North Of The Border

Last time out we featured some Mexicans. Here are some songs about what happens when they head north.

"Across The Borderline" - Willie Nelson

"California Snow" - Dave Alvin

"Who's Gonna Build Your Wall" - Tom Russell

"California Snow" is a Dave Alvin/ Tom Russell co-write. I prefer Dave's version, but Tom's is pretty good too. As you can see from this clip.

Mexican Frying An Egg

So was in the Bronx the other week, strolling up from Belmont to the Fordham Metro-North station, when I came across a man selling Mexican and other latin CDs for $5 a go. I bought a couple more or less at random, never having heard of most of the acts he stocked.

The first CD, by an Argentinian calling himself King Africa, was pretty awful - a South American version of that Austrian who did the dreadful remake of "Hey Baby". The second - a 1995 compilation called "Mas Furia De Los Exitos" - was much better. Released out of Miami on Rodven Records, with one exception it consists entirely of Mexican bands. The exception is the first of today's selections - Los Fantasmas Del Caribe from Venezuela.

"Celina" - Los Fantasmas Del Caribe

"Aguita De Melon" - Fito Olivares

As I say, the CD is pretty good. But I has been hoping for more traditionally Mexican. Like this.

Sandy Sunday

Look - two songs with the same name! The first is by Ramona Jones (nee Riggins), wife of old-timey country star, Grandpa Jones. The second is by Robin Williamson of Incredible String Band fame.

"Sandy Land" - Ramona Jones (1964 single, available on Grandpa Jones' Bear Family box set "Everybody's Grandpa")

"Sandy Land" - Robin Williamson (from "Myrrh", 1972)

On the subject of Sandy, here are Sandy & Papo, the MCs from the Dominican Republic who pioneered the Merengue House sound back in the mid 1990s (according to Spanish Wikipedia).

Arrow R.I.P.

I belatedly learned last night that the mighty Arrow died ten days ago. I was lucky enough to see him perform live in London a couple of times in the late 1980s, once at the Astoria and once at the Hackney Empire. He was at the peak of his powers then, and it was impossible not to dance. Even Mr F was seen to shuffle his feet a little.

Real name Alphonsus Cassell, and one of Montserrat's greatest exports, Arrow was sadly struck down by cancer at the age of 60. Which isn't really a long time at all.

"Long Time" - Arrow

"Columbia Rock" - Arrow

Here he is with the hit.



And as an arrow-related bonus, here is Leapy Lee. I saw him live once as well, when I was about ten or eleven, on a double bill with the New Seekers. Great gig!

Ms Burson In Person

"Silver And Ash" is the new album by Clare Burson and it is thoroughly excellent. I have only owned it for a week or so but already it is shaping up to be one of my favourite albums of the year.

Rob Smith over at Popdose has done a proper review of the album, to which there is nothing I can usefully add. As he explains, the songs are mostly inspired by Clare's grandmother, who fled Germany in 1938 and eventually made her way to America, and her great-grandparents who are presumed to have died in the Holocaust.

You don't need to know the back story to enjoy the songs, which stand on their own merits, but it enables you to appreciate them all the more. And having Clare introduce each one by explaining what inspired it certainly added greatly to the concert held at Joe's Pub to launch the album, which I was lucky enough to catch while in New York last week. It was an utterly mesmerising performance.

Here are a couple of songs from the album, but you really ought to buy it and listen to the whole thing for maximum enjoyment.

"Everything's Gone" - Clare Burson

"Magpies" - Clare Burson

As an encore, Clare performed a lovely rendition of Arcade Fire's "We Used To Wait", which you can listen to here.

One of the other inspirations for "Silver And Ash" was a big slice of ancient cheese, as Clare explains:



And here is another gigantic piece of ancient cheese.

Zaikodelia

I have a list of artists I keep meaning to share with you but never seem to get round to. Well today I can strike one of that list. While I was away last week we had our first ever visitor from the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a belated welcome, here are a couple of tracks from one of the greatest Congolese bands, Zaiko Langa Langa.

Zaiko Langa Langa started out in 1970 and are still going strong. The line-up has changed so frequently that it makes The Drifters look stable, but at different times has included many of the biggest names of Congolese music like Papa Wemba and Bimi Ombale. Today's selections are from a compilation called "Les Plus Grands Succes De L'Orchestre Zaiko Langa Langa". The featured vocalists are Evoloko Jocker, Bozi Boziana and Mbuta Otis which - if I have followed the family tree correctly - means they date from 1979 to 1981.

"Femme Ne Pleure Pas Parts 1 & 2" - Zaiko Langa Langa

"Zaiko Wawa" - Zaiko Langa Langa

Here are the lads in action. This one features the late Dindo Yogo on vocals, which dates it to some time in the second half of the 1980s.

In Praise Of Pete's

I spent three nights in NYC last week. On two of those three nights I ended up in Pete's Candy Store, an excellent bar/ music venue just around the corner from my hotel in hip Williamsburg (note to self: remember to buy a plaid shirt and grow bad facial hair if I ever intend to go back to Williamsburg).

The music room is tiny - no more than ten feet wide by about forty feet deep - and I doubt you could squeeze more than about 50 people in there, even less if there is a full band as they won't all fit on the stage. There is no entry charge, just a tip bucket passed around occasionally, and the sound system isn't great (though it may just have been playing up while I was there).

But despite all this, it manages to attract a very high quality selection of bands to play there. Over the two nights I saw five acts and they were all worth a listen. The Goggins Prize for most entertaining set went to Sgt. Dunbar & The Hobo Banned, whose musical style I would struggle to describe but were great fun. Here are a few shots of them in action.

Of the other acts special mentions go to Katie Brennan, for achieving the seemingly impossible and manouevring a full-sized harp through the side door and on to the stage, and the Eureka Birds for not being too embarrassed when they realised that half the audience consisted of their parents, some of whom had come all the way from Maryland. That's parental devotion for you.

To help you create the Pete's ambience in the comfort of your own home, here is one track from each of the acts I saw in the order in which I saw them. Pour yourself a drink, adjust the tone control on your music player so you can hardly hear the vocals, turn the volume up loud and off you go.

"Deanna" - The Stone Lonesome (from "Words & Whiskey", 2010)

"Grandpa's Boat" - Katie Brennan (from "Slowly", 2008)

"The Still Life" - Eureka Birds (from "Eureka Birds", 2008)

"Move Your Memories Pt. IV" - Sgt. Dunbar & The Hobo Banned (from "In The Parlor With Sooze", 2009)

"Tigers" - Mia Riddle (from "Tigers", 2008)

On the subject of candy, this one is for the younger members of the Goggins clan in South Salem N.Y., who are very keen on the stuff.