We lost one of my own personal musical heroes on Sunday. The passing of Slinger Francisco (aka Mighty Sparrow) at the age of 91 brings to an end a magnificent 70 year career that started with "Jean And Dinah" in 1956.
Sparrow was as adept at political and social commentary as he was at double (and sometimes single) entendres. In my opinion, as a lyricist his catalogue compares with any of your Bobs and Bruces or your Coles and Noels (that's Porter and Coward, not Lloyd and Gallagher). Don't let the bouncy backbeat persuade you otherwise.
This is not the first time there have been reports of Sparrow's death, as the penultimate selection explains. Sadly this time they are true.
Sparrow did a nifty line in cover versions as well. In fact his biggest hit in Europe was a rendition of "Only A Fool Breaks His Own Heart" which topped the Dutch charts in 1978. Here he is in 1996 having a bit of fun crooning some tunes you'll all know.
I was on my way home early evening yesterday after a pleasant day out visiting friends when I spotted this pronouncement:
I could claim that I have posted that photo in an attempt to spark a stimulating debate about the nature of art - and if it has prompted you to give an opinion feel free to share it in the comments. But the reality is that when I got home I realised I had not prepared a post for today and remembering this made me opt for songs about art and artists.
Considering the slapdash way the post was put together I think it has turned out pretty well. And the Ugly Creatures and A House between them have raised another interesting question - does art remain endless when the artist has exited? Answers on a postcard please.
"Pablo Picasso" is of course a Jonathan Richman song but I couldn't find a decent live clip of him doing it on YouTube so the Dame is doing double duty. Him and the next two blokes are OK but I have saved the best until last.
Last week I was visiting two of my oldest and dearest friends up in Southport. We had a day out in Liverpool and treated ourselves to a stroll through the old docks, taking in such sights as the Stanley Dock Bascule Bridge and the ventilation shaft for the Kingsway Tunnel.
I originally planned to mark the occasion with a Liverpool themed post but try as I might I couldn't think of any suitable songs or bands. I asked my friend the same question as we walked past the Gerry Marsden Ferry Terminal but he was stumped as well. And Frankie Vaughan can't carry a post on his own even though he, like the ventilation shaft, is a tower of strength.
Then I thought about a Single Song Sunday featuring "Dock Of The Bay" but abandoned that idea when I found that I only had four versions plus a song of the same name by Big Youth which is him rabbiting away over a sample of "Silhouettes".
So in the end I settled for Big Youth, which is never a bad place to end up in my view.
We have reached the end of the road. The 23rd and final destination of our musical tour is Venezuela/ South Trumpland (delete as applicable - it is Venezuela at the time of writing but at the rate President Toddler is going who knows what it will be called by the time you read this).
This will be the last tour for the moment, very possibly for good. Even though this is the shortest of the three to date - we visited 27 countries in the EU and 55 in Africa - for some reason it seemed to drag more at times. I'm not sure why. It certainly isn't the quality and variety of the music. Maybe I'm just getting too old for living out of a digital suitcase.
Many thanks to those of you who joined us for parts of the journey. If you missed any of the stops the links are still live - or if you just want the music not the tedious prose that precedes it click here to download the mamacita-lode.
My particular thanks go to our regular travelling companion George for introducing me to the acid rock sounds of the appallingly named Ladies W.C. The band released just one self-titled album in 1968 before it all went down the pan, but some critics consider it to be possibly the most influential Venezuelan album of its era.
We will keep rocking with the next track which comes from an excellent compilation on the Soul Jazz label called "Venezuela 70: Cosmic Visions Of A Latin American Earth". I could have picked any number of groovy tunes from this album but I have gone with this 1971 cracker by Grupo C.I.M. If Discogs is correct it was their only single.
Enough rock. Let's get the Latin party started with a man much more prolific and high profile than either of those bands. Oscar d'Leon a.k.a. The Pharoah of Salsa has been making marvellous music since 1972 when he released his first album with his band Dimension Latina, and became a star across the region with his 1975 hit "Llorarás". This particular track is from his 1994 album "Toitico Tuyo".
Oscar has been rather quiet on the recording front for the last decade or so but is still with us at 83 and seems as popular as ever. Several cities in the USA have designated days in his honour, at least according to the man himself, but every day is Oscar d'Leon day for his fans.
Founded in 1986, Los Amigos Invisibles are almost as long-serving as Mr d'Leon and possibly better known among the hipster community outside Latin America as a result of being "discovered" by David Byrne back in the 1990s. Since parting ways with Luaka Bop around the turn of the century they have continued releasing records on their own Gozadera label to much acclaim. I have chosen the tune that won 'Best Alternative Song' at the 2019 Latin Grammies.
