14.12.2019

Jefferson Airplane - The Roar of Jefferson Airplane (2001)


The Roar of Jefferson Airplane is a compilation of songs by San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane without the ubiquitous "White Rabbit". 
"The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" is followed immediately by "The House at Pooneil Corners", thus making a suite from the two similar and related songs originally released on separate albums.


13.12.2019

Gamma Ray - Skeletons and Majesties (2011)


Skeletons & Majesties Live is the fourth live album of the metal band Gamma Ray. The album was recorded during Gamma Ray's 2011 concert in Pratteln (Switzerland) and contains acoustic renditions of the songs Rebellion in Dreamland and Send Me a Sign as well as the guest appearance of ex-Helloween and current Unisonic vocalist Michael Kiske on 3 tracks.

It was released both as an audio CD as well as a DVD on 30 November 2012.


12.12.2019

Goran Bregovic - Karmen with a Happy End (2007)


Bosnian composer Goran Bregovic is fairly familiar even to a broad swath of Western audiences that do not know his name: his high-energy, rather anarchic music was featured in the film Borat, and he provided the zany quasi-Romani soundtracks for the films of Bosnian Serb director Emir Kusturica. In the 2000s decade he composed several more extended works that are "classical" only their greater length and reconciliation of a diversity of elements -- the basic sound of Bregovic's music continues to be characterized by blaring brass bands playing minor-mode gypsy-inspired tunes (Bregovic himself is not of Romani descent). This disc, like others by Bregovic, serves admirably as party music; his brass pieces sustain high energy over unusually long stretches. It's also quite an accomplishment, however, to adapt this language, however loosely, to the story of Bizet's Carmen and to a somewhat dramatic presentation: Karmen...with a Happy End is billed as an opera and is performed as one, although the sequence of events instead brings to mind the freewheeling structure of Kusturica's films and their wandering gypsy troupes. The modeling on Bizet is loose; there are no bullfights but rather a musical duel at the end. Carmen (here Karmen) does indeed start out working in a tobacco factory, and a few minor characters are taken from Bizet, but the story takes a new turn with the appearance of a Rumanian mobster named Ceausescu who forces Karmen into prostitution. Worrying too much about the correspondences with Bizet (there are a few purely musical linkages as well) is not the way to enjoy this score; inviting a large group of friends over to sample Eastern European hard liquor and listen to the disc is better.



11.12.2019

Keren Ann - 101 (2011)


Keren Ann Zeidel (Hebrew:born 10 March 1974 ) known professionally as Keren Ann, is an Israeli-born singer, songwriter, composer, producer, and engineer based largely in Paris, Tel Aviv, and New York City. She plays guitar, piano, and clarinet. She also engineers and writes choir and musical arrangements.
Keren Ann Zeidel was born in Caesarea, Israel, to a Russian-Jewish father and a Dutch-Javanese mother. She lived in Israel and in the Netherlands until the age of 11, when her family moved to Paris, France.
Keren Ann has released seven solo albums: La Biographie de Luka Philipsen (2000), La Disparition (2002), Not Going Anywhere (2003), Nolita (2005), Keren Ann (2007), 101 (2011) and You're Gonna Get Love (2016). Many of her songs have been covered by other artists, including Henri Salvador, Jane Birkin, Francoise Hardy, Rosa Passos, Jacky Terasson, Emmanuelle Seigner, Benjamin Biolay and Anna Calvi. Her music has been featured in TV series including Grey's Anatomy, Six Feet Under and Big Love, and in movies including Love Me No More (2008). Her song "Beautiful Day" has been the sound of the "Skyteam" campaign, and in 2008 her song "Lay Your Head Down" was the synch for the international H&M Spring commercial.
Keren Ann and Icelandic musician Barði Jóhannsson formed the musical duo "Lady & Bird"; the two released a self-titled studio album in 2003, as well as a live recording of their performance with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2009. The two co-wrote the 2011 opera Red Waters; it was produced by the Opéra de Rouen and directed by Arthur Nauzyciel, and performed in four opera houses around France.
Keren Ann co-wrote Henri Salvador's 2000 album Chambre Avec Vue, and wrote the lyrics for Sophie Hunter's 2005 debut album Isis Project, to music written by Guy Chambers. In 2008, Keren Ann composed, with Tibo Javoy, the entire sound design for the European TV channel Arte. She co-wrote and co-produced, with Doriand, Emmanuelle Seigner's 2010 album Dingue.
She contributed to the soundtrack of the French film Thelma, Louise et Chantal (2010), directed by Benoît Pétré, including cover versions of French songs from the 1960s. She also contributed six songs to the Israeli film Yossi (2012), directed by Eytan Fox, as well as appearing onscreen as herself, performing a music concert.
On December 15, 2018, Keren Ann announced that her 8th solo album, entitled Bleue, will be released on March 15, 2019.


