Music Discoveries June 2022 #18

See also: May 2022 and July 2022 (View all)

Hey, I’m still catching up here. Strangely I’ve been checking out lots of music CDs from libraries.

Articles and Interviews

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Emusic Purchases

I have a lot of emusic credit to burn; I’m going to buy a lot of Polish jazz on the GAD music label (bandcamp), get a lot of Turkish stuff and some old compilations. I might surf through some Iranian music on Yaletown Technologies and Opus music label from Serbia/Yugoslavia. Update: Here are links to several interesting emusic labels.

1. Doble Exposition by Capricornio Uno. $4.
2. Arriba Excursionistas! by Biodramina Mood. 99 cents.
3. 40 Hits 1946-1949 by Bourvil. He’s a French comic actor and singer and this seems to be his earlier stuff.
4. Live in Prague 1964 by Krzysztof Komeda Quintet. 5.99 historic and famous recording by Poland’s most famous jazz composer. (I’m a big fan of the Komeda pop band who were inspired by his music).
5. Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966 Vol 3 by Don Cherry. 49 cents for 50 minutes.
6. Kochaj albo rzuć by Andrzej Korzyński
7. s/t by Phia. 6.49 for 42 minutes. Australian DIY. 6.49
8. Compilation: Ze szpulowca bigbitowca 2 (1964-70 Polish Beat from Radio Vaults). 6.49
9. Detik Waktu : Perjalanan Karya Cipta Candra Darusman. (compilation). This song collection won 2018 Best Album in Indonesia. Candra Darusman writes mellow jazz and upbeat pop (in the vein of Barry Manilow or Elton John). This album includes performances by various other singers and duets. All are lovely. Don’t miss the compilation sequel Detik Waktu #2 : Perjalanan Karya Cipta Candra Darusman. (4.99)
10. Skilfulness by Alan Silva. 49 cents for 37 minutes. Wiki article on the album: “For all the hippy fantasies of rock and the space operas emerging on the fringes of jazz, nothing of the time quite captures its spirit – ethereal but grounded in sophisticated intelligence and high technical skill – quite as well.” From the ESP-Disk label.
11. Various albums by jazz saxophonist Frank Wright: Your Prayer, Unity
12. Burton Greene Trio: On Tour. 99 cents. I was a big fan of the Burton Greene Quartet which was furious and fast-paced avante garde jazz, but still fun and listenable. This one is less interesting but also cheap.
13. Ebikokyo by Faizal Mostrixx and Suzan Kerunen featuring Aloysius Migadde. 99 cents, 23 minutes. Nice dance music from Uganda.
14. Tangawizi by Ondi. 99 cents, 22 minutes Here’s an interview.
15. Imperial Blue OST, David Bryceland and others. 5.99, 55 minutes. Strangely and annoyingly, they put bits of film dialogue at start of some tracks, but it doesn’t distract too much.
16. Listen All Around: The Golden Age of Central and East African Music, Compiled by Hugh Tracey. 131 minutes, 7.50 Another Dust 2 Digital megacollection of field recordings from the 1960s. Reviewed here.

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Begin

Youtubey Things

I’m going to try not to embed youtube videos in these posts — pretty much the URLs go bad after a while. I still will link to them. I just love this song by Moldovan Eurovision contestants Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers – Trenuleţul – Moldova

When Stefania won Eurovision, I knew that there was a “sympathy vote” supporting the Ukrainian entry, but later, they remade the video for the song which captured the literal meaning of the song — affection for the mother, metaphorical comparisons with the “motherland.” A later video uses the backdrop of war and buildings destroyed by Russian fire to bring the point home more dramatically. Manipulative, yes, but effective. If I were to do it indifferently, I would include pictures of the war dead; I come across them all the time (graduating from college, smiling at the beach, etc). The whole is such a profound waste of life.

Here’s a great song by Kristin Chenoweth which won her first Tony. I just love this song!

As crazy as it sounds, somebody surreptitiously taped a full 1999 performance of You’re A good man, Charlie Brown — apparently from a cell phone although I can’t imagine that watching it would be a pleasant experience — although I’m grateful to have it. That makes me think. I’m sure big Broadway productions must have videotaped their live performances at least once — maybe not for sale, but certainly for archiving. I’m really surprised that more of these tapes haven’t been converted to DVD or made available on streaming services. By the way, the live taping of the original production of Come From Away is available on Apple TV+. God that was one of the best things I’ve ever seen!

Here’s a great early Boz Scaggs bluesy number with a rare Duane Allman recording (a 13 minute recording!).

Here’s a CBS profile and interview of A.J. Croce, the son of Jim Croce.

Post Roe vs. Wade, I recalled a lyric from this Digable Planet song . Actually, there’s another song on that same brilliant album that speaks about the metaphor of abortion.

Just try — TRY — to listen to the Caldonia song (by Louis Jordan) without snapping your fingers or tapping your feet. You can’t do it! This comes from my ultimate playlist of Broadway songs.

RUSSIAN WAR PROTEST SONG — WOW! Little Big has been famous for their stylistically subversive songs & music videos. Up to now these songs have been (mostly) devoid of political overtones. Here is their first song since the war started, and it tackles the political subject directly. Singers have always sung songs with subtle political messages (even during Soviet times), but this song is not subtle at all — and strangely, the lyrics are entirely in English! (Then again, their visuals transcend language).

The interesting thing is that the outrageous campy style and violence are perfectly normal in any hard rock music video — it’s not even that outrageous — and yet its messages cut very deep — never before have the stakes been so urgent.

Also The Russian Eurovision singer Manizha performed a very beautiful choreographed anti-war song in middle of March. (also in English, but with Russian subtitles). One wonders whether watching a music video will eliminate political indifference or simply express messages for the people who follow political events more careful.

Freegal and Library CDs

1. Songs by Kiki Dee. Wow, I didn’t know she was that popular before she sang Don’t Go Breaking My heart with Elton John. Her big song was, I’ve Got the Music in Me.
2. Various tracks by Wilson Pickett. You probably already know that Wilson Pickett’s Hey Jude (with Duane Allman on the guitar) is much better than the Beatles’ version (!). His other tracks are pretty wicked, though more in the soul category than bluesy rock.

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

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