If recent and alternative is your bag then I think you are going to dig our next selection from Insólito UniVerso, a trio of Venezuelans now based in Paris where they hang out with all the cool kids. One such cool kid is Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab who makes a guest appearance on this track from their 2023 album "Ese Puerto Existe". The track also features the sound of bleating goats in a blatant attempt to appeal to George if he can drag himself away from the Ladies' WC.
Marginally less hip than the Insólitos, Los Fantasmas del Caribe were constructed in the early 1990s by a Caracas Simon Cowell who wanted to conquer the tropical pop market. They had a fair amount of success before splitting in 1998 and the lead singer Coyote Dax went on to have a decent solo career after relocating to Mexico. While officially naff they did produce some fun tunes and I must confess to having a bit of a soft spot for this track from 1994's "Mas Y Mas" album.
We are approaching the end of the post and series and will end both with some Mandatory American Reggae (MAR). But before we get there how about a bit of VVS (Voluntary Venezuelan Soca)? Trinidad lies less than ten miles off the coast of Venezuela so it is no surprise that there has been an exchange of musical influences between the two countries. Here to demonstrate are Rubi Mendez y Su Bravo Show with a track from their 2020 album "Con Mucha Clase".
Which brings us finally to the MAR. I had briefly flirted with the idea of featuring El Ganjoman, who would have done a perfectly decent job, but ultimately felt I had to go with Afrocultura Sound System whose Banton Studios in Caracas are a hub of the local reggae scene. This track is from 2017 and is available in multiple mixes on Bandcamp.
Time to cast your mind back to Los Fantasmas del Caribe. When I said Coyote Dax had a decent solo career I meant in terms of the amount of success he had not necessarily musical quality. You may recognise our opening number in the video section.
From modernist architecture last Friday to brutalism today, or at least a band named after one of the best-known brutalist buildings in Britain. I am talking of course of Barbican Estate.
Regular readers may recall me raving about the band when I went to see them live earlier in the year. I'm pleased to report that not only are they going back on the road soon but they will be bringing a brand shiny new album with them. If they are playing anywhere near you then you must go. They are a fantastic live band, as the video at the end proves, with great hair action.
The new album is called "Rock Drill" and the first single, "Song For Derek", came out on Friday. I am reliably informed by their very nice PR man that the single is "a joyous call to arms [that] captures them at their most immediate: propulsive, unruly, full of momentum, turning their noise-driven approach into something unexpectedly celebratory". And he would know.
At this point I would imagine you have three questions: When does the album come out? Where are they playing? And who is Derek? Well:
1. "Rock Drill" gets released on 6 November but is already available to pre-order on Bandcamp.
2. The tour runs from 8 November, starting in Glasgow and ending in Brighton with six other stops in between. Not quite full details of dates and venues are on Songkick. In addition to the gigs listed there they are apparently playing Ramsgate Music Hall on 12 November and Night And Day in Manchester on the 16th.
3. As for Derek, I can't tell you. If I was a betting man my money would probably be on the late avant-garde guitarist Derek Bailey. But it could perhaps be Derek Bell of the Chieftains and unfortunately named solo album fame, either one of the acting Dereks (Nimmo and Jacobi), the great cricketer Derek 'Deadly' Underwood or possibly even Bo Derek, after whom fellow Japanese noisemakers Bo Ningen are named.
Whichever Derek it is, Barbican Estate provide a worthy tribute. And having been lucky enough to hear an advance copy of "Rock Drill" I can confirm that the rest of the album is just as good.
So make sure that come November you buy the record and go to the gigs if you can. And if there is a special Derek in your life call him right now and let him know you care.
Regular readers may recall when I regaled you with tales of my rambles around London.
Please now pause briefly to admire the alliteration and internal rhyme in that opening sentence. I spent hours crafting it.
Anyway, one of those walks involved visiting various modernist buildings in Hampstead and Kilburn. Inspired by them I bought a copy of a pocket-sized guidebook called 'Modernism in Metro-land' with the aim of using it to plan further walks.
I did the first walk last week, straddling the two upper branches of the Northern Line by walking from Hendon Central station to East Finchley station, taking in such delights as Hampstead Garden Suburb, the Great North Way (which links the M1 to the North Circular Road) and the world renowned Dollis Valley trail en route.
There were plenty of interesting buildings to admire and I have put a selection of them up on Flickr. The hotspot for modernism fans is the bit of Hendon that butts onto the south side of the Great North Way. These two - The White House in Downage and Hendon Hall Court in Parson St - are just a few streets apart.
