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Rahn Burton Trio - The Poem, 1992 (Jazz)

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1. The Poem 7:07
2. Alone Together 5:10
3. Almost Spring 5:06
4. Chinatown 7:08
5. Derbytown Blues 8:34
6. Green Veil 6:08
7. Light Blue 5:18
8. Lazy Bones 6:36
9. Unforgettable 6:42

Rahn Burton - Piano
Walter Booker - Bass
Jimmy Cobb - Drums

AMG:
"A fine pianist who began playing professionally in Louisville during the '50s. He started with Rahsaan Roland Kirk in 1953, and toured with him through the Midwest six years. One of Kirk's earliest Argo albums included a Burton composition. Burton toured with George Adams playing organ in the mid-'60s, following engagements in New York, Syracuse and Louisville, then worked in Atlanta with Sirone. Burton rejoined Kirk in the late '60s, playing with him until the mid-70s and making several recordings. He formed his own band, the African-American Connection, in the early '70s and has continued heading them at various points. He's played and recorded with Michael Carvin, Stanley Turrentine, Leon Thomas, Carlos Garnett, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, Charlie Rouse, Adams and Beaver Harris."



The Poem

or

The Poem


Area - Chernobyl 7991, 1997 (Rock Progressivo Italiano)

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1. 15.000 umbrellas (1st part)
2. 15.000 umbrellas (2nd part)
3. Liquiescenza
4. Wedding day
5. Chernobyl 7991
6. Fall down
7. Il faut marteler
8. Efstratios
9. Mbira & Orizzonti
10. Colchide
11. Deriva (sogni sognati vendesi)
12. Sedimentazioni

Patrizio Fariselli - pianoforte and tastiere
Paolo dalla Porta - contrebass
Giulio Capiozzo - drums
Pietro Condorelli - chitarra (4, 9)
Gigi Cifarelli - chitarra (5)
Stefano Bedetti - sax soprano (9)
John Clark - French corn (1, 2)
Marino Paire - voice (6)


AMG:
"...At the end of 1996, Capiozzo and Fariselli re-formed Area for a new release called Chernobyl 7991, with the collaboration of jazz bassist Paolino Dalla Porta (aka Paola Dalla Porta) and guitarist Fabio Condorelli..."



Chernobyl 7991

or

Chernobyl 7991

Buster Williams - Dreams Come True, 1981 (Soul Jazz)

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1. When the Sky Is Clear 8:37
2. Betcha by Golly, Wow 6:35
3. Ain't Misbehavin' 7:01
4. Seascape 8:45
5. So Falls the Past 9:30
6. Dreams Come True 7:15

Hubert Laws - Flute
Hank Crawford - Sax (Alto)
Eddie Henderson - Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Kenny Barron - Piano
Onaje Allan Gumbs - Piano (Electric)
Buster Williams - Bass
Ben Riley - Drums
Billy Hart - Drums
Nobu Horushiyama - Percussion
Melvin Roundtree - Strings
Carl Ector - Strings
Ulysses Kirksey - Strings
Ronald Lipscomb - Strings
Akua Dixon - Strings
Gayle Dixon - Strings
Eddie Drennon - Strings
John Blake - Strings
Lloyd Carter - Strings
Clarissa Howell - Strings
Curtis Rance King, Jr. - Vocals
Darryl Tookes - Vocals
Terri Gonzalez - Vocals

AMG:
"With 12 strings and three 'background' vocalists sometimes being utilized in keyboardist Onaje Allen Gumbs' arrangements, this effort by bassist Buster Williams is often somewhat commercial. However the guest spots by pianist Kenny Barron, altoist Hank Crawford, flutist Hubert Laws and trumpeter Eddie Henderson are generally worthwhile and the material (four group originals plus 'Ain't Misbehavin'' and 'Betcha By Golly, Wow') is stronger than expected. In any case, this long out-of-print album will be a difficult one to locate."



Dreams Come True

or

Dreams Come True

Wanda Jackson - Rockin' With Wanda, 1960 (Rockabilly)

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1. Rock Your Baby 1:46
2. Fujiyama Mama 2:14
3. You're the One for Me 2:00
4. Did You Miss Me? 2:18
5. Cool Love 2:17
6. Honey Bop 2:14
7. Hot Dog! That Made Him Made 2:40
8. Baby Loves Him 2:02
9. Mean Mean Man 2:13
10. You've Turned to a Stranger 2:43
11. Dona'a Wan'a 2:15
12. I Gotta Know 2:30
13. (Everytime They Play) Our Song 2:03
14. Sinful Heart 2:38
15. Savin' My Love 2:09
16. A Date with Jerry 2:16
17. Reaching 2:22
18. I'd Rather Have You 2:33

AMG:

"Wanda Jackson was only halfway through high school when, in 1954, country singer Hank Thompson heard her on an Oklahoma City radio show and asked her to record with his band, the Brazos Valley Boys. By the end of the decade, Jackson had become one of America's first major female country and rockabilly singers.
Jackson was born in Oklahoma, but her father Tom - himself a country singer who quit because of the Depression - moved the family to California in 1941. He bought Wanda her first guitar two years later, gave her lessons, and encouraged her to play piano as well. In addition, he took her to see such acts as Tex Williams, Spade Cooley, and Bob Wills, which left a lasting impression on her young mind. Tom moved the family back to Oklahoma City when his daughter was 12 years old. In 1952, she won a local talent contest and was given a 15-minute daily show on KLPR. The program, soon upped to 30 minutes, lasted throughout Jackson's high-school years. It's here that Thompson heard her sing. Jackson recorded several songs with the Brazos Valley Boys, including 'You Can't Have My Love,' a duet with Thompson's bandleader, Billy Gray. The song, on the Decca label, became a national hit, and Jackson's career was off and running. She had wanted to sign with Capitol, Thompson's label, but was turned down, so she signed with Decca instead.
Jackson insisted on finishing high school before hitting the road. When she did, her father came with her. Her mother made and helped design Wanda's stage outfits. 'I was the first one to put some glamour in the country music - fringe dresses, high heels, long earrings,' Jackson said of these outfits. When Jackson first toured in 1955 and 1956, she was placed on a bill with none other than Elvis Presley. The two hit it off almost immediately. Jackson said it was Presley, along with her father, who encouraged her to sing rockabilly.
In 1956, Jackson finally signed with Capitol, a relationship that lasted until the early '70s. Her recording career bounced back and forth between country and rockabilly; she did this by often putting one song in each style on either side of a single. Jackson cut the rockabilly hit 'Fujiyama Mama' in 1958, which became a major success in Japan. Her version of 'Let's Have a Party,' which Elvis had cut earlier, was a U.S. Top 40 pop hit for her in 1960, after which she began calling her band the Party Timers. A year later, she was back in the country Top Ten with 'Right or Wrong' and 'In the Middle of a Heartache.' In 1965, she topped the German charts with 'Santa Domingo,' sung in German. In 1966, she hit the U.S. Top 20 with 'The Box It Came In' and 'Tears Will Be the Chaser for Your Wine.' Jackson's popularity continued through the end of the decade.
Jackson toured regularly, was twice nominated for a Grammy, and was a big attraction in Las Vegas from the mid-'50s into the '70s. She married IBM programmer Wendell Goodman in 1961, and instead of quitting the business - as many women singers had done at the time - Goodman gave up his job in order to manage his wife's career. He also packaged Jackson's syndicated TV show, Music Village. In 1971, Jackson and her husband became Christians, which she says saved their marriage. She released one gospel album on Capitol in 1972, Praise the Lord, before shifting to the Myrrh label for three more gospel albums. In 1977, she switched again, this time to Word Records, and released another two.
In the early '80s, Jackson was invited to Europe to play rockabilly and country festivals and to record. She's since been back numerous times. More recently, American country artists Pam Tillis, Jann Browne, and Rosie Flores have acknowledged Jackson as a major influence. In 1995, Flores released a rockabilly album, Rockabilly Filly, and invited Jackson, her longtime idol, to sing two duets on it with her. Jackson embarked on a major U.S. tour with Flores later that year. It was her first secular tour in this country since the '70s, not to mention her first time back in a nightclub atmosphere. Jackson returned to the studio in 2010 to begin work on a new album. Produced by Jack White and featuring a band comprised of the White Stripes frontman, his wife Karen Elson, various Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket's Carl Broemel, and a host of others, The Party Ain’t Over arrived in early 2011."



Rockin' With Wanda

or

Rockin' With Wanda

Paco de Lucía - Solo Quiero Caminar, 1981 (Flamenco)

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1. Solo Quiero Caminar 6:18
2. La Tumbona 4:20
3. Convite 3:57
4. Montiño 4:04
5. Chanela 3:58
6. Monasterio de Sal 4:54
7. Piñonate 4:45
8. Palenque 4:52

Paco de Lucía - Guitar
Jorge Pardo - Flute, Saxophone
Ramón de Algeciras - Guitar, Handclapping
Carlos Benavent - Bass
Rubem Dantas - Percussion
Pepe de Lucía - Handclapping, Palmas
J. Carlos Rebato - Handclapping, Palmas
Enrique Soto - Handclapping, Palmas




Solo Quiero Caminar

or

Solo Quiero Caminar

Schnittke - Orchestal & Chamber Music (Modern Composition)

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1. Prelude in memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich, 1975
2. Concerto Grosso No 1, 1977
3. Two Short Pieces for organ, 1983
4. Trio-Sonata, moderato, 1987
5. Trio-Sonata, adagio, 1987

Gidon Kremer - Violin
Vladimir Spivakov - Violin
Tatjana Grindenko - Violin
Ludmila Golub - Organ
Yuri Bashmet - Conductor
Dennis Russell Davies - Conductor
Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra

AMG:
"If Alfred Schnittke is a 'poster child' of musical postmodernism, his Concerto Grosso No. 1 (1977) is his poster work. One of the few orchestral works written after 1945 to enter the repertoire of ensembles worldwide, its uneasy fusion of old and new, high and low, and grave and comical captures what is most Schnittkean about Schnittke. This is no mean feat: the 'Schnittkean' is a quality so conflicted, so nomadic and self-deconstructing, that it is almost illusory; the second one catches up to it, it's just fallen through a trap door. Likewise, Concerto Grosso No. 1 is a high-velocity funhouse of masks. Their unveiling is uproarious and caustically black, their liveliness optimistic, but their trajectory doomed.
This unveiling is also Schnittke's central compositional strategy, something he calls 'polystylism.' More than mere eclecticism, 'polystylism' is for Schnittke a musical last resort for building large works; it is a means for dynamic musical theater, whether comedy or tragedy; it is also, as Schnittke believes, the best way of creating successful musical tension amidst unprecedented musical freedom. And so polystylism is eclectic, but never indifferent; it always intends to confront, surprise, and subvert with utmost calculation. Hence the Schnittkean paradox: things stick together by falling apart, in exactly the right places, at exactly the right times.
The Concerto Grosso No. 1 has already fallen apart when it begins. Though the entire complement of Baroque instrumentation is present (two violin soloists, harpsichord, prepared piano, string orchestra), the work begins with only prepared piano, sounding remarkably like a gaggle of pots and pans as it thumps through a childlike 'sentimental song'; only after this foreboding 'Prelude' do the other instruments enter.
The second movement (Toccata) starts as a cutting Vivaldi parody, but quickly distends into a wall of ferocious dissonance. A hapless race through musical history begins: music-box Mozart, heroic-period Beethoven, an overwrought parody of early 12-tone Webern - all in turn drown in a cacophonous current, an 'Ur-discord' lurking behind all other styles. The movement ends with the soloists flailing mechanically amidst stabbing orchestral chords.
Schnittke continues the Baroque concerto sequence with the ensuing slow Recitativo. Soloists and orchestra steadfastly maintain a call-and-response, but its outlines are blurred by thick chromatic clusters and a disturbing lamentation. The Recitativo eventually devolves into a slow, rising slide modeled on a scream; yet through its furious static you can perceive the real joke, as the soloists drill out licks from Tchaikovsky's famous Violin Concerto.
An adamant but confused cadenza for the soloists leads to a culminating Rondo, at which point Vivaldi barrels back into view; but so does 'Grandmother Schnittke,' hilariously banging out her favorite tango on, of all things, the harpsichord. The tango jumps into the fray, along with everything else, and the Rondo, model of 'one-thing-after-another' musical forms, now becomes a game of 'all-things-at-once.' The tone is catastrophic but hardly serious, and soon enough the prepared piano shatters everything with its returning 'sentimental song.' The remaining Postlude supplies an appropriate anti-conclusion; the whole Concerto is now but floating fragments of previous motives and styles, resting on a luminous screen of string-harmonics. Schnittke here perfects his own archetypal conclusion, to permeate his next decade's work: a tone both doomed and supremely open to the future. At once epitaph and phoenix, it embraces the paradox of Schnittke's music and the magnetism of this popular work."



