Tomorrow I'm off to Cape Town for a couple of weeks for the annual gathering of the Gogginses. While there I hope to track down some new Tsonga Disco to share with you all, but I can't make any promises. If you are in the Limpopo Province, or even Joburg, you can mine a pretty rich seam of Tsonga. In the Cape it is more a case of fracking the record shops and hoping something comes to light.
While I'm away I thought I would conduct a bit of market research. All good businesses try to have an understanding of what their customers are after, so here is your chance. When I get back I will mull over what you have had to say, ponder your constructive comments, take your insults on the chin, and then carry on playing the usual old rubbish.
We start with a couple of questions to help establish the general demographics of our readership. If you would rather remain anonymous, these are optional:
"What's Your Name?" - Don & Juan
"Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl?" - The Barbarians
Next we have a question to check you are genuinely one of our listeners, and not just a prankster trying to skew the results. A simple "yes" or "no" will suffice:
"Are You Receiving Me?" - XTC
Or, alternatively, in the admittedly unlikely event your answer to Question 1 was "Lucky":
"Are You Listenin', Lucky?" - Joe Ely & Bill Hearne
Now we get to the main part of the survey. Please use the box down at the bottom to answer any or all of these questions as you see fit.
"What Do You Want?" - Adam Faith
"What Would You Do?" - The Besties
"What's Wrong With Me?" - Cindy Lee Berryhill
"What's Left To Do?" - Joe Simon
Monday, 25 March 2013
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Some Good Ol' Boys
Apologies to those of you waiting for this month's ReviewShine round-up, but I'm not going to have time to do one properly before I go off on my hols. Instead here is a quick plug for two excellent hard-core country albums that I have been sent recently, the first via ReviewShine.
"Wild Ways" is the name of the new album by Uncle Leon & the Alibis. Leon strikes me as the sort of uncle who turns up drunk at family reunions with some inappropriately dressed woman he has just picked up in a bar in tow. Having said that, on some tracks there are signs that underneath his brash exterior there is a sensitive fellow trying to get out. Not this track, though.
"All My Crazy Friends Got Old And Lame" - Uncle Leon & the Alibis
"All My Crazy Friends..." sounds like the title of a Waylon Jennings' song. As do many of the titles on a new record called "The Other Life", a contender for album of the year so far in my opinion. The resemblance isn't too surprising as the album is by Waylon's lad Shooter. Not that Shooter is aping his Dad - he definitely has his own distinct voice and style - but the apple clearly didn't fall far from the tree. The album is strong from start to finish, and it culminates in this epic.
"The Gunslinger" - Shooter Jennings
Here are a couple from his old man.
"Wild Ways" is the name of the new album by Uncle Leon & the Alibis. Leon strikes me as the sort of uncle who turns up drunk at family reunions with some inappropriately dressed woman he has just picked up in a bar in tow. Having said that, on some tracks there are signs that underneath his brash exterior there is a sensitive fellow trying to get out. Not this track, though.
"All My Crazy Friends Got Old And Lame" - Uncle Leon & the Alibis
"All My Crazy Friends..." sounds like the title of a Waylon Jennings' song. As do many of the titles on a new record called "The Other Life", a contender for album of the year so far in my opinion. The resemblance isn't too surprising as the album is by Waylon's lad Shooter. Not that Shooter is aping his Dad - he definitely has his own distinct voice and style - but the apple clearly didn't fall far from the tree. The album is strong from start to finish, and it culminates in this epic.
"The Gunslinger" - Shooter Jennings
Here are a couple from his old man.
Friday, 22 March 2013
German Giants
To mark the World Cup qualifying matches played tonight, we bring you a couple of tracks from "Glanzparade - Die Fußball- Klassiker", a 2002 compilation of German football related songs that I picked up for €1 at Gare-Midi in Brussels a couple of months back. No, really, I did.
I originally bought it for the vintage Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd "Der Bomber" Muller singles, which are fine in their own way. But the stand-out tracks are these two tributes to a couple of German legends. Has there every been a more desperate rhyme than "West Germany" and "sexy knees"?
