Sixty Glorious Years

A few years back Bear Family Records issued two excellent series of albums called "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Hillbilly Music" and "Blowing The Fuse", which respectively feature country and rhythm and blues hits from way back when. Each series includes a separate album for each year in the 1950s (and in the case of "Blowing The Fuse", the late 1940s and early 1960s as well). Many of them are available on eMusic and I would recommend checking them out.

Here a couple of selections from each of the albums covering 1951. I am dedicating one of these songs to my dear friend Lord Roper, who celebrated a birthday last week. I'll let him choose which one.

"Little Red Rooster" - Margie Day

"Tend To Your Business" - James Wayne

"Chew Tobacco Rag" - Zeb Turner

"Too Old To Cut The Mustard" - The Carlisles

Merle & Millie

It is all fairly straightforward today. We have a couple of tracks from the great Millie Jackson, one of which is a cover of a song by the arguably even greater Merle Haggard. So then we have a couple of tracks from Merle, including the original version of that cover.

"Angel In Your Arms" - Millie Jackson

"If You're Not Back In Love By Monday" - Millie Jackson

"If We're Not Back In Love By Monday" - Merle Haggard

"That's The Way Love Goes" - Merle Haggard

In completely unrelated news, I went to an excellent gig at the Buffalo Bar in Islington last night. It was a Frank Sidebottom fundraiser and a snip at £5 for four bands. With all due respect to Melt The Icecaps and Mr. Solo, the highlights for me were Dream Themes - groovy versions of TV theme tunes - and Proxy Music - you can probably guess what they do.

As well as the Roxy and Eno covers, the Proxies also did an excellent rendition of Lena Lovich's "Lucky Number", which they have just released as a single. Here it is.



But as good as that is, it isn't my favourite clip of the week. This is. Specifically from about 0:39 onwards.

Tsonga Disco: Esta M

Over the last couple of years we have featured a number of gents who at one time or other felt entitled to call themselves the King of Tsonga Disco: Paul Ndlovu, Peta Teanet, Penny Penny, General Muzka, even - a little prematurely - that young whippersnapper Madlaks. But we have never featured a true Queen of Tsonga Disco. Until today.

Esta M is a former teacher who in 1994 teamed up with our old friend, the Shangaan Svengali himself, Mr Joe Shirimani. Over the next few years they released eight albums and Esta had many hits and won many awards. The most recent album of hers that I have seen was "Norho", released in 2005 and produced by Frans Africa and Mzee, but I assume she is still going strong.

Here are a couple of tracks from a compilation catchily titled "The Best of Esta M", released in 2003. Both of them are Joe Shirimani productions.

"Tsasa Jive" - Esta M

"Mabibi" - Esta M

Not speaking the Tsonga language, I am not sure what Esta is singing about on "Mabibi". But if it is a love song, someone ought to make her aware that she is wasting her time as Mabibi just cares for Nina Simone.

Mortal Combat

As regular readers of this drivel will know, I have to go over to Brussels for work a few times a year. While there I always try to find time to pop down to the Matonge district to trawl through the Congolese record shops. Pickings are not as good as they used to be since Musicanova shut down, but there are still gems to be had. Such as "Mortel Combat", the 2005 album by Alain & Bouro Mpela, which I picked up on my last visit. This is them in their everyday wear:

Bouro used to play with Koffi Olomide, but apart from that I don't know much about them. On this album they are backed by Alain's band, Generation A, and a very good job they do too. Mostly rumba, but with the occasional bit of reggae and a 1980s soul vibe thrown in. Here are the first three tracks from the album.

"Mortel Combat" - Alain & Bouro Mpela

"Aicha" - Alain & Bouro Mpela

"Passage Obligé" - Alain & Bouro Mpela

From the same album, here they are all done up in their glad rags. I particularly enjoy the entirely random reference to mozzarella at 3:29.

And as a Sunday bonus, some more musical brothers.







Actually, there are loads of them, aren't there? Watch out for a special brothers themed post here some time soon.

Riots Part 2

I have no wish to keep harping on about the riots, which are hopefully now behind us, but I think it is instructive to look at what the commentators are saying. Specifically calypsonian commentators.

Some have suggested that deploying more female police officers might have a calming effect. But judging by Mighty Terror's reaction, there must be a risk that it would simply exacerbate matters.

"Women Police In England" - Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians

Invader and Gabby, on the other hand, are clearly setting out to appeal to Daily Mail readers.

"Teddy Boy (Bring Back The Old Cat-o-Nine)" - Lord Invader

"Pow Pow (Arm The Police)" - Mighty Gabby

Lord Melody, as always, follows a path of his own. His story of a police officer struggling with a recalcitrant jackass may not appear immediately relevant, but I am sure there is a moral in there somewhere.

"In The Name Of The Law" - Lord Melody

Finally, the greatest calypsonian of them all, the Mighty Sparrow, had a terrifying first-hand experience of gang behaviour. Fortunately he lived to tell the tale.

London's Burning

This post is fairly self-explanatory. I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of it all, but I do have one question for the disaffected youths who were making a political statement round the corner from me in Bethnal Green Road last night - what is the bloody point of looting Specsavers?

"London's Burning" - The Clash

"Babylon's Burning" - The Ruts

"2nd Floor Croydon" - Burnin' Red Ivanhoe

"Teenage Rampage" - Sweet

Keeping In Touch

If it is Sunday, it must be Sweden in 1970. Local band Contact team up with a visiting Kim Fowley to produce an English language album, "Nobody Wants To Be Sixteen", with an eye on the international market. Despite being a very good pop-psych album, in a sort of Swedish Badfinger style, it fails in that objective.

"What's That" - Contact

"How Was Your Summer" - Contact

So for their next album they revert to Swedish and a folkier sound. "Hon Kom Over Mon" comes out in 1971 and wins a Grammy. People, eh? Totally unpredictable.

"Vägen Gick Vindlande Grå" - Contact

"Nobody Wants To Be Sixteen" and "Hon Kom Over Mon" were reissued as a two CD set by MNW in 2009. Whether you can get it outside Sweden I have no idea. I picked up my copy in Stockholm for abour four quid a few months back, and it was well worth it.

Speaking of Badfinger, here they are in 1972 being introduced by a not yet smoothed over Kenny Rogers.