Hansi New Year

Personally I will be spending New Year's Eve in solitary contemplation of the ills of the world. But if you are intent on passing the time in a more frivolous way, what better to get you in the mood than some groovy German sounds.

Today's selections come from the punningly titled "In-Kraut" series of compilation CDs, which feature assorted Teutonic tunes from the 1960s and 1970s. There are three volumes and we are featuring one from each, though not necessarily in the right order.

"Marihuana Mantra" - Kuno & The Marihuana Brass

"Beach Bunny" - Frank & The Top Ten

"Black Night" - Hugo Strasser

Personally I think that version of "Black Night" is a considerable improvement on the original.

The Daddy of all German band leaders is of course James Last. Here he is with the gang in 1974 with their stomping version of "Live And Let Die". That's Benny Bendorff on vocals and bass guitar, fact fans.



Bonus clip: Following today's news that Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt have each been awarded an O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) for services to advanced chord structures, here is the mighty Quo.



Happy New Year

2009 Review: Gigs

This has been a bit of a vintage year for gigs. I have been to fifteen: all of them were good, and many of them were excellent. In recognition of the overall high quality I have decided to divide the much coveted Goggins Gold Star into two categories - one for large venues and for small.

Without further ado, here are the awards:

SMALL VENUE

Winner: James McMurtry and Jon Dee Graham at the Luminaire
Runners up: Otis Gibbs at the Sheep Walk; Gurf Morlix at the North Star

LARGE VENUE

Winner: Van Morrison's Astral Weeks in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Runners up: Steve Earle at the Barbican; Fairport Convention at the Barbican

One thing that both winners have in common is that both tours (although not the actual gigs I was at) have made it on to CD - as "Live in Europe" and "Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl" respectively. Both are well worth getting hold of if you haven't already, as are all of their other live albums for that matter. Here is a track from "Live in Europe" for you.

"Freeway View (Live 2009)" - James McMurtry

I am too scared of Van to post anything from the Astral Weeks live album here, so instead here are a couple of tracks from an excellent bootleg I have of a concert he did at the Point in Dublin in 1995. I am not sure whether in legal terms posting a bootleg is better or worse than posting an official release - that is one for you moral relativists out there - but it makes me feel safer. The two selections include a lovely version of "Slim Slow Slider" which was, of course, originally on "Astral Weeks".

"Slim Slow Slider (Live 1995)" - Van Morrison

"I'm Not Feeling It Anymore (Live 1995)" - Van Morrison

For those of you who have a thing about women playing ukeleles - you know who you are - here is a Van cover:

2009 Review: Albums

Actually calling this a review of 2009 is over-stating things. It is just a few "props" and "nuff respects" - as I understand the young people say - to some decent records, followed by the not at all eagerly anticipated revealing of my album of the year.

To get the honourable mentions out of the way first, in no particular order:

"The Loving Kind" - Nanci Griffith. A long awaited return to form and one I had almost given up on. Her best album for at least 15 years.

"To Be Loved" - Thad Cockrell. First solo album for six years and as good as I had hoped after waiting so long (although points taken off for including four tracks released as an EP last year).

"The King Vs The General" - Penny Penny & General Muzka. The reigning Tsonga monarch teams up with the pretender to the throne to great effect.

"Carbeth" - Trembling Bells. Included mainly to show that while I am irredeemably an old fart I do listen to some modern stuff (just as long as it is modern stuff that sounds like it could have been made in the 1960s or 1970s). Patchy - they were trying a bit too hard to be strange in some places - but the good bits were excellent.

Also worth a mention: "Townes" - Steve Earle (especially the acoustic album), "Bible Belt" - Diane Birch, "Balm In Gilead" (Rickie Lee Jones), and a couple of live albums that will crop up again tomorrow.

But my album of the year by a long way is "Blood And Candle Smoke" by Tom Russell. I have seen reviews that describe him as the songwriting equivalent of Cormac McCarthy. In that case this is his equivalent of "The Road" or "All The Pretty Horses". Many of Tom's previous albums have been a bit patchy but there is no filler this time, just twelve great songs. Musically the involvement of Calexico seems to have moved things up a notch as well.

I have been a fan of Tom's for years and go to see him whenever he is in London. If you haven't seen him before I recommend you get yourself up to the Luminaire in Kilburn on 27 January. He always puts on an excellent show and the stories between the songs are almost as good as the songs themselves.

Here is one track from "Blood And Candle Smoke" and one old favourite:

"Mississippi River Runnin' Backwards" - from "Blood And Candle Smoke" (2009)

"William Faulkner In Hollywood" - from "The Road To Bayamon" (1988)

Here is a clip of Tom, sporting a very obvious dye job, performing "East Of Woodstock, West Of Vietnam" from "Blood And Candle Smoke" on Letterman earlier this year:



Bonus clip: On "The Road To Bayamon", Tom included a cover version of Bruce Springsteen's "Fire". It wasn't bad, but I prefer this one:

Chariots Afire

Yo Hippy Dudes! That unsuccessful attempt to bridge a cultural gap is by way of an introduction to both sides of possibly the greatest British psychedelic single of all.