Orchestal & Chamber Music

or

Orchestal & Chamber Music

The Tremeloes - Master/The Early 70's Sessions, 1970 (British Invasion)

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1. Wait For Me
2. Long Road
3. Now's The Time
4. Try Me
5. But Then I
6. Before I Sleep
7. Boola Boola
8. I Swear
9. Baby
10. By The Way
11. Willow Tree
12. Me And My Life

13. (Call Me) Number One (New Stereo Mix)
14. Instant Whip
15. Breakhart Motel
16. Right Wheel Left Hammer Sham (New Stereo Mix)
17. Take It Easy
18. Hello Buddy
19. My Woman
20. What Can I Do (Previously unissued)
21. Anything (Previously unissued)
22. Wait For Me (Previously unissued)
23. Wait A Minute (Solo b-side by Dave Munden)
24. Yellow River (Previously unissued demo)

Ricky West — Lead Guitar, Vocal
Alan Blakely — Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards, Vocal
Chip Hawkes — Bass, Vocal
Dave Munden — Drums, Lead Vocal

AMG:
"The Tremeloes apparently regard Master as their best album. It marked the point where they tried to redefine themselves in a much heavier guise. In place of covers of Four Seasons material and rousing singalong-type numbers, the group delivered a dozen originals that were close in spirit to Crosby, Stills & Nash, steeped in singer/songwriter-style personal lyrics and self-consciously heavy playing, and a very serious attitude. The result is something akin to the kind of music that Badfinger was starting to do at the time, though perhaps still lacking the identifiable personalities that Pete Ham and Tom Evans brought to their work. The playing, especially by guitarists Alan Blakley and Rick West, is often quite beautiful, and as are many of the melodies -- the major exception to the latter statement is the most self-consciously pretentious track on the album, 'Boola Boola,' a protracted Jimi Hendrix-style guitar jam. Both that track and the Elvis Presley-inspired 'Baby' fail to mesh with the rest of what's here, but most of Master is above average melodic hard rock."



Master/The Early 70's Sessions

or

Master/The Early 70's Sessions

Stephan Kaske - Plugged on Mozart, 1996 (Electronic)

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1. Time Is Now
2. Alla Turka
3. Variatio Delecta
4. Mozart Rex
5. Gloria Mundi
6. Tempora Mutantur
7. Mythovotte
8. Mozart Mystique
9. Cassiopeia
10. Aeolus
11. Atrobos
12. Kyrie Eleison
13. Grandezza

Stephan Kaske - Synthesizer

AMG:
"...In 1996, Stephan Kaske did a cover version of Händel's 'Feuerwerksmusik' with his M.A.S.S. side project, also featured on the first Mythos LP in 1971, although very different in interpretation. In 1969, high school dropouts Stephan Kaske (b. October 26, 1951), Harald Weisse, and Thomas Hildebrand, all musical autodidacts, formed the band in Berlin. After the release of their first album, Mythos, they supported British acts like Family, Colosseum, Humble Pie, and Steamhammer on many tours. The first lineup drifted apart after three years; a new one, which followed, did not release a record.
Stephan Kaske founded the Mythos Studio Berlin in 1981 and as it was a big success from the beginning, he had no time to record his music until 1989. Ideas and compositions were used for numerous radio and TV commercials. Meanwhile, Stephan Kaske has produced and cared for over 1,000 bands and artists in his studio. A new musical sign of life was a live-EP in 1989, followed by an album the next year. In the mid-'90s Stephan Kaske again concentrated on his own music that had changed a lot. He has released several albums of mediation/new age music. He has a side project, M.A.S.S., where he produces music ordered by record labels, like adaptions of Mozart, Händel, Beethoven, and others for synthesizer and covers of Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, or Ennio Morricone. Besides this, he has a techno project called Momentum..."



