South African Six Pack

This will be the last post for a couple of weeks as I am off to South Africa on holiday tomorrow. To get me in the mood, and to tide you over until I get back, here are six tunes from South Africa. There is hopefully a little something for everyone - some soulful 1960s psychedelia, some 1970s pop, some reggae, some Tsonga Disco, some jazz-tinged Xhosa traditional sounds and an Afrikaans troubadour. You'll need to work out for yourselves which is which (although the name Rastaman Nkhushu probably gives you a clue as to which is the reggae track).

"Umendo" - Stompie Mavi

"Blue Colour" - The Flames

"Johannesburg" - The Julian Laxton Band

"Changana" - Madlaks

"'n Brief Vir Simone" - Anton Goosen

"Moshito Ke Was Kucheku" - Rastaman Nkhushu

When I get back I will be taking the links for July down, so if you are at a loose end you might want to stroll through them - there is more South African stuff, delights from various parts of Eastern Europe and lots of folkies.I'll leave you with a lovely clip of the late lamented Stompie Mavi and friends. Have fun and I'll see you in October.

Loving The Aliens

Here are a couple of heart-rending tales of interplanetary romance:

"Beautiful Zelda" - The Bonzo Dog Band

"Alien Woman" - Mighty Sparrow

And here is another one. I realise that male dancers are required by their contracts to perform in a camp manner but the fellow with the moustache in this video goes well beyond his contractual obligations.

Hurts So Often

Here are four versions of "It Hurts So Good" for you. In order they are: the first version to be released from 1971; the US hit version from 1973; the reggae version that was a top 10 hit in the UK in 1975; and a demo version by the man who wrote it that was finally released in 2005 on "Pick Hit Of The Week", a collection of some of his previously unreleased recordings from the early 1970s.

"It Hurts So Good" - Katie Love

"Hurts So Good" - Millie Jackson

"Hurt So Good" - Susan Cadogan

"It Hurts So Good" - Prince Phillip Mitchell

I don't think I have a favourite - all four versions are excellent and sufficiently different from each other to set themselves apart.

Here is a clip of Susan Cadogan. Top hair.

Jimmy Jimmy

There is a stall in Whitechapel Road that sells bootleg Indian and Bengali CDs for £2 a go. While passing by the other day I bought one called "Hilux Hot & Hits Old Remix Vol. 4".

It seems to be a sort of cross between a Bollywood equivalent of the Top of the Pops albums you used to get in the 1970s (where session musicians would attempt to recreate the hits of the day) and what I understand the young people call "mash ups". The mystery artists behind the album have taken hits from different Bollywood movies and gone to work on them.

One song to have attracted their attention is "Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja" from 1982's "Disco Dancer". This is the song that was remade as "Jimmy" by M.I.A. and the tune has apparently also been nicked by Ottowan and Devo in its time. Here are the original and the mash up:

"Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja" - Parvati Khan

"Jimmy Jimmy" - from "Hilux Hot & Hits Old Remix Vol. 4"

Personally I think the Hilux Massive have massacred what is a pretty decent tune, but then what do I know. They make a rather better job of "Pehli Pehli Baar" from 1999's "Sirf Tum". Watch out for the intro to "Human Nature" that suddenly appears about one minute in.

I have never seen "Disco Dancer" but judging by the plot summary and quotes on Wikipedia it is a bit of a cracker. I particularly like the line "He's got guitar phobia. A guitar killed his mother." Here is the clip from film:

Johnny Darrell

Country singers are stereotypically meant to be unlucky in life and love, but few can have been as unlucky in their career as Johnny Darrell.

Back in the 1960s he was the first person to record "Green, Green Grass Of Home" and had to stand by and watch as Porter Wagoner and Tom Jones had huge success with it. And then exactly the same happened with "Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp" and "Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town". Even his biggest hit, Bobby Goldsboro's "With Pen In Hand", became an even bigger pop hit for Vicki Carr. His career petered out in the mid 1970s and he passed away in 1997.

Whatever the reason for his comparative lack of success it wasn't lack of talent. As well being a fine singer his choice of material was consistently more interesting than most stuff coming out of Nashville in the late 1960s. In 1970 he made an album in L.A. called "California Stopover" which included among other things what I believe are the first ever recordings of Jackson Browne's "These Days" and Lowell George's "Willin'". The album featured Clarence White of The Byrds on guitar who, true to form, nicked "Willin'" for the next Byrds album.

Raven Records put out an excellent compilation of Johnny's work called "Singin' It Lonesome" a few years ago and if you are a country fan it is well worth tracking down. From that album here are "Sing It Lonesome" and "Freedom In The Yard".

Here he is with his hit:

Return of Tsonga Disco

This time next week I will be landing in Cape Town for a 10 day holiday. Most of the time I will be tucked away in the lovely fishing village of Arniston with members of the extended Goggins family, but I hope to get the chance to visit the record stores of Cape Town while I'm there. My main task will be to replenish my limited stock of Tsonga Disco albums so that I can return to my self appointed mission with renewed vigour.

In the meantime here are a couple of examples of Tsonga Disco from the mighty Joe Shirimani. I posted both of these in the early days of the blog but only the most loyal readers will remember that and I'm sure you'll both forgive me for repeating myself. So here are "Basani" and "Limpopo".

I have also posted the video for "Basani" before but it is well worth another look.

Bunny's Boiling!

It has been a while since I posted some reggae up here so I thought it was time to put that right.

I don't want to seem needlessly contrary or controversial but as good as Bob Marley was he is probably my least favourite of the three original Wailers. I am more likely to dig out Peter Tosh's "Legalise It" or "Bush Doctor", for example, than any of Bob's albums - with the possible exception of "Survival".

But if I had to choose one Wailer I would probably plump for Bunny Wailer. He has a great legacy and, having the considerable advantage over the other two of being alive, is still adding to it. His 1977 "Protest" album is one of my favourite albums of all time, and 1989's "Liberation" is not too far behind. Today's selections come from "Liberation":

"Botha The Mosquito"

"Bald Head Jesus"

Although rightly best known as a roots man, Bunny can be a bit of a party dude as well when he is in the mood. This is one of his: