Sugar Minott - Showcase (1977)

Almost all of the reggae records that I know of (with the exception of Ijahman) have 10 or sometimes 11 or 12 songs on it. This one only has 6, but still takes up a half hour. On this record are some longer versions of classics like 'Roof over my Head' and they are all six really nice, smooth and loungy. I don't like that the name Sugar Minott isn't integrated more into the reggae library of nowadays, so let me put him back into it.

His vocals just seem very effortless, that's what struck me about this record. It all seems very natural and fluid. Beautiful dozing reggae record.

guidance
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Congress-Woman Malinda Jackson Parker - Tubman Goodtype Songs of Liberia (1971)

This EP came out from the leftfield when I discovered it. Where the hell did this come from, was the only coherent thought that crossed my mind. So what we have here, is a former congress-member from Liberia, sitting behind a piano, performing songs for half an hour. Not always in tune, not always playing the piano in a perfect way, but always intriguing. She is one of these outsider artists, that can't be compared to any other artist at all. I know that that's basically the deal with outsider art, but I guess this woman is an exception in every way.

Stunningly unknown off course, because the commercial value of this record is as important nowadays as the karaoke fitness record by Hulk Hogan (which I in fact own, requests are welcome).

bush cow milk
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Le Nimba De N' Zerekore - Gon Bia Bia (1980)

I was going to start delving into obscurity by posting an album by the Argentinian folk singer Atahualpa Yupanqui, because I have an album of his that I have enjoyed thoroughly for the last few years. I noticed that I only had a 128-copy of it though, and as I'm trying to keep this blog free of bad quality copies (although it doesn't really matter in these cases: most of these are vinyl rips anyway), a moral dilemma occurred and I have decided to share this fantastic African group from Guinea.

Their music is, as you will expect, very rhythmical and just plain funky. I hear some Caribbean influences as well, it sounds familiar to the calypso at times. Very enjoyable, and totally unknown.

gon bia bia
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Flamin' Groovies - Teenage Head (1971)

Yesterday I said that I would be posting less albums in the coming months, and I still think that this will happen, but I had a daydream today and it told me that I have to focus more on albums that are so extremely obscure that they don't get no attention at all at the moment, whereas the most albums I post at the moment are mainly albums that are great, but don't get enough attention. So that's what I'm going to do the next few weeks. But before I do so, I just want to sneak in this fan-tas-tic album by the Flamin' Groovies. They were an early garage rock band from San Fransisco, but who had the same snarl as punk had ten year later.

The vocalist also reminds me a lot of Beefheart, as does the bottleneck guitar. They were a rougher version of the Stones, and at times they actually beat Sticky Fingers. Mick Jagger admitted.

high flyin' baby
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Yabby You - Conquering Lion (1975)

Sweat is pouring off my face as I write these words. Summer has officially begun in Amsterdam. I feel that the time has come for you to listen to all the music I've posted, instead of having to download new one's every day. Therefor I hope everyone will not be surprised that I'll take it easy in the summer time. Two or three albums a week will be the maximum up until August, so please enjoy everything that I've posted so far and keep discovering new artists in the time I that I am going slow with this blog.

Here is one of the greatest reggae performers, who passed away this January. This is his best album and the man is called Yabby You. His songs are great and his place in reggae is important, though underrated. And remember: I will be back, probably even this week, but not as frequent as you're used to. But I will be again.

conquering lion
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Angry Samoans - Back From Samoa (1982)

As a connaiseur of hardcore punk from the United States, I can say that the Angry Samoans weren't among the most 'scene' bands around. Nor were they the most 'hardcore' band ever. But they definitely were one of the most fun bands around, although I wasn't there: I know it. The music is, although extremely tight, very funny. They hit the nail on the head with this album, and that makes it among my favourite hardcore releases (I have to admit that this list is long).

They Saved Hitlers Cock may well be one of the funniest song titles in hardcore and Anal Cunt has had a hard time to beat that funny title.

gas chamber
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Popol Vuh - Hosianna Mantra (1972)

This album is so mesmerizingly beautiful, the music it contains so sacred, that it often makes me think that higher spirits do exist. This music sounds like if it was made by angels, especially the second part of Kyrie, the second song. Popol Vuh is considered among the best krautrock-bands, although they don't have much in common with the other bands in the genre. But that was the nice thing of krautrock: it doesn't sound like anything, it's just a bunch of amazing bands from Germany. Damn the Brits who dared to call it krautrock.

Popol Vuh makes ethereal music and they composed the soundtracks for the best movies of Werner Herzog (such as Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, probably my favourite film of all time), and they did it like no one would ever be capable of. The music fits the movies so intensely, that it seems like it's part of the Amazon rain forest, where Aguirre was shot. Go see that movie by the way!

hosianna mantra
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Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star (1973)

Ignore the ridiculously out-of-fashion album cover. Why is there a third ear coming out of the right eye of Todd, I hear you ask. Well, I have in fact no idea. So leave that stupid album cover be. It's the music that I want to talk about here. Something/Anything? may be has masterpiece, purely looking at the length of the piece, but A Wizard, A True Star is better. It is in fact an experience that you will never forget if your ears allow you to enjoy it to the fullest.