Plugged on Mozart

or

Plugged on Mozart


Mount Everest Trio (Sweden) - Waves from Albert Ayler, 1975/1977 (Free Jazz)

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1. Spirits 4:26
2. Ramblin' 5:54
3. Orinoco 7:05
4. Bananas Oas 4:13
5. No Hip Shit 7:26
6. Elf 3:15
7. Eritrea Libre 3:46
8. People's Dance 6:55
9. 101 W. 80th Street 6:25
10. Consolation 5:29
11. Ode to Albert Ayler 5:25

Gilbert Holmstrom - Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor)
Kjell Jansson - Bass
Conny Sjokvist - Drums

AMG:
"Chicago's John Corbett and the Atavistic label have done a great service to free jazz fans in reissuing this sole album by Sweden's influential Mount Everest Trio as part of the Unheard Music Series. Waves From Albert Ayler gives good indication by its title of this absolutely invigorating outing by alto and tenor player Gilbert Holmström, bassist Kjell Jansson, and drummer Conny Sjökvist. Without a doubt, this album wails from the first seconds of Ayler's 'Spirits,' which opens the album. But this is not wholly an energy record; there are beautiful down times as well, including the deep ballad 'Bananas Oas' and their swinging rendition of Ornette Coleman's 'Ramblin',' which features some great highlights of Jansson. After starting the album by covering Ayler and Coleman (two American musicians who certainly had a great influence upon them), the Mount Everest Trio kicks into the first original of the session, 'Orinoco.' This piece has a driving urgency that pushes the musicians, who work it into a sweat, and eventually an earthquake whose full-blown force continues to peak right up to the unfortunate fade-out that will leave the listener yearning to hear what was cut so long ago. The trio also whips the energy up into a frenzy during 'No Hip Shit,' a decidedly un-prettified tough take. Yet following this is another nice wind-down, the more sparse and careful 'Elf.' The original issue of Waves From Albert Ayler closed two tracks later with a cover of Gary Bartz's 'People's Dance,' but this CD reissue also includes three bonus tracks that were recorded in 1977 right before the group dissolved. A big 'thank you' goes out to the adventurous and experimental Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson for bringing to light one of the albums - and saxophonists - that had a strong influence on him."



Waves from Albert Ayler

or

Waves from Albert Ayler

Michael Byron - Music of Nights Without Moon or Pearl, 2000 (Avant-Garde)

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1. Music of Nights Without Moon or Pearl 18:39
2. Invisible 'Seeds' for James Tenney 15:39
3. Entrances 21:0

Ray Tischer – Viola
Cindy Moussas – Violin
Mark Menzies – Violin
Guenevere Measham – Cello
Barry Newton – Double Bass
Bryan Pezzone – Piano
Vicki Ray – Piano
David Rosenbaum – Piano
Brent Crayon – Synthesizer
David Rosenbaum – Conductor

Wiki:
"Byron was born in 1953 in Chicago, and spent his childhood in Los Angeles where he played trumpet from second grade on. Briefly, around age six, he had piano lessons with his aunt; he also studied trumpet with Mario Guarneri of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Byron met the budding percussionist (and already then new-music fan and record collector) William Winant in junior high school, and they became lifelong friends. Byron’s musical life in Los Angeles after graduating from high school in 1971 was enriched by his meeting the composer James Tenney in the autumn of that year. Soon thereafter he met Peter Garland (another lifelong musical friend), Lou Harrison, William Colvig, Robert Ashley (then at Mills College), and others active in the West Coast new-music scene. Byron’s subsequent teacher-student relationship with Tenney in particular, not to mention the personal friendship they shared from 1971 on, would become one of Byron’s most consequential and enriching musical encounters.
In addition to these key acquaintances, Byron’s compositional trajectory—what might be characterized in some circles as a “second-generation West Coast minimalist” (at least in those days)—was shaped specifically by his association with the early experiments of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Byron’s teachers included both Tenney and Richard Teitelbaum. In particular, Tenney’s presence brought a focus on new American music neglected by other university music department curricula at the time (including a class on John Cage allegedly co-taught by Teitelbaum and Tenney).
In June 1973, Byron left CalArts with plans to continue his studies with Teitelbaum at Art Institute of Chicago; instead he found himself in Toronto, Ontario, where Teitelbaum had taken a job at York University, in the Music Department headed by the Canadian musicologist Austin Clarkson. A lively new-music scene took root in Toronto and in the nearby town of Maple, where several members of that scene lived. Eventually Tenney would also arrive to teach at York (and to live in Maple as well), and an avant-garde network grew to include David Rosenboom and Jacqueline Humbert (both of whom Teitelbaum had urged Byron to seek out), Cynthia Liddell, George Manupelli, Barbara Mayfield, Larry Polansky, and many others during the mid-1970s. Byron eventually earned a “B.A. in Arts with Specialized Honors in Music” from York in June, 1975. (Byron’s friend Winant, too, went to Toronto in 1975, where he earned a B.F.A. degree.) After finishing school Byron taught at York for about two years, and then left permanently for New York City. There he wrote a variety of loud loosely-scored hardcore art rock/punk/noise works, performed by Byron with his friend Rhys Chatham, for lower Manhattan’s club scene during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Carles Santos performed his piano works at the Squat Theater, New York, on 15 December 1979. At the same time he was frequently engaged as a copyist and editor on various projects for La Monte Young, Robert Ashley, and others, and became involved with new ventures like The Kitchen, where, in 1980, his chamber piece Tidal was performed with the composer Julius Eastman conducting (Tidal was originally issued as an LP on Glenn Branca’s Neutral Records and recently re-released on Cold Blue Records). Byron has lived in the New York City area ever since.
His music has been released on Cold Blue Music, Meridian Records, Koch Records and New World Records. He was the publisher and editor of the journal Pieces, and is published by Frog Peak Music. Michael Byron studied composition with James Tenney, and Richard Teitelbaum."


