VA - Populäre jüdische Künstler - Wien - Musik & Entertainment 1903 - 1936

Vienna has always attracted all sorts of people form all kinds of cultural backgrounds living in the former Danube monachry. They all crowded into the city and brought their lifestyles, attitudes  and customs into this urban center, that devoured this input, mixed it up and changed it into this "typical Viennese culture".

The Jews that came to Vienna settled in the second district Leopoldstadt. Leopoldstadt was a kind of voluntary ghetto. The Jews came, with a strong intention to make it in this new and often hostile world and with an extraordinary talent to entertain. The ability to grasp the character of an environment and to turn it into humour and satire, in away that always remained charming and friendly, was their special talent, unrivalled by anyone. "Today we´ll go to see the Jews", was a common phrase. "Jewish humorists" were a kind of trademark of Vienna at the beginning of the 20ieth century. The "Budapester Orpheums-Gesellschaft" and the theaters "die Hölle" and "Max und Moritz" were celbrated temples of good entertainment, and produced artist, that today can only be called legendary: Eisenbach, Grünbaum, Berg, Selim, Leopoldi, Massary, Engel, Werbezirk and Farkas.

This album is a documentary "monument" of the incredible work of these Jewish artists and shows: Someone who is loved so much by the pubblic, and can make his audience laugh and cry so much, must have come very close to the heart and soul of it.

Tracklist:

1. Armin Berg: So dreht sich die Welt 3:11
2. Betja Milskaja & Hermann Leopoldi: Alois 2:40
3. Franz Engel: Man soll mit Pollacks nicht verkehren 3:04
4. Franz Engel: Erlebnis bei meinem Friseur 2:17
5. Karl Farkas: Ich hab eine Tante in Peking 3:20
6. Herman Leopoldi & Betja Milskaja: Frauen sind zum küssen da 3:09
7. Fritzi Massary: Ich bin eine Frau, die weiß was sie will 2:35
8. Armin Berg: Was braucht denn der Wiener um glücklich zu sein 3:10
9. Heinrich Eisenbach: Fiaker Hupferl beim Bezirksgericht 2:35
10. Godoscev und Celakowsky: Hausherrn-Söhnln 3:03
11. Franz Engel: Von was leben die Leut 3:09
12. Franziska Gaal: Die kleinen Mädchen mit dem treuen Blick 2:40
13. Fritz Grünbaum: Fritz Grünbaum erzählt von den Räubern 3:24
14: Josma Selim: Die billige Anette 2:55
15. Gisela Werbezirk: Ich habe "La Gasconne" gelesen 3:13
16: Armin Berg: Neue Trommelverse 2:49
17: Max Brod: Der Theaterausrufer 5:41
18: Leon Kalisch: Sommer bei Nacht 2:37
19: Jacques Rotter: Gut Gut Gut 2:29
20: Karl Kraus: Das Schoberlied 1:23
21: Josef Bauer: Umgebrungen 1:36
22: Josef Modl: Der lustige Strohwitwer 2:33
23: Franziska Gaal: Ach wie oft 2:09
24: Franz Engel & Fritz Wiesenthal: Hallo! Hier Radio Wien 6:16
25: Hermann Leopoldi: Landsleut 2:57

VA - Populäre jüdische Künstler - Wien - Musik & Entertainment 1903 - 1936
(256 kbps, cover art included)

VA - Hot Shots Reggae Chartbusters ´71 (1971)

This is a nice compilation with classic reggae cuts, released on Trojan records in 1971.

Tracklist:

Greyhound - Black And White
Jackie Edwards - I Must Go Back
Derrick Harriott - Groovy Situation
Nicky Thomas - Love Of The Common People
Bob & Marcia - Young Gifted And Black
Horace Faith - Black Pearl
Dave Barker & Ansel Collins - Monkey Spanner
Dave Barker & Ansel Collins - Double Barrel
The Maytals - 54-46 Was My Number
Freddie Notes & The Rudies - Montego Bay
James Chambers - Bongo Man
Jimmy London & The Impact All Stars - Shake A Hand
The Pioneers - Let Your Yeah Be Yeah
Bob Andy & Marcia Griffiths - Pied Pipe


VA - Hot Shots Reggae Chartbusters `71 (1971)
(about 200 kbps, front cover included)

VA - The Gypsy Road - A Musical Migration From India To Spain

Few compilations of Gypsy music are as broad-minded as "Gypsy Road". Other collections have focused specifically on the folk of Russian Gypsies or the flamenco of Spanish Gypsies in Madrid. But with "Gypsy Road", Alula spotlights Gypsy artists from all over Europe as well as parts of the Middle East. The Gypsies who enrich this album come from India (Musafir) and Turkey (Kemani Cemal), as well as Spain (Gerardo Nunez, Casta), Italy (Acquaragia Drom), and France (Energypsy).

Gypsy culture has, of course, been a part of Eastern Europe for centuries, so it's only right that several tunes on this album would be recorded in that part of the world. The Eastern European Gypsies heard on "Gypsy Road" come from Bulgaria (Yuri Yunakov), Hungary (Ando Drom, Kalyi Jag), Romania (Taraf de Haidouks), and naturally, Russia (Loyko, Kolpakov Trio). Many different languages are heard on "Gypsy Road", and the instruments vary from one country to another. But as diverse as this album is, one can hear the parallels between these artists. Most of them use what is called "modal" or "scalar" playing; even if you don't understand the technical meaning, you can recognize modality when you hear it. (Modal playing is also used in everything from Jewish klezmer to Indian raga and Algerian rai). "Gypsy Road" is a fine collection that world music enthusiasts should make a point of acquiring.  

Tracklist:            

       1. Pundela - Thierry Robin

2. La Ratjake Cheja - Kalyi Jag

3. Jelem - Loyko

4. Marques De Porrina - Gerardo Nunez

5. The Orient Is Red - Kocani Orkestar

6. Kana Me Uvonigjum - Yuri Yunakov Ensemble

7. Thessaloniki - Acquaragia Drom

8. Gel Beriye Beriye - Kemani Cemal

9. Duba, Duba...Si Hora - Taraf De Haidouks

10. Grastoro - Kolpakov Trio

11. Le Da Lache De Mi - Casta

12. Chica Bem - Energipsy

13. Kanak Szomasz - Ando Drom

14. Musafir - Musafir

VA - The Gypsy Road - A Musical Migration From India To Spain
(256 kbps, small front cover included)

Acetylene - Policemen (1980, 7")

Acetylene was a Belgian band from the Seraing region, founded in 1977 by Remo Di Matteo (vocals), Michel Verjans (guitar, backing vocals), Jacky Righi (guitar, backing vocals), Erio Righi (bass, backing vocals) and Pascal (drums, backing vocals).

