement of the Botanique cultural centre - accessed via the coatracks - and it is one of my favourite small venues.
The official headliner was Nyron Higor, but in practice we what were treated to was a show by the North Eastern Brazil hipster community's equivalent of CSNY. Nyron was joined by Brune Berle and Batata Boy, both from his hometown of Maceió, and Phylipe Nunes Araújo from up the road in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, who performed double duties as the opening act.
All four of them are recording artists in their own right (click on their names for their respective Bandcamp pages) and have appeared on each others records. Nyron and Phylipe are also now labelmates, both having released an album through Far Out Recordings last year. If you are not familiar with Far Out, they specialise in Brazilian music and their back catalogue is well worth checking out.
It was a three part set. The starting line-up was Nyron on drums, Batata Boy on keyboards, Bruno on bass and Phylipe on guitar. Nyron led them through a few of his tunes and they were pretty good. He moved on to bass then guitar, shedding band members as he went, and treated us to a solo set. That was even better.
And then the boys came back for a party jam, with Bruno and Phylipe leading on some of their own crowd pleasers as well as Nyron who by this point was back on drums. That was the best bit of the night. They seemed to be having even more fun than the audience.
If any of the gang turn up round your way in the future it would be well worth popping along. If they turn up mob-handed you should definitely go.
If all of that has whet your appetite here is an hour of the three lads from Maceió playing in a French record store last year, followed by a few minutes of Phylipe with Batata Boy in tow.
It was International Women's Day on Sunday. I don't work weekends and I had urgent pun-based business to deal with yesterday so this is the first opportunity to mark the occasion
The words of Ivor Cutler's "Women Of The World" are as relevant today as they have ever been. We have the original with Linda Hirst from 1983 and a version featuring Tracyanne Campbell from Camera Obscura from an all-Scottish Ivor tribute album released in 2020.
They are joined by the great Dick Gaughan (also from Scotland) and Wee Baaba McMaal (Senegal via Saltcoats).
This goes out to all you top international women out there, not just the Scottish and Senegalese ones.
This will be my last post for the week as I am off to Brussels first thing tomorrow for a few days work. Combining tomorrow's destination with today's theme, here are some videos of Belgian women, starting with the woman born Sabrina Tack belting out the old Bellamy Brothers hit.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have another winner! Topping the Body Parts chart is...
George with "Penis In Furs"
Previous votes have been pretty close but this time we had a runaway winner. Congratulations go to George for correctly calculating that the more depraved members (no pun intended) of the voting panel would be unable to resist a knob gag. But I am frankly disappointed in the rest of you. So much so that I may have to rethink my plans to follow this up with a related round on bodily fluids and emissions.
Incidentally, in George's adopted homeland of Portugal the song's title would be "Pénis em Peles", which makes it sound quite lyrical.
While on the subject of other languages, a shout out to our good friend Walter in Germany. I am impressed by his ability to come up with decent puns in his second language. It is not something I would even attempt to do.
Walter's AC/DC pun was just a few points short of a Top 5 position this time out. But who did make it? These folks, that's who:
1.Penis In Furs –
The Velvet Underground (George)
2.Livers Of Babylon
- Boney M (C)
3.Wood Beez (Pray
Like Urethra Franklin) – Scritti Politti (Alyson)
4.Just The Humerus
- Grover Washington Jr (Ernie)
5.God Save The
Spleen - Sex Pistols (John M)
Thanks to all of you who submitted a pun and/or voted, your enthusiasm is much appreciated. The current plan is to announce the theme for Pun Fun 5 on Monday 6 April. Until then, we will hand it over to Os Veludo Subterrâneo to see us out with the song that smashed the charts.
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.
