All Hail The Queenie

Some Sunday soul for you today - a couple of belters from Marie "Queenie" Lyons, to be precise. Her online biography is somewhat scant. She hails from Ashtabula, Ohio; toured with James Brown and King Curtis; made her album, "Soul Fever", in 1970; and as of 2014 was back in Ashtabula running a bar.

In my twenties I used to be on nodding acquaintance with a nice old dear called Queenie who frequented our own local pub, the Prince of Wales in Stoke Newington. So this one is for her, wherever she may be.

"Your Key Don't Fit It No More" - Marie "Queenie" Lyons

"Daddy's House" - Marie "Queenie" Lyons

Another occasional visitor to the pub in those days was Sam Brown of "Stop" fame. One year she roped her dear old dad into performing at the local street party. He was quite nifty.

The Wreck Of The Old 97

Some cool summer sounds for you today courtesy of Cacique '97. "Cacique who?", I hear you ask. I'll let the good folks at Ethnocloud explain:

“Nowadays Lisbon is a huge pot of creativity which attracts artists from all over the World and it is a privileged space where musicians find each other, share ideas and mix rhythms. It is from this mixture that, in 2005, afro beat collective Cacique´97 is born. With musicians with Mozambican and Portuguese origins, this collective incorporates members from groups such as Cool Hipnoise, Philharmonic Weed and The Most Wanted, well known projects in the areas of funk, reggae and the afro sound.

The passion for the music of Fela Kuti and Tony Allen has united these musicians for the pursuance of a common goal: to create a collective that mirrored the Lisbon mixture, by crossing the characteristic urban Nigerian rhythm which is afro beat, with the musical tradition of the African Portuguese speaking countries and of Brazil, whom has always been very present in the Portuguese capital.”

I've never heard of any of those "well known projects in the areas of funk, reggae and the afro sound ", but Philharmonic Weed sounds like something that needs to be tracked down. Until then, here are The Caciques with a couple of tracks from their very enjoyable 2016 album, "We Used To Be Africans".

"Chapa 97" - Cacique '97

"Mahala" - Cacique '97 (featuring Azagaia)

Today's video clip is a belated birthday tribute to the estimable Charity Chic. If you believe he is as old as he claims - and I'm not sure I do - then this was topping the charts in the UK on the day he was born.

The Eternal Gods

First pickings from the Porto haul come from good old Gilberto Gil - specifically, his 1989 album "O Eterno Deus Mu Dança". 

"O Eterno Deus Mu Dança" - Gilberto Gil

"Baticum" - Gilberto Gil

From good old Gilberto Gil to good old Gilberto Sullivan. Call me a soppy old fool, but I love this song.

Sunday Shuffle

I have returned from my break in Porto and surrounding areas much refreshed and laden down with many CDs to share with you all.

If you are passing through the city, both Louie Louie and Tubitek are well worth a visit. The Spanish psychedelia compilation and complete works of Jabula from the former look very promising, as do a couple of Brazilian albums from the latter.

Further afield, I'm particularly looking forward to listening to the 4 CD box set of Angolan music from the 1960s and 70s acquired in Aviero. I'm not so sure about the 'novo sertanejo' and 'Sinead O'Connor sings the folk songs of old Ireland' CDs I bought from a lady with a stall in a deserted car park in Santo Tirso, but I felt a bit sorry for her as she clearly hadn't had a customer in years.

More of all of that anon. But first, here's Young Jessie.

"Shuffle In The Gravel" - Young Jessie

"Be Bop Country Boy" -  Young Jessie

Young Jessie, or Obediah Jessie as his parents called him, started his musical career in The Flairs. One of the other members was Richard Berry, who wrote a song so legendary than over sixty years after it was first recorded there are hip Portuguese record shops named after it.

Twentysomethings

I'm off on my holidays in a few hours - Porto, since you ask - and I thought I should leave you with something to tide you over until I return. So for no particular reason, here are six songs in sequence. Hope you like them, see you soon.

"20 Miles From Shore" - Hawkshaw Hawkins

"21 Girls Salute" - Barrington Levy

"22 Days" - Ryley Walker

"23rd" - John Cooper Clarke

"24 Hours" - The Chefs

"25 Miles" - Edwin Starr

Spoonful

In anticipation of England's World Cup semi-final with Croatia, here is a little something I picked up on my most recent visit to Zagreb last month. Some of my colleagues are actually going to be there this week but unfortunately I am missing out due to a prior commitment. A shame - it would have been a fun night whatever the result.

Anyway, here are The Spoons, a garage band from Pula. Both tracks are taken from their 1994 album "Web Of Fuzz".

"Bye Bye Baby" - The Spoons

"Moonlite Rider" - The Spoons

As will become quickly apparent, "Bye Bye Baby" isn't a cover of the old Bay City Rollers hit. But we're giving you that as well in memory of Alan Longmuir, who died last week.

It's Not Rude To Intrude

Some sweet soul music for a sultry summer evening, courtesy of The Intruders. They were the first group to benefit from having Gamble & Huff writing and producing for them, and it was their success with the likes of 'Cowboys to Girls' that made the Philadelphia International label possible. They also had a penchant for sporting metaphors it seems.

"(Win, Place Or Show) She's A Winner" - The Intruders

"(Love Is Like A) Baseball Game" - The Intruders

McHippies

Flower Children of Scotland, when will we see your like again?

"Wear Your Love Like Heaven" - Donovan

"Gently Tender" - The Incredible String Band

"My Stair Cupboard At 3 a.m." - Bread, Love & Dreams

High In The Andes

A couple of things happened today that made me feel compelled to produce this post. We had our first visitor from Peru since I start tracking such things six months ago, and then our Portuguese desk alerted to me to an excellent post on Bandcamp that leads off with a couple of the big names of Peruvian psychedelia, Laghonia and Traffic Sound (the latter having also been featured here a few times over the years).

So, inspired by these two events, here is some more Peruvian psych and pop from the same sort of era, starting with one of the most endearingly bonkers things I have ever heard.

"Betty Boom-Little Monster-Doggie And Peggie At The Witches Castle" - The (St. Thomas) Pepper Smelter

"Tomalo O Dejalo" - Los Pakines

"I Lost A Game" - Cerro Verde

"Estoy Brillando" - Fe 69

"Ozzy" - We All Together