Music of Nights Without Moon or Pearl

or

Music of Nights Without Moon or Pearl

Banda Peace & Love (Mexico) - Avandaro 1971 (Latin Rock)

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1. Mariguana 6:02
2. Until 5:40
3. We got the power 5:05
4. Against the devil 1:55
5. Latin feelin 6:57
6. Memories for those who are gone 9:43
7. Can't you tell 3:42
8. Peace and Love 2:19

Felipe Maldonado - voz, piano y órgano
Ricardo Ochoa - Guitarra, flauta y voz
Juan José El mandril Ruiz - Guitarra
Ramón Torres - Bajo y voz
Ramón Bozzo II Ochoa
Eustacio Cosme - Trombón
José Cuevas - Sax tenor
Salomón Elías - Trompeta
Fernando Cabezón Rivera
+
José Luis vite - percusiones (5)
Mario Susunaga - percusiones (5)
Armando Peraza - percusiones (5)
Norma Valdez - coros (2. 6)
Irma Castillón - coros (2. 6)
Bertha Castillón - coros (2. 6)

green-brain-krautrock:
"Peace & Love was the main act of Avandaro Festival, perhaps the most popular Mexican band at that time, with its mixture of acid rock and pychedelia. Headed by Ricardo Ochoa (guitar) and Ramon Torres (bass) , and an interesting wind session.
They had a style that although he was not absolutely original, if it emphasized by his interpretative force. Their 'Marijuana' was a hit, but also reason for controversy like was obvious in an age and a preservative society. While Avandaro (that species of Mexican Woodstock) was developed with certain normality, Peace & Love interpreted Marijuana and later ' We have the power' , sufficient reason so that the radial transmissions of the Festival immediately were cut and beginning there the persecution and the temporary decline for the Mexican rock. After some problems the group separates, after it,Ochoa and Torres joined Nahuatl."



Avandaro 1971

or

Avandaro 1971

Re.: Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel - The Psychomodo, 1974, (Glam)

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1. Sweet Dreams 2:05
2. The Psychomodo 4:04
3. Mr. Soft 3:17
4. Singular Band 2:59
5. Ritz 7:15
6. Cavaliers 8:45
7. Bed in the Corner 7:45
8. Sling It! 8:45
9. Tumbling Down 9:45

Steve Harley - Vocals
Jean Paul Crocker - Violin
Milton Reame James - Keyboards
Paul Jeffreys - Bass
Stuart Elliott - Drums
Andrew Powell - Strings, Arranger
Alan Parsons - Producer

AMG:
"If The Human Menagerie, Cockney Rebel's debut album, was a journey into the bowels of decadent cabaret, The Psychomodo, their second, is like a trip to the circus. Except the clowns were more sickly perverted than clowns normally are, and the fun house was filled with rattlesnakes and spiders. Such twists on innocent childhood imagery have transfixed authors from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, but Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel were the first band to set that same dread to music, and the only ones to make it work. The Psychomodo was also the band's breakthrough album. The Human Menagerie drew wild reviews and curious sales, but it existed as a cult album even after 'Judy Teen' swung out of nowhere to give the band a hit single in spring 1974. Then 'Mr Soft' rode his bloodied big top themes into town and Rebelmania erupted. The Psychomodo, still possessing one of the most elegantly threatening jackets of any album ever, had no alternative but to clean up. Harley's themes remained essentially the same as last time out - fey, fractured alienation; studied, splintered melancholia, and shattered shards of imagery which mean more in the mind than they ever could on paper. Both the swirling 'Ritz' and the ponderous 'Cavaliers' are little more than litanies of one-liners, pregnant with disconnected symbolism ('blow-job blues and boogaloos'... 'morgue-like lips and waitress tips'), but they are mesmerizing nevertheless. Reversing the nature of The Human Menagerie, the crucial songs here are not those extended epics. Rather, it is the paranoid vignette of 'Sweet Dreams,' surely written in the numbing first light of that precipitous fame; the panicked brainstorm of the title track; and the stuttering, chopping, hysterical nightmare of 'Beautiful Dream' (absent from the original LP, but restored as a CD bonus track) which stake out the album's parameters. The hopelessly romantic 'Bed in the Corner' opens another door entirely - relatively straightforward, astoundingly melodic, it was (though nobody realized it at the time) the closest thing in sight to the music Harley would be making later in the decade. Here, however, it swerves in another direction entirely, the dawn of a closing triptych - completed by 'Sling It' and 'Tumbling Down' - which encompasses ten of the most heartstoppingly breathless, and emotionally draining minutes in '70s rock. Indeed, though the latter's final refrain was reduced to pitifully parodic singalong the moment it got out on-stage, on record it retains both its potency and its purpose. 'Oh dear!' Harley intones, 'look what they've done to the blues.' The fact is, he did it all himself - and people have been trying to undo it ever since."



The Psychomodo

or

The Psychomodo

Felipe Diaz - Latin Jazz Quintet, 1961 (Jazz)

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1. You're The Cutest One
2. Speak Low
3. I Got Rhythm
4. Night And Day
5. Cha Cha King
6. I Wish I Were In Love Again
7. You Don't Know What Love Is
8. Lover
9. Mangolina
10. April Rain

Eric Dolphy - alto sax, flute, bass clarinet
Felipe Díaz - vibraphon
Arthur Jenkins - piano
Bobby Rodríguez - bass
Tommy López - conga drums
Louie Ramírez - timbales

dustygroove.com:
"A extremely rare album that Eric Dolphy recorded with the Latin Jazz Quintet – a rare Latin-based side of Dolphy's career, and a set that's a bit different than the Prestige album by the same pairing! This set features a slightly different lineup of the LJQ – one that includes Louie Ramirez on timbales, Felipe Diaz on vibes, and Art Jenkins on piano – all grooving very hard, and very tight next to Dolphy's work on alto, flute, and bass clarinet! His work here still has a bit of a modern edge, but not nearly as much so as on his work as a leader – mostly content to settle into the groove with the rest of the group, but then bursting out boldly with some really inventive solo moments!"