In 1983, Michel Verjans, Jacky and Erio Righi became members of the new wave band Dum Dum Boys.

"Policemen / Life Addict" is the only Acetylene single, released on their own record label in 1980.





Tracklist:

A Policemen
B Life Addict


Acetylene - Policemen (1980, 7")

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Thanks to the "Old, Weak, But Always A Wanker"-blog - not active in these days, but always worth a visit!

Kurt Weill - Das Berliner Requiem (1928) - Vom Tod im Wald (1927) - Konzert für Violine und Blasorchester (1925)

It was Brecht´s poetry that Kurt Weill appreciated above all, and his admiration is manifest in the two cantatas, "Vom Tod im Wald" and "Das Berliner Requiem" which throw a visionary light on the famous "golden twenties". Both can be found on this album accompanied by the "Konzert für Violine und Blasorchester" from 1925

"Berliner Requiem" is a cantata for tenor, baritone, three-part male chorus and wind orchestra by Kurt Weill with text by Bertolt Brecht. It illustrates two fundamental aspects of Weill´s involvement in the twenties: his contribution to a repertory destined specifically for the radio and his struggle against any form of conservativism.

The cantata "Vom Tod im Walde" was to have been placed at the beginning of the "Berliner Requiem", but Weill gave up the idea just before the premiere considering that its tone was incompatible with that of the other poems. It had ist first performance on 23 November 1927 in ther Berlin Philharmonic. Weill would never write such a sombre work again; the atonal writing is closer to that of the "Konzert für Violine" that to later works. This hymn to animal exisence, to the return to and the absorption by nature is characteristic of Brecht´s early poetry. The depiction of this death-return to the sources is the counterpart to that of the corpse of the drowned girl. Written in 1922, the poem was inserted into the play "Baal", before being published in a revisited form in the third lesson of Brecht´s "Hauspostille".

Tracklist:

Vom Tod Im Wald, Op. 23 7:49
Konzert Für Violine Und Blasorchester, Op. 12
1 I. Andante Con Moto 9:40
2 II. Notturno 3:20
3 Cadenza 3:41
4 Serenata 3:39
5 III. Allegro Molto, Un Poco Agitato 7:16

Das Berliner Requiem
6 Großer Dankchoral. Sostenuto 3:00
7 Ballade Vom Ertrunkenen Mädchen. Lento 2:04
8 Marterl. Andante Moderato 1:55
9 Erster Bericht Über Den Unbekannten Soldaten Unter Dem Triumphbogen. Moderato Assai 4:14
10 Zweiter Bericht Über Den Unbekannten Soldaten Unter Dem Triumphbogen. Rezitativ 5:24
11 Großer Dankchoral [Da Capo] 1:37

Kurt Weill - Das Berliner Requiem (1928) - Vom Tod im Wald (1927) - Konzert für Violine und Blasorchester (1925)
(192 kbps)

Muddy Waters - You´re Gona Miss Me When I´m Gone

The American blues musician Muddy Waters was born McKinley Morganfield in Mississippi in 1913. His first recording was made for the Library of Congress who had sent famed folk music archivist Alan Lomax to the Southern States to record examples of blues songs. On hearing the record Waters realised that being a musician was an achievable dream and set his sights on a career in music. Waters moved to Chicago in 1943 to pursue his dream.

Waters began to establish himself with a series of recordings including "I Can't be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home", building his reputation by playing in local clubs. Waters hit an early high point with the tune, "Rollin' Stone", which went on to provide The Rolling Stones with their name.

Waters domination of the Chicago blues scene saw him be credited with the development of the Chicago sound and launching the careers of many of his contemporaries. By 1952, Waters band included blues men Little Walter Jacobs and Otis Span performing tracks such as "Hoochie Coochie Man", written by Willie Dixon. As their success grew, his band, keen to develop their own careers, began to leave and Waters found it difficult to replicate his sound with replacement performers. On a trip to the UK in 1972 to record with UK stars Steve Winwood, Rory Gallagher, Mitch Mitchell and Rick Grech, he is reported as saying "these boys are top musicians …but it ain't the Muddy Waters sound."

By 1977, Waters had gathered around him other top names from the blues field for his album Hard Again, which featured the Grammy award winning track, "Mannish Boy". The success of the album, and its follow-ups, including I'm Ready and Muddy Mississippi Water Live put Waters back in the limelight and saw his best record sales.

In April 1983 Waters died in his sleep as a result of cancer, leaving behind him a legacy of influence on a long list of performers including Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. A new generation of fans were introduced to his music when Waters performance of "Mannish Boy" was used in a Levi Jeans ad and appeared on the soundtrack for the film Risky Business.

Waters' career was recognised in 1992 with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2004 he was ranked No.17 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.


Tracklist:

1. Steamline Woman

2. Mean Red Spider

3. Rollin' And Tumblin'

4. Country Blues

5. You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone

6. I Be Bound To Write To You

7. I Feel Like Going Home

8. I Can't Be Satisfied

9. Little Anna Mea

10. Little Geneva

11. Walkin' Blues

12. Why Don't You Live So God Can Use You

13. 32-20 Blues

14. I Be's Troubled

15. Train Fare Home Blues

16. Gypsy Woman Muddy Waters - You´re Gonna Miss Me When I´m Gone (192 kbps, small front cover included)

Tito Madi – A Fossa (1971)

Tito Madi - born Chauki Maddi - was a Brazilian singer and composer, known as "the king of the samba-canção" style.

He was one of the singers and composers of the samba-canção era intuitively connected with the soon-to-be stylistic revolution of bossa nova, Tito Madi anticipated several features of this movement in the sophisticated harmonies of his influential compositions and relaxed vocal renditions, recorded on 44 albums.
He was born on July 12, 1929 in Pirajuí, State of São Paulo and died on September 26, 2018 in Rio de Janeiro.

Among his most important albums it can be mentioned the four volumes of his "A Fossa", recorded respectively in 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1974. 

Beautifully sophisticated vocal work by one of Brazil's greatest singers at the end of the 60s. Madi has a style that owes a bit to earlier work by Dick Farney, but which also has absorbed a lot of the better jazz influences of the bossa era - as you'll hear on his readings of tracks like "Pra Dizer Adeus", "Cancao Da Volta", "Chuvas De Verao", "Pra Voce", and "Eu E A Brisa". The arrangements (uncredited) are great, with some excellent organ work on some tracks - and the songs are handled in the kind of moody style that Elis Regina and other singers would begin to absorb a few years later


Tracklist:

A1 Apêlo
A2 Prá Dizer Adeus
A3 Canção Da Volta
A4 Cansei De Ilusões
A5 De Onde Vens
A6 Chuvas De Verão
B1 Sonho E Saudade
B2 Esquecendo Você
B3 Prá Você
B4 Eu E A Brisa
B5 Fiz Do Amor Meu Canto
B6.1 Reverso
B6.2 Se O Tempo Entendesse
B6.3 Sucedeu Assim

Tito Madi – A Fossa (1971)

(192 kbps, cover art included)

Le Chant Des Ouvriers - Ballades et Complaintes Syndicalistes

...a little too early for a Worker´s Day tribute. But definitely worth listening:

"Le Chant des Ouvriers" is a double album by Marcel Mouloudji, Francesca Solleville, Les Octaves, Georges Coulonges, A.Wolfromm, Evelyne Gellert and the "Ensemble madrigal de l'ile de France". It was released in 1972 and collects french interpretations of political songs from different countries like France, Spain, USA, Great Britain, Soviet Union, Chile, Germany, Cuba, Italy and Poland.




