Day of the Jackal

I bought myself a new PC recently - the old one was so ancient you had to turn the crank at the back to get it started - and while most things went smoothly I've been having some problems with my music.

I use a well-known device beginning with a little "i" to play my music on, and it seems that when you transfer the library over to the new PC all the tracks originally uploaded from CDs need to be reactivated one by one in order to be able to play them.

On the one hand this is intensely irritating as it will take me ages to reboot the whole library. But on the bright side, it means I am coming across things I haven't listened to for years and rediscovering their manifold delights. One such is "Golden Hits Collection" by Don Carlos, which we feature now for your listening pleasure.

"Springheel Skanking" - Don Carlos

"Hog And Goat" - Don Carlos

Next in the "pile" is a compilation called "100 Hits: 80s Weekender", which I honestly had no recollection of acquiring. But I tracked down the original 5CD box set, and if the sticker is to be believed I only paid £1 for it. There are enough goodies amongst all the dross to make it a decent buy at that price. Here's one of them.

Beep Beep

I'm off to see Pete Wylie this evening. You're an intelligent bunch, you'll get the connection.

"Coyotes" - Don Edwards

"I'm A Roadrunner" - Junior Walker & The All Stars

Mpharanyana Returns

All this reminiscing about the early days of the blog got me thinking about the greatest South African soul singer - and in my opinion one of the great singers full stop - the mighty Mpharanyana. I featured him a lot back then, but haven't done so for years. It's time to put that right.

"Sathane Ngiyeke" - Mpharanyana

"Moketa Wa Thabo" - Mpharanyana

On many of his records, Mpharanyana makes a distinctive little cough at some point. Apparently the first time it happened it was genuinely a cough, but they decided to make a thing of it, like when Bobby 'Blue' Bland clears his throat. And if its good enough for Bobby...

Listeners Choice

Last time out I asked our loyal listeners to help me mark ten years of the blog by sending in random numbers between 1 and 3900, the idea being that the next playlist would consist of the songs that had those numbers on my spreadsheet of tracks we have featured during the life of the blog.

We've had six suggestions (well, five plus a nice comment from 1001 Songs who thoughtfully already has a number in their name). This is what you came up with. To be honest, it is a better selection than I normally manage. I may have to delegate the pop picking to you all again at some point.

"P'tit Femme Mon Gate" - Cormoran Group (selected by Ramone666)

"Cousin Rude Boy" - Culture (George)

"Mabibi" - Esta M (1001 Songs)

"I Love This Town" - Clive Gregson (Apothecary)

"Tupelo Honey" - Little Milton (Charity Chic)

"Raciste" - Ismaël Lô (Mister F)

That's enough looking back. Time to look forward. And what does the future hold for us - Peace and Prosperity? Doom and Gloom? Or Quark, Strangeness and Charm? My money's on the latter.

Ten Glorious Years

Today is a momentous anniversary for all of us here at 27 Leggies (i.e. me). It was exactly ten years ago that our first ever post was published. If my records are correct, since then we've featured 3903 different tracks and roughly 2300 different artists, from Admiral Dele Abiodun all the way to Zuluboy.

Way back then I would never have dreamed that we would become Surfers of the Zeitgeist. After all, we weren't even paddling at that point - more sitting in the car with sandwiches and a thermos flask on a rainy Sunday afternoon hoping the weather would clear long enough for us to manage a quick stroll on the beach.

Some of the many highlights of the last ten years include: becoming penpals with Mama Coconut; being pestered by hip European DJs for cutting edge Tsonga Disco samples; being bigged up on US National Public Radio; meeting the legendary Klaus Voorman; getting on the guest list for some excellent gigs; being relentlessly trolled by irate Elkie Brooks fans for daring to suggest her disco version of "Only Love Will Break Your Heart" was less that great; and, most of all, getting to know all our lovely friends and followers.

To mark our 10th anniversary, here are the first five songs I posted back in 2009. If you would like to make your own contribution to the celebrations, stick a number between 1 and 3903 in the comments and I'll put together a playlist of whatever tracks have the equivalent numbers on my spreadsheet. It is alphabetical by artist so if you fancy a bit of Tommie Young go high.

"They'm" - Rainbow Ffolly

"They Crowned An Idiot King" - Swamp Dogg

"Femme Africaine" - Soule Ngofo Man

"Ti Ricorda Ancora" - Fabio Concato

"Who Let The Flowers Fall?" - The Act

Arnaldo Then Away

I'm off on my travels tomorrow, and will be back (with a bang!) in about ten days. But before I go, here are some tunes from Brazilian polymath Arnaldo Antunes.

I had never heard of him until recently when I found his 2001 album "Paradeiro" in a charity shop and decided it looked interesting enough to merit an investment of 50p. It was. Indeed, I enjoyed it so much I went rummaging around the Internet to find more of his stuff, a small portion of which I present to you now.

"Querem Mandar" - Arnaldo Antunes

"Desistiu de Mim" - Arnaldo Antunes

"Do Vento" - Arnaldo Antunes

See you soon, folks. Stay groovy in the meantime.

Strait Shooter

I have always had a bit of a soft spot for George Strait. Back in the 1980s and 1990s he was one of the few major country artists keeping the flame of "proper" country alive - or at least the Nashville version of proper country anyway.

That's a theme he himself returns to every now and then, as in today's video and in "House Of Cash", his duet with Patty Loveless. I could not find a video for that one or would have added it as well; it is well worth seeking out if you haven't heard it.

But first a couple of personal favourites from way back when. Let's hope George has got over his fever and is feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning.

"Friday Night Fever" - George Strait

"Amarillo By Morning" - George Strait

Going Commando

We start 2019 with some Ugandan pop from way back in 2018. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Zacks Commando.

"Yogera Gyozalwa" - Zacks Commando

"Omusayi" - Zacks Commando