"Rummenigge" - Alan & Denise
"Böörti, Böörti Vogts" - Stefan Raab
Charity Chic and our other Scottish readers can cheer themselves up after their latest disappointment by singing along with Stefan Raab, and reminiscing about Berti's glorious reign as Scotland manager. And maybe go even further back and recall the last time the World Cup was held in South America.
That was Andy Cameron on 'Top of the Pops' in 1978. And you'll never guess which old favourite of ours appeared on the very same episode.
I originally bought it for the vintage Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd "Der Bomber" Muller singles, which are fine in their own way. But the stand-out tracks are these two tributes to a couple of German legends. Has there every been a more desperate rhyme than "West Germany" and "sexy knees"?
"Rummenigge" - Alan & Denise
"Böörti, Böörti Vogts" - Stefan Raab
Charity Chic and our other Scottish readers can cheer themselves up after their latest disappointment by singing along with Stefan Raab, and reminiscing about Berti's glorious reign as Scotland manager. And maybe go even further back and recall the last time the World Cup was held in South America.
That was Andy Cameron on 'Top of the Pops' in 1978. And you'll never guess which old favourite of ours appeared on the very same episode.
Thursday, 21 March 2013
A Number of Rumbas
IT'S RUMBA TIME!!!
We will start with the professional and then proceed in descending order of competence.
"Rumba Tru, La, La" - Rumba Tres
"Rumba Congo" - Alain & Bouro Mpela
"Soca Rhumba" - Arrow
"There's No Room To Rhumba (In A Sports Car)" - Vivian Stanshall
That last number is a cover version of an old Elvis tune. In the early 1960s, he was working his way through the Arthur Murray Latin Dance Manual.
We will start with the professional and then proceed in descending order of competence.
"Rumba Tru, La, La" - Rumba Tres
"Rumba Congo" - Alain & Bouro Mpela
"Soca Rhumba" - Arrow
"There's No Room To Rhumba (In A Sports Car)" - Vivian Stanshall
That last number is a cover version of an old Elvis tune. In the early 1960s, he was working his way through the Arthur Murray Latin Dance Manual.
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
The Beat Is Blue
You folks are in for a treat tonight.
Regular readers may remember that a few weeks back we featured some selections from a jumbo compilation of all the songs that made the British Top 50 in 1962, which had been put together by some bright spark taking advantage of the fact that music licensing rights expire after 50 years. Well, now someone has decided to do the same with Jamaican music.
"The Story of Blue Beat 1962 Part 1" features all A and B sides of singles released on the legendary Blue Beat Records that year (or at least it will when Part 2 comes out very shortly). At £7.50 for 58 tracks that is a great deal by anyone's standards, especially when they are as good as this. Here are a few to whet your appetite, after which I am sure you will want to splash out on the whole thing.
In 1962 Jamaican music was still very heavily influenced by r&b, and in particular New Orleans r&b, but you also see a more distinctive local sound beginning to emerge. And how nice to hear tributes to Mabel and Enid, two names that you don't hear often enough any more.
"Never Never (South Virginia)" - Bobby Aitken
"Mabel" - Laurel Aitken & Hyacinth
"Walking Down King Street" - Theo Beckford
"Please Enid" - Rudy Grant & Sketto Rich
Here is a Mabel, and then an Enid. But they appear to both be men! What a shame - they were lovely names until "they" spoilt them.
Regular readers may remember that a few weeks back we featured some selections from a jumbo compilation of all the songs that made the British Top 50 in 1962, which had been put together by some bright spark taking advantage of the fact that music licensing rights expire after 50 years. Well, now someone has decided to do the same with Jamaican music.
"The Story of Blue Beat 1962 Part 1" features all A and B sides of singles released on the legendary Blue Beat Records that year (or at least it will when Part 2 comes out very shortly). At £7.50 for 58 tracks that is a great deal by anyone's standards, especially when they are as good as this. Here are a few to whet your appetite, after which I am sure you will want to splash out on the whole thing.