Tracklist:

Album 1
Side A

* Frère... Entends-tu ?... (Trad. France) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* Sans pain et travailler (Trad. Espagne) par Les Octaves.
* Bella Ciao (Trad. Italie) par Francesca Solleville.
* Le curieux satisfait (J.F. Piron) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* Le train du syndicat (Trad. USA) par Les Octaves.
* Mineur sois solidaire (Trad. USA) par Francesca Solleville.

Side B

* Angleterre debout (Trad. Angleterre) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* La femme du mineur (P. Koulak Sezian) par Les Octaves.
* Nous ne bougerons pas (d'après "We Shall Not Be Moved") (1972) (trad. USA) par Les Octaves.
* Vous êtes tombés, camarades (Trad. soviétique) par A. Wolfromm.
* Casey Jones (Trad. USA) par Les Octaves.
* Bouffe-la (Trad. Espagne) par Francesca Solleville.


Album 2
Side A

* Le chant de la pampa (Trad. Chili) par Francesca Solleville.
* Nous tournerons (Trad. USA) par Les Octaves.
* La varsovienne (Trad. Pologne) par A. Wolfromm.
* Bandiera rossa (Trad. Italie) par Francesca Solleville.
* Appel du Komintern (Trad. Allemagne) par A. Wolfromm.
* La corvée d'eau (Paul Vaillant-Couturier/Georges Auric) par Marcel Mouloudji.

Side B

* Le chant des marais (Trad. Allemagne) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* L'armée de l'Ebre (Trad. Italie) par Francesca Solleville.
* Questions et réponses (Trad. Angleterre) par Les Octaves.
* Guantanamera (Trad. Cuba) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* Le chômage (G. Coulonges/Francis Lemarque) par Marcel Mouloudji.
* Le front des travailleurs (B. Bretch/H. Eisler) par Francesca Solleville.

Le Chant Des Ouvriers - Ballades et Complaintes Syndicalistes
(160 kbps - please post if anyone has got a higher bitrate! - , cover art included)

Joe Zawinul ‎– Mauthausen ... Vom großen Sterben hören

Joe Zawinul’s Mauthausen is a work inspired by the plight of prisoners at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp during World War II.

A little-known anomaly in the Joe Zawinul discography, "Mauthausen" was a multimedia event in which the Austrian-born composer/keyboardist tried to come to terms with some of the darkest hours in his country's history. It is a troubling, at times eloquent electronic tone poem that depicts life within the concentration camp near the small Austrian town of Mauthausen, where approximately 120,000 people lost their lives between the years 1938 and 1945.

Anticipating limited appeal for such a project, ESC released the album only in Austria and a handful of other Central European countries. Originally presented in the camp itself in 1998 with holograms, lighting effects, and 50 speakers placed around the audience, "Mauthausen" is mostly a one-man show on CD; Zawinul commanding his symphonic arsenal of keyboards, with occasional narrations in German by actor Frank Hoffmann. As have a number of recent Zawinul albums, this one opens with a deep, moody pedal point in the bass, but the mood stays dark and threatening most of the way through - a stark contrast to the bubbly, life-affirming rhythms that Zawinul had been pumping out on his jazz/world music recordings of this time. Once in a great while, a semblance of the Zawinul groove breaks out, but always in a subdued way. Mixed in are collages of storm-troopers, trains carrying the prisoners to the camp, prison doors slamming, commands of the guards, and other sound effects from wartime.

As in Zawinul's symphonic poem "Stories of the Danube", echoes from his jazz past turn up; this time, we hear spliced-in recordings of "Walking on a Nile" from Zawinul's "Dialects" and "The Orphan" from Weather Report's "8:30" album. The latter insert is particularly appropriate, with Wayne Shorter's tenor sax and a children's chorus shouting "No More! No More!" contributing beacons of hope before Zawinul's final hymn of benediction. Obviously, for non-German speakers, some of the meaning of the piece will be lost; the booklet contains no English translations other than a brief history of the camp and the titles of the selections. But the inhumane, brooding atmosphere of the camp comes through powerfully enough in the music via a stereo CD - the album deserves a wider release.

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Einleitung zu einer wahren Geschichte (Introduction to a True Story) (1:06)
2. Die Orgel der Barbarei (Organ of Barbarism)
a. Der Weg nach Mauthausen (The Tragedy) (16:03)
b. Das Lagerleben (Life in the Concentration Camp) 2:25
c. Das Orchester (The Orchestra) (3:08)
d. Interludium (Interlude) (0:54)
e. Die Folter (Torture) (4:10)
f. Die Nacht (The Night) (1:15)
g. Die Vollstrecker (The Executioners) (3:40)
h. Das Gebet (The Prayer) (1:04)
i. Samstagnacht im Lager (Saturday Night in The Camp) (3:40)
j. Wey Doo (1:49)
k. Sonntags im Lager (Sunday in The Camp) (6:24)
l. Weinachten 1944 (Christmas 1944) (3:07)
m. Der Fluchtversuch (Break Out) (3:25)
3. No More. No More.
a. No More. No More. (3:49)
b. Mauthausen: In Memoriam (5:52)

Joe Zawinul - Mauthausen... Vom großen Sterben hören
(256 kbps, front cover included)

Ernest Bloch, Isaac Stern, Alexander Zakin – Baal Shem - Three Pictures of Chassidic Life/ Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano (1965)

Ernest Bloch (July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. Several of his most notable compositions reflect his Jewish heritage. As well as producing musical scores, Bloch had an academic career that culminated in his recognition as Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley in 1952.

A highly individual composer, Ernest Bloch did not pioneer any new style in music but spoke with a distinctive voice into which he could assimilate folk influences, 12-tone technique, and even coloristic quarter tones. In a stylistically atomized century, his interests were universal, and his music was both beloved by the public and inspirational for a younger and more academically oriented generation. He established his reputation in music on Hebraic themes in works such as the cello concerto "Schelomo" (1916). Bloch was also an important teacher. His output comprised numerous operas, symphonies, concertos, and chamber music, though his works exploring Hebrew concepts, such as "Baal Shem" (1923) and "Suite hébraïque" (1951), remain the most popular.