It has in fact everything: Spectorian wall-of-sound space pop, dizzying electronic experiments, heavy metal snippets, goofy novelty tunes, a sixty-five second vaudevillian number, an avant-garde noise piece, and last, but definitely not least: a ten minute medley belter consisting of doo-wop and soul classics. If I haven't convinced you by now, please leave this blog alone.

when the shit hits the fan
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Bernard Fevre - The Strange World Of Bernard Fevre (1975)

If I haven't told you about Library Music yet, I will do it now quick. I have been listening to this music a lot and what is, is this: it's music made by guys like Bernard Fevre and the rights of this music aren't owned by the composers, but by music libraries and the music is most often used for soundtrack purposes.

Bernard Fevre's world isn't strange at all: it's incredible. He creates a world consisting of 23 minutes of the purest melodies ever created on synthesizers. Take a song like Molecule Dance, this could well have been something Daft Punk builds their career upon. Absolutely essential listen.

cosmic rays
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Wild Man Fischer - An Evening With Wild Man Fischer (1969)

Let me introduce Wild Man Fischer. He's actually a guy from Los Angeles, who is in fact called Larry Fischer, and who has a bipolar disorder and a severe form of schizophrenia. He attacked his mother with a knife when he was only 16 and was then institutionalized. So, yeah. A weird guy. He used to walk down the streets selling 'completely original songs' for a small amount of money. Frank Zappa was intrigued by him and followed him around across the streets and recorded what he had to say and sing. This has lead up to an album of 80+ minutes full of the philosophical musings of Wild Man Fischer.

All I can say to you is: enjoy!

new kind of songs for sale!
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Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca (1981)

Red Mecca is the most important and most praised album recorded by the industrial band from Sheffield, UK, called Cabaret Voltaire. They recorded and released an incredible amount of albums, as a lot of industrial acts from the early 80s did, like Clock DVA, Throbbing Gristle and Coil, and they explored the likes of dub and house in their music as well.

This album is far from flawless and I think a lot of industrial music can be pretty boring at times, but still this album has some unknown quality that makes me come back to this band every time again. I own this album on vinyl and if I spin this record, I always become moved by the haunting qualities of the vocals on this album. I recently coined a term with a friend of mine, called Monster Vocals and I'd like to stuff this album into that category as well.

black mask
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The Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes (1998)

I really hate the fact that The Pop Group is only remembered because of one album: Y. Indeed: why? Because they made a bunch of other great records, of which this one, a compilation from 1998, is great example. The album they made after Y, was just as good as their first one if you ask me and on this compilation, the best songs of their second album are combined with some leftovers from that period. Still as funky as on Y, and at times even more splintered, with great saxophone performances that once again remind me of the great sax work by Captain Beefheart.

A great and highly underrated band that made a lot of great music apart from Y. Go listen to this stuff, because it seems people are forgetting the complete picture of this band.

we are all prostitutes
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Scientist - Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires (1981)

Scientist is the one who took dub to a higher level for me. It is not per se better, or heavier, but it is different no less. I like that. Development, good or bad, development is always better than standing still. On this album, a concept album on vampires, there are a lot of monster vocals done by the Scientist himself present and this album is his most praised and arguably his best.

If you feel that dub and reggae are starting to sound a bit same-ish, having heard all the posts I did on reggae, please listen to this record and revive your love for reggae. By the way, even if every reggae record sounded the same, it'd still be one of my favourite genres!

your teeth in my neck
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Harmonia - Deluxe (1975)

One of the greatest krautrock records combined with one of my favourite album covers. This album cover is such an exact description of this record, it's beyond words. It's like the cover of Instellar Space by Coltrane: the sky is not the limit. This records takes you to such epic heights, by the ever growing guitar solos, very pleasant. The band name and title seems to be spelled in honey, dripping from the cover. It looks as sweet as honey, and I actually would like to lick it off the cover.

This supergroup consists of krautrock mastodonts Michael Rother from Neu! and both men from Cluster. A lovely band that eventually also added Brian Eno to their line-up.

immer wieder rauf und runter
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Alexander "Skip" Spence - Oar (1969)

Skip Spence is a key figure in the music scene from the late 60s. He was the first drummer and thus a founding member of Jefferson Airplane and he was also one of the guitarists in the great Moby Grape. He is one of the best examples of a hippie who couldn't cope with all the drugs that went around in the scene. At one point, he was completely unbearable to his friends and verging on going insane, so he was put away in a mental asylum. He wrote this album in Manhattan, when he was on the brink of mental collapse.

