Holding Up Half The Sky

A few years ago Shanachie Records released a series of compilation albums each called "Holding Up Half The Sky", which featured female vocalists from different continents, cultures and styles - Asian, Latin, reggae and so on. The only album I have heard is the one featuring African singers, but if the others are half as good they will be well worth a listen. Here are four fine selections from the African album.

"Kanawa" - Aicha Kone (Cote d'Ivoire)

"Hapo Zamani" - Dorothy Masuka (South Africa)

"Yelew Wekesa" - Netsamet Mellessee (Ethiopia)

"Ya Habibi" - Malouma Mint Miadeh (Mauritania)

There are two volumes of Celtic women in the "Holding Up Half The Sky" series. Inexplicably neither of them feature this woman. She's from Skewin, you know.

Down South in New Orleans

Some good time music for you to get you in the mood for Saturday night.

There is an excellent three CD compilation called "Heavy Sugar: The Pure Essence of New Orleans R 'n B" available for download on Amazon and eMusic. The title is self-explanatory. There are 75 tracks from roughly the mid-1950s to the early 1960s.

All the big names from the New Orleans scene of the time are represented - Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint, Smiley Lewis and so on - though usually with less well-known numbers. Then there are plenty of obscure gems, including these four:

"I Think You're Jiving Me" - Huey & Jerry

"Loud Mouth Annie" - Myles & Dupont

"Hatti Malatti" - Lee Diamond

"Take It Home To Grandma" - Lester Robertson

There was one name that took me completely by surprise - John Fred & The Playboys. Like most people I had only ever heard "Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)" and there is nothing in that to suggest that a few years before they were pumping out top notch New Orleans R 'n B. But they were. Here is the evidence.

"Shirley" - John Fred & The Playboys

Also featured is the great, and recently late, songwriter Bobby Charles. Some years later he was befriended by The Band and performed at "The Last Waltz". Their rendition of his "Down South In New Orleans" made the album but not the film. Here is some shaky bootleg footage of that performance. Bobby is the one with the beard and, yes, that is Dr John on guitar.



That's it from me for a few days - off to Madid tomorrow (work unfortunately), back with more on Wednesday.

Frenchy Ragga Time

Who could possibly resist an album called "Frenchy Ragga Dancehall Volume 2"? Not me, which is why I snapped it up when I saw it in the €3 rack at the record shop in Brussels Midi station the other day. There was no sign of Volume 1, unfortunately.

To be honest my taste in ragga and dancehall is very conservative, and Frenchiness I can pretty much take or leave. So I doubt I will be listening to the album very often. But there are a few half decent tracks on there, including one with a guest appearance by Bounty Killer (the only act I had heard of previously).

Here are a couple of selections, both originally released in 2006. According to the sleeve notes, Mighty Ki La is from Martinique and Krys from Guadeloupe. The origins of Blacko remain a mystery.

"D Haut Debats" - Mighty Ki La

"Etre Un Homme" - Blacko & Krys

In a similar style (or should that be "stylee"?) here are Desmond Dekker and Apache Indian. A mighty pair.

Frank & Larry

Monday was a bugger for deaths. Frank Sidebottom and Larry Jon Wilson.

I've been a fan of both of them for many years, and had the great privilege of seeing them both perform, in Frank's case on a number of occasions. Here's a photo I took of him at the Cricketers back in the late 1980s or early 1990s - his Elvis period.

Many of Larry's best moments were vignettes of small town life in the Southern US, while Frank very occasionally mentioned one particular small town in the North of England. They were both one-offs and will be greatly missed. Here are couple of songs from each of them.

"Sapelo" - Larry Jon Wilson

"New Beginnings (Russian River Rainbow)" - Larry Jon Wilson

"Timperley Blues" - Frank Sidebottom

"The Robins Aren't Bobbins" - Frank Sidebottom

Weighty Matters

A little treat from Mali for you today. Here is Sabre Soumano with a couple of tracks from her 2006 album, "Six Kilos".

"Six Kilos" - Sabre Soumano

"Papa" - Sabre Soumano

Six kilos is next to nothing at all and certainly not making such a fuss about. Here is a proper weight.

Meltdown Special

I have spent the last two evenings at the South Bank enjoying a couple of concerts that were part of this year's Meltdown Festival, which was overseen by Richard Thompson. On Friday night it was Van Dyke Parks, supported by Clare & The Reasons. Yesterday it was a double header of Loudon Wainwright III and Richard Thompson himself.

The Van Dyke Parks gig was enjoyable enough, although I doubt it will live long in the memory to be honest. Still, it was good to see the great man in action, holding court from his piano stool, and it was considerably more entertaining than England vs Algeria would have been. Clare & The Reasons were OK as well. Here is one from each of them.

"Opportunity For Two" - Van Dyke Parks (from "Jump", 1984)

"Wake Up (You Sleepy Head)" - Clare & The Reasons (from "Arrow", 2009)

Saturday night's show, by contrast, was fantastic from start to finish. We got a 75 minute set from each of them followed by a joint encore.

Loudon Wainwright was up first. I have never seen him live before and, on this performance, I greatly regret not doing so. I will definitely be making up for that when he is over in London in the future. Most of the set was drawn from his more recent albums, with a few new songs that haven't made it to albums yet and a smattering of old favourites for the likes of me who have rather lost touch with him over the years.

For me the stand-out moment of the set was when he swapped his guitar for a piano and treated us to "Red Guitar" followed by "Another Song In C", which completely blew me (and the rest of the audience) away. As far as I can tell "Another Song In C" has never been officially released, but I have managed to track down a bootleg recording for you, so you can recreate the magic of the moment in the comfort of your own home.

"Red Guitar" - Loudon Wainwright III (from "Album III", 1972)

"Another Song In C" - Loudon Wainwright III (live, Westhampton Beach, 2009)

I have seen Richard Thompson many times over the last 30 years, starting with the infamous "Shoot Out The Lights" Tour when him and Linda were scrapping on stage. He is never less than good, but for me he is at his absolute best when it is just him and his acoustic guitar, as it was last night. I was more familiar with most of his set than Loudon's, although he did preview a couple of numbers from his new album due out later in the year. "Beeswing" and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" were highlights - as they always are - and so was this one, which I don't recall having heard him play live before.

"King Of Bohemia" - Richard Thompson (from "Mirror Blue", 1994)

For the encore we got a nice mini-set from the two lads comprising Richard's "Down Where The Drunkards Roll", "You Ain't Going Nowhere", "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and an old Marty Robbins number. This one, in fact.

"At The End Of a Long Lonely Day" - Marty Robbins (1953)

They did a great version. But when Loudon said "here's an old Marty Robbins number", I have to admit I was hoping it was this one:

These Other Ernies

Us Ernies aren't as easy to find as we used to be. I fear we may be a dying breed. Let's try to capture some of the magic before it disappears all together.

Here are four musical Ernies, all of them soul men:

"Mother-In-Law" - Ernie K-Doe (1961)

"Begging You Back" - Ernie Wheelwright (1969)

"Electrified Love" - Ernie Hines (1971)

"Bend Over Backwards" - Ernie Shelby (1972)

And then there is this one, maybe the greatest Ernie of all (and certainly the greatest song by an Ernie):