Les Mysteres

I have mentioned before that when I get down to the last couple of downloads in my eMusic account every month I head to the "international" section and select some albums more or less at random and give them a go. Here are some tracks by a couple of artists I discovered that way, Fatan Kwass and Ziphus.

I know nothing about these lads, but I know what I like. When you google them about the only hits that come up take you back to the albums on eMusic (although Ziphus has also made it on to Amazon - whether that means he is a bigger name, who knows). Fatan Kwass is clearly from somewhere in Francophone Africa. Ziphus may be as well, but there is a touch of zouk in his sound which suggests he may be from a French-speaking island in the Caribbean or the Indian Ocean. If any of you know anything about either of them, please let me know.

Anyway, here is Fatan Kwass with "N'sellibesse": http://www.box.net/shared/q5599v4q3e

And here is Ziphus with "Vitale Famille": http://www.box.net/shared/ilxbirugvc

One other mystery has been solved, though. Congratulations to a Mister F of London who correctly identified Sunday's mystery song as a jazzed up version of "Agadoo" by Black Lace. His prize: he has been offered the first ever guest post here on 27 Leggies. Watch this space.

Travel Advice Needed

Does anyone know how to get from London to Psychedelphia?

I assume it must be possible to fly there, otherwise how would Plato & The Philosophers - currently residing in "Doomsday Nowhere City" - have been able to book themselves on the "Thirteen O'Clock Flight To Psychedelphia": http://www.box.net/shared/65a90r5ash

I've been planning a trip to "Psychedelphia" ever since hearing about it from Mary Jane Hooper: http://www.box.net/shared/74e8f7cfy0. I would imagine that scenes like this are an everyday occurrence there:

But so far things aren't going well. I can't even find it on a map, let alone book a flight. I can see this is going to be as frustrating as my unsuccessful attempt to have a long weekend in Funky Town:

Lekker!!!

Which means "Nice!!!" in Afrikaans, which should be enough to tell you that we are following up yesterday's post of that name with some smooth jazz sounds from South Africa.

Today we feature "Yho! Yho!" by Winston Mankunku Ngosi, and "Stokvel Gumba" by Sipho Gumede. Sax player Ngosi is from roughly the same generation as Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim but unlike them never left South Africa during the apartheid years (during which he apparently used to regularly perform behind a curtain to disguise his identity). While he missed out on international fame, he is held in almost as high regard as they are in South Africa and like them is still going strong. Bassist and band leader Gumede got started in the 1970s and sadly passed away in 2004.

http://www.box.net/shared/kzgrn0vh66

Quiz: As a bonus, here is a mystery track from Bobby Hendricks - not the one who used to sing with the Drifters, the one who was the acknowledged king of "langarm" music (a sax led style most popular in rural parts of the Cape Province which mixes the dance band sound with traditional South African "boeremusiek"). This is a cover version of a song that was a major hit in the UK in the 1980s. The first person to identify it will win a prize. What would you like, Mr F?

http://www.box.net/shared/mzmuyfkyry

And if after all that you still crave more smoothness, take my hand...

Nice!!!

It is a lovely sunny day in London. It reminds me of those glorious summers in the early 1980s when the world was young and we were all effortlessly cool, drinking our freeze dried instant coffee and listening to Sade and the Style Council.

I don't think it was ever dignified with a name - we didn't have genres when I was a boy - but there was an awful lot of that sort of pop-jazz around at the time. Most of it was utter rubbish, of course, but not all of it.

Here are a couple of vaguely hip favourites of mine from 1983:

"Native Boy" by Animal Nightlife: http://www.box.net/shared/35pesluv88

"Breakin' Down (Sugar Samba)" by Julia & Co (apologies for the slight jump near the start): http://www.box.net/shared/hsndsp564r

And from the same year but perhaps slightly less hip:



Stop complaining and just be grateful it wasn't Modern Romance.

Tom Paxton 6

As I am sure is the case with your own families, the extended Goggins family has wildly varied musical tastes - from my cousin who, like me, is a Van Morrison fanatic to my brother who, to his shame, once bought a Katie Melua album. The one person we all agree on is Tom Paxton.

My Mum and her sisters have been fans of his since he started and me, my siblings and my cousins all grew up listening to his music. He is part of our cultural heritage, if you like, and every few years we will hire a mini-bus and have a Goggins family outing to see him play live when he is in the UK.

Probably my favourite of Tom's albums is "6" from 1970. My old vinyl copy is suffering from the effects of old age and over-use, so I was delighted to discover that it has finally been released on CD by the Collectables label in the US. I managed to find a copy on EBay and it turned up yesterday.

The best known tracks on the album are probably "Whose Garden Was This?" and "Jimmy Newman", and rightly so. But with the notable exception of "Molly Bloom", they are all good. So here are a couple of minor gems from the album: "Crazy John" (a tribute to John Lennon) and "Annie's Going To Sing Her Song".

http://www.box.net/shared/m9v0ji9bqf

And here he is back in the days when he had hair:

Bad Day At The Office

I had to spend the best part of twelve hours in the office today, for the most part feeling that - in the words at Girls At Our Best - I was "Getting Nowhere Fast".

http://www.box.net/shared/k8srcgtspj

Dolly Parton expressed similar sentiments in "9 To 5". Call it a failure of imagination on my part, but as often as I have heard that song I have never before associated it with Snow White, Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck. But it appears I was wrong. And if you think this is strange at the beginning, just wait until it gets going:

For Maya

There was great delight in the Goggins household today after the safe arrival this morning of my latest niece, the beautiful Maya Elizabeth. This is for her.

The late great Minnie Riperton named her daughter Maya, and her big hit "Loving You" apparently started out as a lullaby for her. If you listen to her original version you will hear her sing Maya's name over and over at the end of the song. I was going to post it but assume most people have it already. So instead here is a lovers rock version by Janet Kay:

http://www.box.net/shared/pguaj37vbe

"Loving You" wasn't the only song Minnie wrote for her daughter. Her 1975 album "Adventures in Paradise" includes the next track, "Love And Its Glory". It is a fairy story about a girl called Maya with the message "if you find a chance to love/ you'd better grab it any way you can". And so say all of us.

http://www.box.net/shared/pcfp2sztgg

And here is Minnie with the original "Loving You":