Rejoice!

If you woke up this morning and thought to yourself "What I really need right now is some exiled South African jazz musicians from the mid 1970s", you're in luck. Ladies and Gentlemen - Jabula!

"Baile - They Are Gone" - Jabula

"Badishi - Herdboys" - Jabula

They played on "Ommadawn", you know, but I'm going to spare you that. Instead here's a song called "Jabula" (it means "rejoice") by the chirpily named Teargas.

The Sound of the Streets

And when I say "The Sound of the Streets" I mean it literally. Yesterday while I was out having my daily constitutional I spotted a CD lying on the pavement which had the cryptic words "MIN THEB" written on it. I picked it up carefully and took it home, cleaned it up with some of the disinfectant I had been saving for lunch - I'm on the Trump Diet - then stuck it in the CD player. Slightly to my surprise, it worked.

The CD in question turned out to be "Menos el Oso", the 2005 album by Minus The Bear. It's not really my cup of tea, but here's one of the better tracks for you. I've padded things out with some other bear-based bands.

"Hooray" - Minus The Bear

"I Won't Be Hangin' 'Round" - Bear

"Pirate King" - Edward Bear

Punky Reggae Party

Way back when a lot of the punk bands had a go at covering reggae songs. I'm not the sure the compliment was returned to any great extent, apart from Errol Dunkley doing "I'm An Upstart" and Peter Tosh briefly fronting Peter & The Test Tube Babies on tour when the other Peter was unwell. But that's by the by.

One of the better efforts was Stiff Little Fingers' remake of a Bunny Wailer song. I say remake rather than cover because apart from the riff and the refrain they changed pretty much everything. Maybe that's why it works. Here are both versions.

"Roots Radics Rockers Reggae" - Bunny Wailer

"Roots Radicals Rockers And Reggae" - Stiff Little Fingers

The Long Goodbye: Part 9

We're back on the road again. We're heading way up north to the land of Lapps, lingonberries and Lasse Viren - FINLAND!!!

I have been lucky enough to visit Helsinki a few times and always enjoyed it. On one occasion I was asked to leave a rock club after accidentally falling in with a bunch of Irishmen who were arguing violently about the name of the bird in 'Peanuts'. You had to be there.

We have something for everyone this time - assuming, that is, that everyone likes one or more of Finnish punk, Finnish hip hop, Finnish folk music, Finnish Bobbie Gentry covers and the Finnish Jethro Tull. 

"Akateeminen Poika" - Pella Miljoona & N.U.S.

"Heruuks" - Fintelligens

"Ottajat" - Varttina

"Okolona River Bottom Band" - Kirka

"Deep Thinker" - Tasavallen Presidentti

We are now a third of the way through the Grand Tour and we have a couple of big stops coming up next - France and Germany. Until then, let's groove to some more top Suomi sounds.

The Sound Of Swingin' Spain

Los Pekenikes were a Spanish instrumental group that started in the early 1960s and were around for at least twenty years, possibly longer. I've heard a couple of their albums from the 1970s. A lot of it is pretty bland, to be honest, but every now and then they got funky. Whether that was by accident or design, who can tell?

"Cielo Rojo Sobre El Golan" - Los Pekenikes

"Cachimba" - Los Pekenikes

Single Song Sunday

It's this time again - and we have a Jimmy Webb song for you, which is always a guarantee of quality.

For many years the only version of "Do You What You Gotta Do" I knew was the one by The Four Tops, which made the Top Twenty in the UK in 1969 (but which wasn't even released as a single anywhere else as far as I can tell). I had always assumed theirs was the original version, but I was wrong. There had already been three charting versions before Levi and the boys got round to it.

Admittedly none of them were what you would call global smashes. Al Wilson had the first go and took it to No. 102 in the Billboard charts in early 1968. Nina Simone dwarfed his achievement by getting it to No. 83 later in the year. Larry's Rebels, on the other hand, did get into the Top 10 with their rendition, but only in New Zealand.

Rounding things up, Tom Jones gives it a bit of a belting, B.J. Thomas goes for a more mellow take as you might expect, while Meg Baird is wispy and wistful. The Mandatory Reggae Version comes from Mr Pat Rhoden. 

"Do What You Gotta Do" - Al Wilson

"Do What You Gotta Do" - Nina Simone

"Do What You Gotta Do" - Larry's Rebels

"Do What You Gotta Do" - The Four Tops

"Do What You Gotta Do" - Tom Jones

"Do What You Gotta Do" - B.J. Thomas

"Do What You Gotta Do" - Meg Baird

"Do What You Gotta Do" - Pat Rhoden

Inexplicably I can't find videos of any of them performing the song on YouTube. In fact all there seems to be is a very badly recorded live performance by Linda Ronstadt and an acoustic version by a Fleet Fox. So instead here are some different videos from some of those folks.

Jimmy Mac

Like many people, I first became aware of James McMurtry fifteen years ago when he released "We Can't Make It Here". Since then he has become one of my favourites and I've been lucky enough to see him live a few times.

But even back in 2005 James had been knocking about for a fair old while. On a trip to Belfast earlier in the year I managed to pick up a copy of his second album, "Candyland", which came out way back in 1992. Here's a couple of the highlights.

"Safe Side" - James McMurtry

"Where's Johnny" - James McMurtry