In between them is Ashley Lane which was wall to wall modernist houses and apartment buildings back in the 1930s. Unfortunately most of them have since been either demolished or redesigned, like this one which some bright spark felt could be 'improved' by putting a proper roof on top.
The redesigning works both ways though. The East Finchley Picturedome (now the Phoenix Cinema) opened in 1912 and was one of the very first purpose-built cinemas in the UK. In 1937 it was given a fresh new Art Deco look that it retains to this day, and which has led it to appear in almost as many films as it has screened - 'Interview With A Vampire' and 'Nowhere Boy' to name just two.
East Finchley can lay claim to many celebrity residents including George Michael, Peter Sellers, Jerry Springer and Will Self. The best the page on Hendon in Wikipedia can come up with is Benji the Binman but further research reveals a cast that includes Denis Compton, Susheela Raman, Oliver Postgate and David Bedford (the musician/composer who worked with the likes of Kevin Ayers and Mike Oldfield, not the runner).
Here are a selection of songs and videos celebrating the Hendon - East Finchley Massive, including a lovely duet from Madeleine the rag doll and Gabriel the toad. The last video is for Benji, in case he gets sad.
Ladies and gentlemen, the results of our dips and sauces challenge are in. Joining George and C as a two-time winner is:
The Swede with "Non, Je Ne Vinaigrette Rien".
In the early stages it looked like this would be a very close competition, with nine of the 17 entries receiving at least one first place vote. But during the course of the week the top two gradually pulled clear of the rest, and in the last couple of days The Swede was able to build a lead over JWA. Things were much tighter further down the field, with just three points separating third and fifth and the chasing pack snapping at their heels.
Here is the top five in full:
Non, Je Ne Vinaigrette Rien - Edith Piaf (The Swede)
Aioli Have Eyes For You - Art Garfunkel (JWA)
Bechamel Golly Wow - The Stylistics (Rol)
Gravy's On The Road Again - Manfred Mann's Earth Band (Charity Chic)
Pass The Chutney - Hummusical Youth (George)
Congratulations to our chart-toppers and many thanks to everyone who took part and helped to produce such a saucy selection.
The provisional plan is to dip back into the world of puns on Monday 26 October (I have all sorts of international mystery activities to deal with before then which mean I may not have enough time to undertake the extensive scrutineering required for Pun Fun). Until then, here is Edith lamenting the lack of her favourite dressing.
There was a time when my first port of call every Bandcamp Friday was the Sahel Sounds page where I would take advantage of their generous offers on their back catalogue. But not anymore.
That is not because I have gone off them, its just that I now own their whole catalogue. So for the last couple of Bandcamp Fridays - and probably the next few - I have started my trawl by visiting the equally generous folks at Nyege Nyege Tapes.
Of my latest batch of acquisitions I am particularly taken by "Molende", the 2023 album by Kinshasa born and now Kampala based Titi Bakorta. According to the label's blurb:
"Bakorta offers his own unique take on Congolese pop and folk sounds, weaving traditional elements through a psychedelic lattice of guitar loops, mangled voices and eccentric beatbox rhythms on his debut full-length". I'll let you judge that for yourselves.
If you have nearly 23 minutes to spare you might enjoy this video of Titi jamming with one Ale Hop on a barge in Utrecht. If you are in a hurry we also have a three minute option from Junior Walker (no relation) & The All Stars. Now if you have 26 minutes to spare...
It was a busy week on the live music front last week. I took in three gigs. After that and the football I had to have a bit of a lie down.
On the Sunday of the Bank Holiday weekend we paid our annual visit to the Clerkenwell Festival where, as always, the crowd were almost as entertaining as the bands. The minor celebrities, dandies and dickheads were all there in abundance.
This year's headliners were Swell Maps. Sadly two of the three original members - Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks - are no longer with us, leaving only Jowe Head (he's the one in the Jowe Hat). A few years ago he decided to revive the name and gathered together a group of like-minded souls to honour his fallen comrades and develop new material. They released an album called "C21" earlier this year.
The live set was a mix of old and new material. It was a bit low energy to start, not helped by a dreadful sound system, but then Luke Haines came on to sing a couple of songs (as he does on the album) and gave proceedings a much needed boot up the backside. After that everyone else went up a gear and by the end the band and the audience were all having fun.
From old familiars on Sunday to newer favourites on Wednesday. The excellent Yalla Miku were back at the Shacklewell Arms for another night of music that is indescribable (in a good way) - think Can meets Stereolab meets Eritrean traditional music, if that is something that is capable of being thought.