Steel River - Weighin Heavy (1970)


Steel River was a Canadian rock group formed in Toronto which performed primarily during the 1970s. They are best known for a Canadian Top 10 single "Ten Pound Note" released in 1970.
Starting in 1965 as a part-time Toronto R&B club band called The Toronto Shotgun, Steel River became full-time musicians in 1969. Greg Hambleton signed them to the Tuesday Record label, where their first single release was the Jay Telfer (A Passing Fancy) song "Ten Pound Note". The single hit Top-10 in Canada. It finished in Canada at #79 for the year. The band members were singer John Dudgeon, keyboardist Bob Forrester, bassist Rob Cockell, guitarist Tony Dunning and drummers Ray Angrove and Dennis Watson.
In 1971 the band released a follow-up LP on Evolution Records. A single, "Southbound Train", through Quality Records by including a toy train in the promotional package.
They continued touring internationally until they disbanded in 1974. That year they went on a 14 state tour in the United States.
Four out of five of the original members reunited briefly in 1980, and released a single, "Armoured Car".
Vocalist John Dudgeon went on to release a solo single record in 1983 called "Put My Arms Around You" which received extensive airplay on CKFM (99.9) and other stations in Canada and U.S. In 2004, he joined Mojo Grande, a funk/blues band from Markham, Ontario.
In 2013 and 2014, two of Steel River's albums, "A Better Road" and a re-mixed "Weighin' Heavy", were re-issued on producer Greg Hambleton's revived Axe Records label.



10.12.2019

Kalacakra - Crawling To Lhasa (1972)


This is not the sole album from this band as such, but the one and only worked out in the 70's by the acid krautrock duo Heinz Martin and Claus Rauschenbach coming from Duisburg/Germany. Both were autodidacts with a freaky approach and used a lot of indo/raga elements. At first completely underrated 'Crawling To Lhasa' is an attractive collectors' item today ... at least when it comes to the original vinyl print. The songs were recorded by Willy Neubauer in his Düsseldorf studio during two days. Whatsoever has survived about the circumstances - they performed in a totally spaced out mood for sure, obviously inspired by Buddhistic mantras.
The trippy meandering Nearby Shiras opens the album, reflecting a multiple catastrophe, the Black Plague, coming over the Persian town called Shiraz hundreds of years ago. A sinister creature ... probably a witch ... is whispering and shouting some rezitative, repeating 'morgen kommt die Schwarze Pest' (tomorrow comes the Black Plague) all the way through. Definitely frightening and provided with some infatuating dramaturgy - however the instruments are also smooth on the contrary, speaking of flute, cymbal and acoustic guitar. And all this is made with a significant eastern touch.

On Jaceline Martin's vibraphone is striking, it serves a pleasant spacey/ambient atmosphere. Possibly improvised from start to finish, the lyrics about a girl seem to be completely pointless. The trance-like Raga No.11 features the Minimoog synthesizer, a novelty because nearly uncommon at that time in Europe. A nice song including electric guitar which has some speed this time and proves their technical skills. As from now it all runs out of inspiration a bit with simple folk impressions mainly ... until the blues based Tante Olga shows some new crazy weird vocal ideas, for example including Captain Beefheart reminiscent vocals in English.

That's it ... concerning the original vinyl. The digital releases additionally cover two songs from 1993 recorded by Heinz Martin with a better sound quality. The acid blend of folk, psych and raga is completely missing here to the benefit of a spacey new age atmosphere where Vamos is definitely enjoyable. The Garden Of Delights re-issue of this ethno trance effort is featuring a detailed history of the band and their community in Duisburg including several pictures, which are reflecting the stoned atmosphere of the recording sessions. Not a ground-breaking album because running out of breath in between - nevertheless a worthwhile purchase for krautrock and indo/raga lovers.



Waylon Jennings - The TakerTulsa (1971) Honky Tonk Heroes (1973)


When Waylon Jennings hooked up with songwriter Billy Joe Shaver, he found the perfect author for his obsessions, his fascinations, and his very image. Waylon had always been looking, perhaps unintentionally, for a common ground between country and rock, and Shaver's songs -- sketching an outlaw stance with near defiance and borrowing rock attitude to create the hardest country tunes imaginable -- were perfect. On his previous album, Waylon had sung that "ladies love outlaws," but now he found the music that would soon be called outlaw country, a defiant, ballsy blend of mythmaking and truth-telling. Shaver never had a better voice for his songs, and Jennings never had better songs for his style. Honky Tonk Heroes arrived at a crucial moment, a time when true honky tonk was fading, so only a dose of rock & roll could save it. And, no matter how much rock attitude is here, this is pure country in its stance and attitude -- yet Honky Tonk Heroes' very defiance makes it a perfect discovery album for listeners who never thought they would like country music. And the songs! Shaver earned his stripes here, with songs that were emotional, funny, and clever, utterly bringing the mythic outlaw ethic to life. "Black Rose," "You Asked Me To," and "Honky Tonk Heroes" remain among the greatest things Waylon ever cut, and every other song here matches them. Few country albums have ever been this consistent, and few records, from any genre, have been as consistently compelling. A wonderful album -- one that's hard to tire of.