Latin Jazz Quintet

or

Latin Jazz Quintet

Peter & Gordon - A World Without Love/I Don't Want To See You Again, 1964 (British Invasion)

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1. Lucille 2:08
2. 500 Miles 3:15
3. If I Were You 2:30
4. Pretty Mary 2:16
5. Trouble in Mind 2:19
6. A World Without Love 2:41
7. Tell Me How 2:19
8. You Don't Have to Tell Me 2:36
9. Leave My Woman Alone 1:54
10. All My Trials 2:33
11. Last Night I Woke 2:45
12. I Don't Want to See You Again 2:02
13. Nobody I Know 2:30
14. My Babe 2:24
15. Willow Garden 3:04
16. Two Little Love Birds 2:11
17. Land of Oden 2:58
18. Freight Train 2:05
19. Love Me, Baby 2:16
20. Soft as the Dawn 2:43
21. Leave Me Alone 2:04
22. Lonely Avenue 3:00
23. To Show I Love You 2:23

Peter Asher
Gordon Waller

AMG:
"These two LPs combined on one CD (with one bonus track) show off the duo's strong and weak points at once. Peter & Gordon did good Beatlesque songs, although they couldn't really compete with the real article without the occasional outside song like 'A World Without Love' or 'I Go to Pieces' coming their way. And they did all right, if not exceptionally well by folk-style numbers such as 'Pretty Mary' and 'Willow Garden,' on which they compare favorably with the Everly Brothers. But when they do blues ('My Babe,' 'Trouble in Mind'), they sound plain silly, and pretty lightweight when they cover songs like 'Lucille' as well. Additionally, they do the occasional over-orchestrated number that breaks the spell altogether. Basically, they couldn't make up their minds whether they wanted to be the acoustic duo following the footsteps of the Beatles, the mid-'60s answer to the Everly Brothers, or the successors to the Springfields (without anything resembling Dusty's big voice).
At its best, their stuff made for pleasant memories on the radio, but more typically it was pretty predictable pop/rock, with guitar solos that varied not a sixteenth note from what one expected to hear. That said, this 23-song set is not bad music, it's just not terribly important music; P&G were far bigger and more successful in America (where being British was a valuable commodity right into the end of 1965) than England. The sound on this collection is good, with crisp stereo separation on the tracks and finely delineated playing. The notes are good, if not exceptional."



A World Without Love/I Don't Want To See You Again

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A World Without Love/I Don't Want To See You Again

Chris Cutler & Fred Frith - Live In Moscow, Prague & Washington, 1989 (Avant-Rock)

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1. Moscow 42:41
2. Prague 27:14
3. Washington 2:48

Chris Cutler - Drums, Sound Effects
Fred Frith - Bass, Guitar, Violin, Vocals, Vox Organ

Wiki:
"...The ex-Henry Cow members have always maintained close contact with each other and Cutler still collaborates with many of them.[5] Cutler and Fred Frith have been touring Europe, Asia and the Americas since 1978 and have given over 100 duo performances. Four albums from some of these concerts have been released. In December 2006, Cutler, Frith and Tim Hodgkinson performed together at The Stone in New York City, only their second concert performance since Henry Cow's demise in 1978..."



Live In Moscow, Prague & Washington

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Live In Moscow, Prague & Washington


Alphonse Mouzon - Mind Transplant, 1975 (Jazz Rock/Fusion)

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1. Mind Transplant 4:05
2. Snowbound 3:05
3. Carbon Dioxide 4:38
4. Ascorbic Acid 3:26
5. Happiness Is Loving You 4:09
6. Some of the Things People Do 3:40
7. Golden Rainbows 6:56
8. Nitroglycerine 3:04

Alphonse Mouzon - Drums, Keyboards
Tommy Bolin - Guitar
Jay Graydon - Guitar, Synthesizer
Lee Ritenour - Guitar
Jerry Peters - Fender Rhodes, Organ (Hammond)
Henry Davis - Bass

AMG:
"Drummers Alphonse Mouzon and Billy Cobham led almost parallel careers during the 1970s and helped to raise the bar by which all subsequent drummers were to be judged. They were both in legendary fusion bands (Mouzon in Weather Report and Larry Coryell's Eleventh House and Cobham in Dreams and the Mahavishnu Orchestra), both led their own successful bands, both reinvented jazz-rock drumming, and both released one classic, genre-defining recording. Cobham's classic was Spectrum, a recording that is regularly considered as one of the genre's best. This, Mind Transplant, is Mouzon's classic recording that is often hailed as 'Spectrum II.' The common thread, besides the aggressive drumming, is guitarist Tommy Bolin. Where Cobham used Bolin's aggressive playing as a counterpoint to Jan Hammer, Mouzon features the guitarist as the primary attraction. The tunes themselves may not be as memorable as, say, 'Red Baron' or 'Stratus,' but the playing is no less inspired. Mouzon and Bolin are a natural fit and push themselves to levels of creativity and skill that few can attain. Raw and powerful, the music herein is what made fusion such a viable musical style. This recording has never been as popular as Spectrum, but was finally released on CD in 1993 with the addition of the 15-minute jam session 'The Real Thing.' Easily one of the best fusion recordings of all time."



Mind Transplant

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Mind Transplant

Terry Callier - The New Folk Sound, 1964 (Folk)

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1. 900 Miles 5:08
2. Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be? 2:58
3. Johnny Be Gay If You Can Be 4:26
4. Cotton Eyed Joe 5:27
5. It's About Time 3:33
6. Promenade in Green 4:07
7. Spin, Spin, Spin 3:10
8. I'm a Drifter 8:52

Terry Callier - Guitar, Vocals
Terbour Attenborough - Bass
John Tweedle - Bass

AMG:
"The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier was not released until 1968, about three years after the project was originally completed; while the long delay almost certainly crippled the momentum of Callier's fledgling career, the impact on the music itself was at most minimal - while not the singer's best album, it's his most timeless and inviting, adhering closely to the folk stylings addressed by the title while largely ignoring the mystical jazz dimensions which texture his later material. Surprisingly, none of the album's eight songs are originals, relying instead on traditional tunes like '900 Miles' and 'Cotton Eyed Joe'; while Callier's spiralling acoustic guitar lines and the use of two bassists (Terbour Attenborough and John Tweedle) reflect his admiration of John Coltrane, New Folk Sound is for the most part stark and simple, possessed of a subtle grace which spotlights his remarkably moving vocals to excellent effect - it's a debut which holds all the promise fulfilled by his classic recordings for Cadet."