When he was released, he drove his motor bike all the way to Nashville and recorded the album in a few hours. And that was the end of his career. This, his final statement in rock music, is a bewildering rollercoaster through the worlds of schizophrenia and paranoia.

lawrence of euphoria
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Blind Lemon Jefferson - King Of The Country Blues (1985)

Today, I want to introduce everyone to one of the greatest blues players that has ever lived. It is a blind fellow from Texas, who lived in the first decades of the previous century. His name was Blind Lemon Jefferson. He was a blind man with a very fat belly and he played his guitar like no one else did in that day. He wrote an epic amount of blues evergreens, covered by all the great other Delta-players in the years coming. Lightnin' Hopkins was taught how to play by Blind Lemon Jefferson when he was a little kid.

On this collection are 23 songs, all really awesome, if you think away the often abominable sound quality. But hey, we're talking about 1926 here, so don't bother about the sound quality. Be glad it exists!

one dime blues
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Emitt Rhodes - Emitt Rhodes (1970)

If you're tired of the Beatles, here's Emitt Rhodes. Emitt Rhodes is a guy from California who could best be described as a 'one man's Beatles'. His voice sounds extremely like Paul McCartney's voice, and the songs are very alike of the Beatles' repertoire. But hey, he does it fantastically, so why bother?

12 very catchy songs make for a nice 30 minutes of 70s pop music. He plays all the instruments on the record: all of them. He recorded the album at home when he was only 19 years old, but still it sounds very mature and confident. I also like the innocence that comes with this record.

with my face on the floor
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Van Dyke Parks - Discover America (1972)

Because Van Dyke Parks is a goddamn hero, as big a hero for me as Brian Wilson, with whom he made important music, and also because he is totally unknown for our generation, I'm posting another Van Dyke Parks album. I posted Song Cycle a while ago, which remains one of my favourite albums ever, I'm actually listening to it as we speak and I have goosebumps!

This album was made by Parks when he had made a trip to Trinidad, where the roots of calypso are to be found, so this album is heavily calypso-influenced, and at times pure calypso. Van Dyke Parks has the gift to create American landscapes in his songs, he makes me understand America better, so it remains bearable that I haven't been there yet.

sweet trinidad
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Alice Cooper - Killer (1971)

As for glam-rock, I have decided that I like Alice Cooper about as much as I love David Bowie. Alice Cooper is the ultimate bad-ass rocker and he makes all these Aerosmith and Guns 'n Roses guys look like Peter Pan. He started on Straight Records, the experimental hippielabel of Frank Zappa, where he released a lot of obscure stuff like Wild Man Fischer and The G.T.O.'s. Captain Beefheart eventually left Straight Records because he thought he was among freaks when he found out what Alice Cooper did on a stage.

The music is fantastic, he is so powerful on this record, as well as on the other early records. The music is like a campy version of Black Sabbath. I absolutely love that description and if I were you, I would definitely download this record because of it. Especially that first song really makes you feel like a winner!

under my wheels
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Todd Rundgren - Something / Anything? (1972)

This. Is. Something. (/Anything?). One of the greatest pop records ever made. On par with Stevie Wonder's Innervisions and Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle, but the good thing is: it is twice as long! This record consists of 4 sides of incredible alternative pop songs, and 3 of the 4 sides are completely made by Rundgren himself. Every sound you hear, every guitar, piano, banjo, drum, is produced by Todd himself. On the 4th side a big orchestra takes over and gives the record yet another push to gain its classic status.

Todd Rundgren is one of my favourite performers from the 70s, it was a time when you could make pop music and not be totally corny. Like Steely Dan, and others, but Todd Rundgren perfected it. He was not only uncorny, he was 100% cool with it. He plays guitar like Hendrix, he creates songs like McCartney and he has the voice of a genius. Must listen! You must!

something / anything? part 1
something / anything? part 2
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Aaron Copland - The Complete Music For Solo Piano (1979)

Aaron Copland is one of the greatest American composers. He was born in 1900 and died two weeks after his 90th birthday in 1990. I was almost a year old when he died. As did other American composers, he combined the modern classical with American folk styles. His piano music is very beautiful, complex and you can hear that he is an American composer. American composers just have that American thing going on which is hard to describe, listen to Charles Ives for instance.

His complete piano music, composed from the late 10s to the mid 70s, is here performed by Leo Smit and the recording is from 1979. Enjoy this one, it is important, it is beautiful music and it is necessary.

complete music for solo piano part 1
complete music for solo piano part 2
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Harry Pussy - A In an Emergency You Can Shit on a Puerto Rican Whore (1993)

I gave you all some time to download the massive load of albums that I posted on this blog over the last four months. It may be time to take it easy for some time, as summer is coming up et al. So don't expect as much albums from me as you're used to, but keep checking off course!

I can also imagine that when I say noise rock, noise isn't quite what you were thinking when you heard Shellac and The Jesus Lizard. Both great bands, but noise. Noise means irritating and harsh sounds. So here is Harry Pussy, real noise. Check this EP out and you're ears will beg for mercy. Great, classic 90s EP!

i don't care about sleep anymore
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