Since we saw them in the same venue this time last year Yalla Miku have released their second album, the first with this line-up. It is called "2", presumably because they had exhausted their imaginations creating the music it contains, and that provided the bulk of the set. They put on a great show, undeterred by the clammy conditions. Here's bassist Louise Knobil taking a well-earned break to cool off under the fan.
To complete the triumvirate we headed to Milton Court Hall (tucked away inside the Guildhall School of Music and Drama) on Saturday to see Bedouine. I have raved about her here previously and have seen her do a live guest spot, but this was the first time I have been to a full show. I enjoyed it a great deal. She has a wonderfully warm voice that makes the world seem a bit cosier for a while.
Bedouine was over in Europe promoting her latest album "Neon Summer Skin" which is full of reflections on family and her eventful childhood. She is of Armenian heritage, was born in Syria and spent some of her early years in Saudi Arabia before moving with her family to the US, so there is probably a lot of reflecting to be done.
On Saturday she played the new album in full and followed it with some old favourites. Stylistically the new material is much the same as before with the exception of an Armenian samba that includes a whistling solo that would warm Walter's heart. The album is well worth checking out.
I am pretty convinced Bedouine is a time traveller from the 1970s. After the show on Saturday we were trying to think who her voice reminded us of. We didn't resolve that but all the names we came up with - Karen Carpenter, Rita Coolidge and Phoebe Snow among them - were from that decade. The dress and the pleasure she gets from tapping a triangle seal the deal.
Enough of me droning on, its time for some music. We have two tunes each from Swell Maps and Bedouine - one old and one new in both cases - sandwiching Yalla Miku with a track from "2". Take a big bite.
The ever helpful Retromanblog65 has posted a video of one of the Swell Maps/ Luke Haines numbers from the Clerkenwell Festival, so that is the obvious way to kick off the video section.
This time out you were challenged to insert a reference to either dips or sauces into a popular song title. And between you you've come up with something for every palate. Which flavour will you favour?
Here are the contenders:
A Horseradish With No Name – America
Aioli Have Eyes For You - Art Garfunkel
Tahina! - The Champs
Gochujang On To Yourself - David Bowie
Non, Je Ne Vinaigrette Rien - Edith Piaf
Pass The Chutney - Hummusical Youth
The Wind Cries Mayo - Jimi Hendrix
Bearnaise Recipes - The Jungle Book
Hollandaised And Confused - Led Zeppelin
Dream A Little Cream Of Me - The Mamas & The Papas
Gravy's On The Road Again - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Salsa Sprach Zarathustra - Richard Strauss
Sympathy For Vinaigrette - The Rolling Stones
How Soon Is Knorr - The Smiths
Tracklements Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Bechamel Golly Wow - The Stylistics
(Hoisin If You're) Glad To Be Gay - Tom Robinson Band
Voting is open to all readers not just those who entered. Let me know your top five in order of preference. I'll award 7 points for every first choice, 5 for second and then 3, 2 and 1 for the rest.
Thedeadline for voting is next Sunday (13 September) and the results will be announced a week today. You can either submit your votes in the comments section below or by email to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk. There have been a few problems with leaving comments on blogs using Blogger (like this one) recently but fingers crossed they have all been resolved.
My Greek connections are disappointed that none of you took up the taramasalata challenge. In an attempt to placate them here are Kuza and his chums singing the praises of another Greek dip.
I saw a band from back in the day last weekend - details will follow at some point next week - and it prompted me to dig out a bunch of old favourites of a roughly similar vintage i.e. late 70s and early 80s. Four spiky, one poppy.
Inexplicably none of them topped or even touched the charts. Most of them have appeared here before but not for a fair while, so treat them as you would returning friends.
"Baby I'm A U-Boat" - The Fire-Hydrant Men (featuring the Fabulous Fezettes)
I read an interesting interview with the remarkable Ted Milton of Blurt a few months ago - you can find it here if you enjoyed "Fish", but also if you didn't. Ted and Blurt are still going. The video dates from about 15 years ago.
Today we have another one of the CDs I acquired when I visited The Jazzhole in Lagos back in June. This one comes courtesy of Mr Paulson Kalu, ably abetted by His Stars 25.
Exactly what CD it is isn't completely clear. On the cover it says that it is his greatest hits but the CD itself says it's "Uche Chukwu Mee", the name of an album he released back in 1973. Nine of the 14 tracks on the CD are from that album but a couple are missing so it is very nearly, but not quite, the original LP plus bonus tracks.