Ernest Bloch is most widely recognized for his compositions that are infused with Jewish and Hebrew folk elements, and with good reason; it is in this idiom that he produced his most easily accessible and enjoyable pieces of music. From this period, this album features the "Baal Shem Suite", written for violin and piano.

Ernest Bloch’s "Baal Shem" is a distillation of the Hebraic spirit in music — more specifically, of the mysticism and joys of the messianic vision. Echoes of synagogue cantillations and festival melodies produce the effect of a kind of spiritual folk song suite. There is a similar mood in sections of Bloch’s Violin "Sonata No. 1", but this remains a more reserved and impersonal piece, without the evocative powers of "Baal Shem".


Tracklist.

Baal Shem (Three Pictures Of Chassidic Life) (14:13)
A1 Vidui (Contrition) 3:11
A2 Nigun (Improvisation) 6:17
A3 Simchas Torah (Rejoicing) 4:35

Sonata No. 1 For Violin And Piano (29:36)
B1 Agitato 11:02
B2 Molto Quieto 10:02
B3 Moderato 8:22


Ernest Bloch, Isaac Stern, Alexander Zakin – Baal Shem - Three Pictures of Chassidic Life/ Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano (1965)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Muddy Waters - Electric Mud (1968)

This album marks what could probably be considered the nadir of Muddy Waters' career, although at the time it did sell somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 copies, a lot for Waters in those days. By 1968, Waters was no longer reaching black audiences, who were mostly listening to soul music by that time, and he also wasn't selling records to more than a relatively small cult of white blues enthusiasts. Meanwhile, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream were selling millions of records each using licks and sometimes songs learned from Waters. 

Previously, in 1966, Chess Records had recorded Waters' "Brass and the Blues", trying to make him sound like B.B. King, and this time Leonard Chess' son Marshall conceived "Electric Mud" as a way for Waters to reach out to the Rolling Stones/Hendrix/Cream audience. Recorded in May of 1968, "Electric Mud" features Waters in excellent vocal form, running through new versions of old songs such as "I Just Want to Make Love to You," "She's Alright," "Hoochie Coochie Man," "Mannish Boy," and "The Same Thing." But he isn't playing, and the band that is -- Phil Upchurch, Roland Faulkner, and Pete Cosey on guitars, Gene Barge on sax, Charles Stepney on organ, Louis Satterfield on bass, and Morris Jennings on the drums -- is trying awfully hard to sound like the Jimi Hendrix Experience-meets-Cream, playing really loud with lots of fuzztone and wah-wah pedal. 

The covers of the old songs are OK, if a little loud -- "She's Alright" starts to resemble "Voodoo Chile" more than its original, "Catfish Blues," and that's fine if you're looking for Waters to sound like Hendrix (no one has ever explained the "My Girl" fragment with which the song closes, however). The most interesting of the "new" songs is his cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together" (barely recognizable as the Stones song), which opens with the band sounding like they're in the middle section of "Sunshine of Your Love." Waters pulls this and the rest off vocally, and the album did got him some gigs playing to college audiences that otherwise might not have heard him. Ironically, he was never able to play these songs on-stage, his own band being unable to replicate their sound, and he was never comfortable with the album. It would be a few years before producers realized that the solution was to simply let Muddy be Muddy, not Jimi.

Tracklist:

I Just Want To Make Love To You 4:14
Hoochie Coochie Man 4:41
Let's Spend The Night Together 3:07
She's All Right 6:44
I'm A Man (Mannish Boy) 3:21
Herbert Harpers Free Press 4:32
Tom Cat 3:37
Same Thing 5:37



Muddy Waters - Electric Mud (1968)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

VA - I Can´t Relax In Deutschland (2005)

The compilation "I Can´t Relax In Deutschland" was released in 2005 on the "unterm durchschnitt" label as a statement against nationalism in german pop culture. They wrote about the album:

"A negativing statement to german pop culture and german society in general labeling "Deutsch" as a positive worth.

Amazingly, in these days being-German functions as a lifestyle perfectly: Music, art as well as fashion and photography labeled as "German" qualify as marketing strategies and bring together pop culture and nationalism in a modern Germany.

The following bands took part at our initiative:
Tocotronic, Kettcar, Von Spar, Stella, Superpunk, peters., Egotronic, Räuberhöhle, Monochrome, Die Goldenen Zitronen, Die Sterne, Knarf Rellöm, Lali Puna, T. Raumschmiere, Saalschutz, Lawrence, The Robocop Kraus, Rythm King And Her Friend, Mouse On Mars."

The label "unterm durchschnitt" writes the following about the idea of indie music in the capitalist system:

"unterm durchschnitt is part of the problem since 1999. we try to uplift subversively popculture beyond the borders of nations and origin. since we are subjected under capitalist conditions as everybody else we refuse to call ourselves independent or diy. it's a myth that dreams of indie-feelings lead to a emancipated society in which the capitalist system is eventually shut down, because this hallucinated freedom can only be a small free space which is in fact provided by the system itself."


More information via http://www.icantrelaxin.de/index.html 


Tracklist:

1 Monochrome – Gegenstück 3:53
2 Kettcar – Einer 3:49
3 Tocotronic – Aber hier leben, nein danke 5:06
4 Räuberhöhle feat. Saalschutz – Achtung! 4:35
5 Die Goldenen Zitronen – Fin De Millinaire 4:55
6 Rhythm King And Her Friends – I'm Disco (Discontent Mix) 4:16
7 Mouse On Mars – Wipe That Sound 3:02
8 Lali Puna – The Daily Match 4:06
9 Muff Potter – Punkt9 2:55
10 Peters. feat. Egotronic – Diskretion Deluxe 2:50
11 The Robocop Kraus – Concerned Your Secular Friends 3:21
12 Kante – My Love Is Still Untold 5:32
13 Bernadette La Hengst – Warum nicht 2 3:21
14 Die Sterne – Sorglos (Studioversion) 4:00
15 Von Spar – Slow Down For A Fast Trip (2005) 2:59
16 Stella – Business Of Strangers 3:28
17 Knarf Rellöm – Arme kleine Deutsche 4:01
18 T.Raumschmiere – Noch nie/Nicht mehr 3:50
19 Superpunk – Matula (Live) 2:11
20 Lawrence – Things 4:26

VA - I Can´t Relax In Deutschland (2005)

(320 kbps, front cover included)

The Kingston Trio - The Last Month Of The Year (1960)

Released in 1960, when the Kingston Trio were one of the most popular recording acts in the U.S.A., "The Last Month of the Year" did not tear up the charts as expected. It peaked at number 11, a relatively low placement given their popularity, and it didn't become a catalog item, which is the ultimate goal of any holiday record.