In 1962 Jamaican music was still very heavily influenced by r&b, and in particular New Orleans r&b, but you also see a more distinctive local sound beginning to emerge. And how nice to hear tributes to Mabel and Enid, two names that you don't hear often enough any more.
"Never Never (South Virginia)" - Bobby Aitken
"Mabel" - Laurel Aitken & Hyacinth
"Walking Down King Street" - Theo Beckford
"Please Enid" - Rudy Grant & Sketto Rich
Here is a Mabel, and then an Enid. But they appear to both be men! What a shame - they were lovely names until "they" spoilt them.
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Tiger Time
A few weeks ago, as a birthday present, Mister F very kindly gave me a copy of "Marvellous Boy", a compilation of vintage West African calypsoes (and, coincidentally, what my mother often calls me). I have not yet got round to listening to the whole thing but, of those I have heard, I am very taken with "Dick Tiger's Victory". This recounts the tale of the Nigerian boxer's victory over Gene Fullmer in 1962 to claim the world middeleweight crown.
So here it is along with some more tigers, including one of Mister F's favourite bands, Dschingis Khan, and their unique interpretation of the old William Blake classic.
"Dick Tiger's Victory" - Godwin Omahuwa & His Sound Makers
"Tiger, Tiger" - Dschingis Khan
"Tigers" - Rickie Lee Jones
"Tigers" - Mia Riddle
"The Feathered Tiger" - Kaleidoscope
"Hic Up" - Gregory Isaacs & Tiger
Sorry, Mud fans, but after a song about a boxer called Tiger there is only really one clip we can play.
So here it is along with some more tigers, including one of Mister F's favourite bands, Dschingis Khan, and their unique interpretation of the old William Blake classic.
"Dick Tiger's Victory" - Godwin Omahuwa & His Sound Makers
"Tiger, Tiger" - Dschingis Khan
"Tigers" - Rickie Lee Jones
"Tigers" - Mia Riddle
"The Feathered Tiger" - Kaleidoscope
"Hic Up" - Gregory Isaacs & Tiger
Sorry, Mud fans, but after a song about a boxer called Tiger there is only really one clip we can play.
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Goggins Bearing Gifts
I am off to Athens tomorrow for a few days. Mostly work, but I have tagged a day's sightseeing on to the end. And the sight I most want to see is Ifestou Street in Monastiraki, which I am told is a treasure trove of vinyl and CDs. Hopefully I will return laden down with the aural equivalent of the Elgin Marbles. But just in case I fail in the mission, here are some delights from our existing collection of antiquities - a selection of Hellenic highlights of the late 1960s to mid 1970s.
"To Moahma" - The Sounds
"Tora" - Agapanthos
"Dyo Mikra Gaiszia Aloga" - Giorgis Romanos
"Ki Ego Ki Esi" - Kostas Tournas
"The Village Postman" - The Four Levels of Existence
"Isvoli Apo Ton Ari" - Sotiris Komatsioulis
"Tu Choriu To Panigiri" - Nostradamus
"An Thes Ela Ke Esi" - Peloma Bokiou
In Greek mythology the Styx was the river across which the souls of the dead were ferried to the Underworld. Type "River" and "Styx" in YouTube and you get this. I had never heard the song before, and if I never hear it again before old Charon takes me across I could probably get by. But you decide for yourselves.
"To Moahma" - The Sounds
"Tora" - Agapanthos
"Dyo Mikra Gaiszia Aloga" - Giorgis Romanos
"Ki Ego Ki Esi" - Kostas Tournas
"The Village Postman" - The Four Levels of Existence
"Isvoli Apo Ton Ari" - Sotiris Komatsioulis
"Tu Choriu To Panigiri" - Nostradamus
"An Thes Ela Ke Esi" - Peloma Bokiou
In Greek mythology the Styx was the river across which the souls of the dead were ferried to the Underworld. Type "River" and "Styx" in YouTube and you get this. I had never heard the song before, and if I never hear it again before old Charon takes me across I could probably get by. But you decide for yourselves.
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