An Afternoon With Josephine

Last Sunday afternoon I went to see Josephine Foster at hipster hangout Cafe Oto in Dalston. The concert started at 2.30pm and very civilized it was too - have a nice cup of coffee, stroke my imaginary beard while listening to some pleasant sounds and be home in plenty of time for tea.

Josephine has a voice that is probably best described as distinctive. It took me a long time to acquire the taste, and I still have the odd twinge of buyers' remorse when she is at her warbliest, but in the right setting it can be a thing of beauty.

Here is the title track from 2012's "Blood Rushing" - one of the highlight's of Sunday's set - and a track from 2018's "Faithful Fairy Harmony". Both of those albums and many more are available from her Bandcamp site.

"Blood Rushing" - Josephine Foster

"Challenger" - Josephine Foster

Mighty Diamonds RIP

We lost two members of the Mighty Diamonds last week. Lead singer Donald 'Tabby' Shaw was killed in a drive-by shooting on Tuesday, and then on Friday Fitzroy 'Bunny' Simpson lost a long battle with diabetes. This leaves Lloyd 'Judge' Ferguson as the only surviving member, and all of a sudden one of the great vocal trios is reduced down to one. 

My introduction to the Mighty Diamonds was their sublime version of The Stylistics' "Country Living", which remains one of my all time favourite summer sounds. Here it is with a couple of other tracks that are sadly all too appropriate. RIP Mr Shaw. RIP Mr Simpson.

"Country Living" - Mighty Diamonds

"Why Me Black Brother Why?" - Mighty Diamonds

"Babylon Is Dangerous" - Mighty Diamonds

Inexplicably there are virtually no clips of Mighty Diamonds on YouTube, but I did manage to find this live set from 2018.

A Bit Of Africa In Antwerp

Next up from the bargain bins of Belgium is "The King Is Among Us", the 2003 album by Belgian Afrobeat Association.

Apart from the limited information on the CD itself I have been able to find out very little about them. They are/were based in Antwerp, there are/were over 20 of them plus a guest piccolo player, and this appears to be the only album of which the Internet is aware. It's not bad, if a bit jazzy at times, and I imagine they are/were a decent live act.

"Babalu Aye" -  Belgian Afrobeat Association

"Afroporn" -  Belgian Afrobeat Association

Also based in Belgium are the predominantly Tuareg group Kel Assouf. I was lucky enough to see them live six years ago while on a work trip to Brussels and they were excellent. So here's something from that very gig to take you into the weekend. 

TC Time

Well, Wallonia turned out to be very nice indeed, with unexpectedly good weather to go with the expectedly good food and beer. I would particularly recommend a visit to scenic Dinant if you are in the area. 

I didn't pick up much Belgian music because CDs are rather pricy there, with most new ones being €18-20 or more. But some scouring of the discount racks and second-hand shops of Namur unearthed a couple of bargains. 

One of these was a best of TC Matic, one of Belgium's leading post-punk-funk ensembles. They were active between 1980 and 1986 and had very limited commercial success at the time, with only their debut single "Oh La La La" bothering the Belgian charts at all. The band developed a bit of a reputation in other parts of Europe though, and hung out with the likes of PiL and Simple Minds, and I think their better stuff has stood the test of time pretty well.   

"Putain Putain" - TC Matic

"Middle Class And Blue Eyes" - TC Matic

Apart from the scenery, the other thing that the town of Dinant is best know for is being the birthplace of one Adolphe Sax. You can visit his childhood home and admire the many giant saxophone sculptures that adorn the town. In tribute to Mr Sax, here is the thing that on its own justified his life's work.

Muluqen Magic

Just a quick one today as I'm getting myself ready for my first overseas work trip in two years starting early tomorrow. Back in the time of The Great Before I would have considered three days work in Brussels to be fairly routine, but now its a source of great excitement.

I'll leave you with the random combination of some solid slabs of 1970s Ethiopian soul courtesy of the mighty Muluqen Mellesse and some videos from the vibrant 1980s Belgian scene. I'm staying on in Belgium for a few days to do some sightseeing down south in Wallonia, and hopefully will return with some local musical treats for you all. See you in a week or so.

"Alagegnhwatem" - Muluqen Messesse

"Yemendjar Shega" - Muluqen Messesse

Single Song Sunday

It is a bit of a scaled down Single Song Sunday today. Please don't think that shows lack of enthusiasm or dedication on my part. It is just that, compared to the sort of song we normally feature in this slot, there are not that many versions of this one knocking about.

"My Rainbow Valley" was first released by Robert Knight in 1967, but the most successful version is the one by Love Affair that went to No. 5 in the UK the following year. Maybe it was dropping the "My" that did the trick. Having previously taken their cover version of Robert's "Everlasting Love" to the top of the UK charts, they obviously decided to stick with a winning formula.

What else is there? Why, a jangly 1980s version, a 1969 Icelandic cover which is a pretty straight copy of the Love Affair arrangement, and of course the Mandatory Reggae Version. There is also a less than brilliant 1980s version from Finland in the videos.  

"My Rainbow Valley" - Robert Knight

"Rainbow Valley" - Love Affair

"My Rainbow Valley" - Dolly Mixture

"Í Draumalandi" - Björgvin Halldórsson

"Rainbow Valley" - The Heptones

Freak Folk Friday

A track from "II" by Espers came up on the old random shuffle the other day and it prompted me to listen to the whole album for the first time in years. I had forgotten how good it is. Don't make the same mistake, folks.

"Moon Occults The Sun" - Espers

"Dead King" - Espers