The reason why "The Last Month of the Year" failed to become an accepted standard is due entirely to its ambition. Most musicians stick to the tried-and-true carols but the Kingston Trio dug deep into unheralded English, European, and American spiritual and carol songbooks. "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," an old English carol, as is often performed, as is the Wassailing song, and the Weavers had popularized "Go Where I Send Thee," but most of "The Last Month of the Year" would've been unfamiliar to 1960 audiences, as it would be to modern listeners. This may have doomed the album to obscurity but it's a remarkable record, one that's canny in its construction and heartfelt in execution.

"The Last Month of the Year" celebrates the deep history of the holiday while showcasing the trio's warm harmonies and sensitive, savvy interpretative skills. It may not have made many waves at the time but it remains one of the most distinctive - and best - holiday records.     

Tracklist:

A1 Bye, Bye, Thou Little Tiny Child 2:55
A2 The Snows Of Winter 2:34
A3 We Wish You A Merry Christmas 1:34
A4 All Through The Night 2:14
A5 Goodnight My Baby 1:53
A6 Go Where I Send Thee 2:28
B1 Follow Now, Oh Shepards 2:42
B2 Somerset Gloucestershire Wassail 1:47
B3 Mary Mild 2:50
B4 A Round About Christmas 1:30
B5 Sing We Noel 2:00
B6 The Last Month Of The Year 2:35

The Kingston Trio - The Last Month Of The Year (1960) 
(256 kbps, cover art included)   

VA - Where Will You Be Christmas Day?

The compilation "Where Will You Be Christmas Day?" shows many sides of Christmas - from Jesus born in the manger to Leroy Carr spending the holiday in jail - and provides a compelling contrast to the commercialized Christmas we know today.

A holiday compilation with a difference, this assembles a couple dozen Christmas-themed recordings from 1917-1959 that represent roots music of all stripes - blues, gospel, early jazz, early country, Appalachian folk, and even some ethnic sounds of Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Italy, and Ukraine. There are some pretty famous names here, like Leadbelly, Bessie Smith, and Lightnin' Hopkins, as well as some artists who are not as famous but still pretty renowned, like Rev. J.M. Gates, Buell Kazee, and the Maddox Brothers & Rose. Yet as was the case on the Dust-to-Digital label's extraordinary six-CD box set of 1902-1960 spirituals, "Goodbye, Babylon", there are a host of names here that will be known almost exclusively to serious old-time music collectors. That in itself makes this a pretty interesting and offbeat Christmas anthology. But even if you care nothing for rare record values, it's certainly rawer, more heartfelt, and just more musically interesting than the vast majority of what you'll find in the holiday bin. It's also a reminder of a time when Christmas discs could be relatively joyful and sincere expressions of religion and merrymaking, rather than just excuses to make a quick buck by cashing in on the time of the season. It makes for superior roots music listening whether you're in the holiday spirit or not, but some of the better tracks to keep an ear out for include the Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers' jovial Dixieland jazz-style "Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn," with its thrilling high female background vocal swoops; Leadbelly's highly rhythmic, infectiously joyous "Christmas Is A-Coming"; the exuberant early calypso of Lord Executor's "Christmas Is a Joyful Day"; the shuffling flamenco-like verve of Los Jibaros' "Décimas de Nacimiento"; and the electric blues of Lightnin' Hopkins' "Happy New Year," which verges on rock & roll.

Note, also, how the tracks are sequenced almost like a chronological celebration of holiday themes, starting with Vera Hall Ward's "The Last Month of the Year," moving on through Leadbelly's "Christmas Is A-Coming" and Kansas City Kitty's "Christmas Morning Blues," and wrapping up with Hopkins' "Happy New Year."

This album deserves a four-star rating for its general musical value; judged by the standards of Christmas/holiday releases, it easily rates a full five stars.       


VA - Where Will You Be Christmas Day?
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Happy X-Mas!      

Joe Gibbs & The Professionals – African Dub - Chapter 4 (1979)

The fourth and final volume in the "African Dub All-Mighty" series was originally released in 1979, and like the previous three discs it features rhythm tracks laid down by such famous session men as Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Lloyd Parks, and Franklin "Bubblers" Waul, most of whom were already known as members of the Revolutionaries and the We the People band, but who recorded at Joe Gibbs' studio as the Professionals. 

Errol Thompson ran the board for all four collections of dub mixes, and while this fourth installment isn't quite as inspired as the third, it's also a bit more interesting and adventurous than the first. Some of these mixes are two or three times removed from the vocal tracks that were originally released -- "Iron Gate," for example, is a dub mix of a recut (by Althea & Donna) of the Heptones' proto-slack rocksteady classic "Fattie Fattie"; "Fashion One" is a remix of Dennis Brown's remake of Alton Ellis' 1960s classic "Girl I've Got a Date."

Everything here is worth a listen, though "Power Pack" (based on the instrumental "Drum Song" by Sound Dimension) is a bit tedious and would have benefited from a more aggressive dub treatment. Recommended overall.


Tracklist:

A1 Crucial Attempt
A2 Behind Iron Bars
A3 Ghetto Slum
A4 Yard Music
A5 Iron Gate
B1 Power Pack
B2 Free The Children
B3 Fashion "One"
B4 Rhythm Tackle
B5 Sniper

Joe Gibbs & The Professionals – African Dub - Chapter 4 (1979)

(320 kbps, cover art included)

Fela Kuti - Fela Fela Fela (1969)

It's almost impossible to overstate the impact and importance of Fela Anikulapo (Ransome) Kuti (or just Fela as he's more commonly known) to the global musical village: producer, arranger, musician, political radical, outlaw. He was all that, as well as showman par excellence, inventor of Afro-beat, an unredeemable sexist, and a moody megalomaniac.

The album "Fela Fela Fela", a Duke Lumumba recording, is is the original LA Session album released in Nigeria on EMI Nigeria. Lonnie Bolden plays tenor sax, jacket design by Ebele and Chinye.

Tracklist:

1. My Lady Frustration
2. Viva Nigeria
3. Obe
4. Ako
5. Witchcraft
6. Wayo
7. Lover
8. Funky Horn
9. Eko
10. This is Sad

Fela Kuti - Fela Fela Fela (1969, EMI Nigeria)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Bots - Entrüstung (1981)

Bots is a Dutch language folk rock group from the southern city of Eindhoven that is successful in both the Netherlands and Germany. The band was formed in 1974 by Hans Sanders and is mainly known for the song "Zeven Dagen Lang" ("Sieben Tage Lang" in German, "Seven Days Long" in English). The first albums were produced by Peter Koelewijn. In 2005 a new version of "Zeven Dagen Lang" was recorded with the rapper Ali B on the occasion of the Muziek10Daagse. On 3 November 2007 Hans Sanders died at the age of 61.

