It is a momentous day here in Leggies Land. It is our 16th birthday and we are celebrating in style - some themed tunes and the first song that we ever played. That song also gave the blog its name. With hindsight we should have started with something less stupid.
The first video goes out especially to a Mr John Medd of Nottingham. He is welcome to lay claim to the others as well if he wants to, although he may prefer not to.
I got back from a very enjoyable break in Tunisia a couple of days ago. I would recommend it. The wry, urbane hipsters who make up most of my readership won't be interested in anything as predictable as my holiday snaps but if anyone else is you can find them on Flickr.
I had hoped to bring back lots of Tunisian music to share with you but failed dismally. I searched high, low and in between for CDs or old LPs but found none. Not a merguez.
So instead we are catching up again with one of the bands that featured when the African Odyssey bandwagon rolled through town a few months back - Carthago, the disco kings who wowed the crowds in the clubs of Tunis and Sousse back in the day.
Carthago were formed in the late 1970s by former members of Dalton and Marhaba Band, and we have a track from each of them as well. The first two tunes come courtesy of Habibi Funk, the other courtesy of the nice person who posted it on YouTube.
For the video I thought about selecting something by the first queen of Carthage but decided to spare you from that. Instead we've gone with the band named after the delightful village next door to Carthage that hailed from the equally delightful Lewisham.
To paraphrase Messrs Zager & Evans, "In the year 2025, if the world is still alive...".
At a global level it is hard to make an argument for being optimistic about the year ahead. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that it isn't quite as sh*t as its shaping up to be.
At a personal level it is a different matter. I hope all you lovely people have a good year full of life's simple pleasures like the uplifting power of music. May all your eggs be sunny side up and may any bad things be left locked away in last year.
I'm off on holiday at the crack of dawn tomorrow, and will be back on here in a couple of weeks. Until then I leave you not with the dreary dirge with which I opened this post but a different Zager with a much more upbeat outlook.
Once again this year we have lost many fine musicians.This is my annual woefully inadequate tribute to some of those whose sad passing may not have received the attention they deserved.
We start with a double loss - both Barbara Dane and Joe Chambers of The Chambers Brothers left us this year - and a sincere apology to Nikki Giovanni. In August I featured her "When I Die" here and a few weeks ago that is sadly what happened. Let's hope that the recording of hers that I have chosen today has similar predictive powers for all of these artists.
"It Isn't Nice" - Barbara Dane & The Chambers Brothers
It is that time of year when all music bloggers are contractually obliged to tell you about the music they have enjoyed in the last 12 months. I dealt with my live music experience in a post just before Xmas so this one just covers recordings.
Speaking for myself I'm not sure 2024 stands out as a vintage year for new music. I have heard lots of decent stuff, and no doubt missed even more, but relatively little I would describe as exceptional. Hopefully this statement will prompt one of you to tip me off to a record that will go on to change my live forever.
Favourite albums of the year
Ten albums in alphabetical order by artist, with Bandcamp links so you can consider them when deciding how to spend your Xmas vouchers. The usual caveat applies, i.e. at least half the list might be different if I did it again in a few days' time.
I excluded compilations from the list but if I had not the compilations of vintage Ghanaian, Nigerian and Congolese grooves featured in the last post of the African odyssey would have been contenders. As of course would "Sounds From The Flightpath Estate".
Assorted sounds and visions
We finish off with some of my favourite tracks from 2023 that have not previously been featured here during the year - if only to show that the zeitgeist is infinite.
On Friday and Saturday I went to my 26th and 27th gigs of the year - Smoke Fairies in the hipster haven that is Haggerston showcasing their "Wild Winter" album which is ten years old this year; and then Sharon Shannon, her Big Band and assorted guests brewing up one hell of a hooley at the Shepherd's Bush Empire with a mix of Shane MacGowan songs and some instrumental sets. I enjoyed them both very much.
I have no more gigs lined up until January so I am now in a position to share my annual Gigs of the Year list, whether you want it or not. With the usual caveat about the list being different if I were to do this again next week - the Sharon Shannon show might well creep in to the Top 10 with more time to reflect - in date order they were:
Luiz Bruno & The Adult Children @ Shacklewell Arms
Salif Keita @ Barbican Hall
Peter Case & Sid Griffin @ What's Cookin'
Grupo Pilon @ Peckham Audio
Nana Benz Du Togo @ Dalston Eastern Curve Garden
Lola Kirke @ 100 Club
Nusantara Beat @ Shacklewell Arms
Sahra Halgan @ Greenleaf Baptist Church
Ron Sexsmith @ London Palladium
Dur-Dur Band @ Barbican Hall
I like to take a few photos at gigs when the opportunity arises. Most of them are pretty terrible but every now and then something half decent emerges by accident. In an attempt to ratchet up the self-indulgence even further here a few of them from this year.
In order of appearance: Dur-Dur Band; Les Deuxluxes @ Botanique, Brussels; Nana Benz Du Togo; Sid Griffin & Peter Case; Madou Diabaté, accompanying Salif Keita; Cecile McLorin Salvant @ Bozar, Brussels.
We'll round things off with a seasonal song from Smoke Fairies and a few videos of live performances by acts I saw this year, then that is it from me until after Xmas. Hope you and yours have a good one, with lashings of figgy pudding and cups of good cheer.
Welcome to the third of what appears to have become an annual event (unfortunately for all of us) - a Christmas themed Single Song Sunday.
This year it is "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". There are well over 1000 recorded versions of the song. Most of them are completely unnecessary as once you've heard the version by The Crystals from the Phil Spector Christmas album that's everything you want.
Despite that I have put together a short selection. After The Crystals we have some swing with Bing and The Andrews Sisters (a hit in 1947), some Ukrainian punks, Swamp Dogg doing his own thing with it and The Mighty Sparrow with a brief calypso canter through the tune.
Regular readers will not be in the least bit surprised to learn that the MRV comes from John Holt.
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.