The New Folk Sound

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The New Folk Sound

Claude François - Je Viens Dîner Ce Soir, 1973 (Chanson)

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1. Je Viens Dîner Ce Soir
2. À Part Ca La Vie Est Belle
3. L'Amour C'Est Comme Ça
4. Il N' Y A Que L' Amour Qui Rende Heureux
5. Sur Ton Visage Un Sourire
6. Je T'Embrasse
7. Gens Qui Pleurent, Gens Qui Rient
8. De La Peine Pas De Chagrin
9. Mon Mensonge Et Ma Vérité
10. J'Ai Retrouvé Ma Liberté

Claude François - Vocal
J.C. Petit - Conductor

AMG:
"Along with Johnny Hallyday, Claude François was one of the biggest stars of French rock & roll, emerging during the so-called 'yé-yé' movement of the early '60s. Like Hallyday, his early success came mostly from French adaptations of English-language rock and folk hits, rather than from original material written specifically for him. However, his image - immaculately coiffed hair and glitzy sequined suits - played just as big a role in his popularity, and made him a major teen idol in his heyday, when fans dubbed him 'Clo-Clo.' He dressed his much-imitated quartet of backup dancers, the Clodettes, in even more flamboyant costumes (some self-designed), which gave his act a definite kitsch appeal and became a visual signature for much of his career. Appropriately for the singer who recorded the original version of the song that became 'My Way,' François lived the outsized life of a star, cycling through a series of high-profile affairs and acquiring a reputation for being extremely difficult to work with. Despite continued popularity, he endured a run of bad personal luck in the '70s that culminated in his freak accidental death at only 39 years old, electrocuting himself in the bathtub while changing a light bulb.
Claude Marie Antoine François was born on February 1, 1939 in Ismailia, Egypt, where his French-born father worked as a shipping traffic controller on the Suez Canal. His Italian-born mother encouraged him musically, getting him into violin and piano lessons; François preferred the drums, however. When Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, François and his family were repatriated to France, settling in Monte Carlo. His father fell seriously ill not long after, and François was forced to get a job and help support the family. He worked in a bank by day, but soon caught on as a drummer with local orchestras on the hotel and nightclub circuit. He made his professional debut with Louis Frozio in 1957, over his father's strenuous objections. Around 1959, François started to try his hand at singing, and proved a hit with resort audiences around the French Riviera. In 1961, he and his first wife moved to Paris.
François found a gig performing with Les Gamblers, but soon decided to embark on a solo career, hoping to take advantage of the rock and roll fad emerging among the youth of Paris. Still in 1961, he landed a record deal and issued a debut single, 'Nabout Twist,' under the name Koko. It flopped. However, his second release, an Everly Brothers adaptation retitled 'Belles, Belles, Belles,' was a million-selling smash for Philips in 1962. Adopted as a teen idol by the French music press and the popular Salut Les Copains show, he scored several more hits over the next year, including 'Marche Tout Droit,' 'Pauvre Petite Fille Riche,' 'Dis-Lui,' and the late-1963 chart-topper 'Si J'Avais un Marteau' (a French version of 'If I Had a Hammer'). Thus established as a star, François embarked on a headlining tour of France in 1964, and wound it up with an appearance at the famed Olympia theater in Paris.
François recorded prolifically during the mid-'60s, cranking out single after single and adaptation after adaptation. He added the first version of the Clodettes to his stage show in 1966, which gave him a whole new appeal in concert, and mounted another hugely successful tour. By now long since separated from his first wife, he had a brief and well-publicized romance with singer France Gall in 1967. In the aftermath of the breakup, he co-wrote and recorded a song called 'Comme d'Habitude,' which was later adapted by Paul Anka into the English-language pop standard 'My Way.' François started his own Flèche label in 1968, the same year he had the first of two children with a new girlfriend.
François continued to perform and record with considerable success for the next few years, but broke down and collapsed on-stage in 1971 during a concert at Marseille. He recuperated in the Canary Islands for a short time, and returned to France only to break several bones in a serious car accident. In 1972, he discovered songwriter Patrick Juvet, who composed his smash hit 'Le Lundi au Soleil'; however, more bad luck followed, as François was found to owe more than two million francs in back taxes. He had several more hits in 1973, the biggest of which was 'Ça S'en Va et Ça Revient,' but suffered more misfortune when the windmill at his country home caught fire, and when he was accidentally head-butted by a fan during another concert at Marseille.
François had a huge hit in 1974 with 'Le Telephone Pleure,' which when translated into English (as 'Tears on the Telephone') gave him his first U.K. chart single. While in the U.K. on a promotional tour in 1975, he narrowly avoided being killed by an IRA bombing. By this time, he had solved some of his financial problems by acquiring a couple of magazines (one teen-oriented, one with adult nude photography) and a modeling agency. In 1977 he reinvented himself as a disco singer with the smash hits 'Alexandrie, Alexandra' and 'Magnolias Forever,' two of the most enduringly popular songs of his career (and enhanced live by the Clodettes' disco routines). Sadly, they would also be the last. On March 11, 1978 - not long after taping a U.K. TV special - François was taking a bath at his Paris apartment when he noticed that the overhead light bulb needed changing. He stood up to do so, still standing in water, and was fatally electrocuted. News of his death was met by an outpouring of grief from French music fans, who continue to enjoy much of his latter-day work."