In 1980 Bots recorded the album "Je Voelt Pas Nattigheid Als Je Droog Komt Te Staan" ("You Won't Smell A Rat Until You Come Across One") with producer Peter Koelewijn. In the autumn the band's first German-language album came out. "Aufstehn!" (Stand Up!) contains German versions of songs like "Zeven Dagen Lang" (de:"Sieben Tage Lang" en:"Seven Days On End") and Ali. The songs were translated by German authors Günter Wallraff, Henning Venske and Peter Tobiasch.

In 1981 Bots sold over 400,000 copies of "Aufstehn!" and its followup "Entrüstung" (Indignation, also Ent-Rüstung = Dis-Armament (correctly: en:disarmament = de:Abrüstung) ). The songs were translated by German authors Günter Wallraff, Dieter Hildebrandt, Hanns Dieter Hüsch and Henning Venske. 


Tracklist:
A1 – Montagmorgen
A2 – Aberglaube
A3 – Rechts
A4 – Das weiche Wasser
A5 – Auf zum Bots
B1 – Popmusikant
B2 – Bürokrat
B3 – Dr. Grossbaum
B4 – Entrüstung
B5 – Wer schweigt stimmt zu

Bots - Entrüstung (1981)

(ca. 192 kbps, cover art included)

Prince Far I - Under Heavy Manners (1977)

A fairly obscure figure even by reggae standards, Prince Far I was one of the sternest of the "cultural" DJs that proliferated on the Jamaican scene in the late '70s; he rarely toasted (or, as he preferred, "chanted") about the joys of dancing or romantic love; his message was always focused on matters spiritual and political. This didn't mean he couldn't be whimsical at times: He once used his musical pulpit make fun of neo-Nazis for the clothes they wore and sometimes (as on this album's title track) lectured the youth on matters of etiquette, and he once recorded an entire album of Old Testament psalms.

"Under Heavy Manners", which he recorded for the great producer Joe Gibbs, is one of his finest albums, but until the Rocky One label was revived in the late '90s as Joe Gibbs Music, it was almost impossible to find.  It is a classic late seventies deejay album, featuring frog-throated mic chanter Prince Far I and featuring his monster 1977 Joe Gibbs hit "Under Heavy Manners" plus nine other tracks, some featuring the interjections of Joseph Hill of Culture, utilising riddims such as Dennis Brown’s Ghetto Girl, Junior Byles’ Heart & Soul and Gibbs’ second cut of Satta. Mixed by the great Errol T.


Tracklist:

"Rain a Fall"
"Big Fight"
"You I Love and Not Another"
"Young Generation"
"Shine Eye Gal"
"Boz Rock"
"Show Me Mine Enemy"
"Shadow"
"Deck of Cards"
"Heavy Manners"

Prince Far I - Under Heavy Manners (1977)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

King Tubby Meets The Upsetter At The Grass Roots Of Dub (1975)

Seminal dub album produced by Winston Edwards. In 1974 Edwards left Jamaica to reside in the UK and through his strong connections with such reggae luminaries as Joe Gibbs, Lee Perry and King Tubby began to travel back and forth between London and Kingston (JA) to bring back recordings to issue on his Fay Music label here in the UK. 

In 1974 he released this controversial, seminal dub set, shunned by some at the time due to the spurious marketing device employed. The whole album appears in fact to have been mixed at Tubby’s, while the rhythms were possibly built at Perry’s Ark and maybe Gibbs’ studio, but at this length memories are stretched. Now of course, it sounds like what it is, a classic early Tubby’s dub album, musical, tuneful, heavy dubwise set with Vin Gordon’s unique trombone lines well to the fore. Essential dub.

Tracklist:

A1	Blood Of Africa
A2	African Roots
A3	Rain Roots
A4	Wood Roots
A5	Luke Lane Rock
B1	People From The Grass Roots
B2	Crime Wave
B3	No Justice For The Poor
B4	300 Years At The Grass Roots
B5	King And The Upsetter At Spanish Town

King Tubby Meets The Upsetter At The Grass Roots Of Dub (1975)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Creation Rockers Vol. 1 & 2 (originally released in 1979)

Collecting together the first two volumes of the popular "Creation Rockers" series on one CD, this is truly a great value.

The songs here range from ska and rock steady to dub and toasting to roots, with the emphasis on the latter. Whatever the sub-genre, seminal tracks abound, such as Niney the Observor's "Blood and Fire", Alton Ellis' lively "Dance Crasher," the classic rhythms of Slim Smith's "My Conversation" and Bob Andy's "Feeling Soul," Peter Tosh's "Brand New Second Hand," and Dennis Brown's "Conqueror."

Some lesser known favorites: Derrick Harriott's uncharacteristically militant "Message From a Black Man" features a great up-tempo acoustic guitar rhythm, while Ken Boothe's "You're No Good" is funky, funky, funky. "I've Got Soul" by Carlton & The Shoes provides a privileged look at the group that spawned the legendary Abyssinians, with brothers Lynford and Donald Manning being two-thirds of each group. "I've Got Soul" is Abyssinian-esque in its cool, harmonic flow, similar to the Abyssinians' "There Is No End."

Tracklist:


A1 BABA BROOKS-GUNS FEVER
A2 ERRICK HARRIOTT-MESSAGE FROM A BLACK MAN
A3 CARLTON & THE SHOES- I´VE GOT SOUL
A4 U-ROY - FLASHING MY WHIP
A5 NINEY THE OBSERVER - BLOOD AND FIRE
A6 ERROL DUNKLEY - A LITTLE WAY DIFFERENT
B1 BIG YOUTH - REGGAE PHENOMENON
B2 GREGORY ISAACS- FINANCIAL ENDORSEMENT
B3 JOHNNY CLARKE- ENTER INTO HIS GATES WITH PRAISE
B4 AUGUSTUS PABLO & KING TUBBY´S - BIG RIP OFF
B5 SUGAR MINOTT - MAN HUNGRY
B6 PRINCE FAR I - I AND I THE CHOSEN ONE

Vol2

A1 ALTON ELLIS & THE FLAMES - DANCE CRASHER
A2 SLIM SMITH & THE UNIQUES - MY CONVERSATION
A3 THE WAILERS - CAUTION
A4 JOHN HOLT - MY SATISFACTION
A5 BOB ANDY - FEELING SOUL
A6 TOMMY McCOOK & RAD WILSON - MORE MUSIC
B1 PETER TOSH .BRAND NEW SECOND HAND
B2 BIG JOE - GLITTER NOT GOLD
B3 DELROY WILSON - PRETTY GIRL
B4 DENNIS BROWN - CONQUEROR
B5 MICKY DREAD - STEP BY STEP.
B6 KEN BOOTHE & JAMMY´S - YOU´RE NO GOOD

Creation Rockers Vol. 1 & 2 (192 kbps)

The Chambers Brothers - New Generation (1971)

Like their West Coast contemporaries Sly and the Family Stone, the Chambers Brothers shattered racial and musical divides to forge an incendiary fusion of funk, gospel, blues, and psychedelia which reached its apex with the perennial 1968 song "Time Has Come Today."