If you are not familiar with Mr Kalu and his work I can do no better than to share a few quotes from the citation from the Centre for Memories - "a repository of the history and culture of Ndị Ìgbò" - on the occasion of his 80th birthday last December:
"Born in Akanu‑Ohafia, Abia State, Paulson Kalu was raised amidst the rich heritage of his people. From early days, he showed a passion for music; joining the Martin Brothers Dance Band in Port Harcourt, where he first learned the rhythms that would shape his musical journey.
He continued with Erasmus Jenewari’s Globe Kings Band as a vocalist. In 1970, he entered the band of legendary highlife master Stephen Osita Osadebe, a period of mentorship which helped him refine a distinct musical personality rooted in Ìgbò cultural values and philosophical lyricism.
Not long after, Kalu founded his own group based in Onitsha. Through this band, he released songs that resonated deeply with those seeking comfort, identity, and hope. For decades, his music has helped soothe hearts, revive cultural pride, and remind his listeners of the enduring power of Ìgbò melody and philosophy".
It is August Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK, a sign that the long school holidays are coming to an end. Having given all you punsters the summer off it is time for you to shake the sand from your shoes and get back to work. The theme for Pun Fun 8 is:
DIPS AND SAUCES
The idea for this theme came for me while I was enjoying an excellent lunch by the beach in Chalkida in Greece back in July and found myself trying to think of a song title about taramasalata. I didn't come up with anything, but this was the view from my table so I perhaps wasn't fully focused on the task. I am sure you lot can succeed where I failed.
If you are feeling a bit rusty after a fun, sun, no pun summer, this list of sauces on Wikipedia may help to oil your mental gears. If not you might perhaps try some of the BBC's delicious dips.
All entries should be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday 6 September. Voting opens next Monday.
But the holidays aren't quite over yet folks, not until Las Ketchup pack up the Palm Beach beach bar for the season. Until then, keep it saucy like a Donald McGill postcard.
If any of you made it all the way through my long and boring ramblings about the music of Uruguay earlier in the week you would have read this paragraph near the end:
"I was originally going to include a different track by Pasajeros del Malaysia Airlines and local dub dudes DubTricomas in the MAR slot today but in the end I ruled it out on a technicality. Fear not, however, it will be making a delayed appearance here on Friday along with other dub dudery".
I am a man of my long and boring rambling word, so here is that track. It comes from an enjoyable album released in 2021 called "PMA Meets DubTricomas (Dubber Sounds)". Both of the principals hail from the city of Montevideo. So far, so Uruguayan.
The catch is that the stand-out track consists of the vocals from I Roy's "Everybody Bawling" with the dubbed up Pasajeros skanking away in the background. The late Mr Roy Thomas Reid was definitely from Jamaica so I did not feel I could justifiably include the track in a post about the music of Uruguay. But you are getting it now.
And that is not all folks. The mysterious DubTricomas has also teamed up with the Pirata Boing Band from Finland - he appears to specialise in collaborations with bands with silly names - and on his own has made a whole album of Kraftwerk dubs. I have added one from each.
I can't find any videos of the mysterious DubTricomas on YouTube but all the others are present and accounted for (although I had to cheat a bit to be able to include I Roy). Any fans of The Clash who've been hanging around here since Monday may well recognise the song the Pasajeros are covering.
We're nearly done now folks. Part 22 of 23 and we've arrived in Uruguay. There will be dancing in the streets of Fray Bentos tonight.
Back in the mid 1960s when the meat processing industry there was still thriving and not just a UNESCO protected memory no group was more likely to get the locals dancing than Los Shakers. They may have been a tiny bit influenced by the Beatles as this album cover and the title track of their 1966 English language LP demonstrate.
In 1965 the ruling National Council of Government decreed that the Uruguayan Beatles would only be permitted to exist if there was also a Uruguayan Rolling Stones. The job was given to Los Mockers, who had a decent go at it judging by this track from their 1966 debut album. Some listings give the Spanish title "Que Vida" even though it is performed in English.
As was the case across Latin America, psychedelia came along a few years later and with it a greater willingness on the part of bands to incorporate local influences in their sound. One example is La Logia Sarabanda who seem to have released just one album and one single in 1973. Never mind the width, feel the quality.
Four years in 1977 later we got the first sighting of Mariana Ingold, a composer, instrumentalist and singer who has championed and produced recordings of the music of the indigenous people of Uruguay alongside her own music. I would recommend the 1999 compilation album "Fue Ayer" as a good place to start. Its where I found this track, originally released in 1994 on the album "Candombe En El Tiempo" which Mariana made with Osvaldo Fattoruso. Both are among a number of her albums available on Bandcamp on a 'name your own price' basis.
