In 2023 and 2024 we went on a lengthy odyssey exploring every nook and cranny in Africa.
After that finished I needed a bit of a rest, but six months on I am fully revitalised and itching to get back on the road.
So next month we will be embarking on our third Grand Tour. This time we will be covering the length and breadth of the American continent, from Utqiagvik up in the north to Ushuaia way down in the south and all points in between.
I am going to restrict it to countries on the continental landmass; if we included the North Atlantic and Caribbean islands we'd be wandering forever. We can perhaps set sail for the islands in a separate series in the future.
That still leaves us with 23 countries, so quite enough to be getting on with. I have hundreds if not thousands of recordings from the major hot spots like Belize and French Guiana. It may be more of a struggle to pad out a post on some of the obscure backwaters like Brazil and the US.
Speaking of the US, I have been inspired by their recent enthusiasm for renaming geographical features and written to both them and Canada suggesting they add an 'n' to the middle of Lake Erie for the duration of the tour. I'll let you know when I hear back.
The as yet unnamed tour (CC - any ideas?) will kick off in Argentina in a few weeks time. Until then, here are some songs about just a few of the places we will pass through.
Before we go to any of them, though, I am going somewhere even more exotic in real life. Bristol. I'll be back on here in a week or so.
I recently found myself in London's fashionable Peckham, as you do, so I took the opportunity to pop into the Alex TLC charity shop on the High Street. It is an old school charity shop; slightly chaotic but run by nice people for a good cause and you can usually find a bargain or two.
So it proved on this occasion. It seems that a local resident has recently woken from a twenty year sleep and decided to offload all the free CDs they got from music magazines before they dozed off.
I came away with a very good haul, the centrepiece of which was six Songlines CDs from 2004/05. I will probably share some of those in due course, but today it is the turn of "Wire Tapper 8" which was given away with the January 2002 edition of The Wire and was also in the haul.
Like most of these sort of compilations 'Wire Tapper 8' is a bit hit and miss but when it hits it hits hard and does so right from the start. The compiler leaps off their stool and unleashes this lethal opening salvo. These are no mere taps, these are hefty wallops.
A couple of days ago that Khayem kharakter posted a bee-themed video. That helped to prompt this post. You can call it an example of the hive mind. You would be wrong, but you can.
There are two other reasons for the post. The first is that it gives me an excuse belatedly to draw your attention to "Isidro", the fine new album by Rosa Bordallo that came out at the end of January.
The second, and most important, is to send a get well soon message to my brother-in-law Chris in South Africa. Chris is a professional bee dude (that is what is says on his business card) who has managed to turn his former hobby into a successful small business producing and selling high grade honey. He has been under the weather recently but hopefully will be back to his best soon.
Chris will take his hives anywhere there are plants that infuse the honey with flavour. He has placed them on mountains. He has placed them in forests. He would probably place them in jungles if there were any near him.
For Record Store Day in April last year VP Records issued the excellent compilation “Dubbing At King Tubby’s (Volumes 1 & 2)" - four LPs and 44 tracks of prime 1970s dub. They are a repackaging of three hard to find compilations originally issued on the long gone Blood & Fire label back in the 1990s.
The albums are credited to The Aggrovators, King Tubby's studio band through which numerous luminaries passed. The credits read like a Who's Who of Jamaican musicians of the era - Sly & Robbie, Carlton and Family Man Barrett, Augustus Pablo, Ansel Collins, Dean Frazer, Jackie Mittoo and many more.
The list of producers involved is almost as starry. Most of the original tracks were produced under the watchful eye of Bunny 'Striker' Lee and as well as King Tubby himself there are mixes from the likes of Prince Jammy, Scientist and Pat Kelly.
Vinyl copies of the albums seem to be available from various sources or you can pick up a download version from Bandcamp via the link in the first paragraph. If the price there is a bit steep for your tastes you can also find it going for £10 at the tax dodgers' place, where your money can help to send Katy Perry back into space.
I could have picked pretty much any of the 44 tracks without a drop off in quality but opted for these versions of a few old favourites of mine: "I Killed The Barber" (Dr Alimantado), "Standing Firm" (Jacob Miller) and "King Of The Arena" (Johnny Clarke).
I went to see the Mekons last week at London's fashionable 100 Club. Although I have seen various members in different combinations over the years I had never seen the band itself so I was looking forward to it very much. I wasn't disappointed. My gig of the year to date.
The current touring line-up has seven members. Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh founded the band back in 1977. All but one of the others were recruited when the band was revived and revamped in the mid 1980s (Sally Timms, Susie Honeyman, Rico Bell and Steve Goulding). New boy bassist Dave Trumfio has been with them a paltry ten years.
