The Sounds Of Smogness

Those of you who saw Monday's post may remember that I promised you another version of Bobby Patterson's classic tune "She Don't Have To See You (To See Through You)". Well here it is.

Golden Smog is an on/off alt.country -or whatever it is called these days - 'supergroup' whose members have included assorted Jayhawks, Wilcos and Soul Asylums (among others) at various times. 

They have had three iterations. The first released a couple of albums in the 1990s, the second did the same in the mid 2000s while the third has got together to gig annually since 2019.

We are going back to the first line-up today, and their excellent 1995 debut album "Down By The Old Mainstream". As well as "She Don't Have To See You" we have a Faces cover and an original by Gary Louris from The Jayhawks.

"V" - Golden Smog

"She Don't Have To See You (To See Through You)" - Golden Smog 

"Glad And Sorry" - The Faces

Here's a slightly ropy audience video of the current line-up performing "Glad And Sorry" in 2022 with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco on vocals. I couldn't find any clips of The Faces or Ronnie Lane (who wrote it) doing the song but other Ronnie clips were available, including this gem from 1974. 

Bobby Likes Brackets

Some vintage soul to start the week, and a welcome debut for Mr Bobby Patterson. The fact that he has not featured before is a clear dereliction of duty on my part.

Mr Patterson is a singer, songwriter and producer from Dallas. Unlike many of the soul stars we have featured here previously he is happily still with us, having celebrated his 80th birthday last year.

While this may be Bobby's first time on the blog we have heard one of his songs before, in the form of Ms Tommie Young's sublime take on "She Don't Have To See You (To See Through You)". I have another good cover version of the same song. Tune in on Wednesday to hear that.

"If A Man Ever Loved A Woman (Baby I Love You)" - Bobby Patterson

"She Don't Have To See You (To See Through You)" - Bobby Patterson

"Married Lady" - Bobby Patterson

Barrington's Back

I have long been a fan of Barrington Levy. If I were asked to list my Top 5 Barringtons he would definitely be in there along with Ken, Jonah and Pheloung.

One of the many highlights of his extensive catalogue is the "Prison Oval Rock" album, which I bought when it first came out at the late and much lamented Daddy Kool Records in London's swinging Soho. I remember it as if it were yesterday, so I was slightly traumatised to discover that it was actually 40 years ago.

I know that because the good folks at VP Records have put together a digital only 40th Anniversary edition of the album which is due out at the end of January, at which point it will presumably appear on their Bandcamp page. I am very grateful to them for sending me an advance copy.

As well as the original album the anniversary edition includes multiple dub versions, 12" mixes and other goodies adding up to a whopping 39 tracks in total. Here is just one of them, together with a couple of other unrelated old favourites.

"Prison Oval Rock (Greensleeves 12" Mix)" - Barrington Levy

"Money Move" - Barrington Levy

"Shine Eye Gal" - Barrington Levy 

If you have ever wanted to see Nicholas Parsons and a very young Sandi Toksvig on children's TV skanking to a song promoting recreational drug use just fast forward to 3:55 in this video - although personally I would recommend watching the whole thing

Return To The Centre

I popped in to our local second hand record shop for the first time in a while on Monday and discovered to my great delight that they had got hold a small job lot of African CDs since I was last there. 

With great restraint I bought only three. Two of them are by artists who have featured here previously, Algerian desert rockers Imarhan and the Zambian who conquered Zimbabwe, Robson Banda. Mr Banda appeared very recently in the final post of the African Odyssey.

I know I am going to enjoy both those albums and there is a fair chance they will feature here in due course. But the one I was most excited to listen to was a 1997 compilation from the Central African Republic that goes by the self-explanatory name of "Centrafrica Compil'".

I could really have done with this album way back in July 2023 when the Odyssey visited CAR. One of the acts we featured then also appears on the CD (Formidable Musiki - in the first of the videos) but the other 12 artists on the album are new names to me.

There is plenty of sparkling soukous guitar work on display of the sort you will associate with their southern neighbours in DRC, with Zokela possibly being the pick of the bunch. To that I have added something mildly funky courtesy of Centro Mix. 

The videos feature other acts that appear on the compilation, including a welcome return for the Formidables.

"Ignition" - Zokela

"Sanza Nostalgie" - Centro Mix

Dyke-Wake Dirge

Today's post was prompted by a recent edition of Rol's widely acclaimed 'Namesakes' series - a concept so good its somewhat surprising nobody else had thought of it before. 

Last week's episode featured a ropy Dutch string band called The Crooks who mutated over time to become a slightly less ropy Dutch folk band called King's Galliard. That name was familiar to me because they are included on a compilation of Dutch folk and folk-rock that I picked up from a market stall in The Hague many years ago.

The album rejoices under the title "Dutch Rare Folk: 43 Lost Classics". Having dusted it off for possibly the first time since I bought it I don't think you could describe all, or indeed any, of them as lost classics. But it is better than I remember it being and it seems that the Netherlands were awash with fine female folk singers back in the 1970s.

"De Boerenplof / De Skotse Trije" - King's Galliard

"It Gefang" - Irolt

"'t Visserke" - Deirdre

Further Dutch sounds of the seventies below...

Happy Birthday Sweet 16

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.

"I'm Sixteen / Chnam Oun Dop Pram Mouy" - Cambodian Space Project

"Sixteen" - Iggy Pop

"Sixteen" - Winnetka Bowling League

"Sixteen Tons Of Pressure" - O.B.F. & Charlie P

"They'm" - Rainbow Ffolly

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.

Sidi Bou Soul

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.

"Hanen" - Carthago

"Soul Brother" - Dalton

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.

 

In The Year 2025

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.

"Simple Things" - Minnie Riperton

"In Our Bedroom After The War" - Stars

"Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War" - Paul Simon

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.