Martin Buscaglia is another polymath and frenetic collaborator. His range of styles is much broader than Mariana's, who I don't think has yet gone through a disco phase, and perhaps the closest point of comparison would be Brazilian tropicalia. Today's selection is from his 2006 album "El Evangelio Según mi Jardinero", but remix enthusiasts may also want to check out the reworkings by Boogie Corporation.
One of the better known Uruguayan artists in international hipster circles in recent years is Juan Wauters. Juan left Uruguay for NYC with his family in 2002 when he was 17, formed a band called The Beets and then started his solo career. Juan only returned to Uruguay to perform for the first time in 2017 but since doing so has very much reconnected with his roots, writing more often in Spanish and recording with fellow musicians from Uruguay and other parts of Latin America. This track is from his 2021 album "Real Life Situations".
Our penultimate selection brings us bang up to date with Pasajeros del Malaysia Airlines, presumably alluding to the mysterious disappearance of Flight 370 in 2014. They describe their style as "finest Trojanism, hardcore punx heart" and there is a fair amount of skanking involved, including on this single from last year.
I was originally going to include a different track by Los Pasajeros and local dub dudes DubTricomas in the MAR slot today but in the end I ruled it out on a technicality. Fear not, however, it will be making a delayed appearance here on Friday along with other dub dudery.
Instead you are getting something from a brand new compilation on the fine Argentinian label FM Del Rock Musick Arg. The album was issued in early August with the self-explanatory title "Reggae Riddim Compilado Vol 4 - Uruguay". I have chosen the contribution from Kinga Roots, a performer so bouncy and boisterous that local reggae promoters have been told their licences may be withdrawn if they fail to tie their Kinga Roots down.
I am lucky enough to live a short walking distance from Victoria Park (Vicky to her friends) in London's historic and fashionable East End. Its been a blessing having it on the doorstep, especially during Covid but in normal times too.
Vicky Park is a bit busy at the moment because we are slap bang in the middle of the annual All Points East festival - six days of music spread across two weekends attracting crowds of 40 - 50,000 each day.
All Points East has been running since 2018 and I went to some of the earlier ones when they had something for everyone on the bill, but in recent years the organisers have targeted a younger audience. I have not heard of most of the acts, even some of the headliners, and I would be surprised if any of the many festival goers I have seen over the last few days were over 30. That's not a complaint - its good to see the kids of today enjoying live music - its just not for me.
No doubt they will be talking about the time Jorja Smith and Twenty One Pilots played Vicky Park for years to come, but personally I think the most significant festival ever held there remains the one in April 1978 when Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League organised a march from Trafalgar Square to the park for a 'Carnival Against The Nazis'.
I wasn't there - my excuse is I was living in South Africa at the time and the 277 doesn't run that far - but by all accounts it was an amazing day. In the current climate we could do with a repeat, but reading the bio of the man behind AEG Presents, the organisers of All Points East, my guess is it probably isn't on their to do list.
The official line-up at the 'Carnival Against The Nazis' was The Clash (with a guest appearance by Jimmy Pursey), Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex and my close personal friend Patrik Fitzgerald. We've featured X-Ray Spex a couple of times recently - here and here - and if you are patient you will see the Clash and Jimmy in the video. But first here are the other three acts with some of their hits from 1978.
On Monday we were in Ghana. On Wednesday we were in Germany. And we are finishing this week's musical travels in the world famous reggae hotspot of Plymouth.
Being partly of Cornish extraction it pains me to say anything nice about Devon but I can't deny the excellence of Alpha & Omega - or Christine Woodbridge and John Sprosen to their friends and families. They have been making top quality records for over 35 years now, by themselves and in collaboration with the likes of Jah Shaka.
"Almighty Jah" was a 1992 collaboration with Dub Judah, so obviously I have chosen two of the only three tracks that feature other vocalists. Apologies to Mr Judah. Tanernishka is Tracey Jarrett, who would later shorten her pseudonym to Nishka and become a regular guest. About The Exile, who contributes a then topical track about the Rodney King trial, I can tell you nothing at all.
Other Alphas and Omegas are also available, from Bristol and Budapest respectively. No disrespect intended to either but A & O show that this is definitely a case of the whole being stronger than the parts.
Some vintage German ladypunks for you today, the sort of thing that our good friend Walter might have jumped about to back when he was even younger than he is today. Walter is doing a different sort of moving this week; hopefully this helps to lighten the load.
Hans-A-Plast formed in Hanover back in 1978 and released three albums before splitting up in 1983. All of them are available on Bandcamp. For me the second album (released in 1981 with the no nonsense title "2") is the pick of the bunch.