Zoot Money's Big Roll Band were a popular live act on the 1960's London scene who performed soul and rhythm 'n blues at the Flamingo, also home to Georgie Fame. Come the Summer of 1967 they decided, along with absolutely everybody else, to tune in and turn on. They mutated into Dantalion's Chariot. As well as Zoot, members included Andy Summers of future Police fame and Pat Donaldson who went on to be a member of Fotheringay and Heads, Hands and Feet and to play as a session musician with any number of big names.

Dantalion's Chariot only issued the one single in their lifetime, but in 1996 a compilation of all known recordings was issued under the title "Chariot Rising" which is well worth tracking down if you can. The A side is relatively well known after being included on "Nuggets" and, as I say, in my own opinion is pretty much the crowning glory of British psychedelia. The B-side is pretty good too. Here they both are:

"Madman Running Through The Fields" - Dantalion's Chariot

"Sun Came Bursting Through My Cloud" - Dantalion's Chariot

Needless to say I can't find any Dantalion's Chariot clips so instead here is their old friend from the Flamingo, Mr Georgie Fame:

Bah Humbug

I did think about putting up a seasonal tune or two, but everything I have got will already have been posted many times over so there does not seem much point. Instead you are getting this:

"Christmas In Kakamas" - David Kramer

Although it has Christmas in the title, "Christmas In Kakamas" is about as far from festive fun as you can get for reasons that will become apparent as the song progresses. But I find it extremely affecting.

Kakamas is a small town in the northern Cape Province in South Africa. The song is mainly performed in English but there are a few Afrikaans words chucked in as well. You don't need to understand them to follow the story but in case you are interested:

Dominee = Priest
Braaivleis = barbeque
Ou = bloke
Bakkie = pick-up truck
Meneer = Sir
Veldt = bush, scrubland

We probably all need a bit of cheering up after that. Fortunately David Kramer is just as adept at cheeriness. This one is dedicated to my sister Kate and all the Gogginses in South Africa who I will be missing something terrible over Christmas. In the words of the song, "Ek het jou lief".

"Katie" - David Kramer

Let's end with something more traditional, like this heart-warming story of celebrity audience participation at a panto in Milton Keynes, and this Christmas standard from 25 years ago:



That's it from me for a few days. Have a good one.

Mike's Mighty One-Two

Like all of us, I have spent many hours over the years debating the greatest albums ever. On occasion I have even been known, usually with Buxton, to debate what the best ever single side of an album was - not something you can do so easily these days. But I'm not sure even I have ever had a conversation about what the best first two tracks on an album were.

If I did the answer would be easy. The album is Mike Heron's "Smiling Men With Bad Reputations" and the two tracks are "Call Me Diamond" and "Flowers Of The Forest". They are completely different but equally fantastic. The rest of the album doesn't maintain the same standard, but it has several other highlights such as "Feast Of Stephen" and "Beautiful Stranger" and is well worth getting hold of.

As you might expect from an album released in 1971 by a member of the Incredible String Band it is somewhat eclectic. "Call Me Diamond" features the ace South African saxophonist Dudu Pukwana. "Flowers Of The Forest" has a guitar solo by Richard Thompson. Subsequent tracks featured John Cale on viola and harmonium, Indian musicians and - on "Warm Heart Pastry" - The Who minus Roger Daltrey under the pseudonym "Tommy & The Bijoux". It should be a mess but somehow it works.

Here is the great one-two:

"Call Me Diamond"

"Flowers Of The Forest"

Mike is still going strong, performing with a line-up of the Incredible String Band, solo, and with his very talented daughter, Georgia Seddon. I have been lucky enough to see him a couple of times this year in various ensemble pieces. His voice is still a bit all over the place but for me that just adds to his considerable charm.

Here is a clip of Mike and the gang way back when with "All Writ Down".

Wolde Music

Yesterday we were in Western Sahara. Today we head south-east, through Mauritania and CHAD among other places, to Ethiopia.

Last week I picked up a cracking CD for a couple of quid at Spitalfields market. It is by Techome Wolde & The Ethio-Stars called "The Ethiopian Soul Revue". A live album recorded in London, it was released in 1996. It is very much in the style of Alemayu Eshete, Mahmoud Ahmed and others you may be familar with from the Ethiopiques series.

According to the sleeve notes, Techome Wolde first came to prominence through his performances at the Addis Ababa City Hall Theatre in the mid-1970s, and released his first cassette in Ethiopia in 1981. "The Ethiopian Soul Revue" was apparently his first CD.

Mr Wolde is backed by the Ethio-Stars, formed in 1981 by trumpeter Shimeles Beyene. They started as a "slick dance band playing in clubs and hotels during the Mengistu regime's dusk to dawn curfews in Addis Ababa", and went on to back many of Ethiopia's most famous singers, including Mahmoud Ahmed.

They make an excellent team. To quote from the sleeve notes again, "the resulting mesh creates a pulsating energy and full-blooded sound that harks back to the golden age of Ethiopian music of the 1970s". Here are a couple of examples:

"Sema Eda Agebachign" (Ever Since We Kissed I'm Addicted To Her Love)

"Aweyo" (Thank You My Girl)

My favourite title on the album is "Yehegerie Lidge Bale Gamie", which translates as "From your hairstyle I know you're from Gojjam". Round here they make similar remarks about girls from Chigwell.

Here is Techome in action. I have no idea if that is the Ethio-Stars backing him.