Eschewing their normal frenzied mix of soul and rock, the brothers package their socially uplifting messages more in James Brown-style funk than usual.

They produce the album themselves and their ambition often exceeds their grasp. String orchestrations by band members Brian Keenan and Joe Chambers clutter an already-busy mix.

The title track is the kind of extended rave-up that seems to be on every one of their albums. "Going to the Mill" closes the session with a straightforward, and welcome, shot of gospel.

Tracklist:

A1	Are You Ready
A2	Young Girl
A3	Funky
A4	When The Evening Comes
A5	Practice What You Preach
B1	Reflections
B2	Pollution
B3	New Generation
B4	Going To The Mill

The Chambers Brothers - New Generation (1971)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Kurt Weill - O Moon Of Alabama - Historic Original Recordings 1928 - 1933 & 1943/44

The son of a cantor, Kurt Weill was born in Dessau into a family that took in operatic performances as a main form of entertainment.

When Weill was in his teens the director of the Dessau Hoftheater, Albert Bing, encouraged him in the study of music. Weill briefly studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck and was already working professionally as a conductor when he attended composer Ferruccio Busoni's master classes in Berlin.

Delighted to see the positive responses of an audience to his first collaboration with playwright Georg Kaiser, "Der Protagonist" (1926), he thereafter resolved to work toward accessibility in his music. In 1926 Weill married actress Lotte Lenya, whose reedy, quavering singing voice he called "the one I hear in my head when I am writing my songs."

In 1927 Weill began his collaboration with leftist playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht; their first joint venture, "Mahagonny-Songspiel" (1927), launched the number "Alabama Song," which, to their surprise, became a minor pop hit in Europe. The next show, "Die Dreigroschenoper" ("The Three-Penny Opera", 1928), was a monstrous success, in particular the song "Moritat" ("Mack the Knife").

Nonetheless, strain in their association was already being felt, and after the completion of their magnificent "school opera" "Der Jasager" (1930), the two parted company. Brecht and Weill were brought together once more in Paris to create "Die Sieben Todsünden" ("The Seven Deadly Sins") in 1934. In the meantime, Weill collaborated with Caspar Neher on the opera "Die Bürgschaft" (1931) and Georg Kaiser again on "Der Silbersee" (1933), works that garnered the hostile attention of the then-emerging Nazi party.

With the rise to power of Hitler, Weill and Lenya were forced to dissolve their union and flee Continental Europe. Weill found his way to New York in 1935; rejoining Lenya, Weill became a citizen and devoted himself to American democracy with a vengeance, preferring his name pronounced like "wile" rather than "vile." After a series of frustrating flops, Weill hit his stride with playwright Maxwell Anderson, producing his first hit, "Knickerbocker Holiday" (1938). In the dozen years left to him, Weill's stature on Broadway grew with a series of hit shows, including "Lady in the Dark" (1941), "One Touch of Venus" (1943), "Love Life" (1948), and "Lost in the Stars" (1949). Weill had ambitions to create what he regarded as "the first American folk opera"; the closest of his American works to reach that goal is "Street Scene" (1946), a sort of "urban folk opera" based on a play by Elmer Rice with lyrics by Langston Hughes.

On April 3, 1950, Weill unexpectedly suffered a massive coronary and died in Lenya's arms. Weill's estate was valued at less than 1,000 dollars, and Lenya realized that his contribution to musical theater was likewise undervalued. She commissioned composer Marc Blitzstein to adapt an English-language version of "Die Dreigroschenoper"; it opened off-Broadway in 1954 and ran for three years, touching off a Weill revival that continues to this day.

Here´s a collectoin of Kurt Weill related recordings called "O Moon Of Alabama - Historic Original Recordings 1928-1933; 1943/44":

Kurt Weill - O Moon Of Alabama (192 kbps)

Tracklisting:
1. Alabama-Song (2:53) - Marek Weber And His Orchestra
2. Tango Angèle (3:02) - Saxophon-Orchester Dobbri
3. Die Muschel Von Margate (Petroleum-Song) (2:55) - Lyrics By - Felix Gasbarra Piano - Alfred Schlee, Vocals - Otto Pasetti
4. Surabaya-Johnny (2:52) - Theo Mackeben And His Jazz-Orchestra
5. Bilbao-Song (2:56) - Theo Mackeben And His Jazz-Orchestra
6. Matrosensong (3:08)
7. Surabaya-Johnny (2:43)
8. Der Song Von Madelay (3:02)
9. Surabaya-Johnny (2:42) - "Red" Roberts And His Jazz-Orchestra
10. Surabaya-Johnny (3:14) - Orchestre Pierre Chagnon Vocals - Marianne Oswald
11. Alabama-Song (2:49)
12. Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet (3:22)
13. Querschnitt Aus Der Oper "Aufstieg Und Fall Der Stadt Mahagonny" (8:33) - Großes Ensemble Des Theaters Am Kurfürstendamm Conductor - Hans Sommer Orchestra - Orchester Des Theaters Am Kurfürstendamm
14. Das Lied Vom Schlaraffenland (2:55) - Conductor - Maurice de Abravanel Vocals - Ernst Busch
15. Der Bäcker Backt Ums Morgenrot (3:06) - Conductor - Maurice de Abravanel Vocals - Ernst Busch
16. Lost In The Stars (3:00) - Lyrics By - Maxwell Anderson
17. Lover Man (2:51) - Lyrics By - Maxwell Anderson
18. J'attends Un Navire (3:02) - Lyrics By - Jacques Déval
19. Complainte De La Seine (3:26) - Lyrics By - Maurice Magre
20. Surabaya-Johnny (3:06)
21. Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet (3:03)
22. Und Was Bekam Des Soldaten Weib (4:09)
23. Wie Lange Noch? (3:17) - Lyrics By - Walter Mehring

Ressources:

1 rec. Mar 1928, original release on Electrola (E.G. 853)

2 rec. Jan 1928, original release on Beka (B 6313)

3 rec. 1931, original release on Paloma (Wien) (3501)

4, 5 rec. 1929, original release on Orchestrola (2311)

6, 7 rec. 1929, original release on Electrola (E.G. 1590)

8 rec. 1929, original release on Electrola (E.G. 1569)

9 rec. 1930, original release on Ultraphon (A 198)

10 rec. 1931, original release on Columbia, Paris (DF 1114)

11, 12 rec. 1930, original release on Homocord (3671)

13 rec. 1932, original release on Electrola (E.H. 736)

14, 15 rec. Jan 1933, original release on Gloria (G.O. 10703)

16 to 21 rec. 1943, original release on Bost Records, New York (6 5017-19)

22, 23 rec. 1943/44, original release on Office of War Information (OWI) Washington

With special greetings to verde!