Östro 430 formed in Düsseldorf a year later and managed one album fewer first time round. But then they reformed in 2019 and released an album called "Punkrock nach Hausfrauenart" in 2023. The new album and a compilation containing both of the old albums can be found on Bandcamp. Today's selection was originally released on their 1981 debut album "Durch Dick & Dünn".
Judging by the squawking sax on both tracks Röntgenbrille (or X-Ray Spex if you prefer) must have been big in Germany at the time. Enjoy how the predictive text below the video shrugs its shoulders and gives up trying to follow Poly. Nobody could keep up with her.
I don't often join in with the Monday Long Song scene but when I do I like to go big. So here is just under 15 minutes worth of cantering Ghanaian highlife for you courtesy of Nana Adomako Nyamekye and chums.
It was first released in 2000 as a bonus track on a compilation with a title almost as long as the track itself: "The Original Old Hits Of Nana Adomako Nyamekye (The Music Commander)". It was the old but not original trick of adding an original but not old track to the compilation in the hope of getting all those Nana completists out there to part with their hard earned cedi. I reckon it probably worked.
There is a familiar sounding organ motif that pops up throughout the song. It bugged me an first but I had a quarter of an hour to work out where I recognised it from. I got there in the end. Its this:
Nyege Nyege Tapes is one of the more interesting labels operating at the moment. Based in Kampala where all the hip kids are, it was launched in 2016 as a spin-off to the annual Nyege Nyege festival - held near Lake Victoria and the biggest electronic music festival in the region.
The label largely focuses on ethnic electronica from East Africa although over time it has increasingly added artists from elsewhere in Africa and even Brazil to its roster.
As well as being both interesting and innovative the good folks at Nyege Nyege Tapes are also generous. On Bandcamp Friday just gone they had a 'name your own price' offer on their entire back catalogue. I took the opportunity to pick up half a dozen albums including ones from such luminaries as Serokolo 7, DJ Znobia and (deep breath now) Lady Aicha & Pisko Crane's Original Fulu Miziki of Kinshasa.
Some of those albums will no doubt feature on here in due course but I have not got round to listening to most of them yet. So until then here are a couple of tracks from what is probably my favourite Nyege Nyege release to date: "Electro Acholi Kaboom from Northern Uganda".
As I explained when I first plugged the album way back in 2023 it is a compilation of electronic updates of traditional Acholi courtship songs recorded in the early 2000s to help meet local demand when hiring a wedding band was not a practical option due to e.g. the activities of the Lord's Revolutionary Army in the region. Souped up songs for messed up times.
In the words of the late Errol Brown, every one's a winner baby, that's for sure.
After the rapturous reception given to my rambling on about rambling last week - four people commented, which is considered viral round here for anything except puns - I have decided to subject you to some more. It is your own fault.
At the weekend I continued my trek along the route of the Mildmay line (pushing my luck but there is now a photo log covering the whole route over on Flickr if anyone is interested). This leg took me from Kentish Town to Canonbury via Camden, the Regent's Canal, Calendonian Road and Barnsbury.
The two buildings on the route that I've picked out are not as interesting architecturally as the ones last week but both have a lot of history.
The first is Pentonville prison. Over the years the famous inmates have included some who definitely deserved to be there (Dr Crippen, John Christie and David Irving); some who definitely didn't (Oscar Wilde and Roger Casement); and assorted celebrities on minor changes including a few musicians. Boy George and Pete Doherty both wrote songs about their experience but I have no time for either of those self-regarding twerps so you will look in vain for them below.
The second notable building is the Hope & Anchor pub on Upper Street in Islington. In its heyday back in the 1970s it played a major role in promoting first pub rock and then punk - at times both as the line-up on the "Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival" live album from 1978 shows.
The Hope & Anchor has had its ups and downs since as explained in this brief history on its website and to be honest it is a shadow of its former self these days - I only ever go in for a quick pint before or after a gig at the Union Chapel across the road. But it is once again a live music venue which is something to be pleased about.
The cultural highlight of the trip was a visit to the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art nearby in Canonbury Square. I went mainly to see the current exhibition of the works of Emilio Isgrò who obscures words in printed texts and maps with the aim of suggesting new meanings and visual rhythms. He calls this Cancellatura (Erasure in Italian). I enjoyed it but there are diminishing returns.
I found the permanent exhibition more interesting, in particular the section covering the Futurists and the links between them and the rise of fascism in Italy under Mussolini.