Je viens diner ce soir

or

Je viens diner ce soir

Arvo Part - Tabula Rasa, 1984 (Modern Composition)

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1. Fratres 11:24
2. Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten 5:00
3. Fratres 11:49
4. Tabula rasa 26:26

Alfred Schnittke - Prepared Piano
Keith Jarrett - Piano
Gidon Kremer - Violin
Tatjana Grindenko - Violin
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra
Stuttgart State Orchestra
Saulius Sondeckis - Conductor
Dennis Russell Davies - Conductor

AMG:
"The 1984 ECM album Tabula Rasa was the vehicle that introduced the revolutionary music of Arvo Pärt to audiences outside Eastern Europe and initiated what was to become one of the most extraordinary musical careers of the late 20th century. Like many of the first generation American minimalists, he limited himself to diatonic harmonies and generated pieces by setting processes in motion, but the radical simplicity he achieved was the result of religious contemplation that was at least as, if not more, formative than his quest for a new musical aesthetic. The result was music suffused by an unhurried, luminous serenity, and while it was distinctly contemporary, it had an archaic quality that tied it to the music of the very distant past.
The three instrumental pieces recorded here (one of which appears in two versions) were among the first Pärt wrote in his newly developed style, which came to be known popularly as holy minimalism. (The composer prefers the term tintinnabulation, because in his words, 'The three notes of the triad are like bells.') Fratres, originally for chamber orchestra, is undeniably Pärt's most popular work and exists in well over a dozen versions, two of which are included here. Gidon Kremer and Keith Jarrett bring great nuance and sensitivity to the version for violin and piano. They play somewhat loosely with details of the score, but they are entirely in sync with the spirit of the piece, and it's a gripping performance. The violin part is hugely virtuosic and Kremer is breathtaking, particularly in the crystalline purity of the outrageously high harmonics that end the piece. The arrangement of Fratres for 12 cellos is an altogether more lyrical and meditative version, and the cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra play it with gorgeous tone and depth. Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten for string orchestra and bell is at once one of the composer's most brilliantly simple and profound pieces. The first violins repeat a mournful descending figure, and each of the other sections then doubles the length of the note values of the part above it so that the note that opens the piece is held two beats by the first violins, but it is sustained for 32 beats by the double basses. There's nothing mechanical sounding about the piece, though, and by its ending, it has created a mood of devastating loss and grief. The first movement of Tabula Rasa, for two violins, prepared piano, and chamber orchestra, is the most enigmatic selection, full of unexpected long silences and flurries of frenzied activity, while the lovely, meditative second movement is more characteristic of the composer. Kremer is joined by violinist Tatjana Grindenko and composer/pianist Alfred Schnittke in a beautifully expressive performance, accompanied by Saulius Sondeckis leading the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra. Produced by Manfred Eicher, the visionary who 'discovered' Pärt and made it his mission to introduce him to Western audiences, the sound of the album is admirably clear and clean, except that there are some room noises in Tabula Rasa."



Tabula Rasa

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Tabula Rasa

Jimmy Witherspoon - Goin' Around in Circles, 1951 (Jazz Blues)

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1. I'm Just a Lady's Man 2:23
2. There Ain't Nothing Better 2:55
3. Love My Baby 2:39
4. Love and Friendship 3:07
5. Good Jumping aka Jump 2:44
6. I'm Just a Country Boy 3:00
7. Slow Your Speed 2:57
8. Geneva Blues aka Evil Woman 2:23
9. I'm Just Wandering, Pt. 1 2:35
10. I'm Just Wandering, Pt. 2 2:24
11. Baby, Baby 2:15
12. Sweet Lovin' Baby 2:30
13. The Doctor Knows His Business aka Doctor Blues 2:09
14. Rain, Rain, Rain 2:42
15. Thelma Lee Blues 2:39

Jimmy Witherspoon - Vocals
Ben Webster - Sax (Tenor)
Maxwell Davis - Sax (Tenor)
Buddy Floyd - Sax (Tenor)
Don Hill - Sax (Alto)
Tiny Webb - Guitar
Charles Norris - Guitar
Jay McShann - Piano
Gene Gilbeaux - Piano
Al Wichard - Drums

AMG:
"One of the great blues singers of the post-World War II period, Jimmy Witherspoon was also versatile enough to fit comfortably into the jazz world. Witherspoon was born on August 8, 1920, in Gurdon, AR. As a child, he sang in a church choir, and made his debut recordings with Jay McShann for Philo and Mercury in 1945 and 1946. His own first recordings, using McShann's band, resulted in a number one R&B hit in 1949 with 'Ain't Nobody's Business, Pts. 1 & 2' on Supreme Records. Live performances of 'No Rollin' Blues' and 'Big Fine Girl' provided 'Spoon with two more hits in 1950.
The mid-'50s were a lean time, with his style of shouting blues temporarily out of fashion; singles were tried for Federal, Chess, Atco, Vee Jay, and others, with little success. Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival (HiFi Jazz) from 1959 lifted him back into the limelight. Partnerships with Ben Webster or Groove Holmes were recorded, and he toured Europe in 1961 with Buck Clayton, performing overseas many more times in the decades to follow; some memorable music resulted, but Witherspoon's best 1960s album is Evening Blues (Prestige), which features T-Bone Walker on guitar and Clifford Scott on saxophone. As the '70s began, Witherspoon decided to take a short break from live performances, settled in Los Angeles, took a job as a disc jockey, and continued making records. In 1971 Witherspoon teamed up with former Animals vocalist Eric Burdon for the album Guilty. Unfortunately it sold poorly. By 1973 his short retirement from live performances was over. Witherspoon was ready to get back on the road and assembled an amazing band featuring a young Robben Ford on lead guitar. Those live shows had received positive reviews, rejuvenating Witherspoon's move toward a definite rock/soul sound. He traveled to London in 1974 to record Love Is a Five Letter Word with British blues producer Mike Vernon. Vernon had produced critically acclaimed British blues albums by John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, and Ten Years After. By the early '80s, Witherspoon was diagnosed with throat cancer. Although he remained active and was a popular concert attraction, the effect of the disease on his vocals was obvious. Witherspoon passed away on September 18, 1997, at the age of 77."


Goin' Around in Circles

or

Goin' Around in Circles

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