Os Mutantes - Tecnicolor (1970)

"Tecnicolor" would have been the fourth album by the Brazilian band Os Mutantes. The album was intended to be their introduction in the English-speaking world and included English versions of songs from the albums "Os Mutantes" and "A Divina Comédia ou Ando Meio Desligado", re-recordings in Portuguese and French and several new songs.

It was recorded in Paris in 1970, the tapes were lost until writer Carlos Calado, working on an Os Mutantes biography, uncovered them. Another version of the myth is that they were unsatisfied with many of the recording and abandoned the project to return to Brazil, explaining why three of the recordings were used later that year for their album "Jardim Elétrico".

It was released in 2000 on Universal Records, with artwork by Sean Lennon, in order to capitalize on the growing interest in Os Mutantes following the re-release of their early albums in the late 1990s.
By no means did Mutantes commercialize their sound. The tape-music experimentation and freak-out guitar lines are, if anything, farther out than the first few Mutantes LPs.

Though a few of the tracks -- "Panis Et Circenses" especially -- lose much of their cache with the addition of English lyrics, for the most part these versions equal or even better the originals.

Tracklist:

Panis Et Circenses 2:12

Bat Macumba 3:16

Virginia 3:23

She's My Shoo Shoo (A Minha Menina) 2:52

I Feel A Little Spaced Out (Ando Meio Desligado) 2:51

Baby 3:36

Tecnicolor 3:54

El Justiciero3:52

I'm Sorry Baby (Desculpe, Babe) 2:42

Adeus, Maria Fulo 2:39

Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour 2:46

Saravah 2:59

Panis Et Circenses (Reprise) 1:23


Os Mutantes - Tecnicolor (1970)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Ijahman Levi‎ – Are We A Warrior (1979)

"A We a Warrior" is truly an overlooked gem for the waning years of roots reggae's Golden Era. With only five tracks on the entire album, Ijahman takes the opportunity to languidly suss out each tune to the fullest. Every song is at least five minutes long. Several of the cuts are nearly 8 minutes long and not a moment is wasted. The result is a mystical, lush, yearning, spiritual (The Church), and, yes, sexy (check Ms. Beverly) soundscape that is still prophetic and futuristic sounding nearly three decades after is original release. 

Ijahman sings as though he is truly possessed by a mystical muse. The backing band on this album could easily be an allstar list of Jamaica's finest studio musicians of the era: They are nothing less than precise as they construct deep grooves that build upon and transcend the classic one-drop sound that was so (rightfully) pervasive at the time. There is a dark edge to Ijahman's spirituality and that's what makes this record exceptional. This is not tourist Jamaican music, nor is it poppy or hippy-dippy reggae and there are no touchy, feelly, "everything is irie" (although the grooves are indeed deep) anthems here. The style, rhythm and lyrics are unapologetically revolutionary, African and Rastafarian. This not to say that those who simply enjoy great music will be put off: Above all else, the music here is sublime and richly melodic. This ones for those who seek a deeper roots sound. "Are We a Warrior" is simply rare find, a unique record that takes the willing listener on a sonic quest in search of mystic revelations.

- Coalhouse Walker Junior

The title track and "Moulding" are two of reggae's most haunting meditations ever.

Tracklist:

A1	Are We A Warrior
A2	Moulding
A3	The Church
B1	Miss Beverly
B2	Two Sides Of Love

Ijahman Levi‎ – Are We A Warrior (1979)
(192 kbps, cover art included)        

Prince Buster - The Outlaw (1969 Blue Beat, vinyl rip)

Cecil Bustamente Campbell, O.D. (born 28 May 1938), better known as Prince Buster and also known by his Muslim name Muhammed Yusef Ali, is a musician from Kingston, Jamaica is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music. The records he made on the Blue Beat label in the 1960s inspired many reggae and ska artists.

Like "Wreck a Pum Pum" before it, "The Outlaw" could reasonably claim to stand among rock's first-ever concept albums, a collection of songs built (for the most part) around the legend of the American west, bad men and, indeed, outlaws.

"The Cincinnati Kid" and a tight remake of "Al Capone," the thumping "Gun the Man Down" and "The Baddest," the driving "It's Burke's Law," with its bemusing vocal premonition of Eek-A-Mouse and "The Outlaw" itself all feed into the album's overall theme and, if the likes of "Happy Reggae" and "Fever" seem a little out of place, the blazing take on "Phoenix City" that closes the set swiftly restores the concept's equilibrium.

Prince Buster - The Outlaw (1969, vinyl rip)

(256 kbps, cover art included)

Os Mutantes - Mutantes (1969)

Here´s another fine album by Os Mutantes, the Brazilian rockers who blended pop packaging, avant-garde experimentation, and an irreverent attitude during the late-'60s tropicalia movement

One album into their career in 1969, "Mutantes" showed few signs of musical burnout after turning in one of the oddest LPs released in the '60s. Similar to its predecessor, "Mutantes" relies on an atmosphere of experimentation and continual musical collisions, walking a fine line between innovation and pointless genre exercises. The lead track ("Dom Quixote") has the same focus on stylistic cut-and-paste as their debut LP's first track ("Panis et Circenses"). Among the band's musical contemporaries, "Mutantes" sounds similar only to songs like the Who's miniature suite "A Quick One While He's Away" -- though done in three minutes instead of nine, and much more confusing given the language barrier.
The album highlights ("Nao Va Se Perder por Ai") and ("Dois Mil e Um") come with what sounds like a typically twisted take on roots music (both Brazilian and American), complete with banjo, accordion, and twangy vocals. Though there are several other enjoyable tracks, including "Magica" and a slap-happy stomp called "Rita Lee," there's a palpable sense that the experimentation here isn't serving much more than its own ends.       

Tracklist

A1 Dom Quixote 3:53
A2 Não Vá Se Perder Por Aí 3:15
A3 Dia 36 4:00
A4 2.001 3:56
A5 Algo Mais 2:39
A6 Fuga N° II Dos Mutantes 3:44
B1 Banho De Lua 3:40
B2 Rita Lee 3:09
B3 Mágica 4:43
B4 Qualquer Bobagem 4:47
B5 Caminhante Noturno 5:09

Os Mutantes - Mutantes (1969)
(320 kbps, cover art included)