One of the most revolutionary of the Futurists, but not in a political way, was Luigi Russolo. He painted but his main interest was in music. This painting of his in the exhibition is titled "La Musica". In 1913 he published his manifesto "The Art of Noises" in which he argued for the integration of different sound effects into musical compositions, and he developed instruments that he called intonarumori (‘noise-intoners’) to try to replicate the noises of the industrial age.
There are only two known recordings of Luigi and his intonarumori, one of which makes our playlist today. But there is only really one man who top the bill, and that's the man whose band had a regular residency at the Hope & Anchor in 1976 (and later released a live album recorded there) and who also served five weeks in Pentonville in 1980 for drugs possession. Ladies and gentlemen, Mt Hugh Cornwell.
I have added a second number from the "Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival" live album because X-Ray Spex were the bee's knees in my opinion. The other two tracks are probably self-explanatory, as are the videos except perhaps for The Damned. They are included because the video was shot in the Hope & Anchor way back when.
As this series has progressed we have been increasingly conscious of the big beast that is the music of the USA trundling towards us, and now it has arrived. Hairy, scary, more heads than a hydra and more legs than a millipede, but something we have to grapple with.
This post is both the least and most planned in the series. Least planned because most of the tracks were selected more or less at random. The only criteria were that artists who have appeared previously on the blog were excluded and there should be a range of musical styles. I'll make no claims about it being a representative selection. You cannot possibly represent the breadth of American music in one post.
But simultaneously the most planned because the first and last tracks on the list have been waiting over a year to be used. They are both from the "The Rough Guide To Native America" CD that I found in an Oxfam shop in Bristol during a rain break in #BlogCon25 and bought specifically to use in this post. Alyson and Mr WIIA can vouch for this if necessary.
Our opening act are Pipestone from the Lac Courte Orielles reservation in Wisconsin, and according to the sleevenotes this track "is always a floor-filler at pow-wows". Closing the show in the MAR slot is Casper Loma Da Wa, a member of the Hopi people in Arizona who are famed for performing the ritual snake dance (and skanking it seems).
As for the rest of them, tuck in and see what you make of it. Where the artists have music on Bandcamp I have added a link in their names if you wish to explore further.
From a selection of folks who have never appeared here before we are going to the other extreme for the videos. If Last.fm is to be believed these are the five US performers I have listened to most since signing up there in 2008.
On Wednesday me and a couple of pals strolled along London's crappy Oxford Street to the 100 Club to see Zamrock pioneers WITCH in action.
WITCH started life back in 1972, disbanded in the mid 1980s and were then rediscovered and reissued by the diggers of crates in the early 2010s. This led to the band reforming under the original frontman Emanyeo "Jagari" Chanda and this iteration has released a couple of albums, "Zango" in 2023 and "Sogolo" last year. You can find them and pretty much all of the back catalogue on Bandcamp.
Mr Chanda is still going strong and was joined at the 100 Club by fellow veteran Patrick Mwondela on keyboards and assorted whippersnappers who between them did a very good job of recapturing the sound and the spirit of the original band.
WITCH stands for We Intend To Create Havoc. Things didn't quite reach havoc levels on Wednesday but personally I put that down to the fairly sedate audience rather than the band who were in fine form. If the ratio of headbangers to hipsters had been more favourable and if they had been allowed to turn their amps up to 11 I think we would have got there.
Support was by The Heavenly Bodes (sic) who hail from Cornwall via an acid trip in a garage somewhere in America in 1967. They weren't wildly original but they make a good noise and I enjoyed their set, especially the extended freak-out with which they closed.
Their debut album "Green Hills" was released last month and is worth checking out, and I am looking forward to hearing them when they have had time to meld their influences into their own sound.
We finish with a track from both the old and newer versions of WITCH - including the song with which they opened their set on Wednesday - and the one from the Bodes. Give them a listen then head over to Bandcamp Friday to spend, spend, spend.
Brooklyn band Florist have been attracting some florid critical acclaim in recent years thanks to albums like 2025's "Jellywish". For example:
"They don’t as much strike chords as embrace them, gently matching them to moods and moments before tumbling into bigger concepts".
"Each track takes you on a journey on how to live a life that has broken free from the constraints of modern civilization".
"It was clear that thought had gone into creating something dramatic, with even the filler flowers adding dimension and spectacle".
Sorry. That last one was from a review of a flower delivery service. It came up when I forgot to put "band" between "florist" and "review" in Google.
If you are intrigued but wary why not give "We Have Been This Way Forever" a go. It was their first release back in 2013 which they have kindly made available on a "name your own price" basis on Bandcamp.
Here is a track from the EP followed by one from "Jellywish".
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.