With that line-up I was pretty confident that we would get a set packed with some of the many highlights of their extensive back catalogue, and so it proved. From their second single in 1978 to their brand new album "Horror" it was high quality fare throughout.
Unfortunately Sally Timms ('the Queen Mother of Punk Rock' as she was introduced) was poorly but she gallantly hauled herself onstage for the middle part of the show to sing, cough and indulge in some banter with Jon Langford before going off to lie down. It was most gracious of Her Majesty and hopefully she is feeling back to her best by now.
I've selected the three songs that formed the encore last week. These originals date from 1987, 1989 and 1978 respectively. To recreate the live sound imagine them with added violin, accordion and squawking sax courtesy of guest Andy Wilkinson. Maybe play along on the concertina if you happen to have one.
The 100 Club was the last gig of the UK leg of the current tour but they are meandering around continental Europe until the end of the month and then the US in July. If you get the chance go along.
[Ernie writes: For what I think is the first time in our long-running but irregular series we have a guest post. And what a guest it is too - the famous contrarian goatherd after whom Edwyn Collins is said to have named his album "Gorgeous George". You can tell it is by George from the use of the word 'bobbins'. I have added a few comments in italics and some videos at the end but apart from that it is all his own work.]
Anita and Parsley (these two always Spend The Night Together)
[I believe this is a reference to Anita the goat and not Anita Pallenberg. I hope so anyway.]
The main rule for the series is, I think, obvious. I also believe that there should be an MRV, which I have adhered to. And that the versions should be interpretations, not simply straightforward covers. I am not sure if personal opinions about each version are allowed, but if not it’s not a rule I can stick to.
[There is no rule against expressing opinions and the Mandatory Reggae Version isn't really mandatory, just preferred - we did not have one last time out. It is so anarchic here even Hagar The Womb would feel right at home.]
The original first. I first heard it when I bought the double album Rolled Gold, from Chalmers and Joy in Gellatly Street, for £3.99, in 1976. From the weakest side (3) of the album, track 2.
The second, with which you will all be familiar, is a fantastic glammed-coked-up cover, with that wild piano intro. A frantic, desperate, vocal from Bowie, giving a totally different mood than that whiny, pleading 20-year-old “please stay the night” feel that Jagger delivers.
Melanie Harrold, friend of Jasper Carrott, has a version. Not only a friend of Mr Carrott but a former singer with the Hank Wangford Band. A laid-back almost-funky interpretation. Cengis Yuksek gives an almost easy-listening version, almost-but-not-quite bossanova.
The fifth version might be described as a blue-eyed soul version, and is by The Bonemakers with Jenny Langer. It also might be nothing of the sort, but it’s very good. After that comes what I think is a northern soul adaptation by Jerry Williams and his Dynamite and Soul Band.
[The Jerry Williams record was made in Sweden which I think counts as 'northern' soul. Jerry's real name was Sven Erik Fernström. Fans of this weekend's song contest may be interested to know that this version was arranged by Lars Samuelson, who has a strong Eurovision pedigree.]
Penultimately is an utterly utterly fabulous version, from an album disowned by the artiste himself! The backing is provided by members of Rotary Connection, some heavy, scuzzy psychedelic guitar work, and at about 27 seconds in comes that big, huge blues vocal from Muddy Waters. It becomes not a request, not a demand, but a fait accompli. This is just fantastic, and despite Mr. Morganfield’s protestations (“That Electric Mud record I did, that one was dogshit.””), this is a must-have album.
And the MRV is on Trojan records by Teddy and the Discolettes (who are not to be confused with Disco Tex and his Sex-o-lettes)
Either ACE Records or Cherry Red should put that collection above on a compilation album.
Someone who goes by the name of Anthony McBazooka will not be featuring here. And not because the song is total bobbins, but because it belongs to the series Songs With The Same Titles But Are Different Songs.
Thanks to Ernie for posting, and I hope you enjoy all the songs.
[It has been an absolute pleasure. If anyone else fancies doing a guest post we would be delighted to receive them, just as long as the song in question hasn't featured here before.]
I have banged on about Hominis Canidae a few times in the past. It is nothing to do with human dogs, which is the literal translation from the Latin and one of the more alarming Google searches. As regular readers may recall, this Hominis Canidae is a label that has been releasing 'name your price' samplers of Brazilian independent music via Bandcamp every month since 2012.
Here is a track apiece from the samplers issued in the first quarter of 2025. If you like any of them I would encourage you to explore further. You should do so even if you don't. The albums are a bit of a mixed bag covering as they do sweet and mellow samba, industrial noise and all points in between but there is usually something to enjoy.
Links stay up for a month or so. If you are an artist or copyright holder and want me to remove the link, or if you want to get in touch for any other reason, e-mail me on leggies27@hotmail.co.uk.
