Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn...

That's right, today's theme is accommodation.

First up: "Halfway Hotel" by Voyager. This was a big "radio hit" in 1979 but never did much in the charts. I spent years trying to track this down and finally found a copy in a junk shop in Kalk Bay near Cape Town at the bottom of a big pile of 7" singles - which explains why the sound quality is a bit ropey.

http://www.box.net/shared/ig168qd01f

Next: "Motel Blues" by Loudon Wainwright III, from "Album II" (1972). This has also been a favourite of mine for years. Not sure why, I think it might be the bleakness of it all.

http://www.box.net/shared/ma7kbq9osi

I was going to finish off with "Kansas City Morning" by Katy Moffatt. Until a few minutes ago I had always thought she was singing about a Holiday Inn, but listening to the lyrics more closely she is in fact lamenting the "hotel holiday airs". So we'll save her up for another occasion.

Those of you who recognise the title of this post will think you know what today's videoclip is going to be, but you are wrong. I couldn't find a decent clip of "Rapper's Delight" so instead here is a different, and in my view infinitely superior, old school rap classic which also mentions the word "holiday". Take it away, boys!



And if you are looking for a hotel in their home town of Amsterdam, why not try the Hotel Brian: http://www.hotelbrian.com/index.html. The rooms are minute, but if you are lucky you might get eggs with your toast in the morning, which is all you can ask for really.

More Mexicans

At the beginning of the week I posted a track from "Ecos de Avandaro", a double CD of Mexican psychedelia that I picked up in Madrid last weekend. I have now had a chance to listen to it all the way through and there is some cracking stuff. So here are two more selections: "Ruidas En La Cuidad" by Los Monjes (1969) and "Vida" by Pajaro Alberto Y Conjunto Sacrosaurio (1974).

http://www.box.net/shared/jfgntu4mib

Although today's clip features the late Taiwanese superstar Teresa Teng, there is a connection. She kicks things off with her rendition of a Mexican standard before launching into a medley of hits from the 1950s. There is some truly groovy choreography to enjoy as well.

Curtis

I think we're overdue a bit of soul music. Here are a couple of tracks from Curtis Mayfield, who in a just world would have been 67 last Wednesday.

These tracks are both from his 1983 album "Honesty": "Dirty Laundry" and "What You Gawn Do?"

http://www.box.net/shared/hiotjxb6gu

And here he is in action:

Fifty Up!!!

When I started this blog four or five months ago, I was thrilled when I started getting visitors from outside the UK, because it meant I knew that it wasn't just my mates checking in out of politeness. The excitement mounted as the number of countries grew, particularly when they were somewhere small and exotic like Swaziland or St Kitts and Nevis, and I decided then that I would produce a special post when we reached the fifty countries mark.

That mark was reached yesterday. So thank you and welcome aboard Estonia.

I spent a few days in Tallinn in 1993 as part of a grand tour that took in Moscow (where my Dad was working at the time), St Petersburg (where I was interviewed live on Russian television - remind me to bore you with that story some other time) and Tallinn before ending up in Copenhagen via two ferries and a train through Sweden.

The only music I bought while in Tallinn was a cassette of Estonian cover versions of Beatles songs which had its moments - if you thought "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" was odd in English you should hear it in Estonian - but has long since gone the way of all flesh. So I found myself without any Estonian music to include in this tribute.

But thanks to the wonders of Googling I did not remain bereft for long. I came across the website of a band called Vagilased (I think there is an umlaut in there somewhere) who perform souped-up versions of Estonian folk songs, including this cracking little number: "Hobusemang" ("Horse Game" in English).

http://www.box.net/shared/ql6ndlo2kl

If you like that - and who wouldn't? - there is more of that sort of thing on their website: http://www.vagilased.ee/eng/. It does not seem to have been updated for a couple of years, so I'm not sure if they are still going or not.

To finish off this Eesti-Fest, here is Estonia's winning entry from the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest:



Next target: 100 countries or someone from Chad, whichever comes first.

Feel the pressure lifting off your head

Today's post "goes out" - as they used to say when I was a boy - to my dear friend Lord Styles. The combination will make sense to nobody but him, and possibly not even to him.

First, the download: here are Fountains Of Wayne with "Radiation Vibe".

http://www.box.net/shared/lho70s0ebo

And now the video: The Real Thing with "Can You Feel The Force?":



In the next post we will celebrate the Big 5-0. Tune in for something.

Home, Home On The Veld

I couldn't decide whether to post some South African music or some country today, so I split the difference. Here is some South African country music.

First up is an old favourite of mine, and someone we have featured here before, David Kramer with "Hekke Van Paradise" ("Gates of Paradise" in Afrikaans - the verses are in English, although a lot of the South African slang will be lost on most of you, and the refrain in Afrikaans translates as "why do the dogs bark at the gates of Paradise?").

http://www.box.net/shared/kn2gg5r39l

Next we have Themba Msomi, the self-styled "Zulu Cowboy", with "Abafana". When my brother James gave me his CD for Christmas a few years ago I got quite excited as it had the potential to be something truly bizarre. In fact, he is rather more like the Zulu Don Williams.

http://www.box.net/shared/82sujssajs

I say Don Williams as if that is a bad thing - it's not. I have always had a soft spot for this one, although I don't understand why he felt in necessary to have a pop at the residents of Virginia.

Silver Buckles On His Knees

Among the goodies I picked up in Madrid was a double CD of Mexican psych and rock from the period 1969-74 called "Ecos de Avandaro" (Avandaro being the Mexican Woodstock).

When I saw a track by a band called Lucifer I was expecting something fairly heavy, rather than something as sweet as "Fair Maiden". The words (in English) are occasionally difficult to make out due to the singer's accent but in the first verse the fair maiden appears to do a Humpty Dumpty - she falls over and can't be put back together again. And then comes the chorus which turns out to be "Bobby Shaftoe". Bizarre. Here it is.

http://www.box.net/shared/yk7pggelue

Speaking of fair maidens, it was very sad to hear that Danny La Rue has died. I once saw him dining in a short-lived French restaurant in Bethnal Green (which made the local news - the restaurant not Danny dining there - when it was discovered they sold horse meat, so the owner put up a sign saying "As featured on BBC London").

Here is the great man with his theme tune. The original Paradise Row is also in Bethnal Green, but Danny is no doubt in a different Paradise Row by now.