Dr. Nico

Found in Brick Lane I think some years ago this "African" label LP from 1970 is called L'Afrique Danse No.10 and one assumes there were 9 other amazingly good albums released before this one! It's by Dr. Nico & L'Orchestre African Fiesta Sukisa and here is what Wikipedia has to say about him-

"Nicolas Kasanda wa Mikalay (1939 – 1985), popularly known as Dr. Nico was a guitarist, composer and one of the pioneers of soukous music. He was born in Mikalayi, Kasai province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He graduated in 1957 as a technical teacher, but inspired by his musical family, he took up the guitar and in time became a virtuoso soloist.
At the age of 14 he started playing with the seminal group African Jazz, led by Joseph "Grand Kalle" Kabaselle. He became an influential guitarist (Jimi Hendrix once payed him a personal visit while on tour in Paris), and the originator of the ubiquitous Congolese guitar style, acquiring nickname "Dr Nico". African Jazz split up 1963 when Dr Nico and singer Tabu Ley Rochereau left to form L'Orchestra African Fiesta, which became one of the most popular in Africa.
He withdrew from the music scene mid 1970s following the collapse of his Belgian record label, and made a few final recordings in Togo, not long before he died in a hospital in Brussels, Belgium in 1985."

Discover more about African music HERE.


Dr. Nico - Echantillon Ya Pamba

Dr. Nico - Sizarine

Dr. Nico - Nazali Se Mobali Na Yo

Dr. Nico - Tu M'as Decu Chouchou

Dr. Nico - Bolingo Ya Sens Unique

El Disco Del Ano (Re-Up)

Here is one I uploaded before, back in 2008. It's from Colombia and dated 1980. It certainly looks very xmassy but my guess would be that it's "Hits Of The Year" and these are some of the favourites in Colombia in 1980. It makes a change from the usual Christmassy music thats churned out at the is time of year.

Wikipedia says-

"Modern Colombian music is a mixture of African, native Indigenous and European (especially Spanish) influences, as well as more modern American and Caribbean musical forms, such as Trinidadian, Cuban, and Jamaican. The national music of Colombia is said to be cumbia.
Cumbia is a mixture of Spanish and African music, the latter brought by slaves. In the 19th century, slavery was abolished and Africans, Indians and other ethnic groups mixed more fully. Styles like bambuco, vallenato and porro was especially influential. When the waltz became popular in the 19th century, a Colombian version called pasillo was invented. International Latin, a type of pop ballad, and salsa music are best-represented by Charlie Zaa and Joe Arroyo, respectively."


Alcides Diaz Con Los Piratas Sabaneros - Remolino

El Combo De Las Estrellas - Aguita De Ron

El Combo Nutibara - La Clavada

El Binomio De Oro - Mi Novia Mi Pueblo

Juan Pina Con La Revelelacion - El Pilon Guajiro

Alcides Diaz Con Los Pirajas Sabaneros - Dos Mujeres

Los Hispanos - La Cobija

Ginny Tiu

Another LP found yesterday for a few pence in a charity shop. I was attracted to the list of songs on the LP ranging from Colonel Bogey to Inka Dinka Doo - the old Schnozzle Durante number. This version is the most excruciating I have ever heard and worth the price of the LP alone!
Hard to find out much about her career except that she was born in the Phillipines and her father (who plays on the record) is a pianist too. She came to the notice of the Ed Sullivan Show around 1959 and played on that and was such a sensation she was a regular on many TV shows in the 60's including Perry Como and Danny Thomas. She also appeared with her sister in the Elvis Presley film "Girls, Girls, Girls".
She now plays piano in many of the hotels in Hawaii.


Ginny Tiu - Twelfth Street Rag

Ginny Tiu - Bamboo Dance

Ginny Tiu - Waltz In Ab

Ginny Tiu - Inka Dinka Doo

Country Favourites Vol. 1

The lucky streak continues with this sleeveless 10" LP on the Brunswick label from the late 50's early 60's I imagine. It has some great songs on it and worth it for one track alone- the wonderful "I Let The Stars Get In My Eyes" by Goldie Hill.

Wikipedia says of her-

"Goldie Hill (January 11, 1933 - February 24, 2005), born Argolda Voncile Hill, was an American country music singer. She was one of the first women in country music, becoming one of the first women to reach the top of the country music charts with her number-one 1953 hit, "I Let the Stars Get In My Eyes." Along with Kitty Wells, she set the standard for future women in country music, like Patsy Cline, Skeeter Davis, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton.

The Texas-born Hill might have had a long career in country music had she stuck with it, Some music critics said she had a strong and twangy voice that can be heard in some other country singers of the 1960s like Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. With the success of Kitty Wells and her massive 1952 hit "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," Hill was able to pursue her own career after record companies realized from the success of Wells' hit that women could indeed sell records."


Ernest Tubb - Fortunes In Memories

Red Foley - Midnight

Goldie Hill - I Let The Stars Get In My Eyes

Webb Pierce - Back Street Affair

Ernest Tubb - Somebody Loves You

Red Foley - Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes

Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels

Webb Pierce - That's Me Without You

Yma Sumac

After saying I don't find much in the way of records these days lo and behold a great little EP on the Capitol label by the undoubted Queen Of Exotica Yma Sumac which I found today for 49p in a charity shop.

Wikipedia says-

Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo was born on September 13, 1922 in Ichocán, Cajamarca, Peru. Although she claimed to have been born on September 10, "her personal assistant, who claimed to have seen her birth certificate, gave her date of birth as September 13 1922." Other dates mentioned in her various biographies range from 1921 to 1929. Some sources claim that she was not born in Ichocán, but in a nearby village or possibly, in Lima, and that her family owned a ranch in Ichocán where she spent most of her early life. Stories published in the 1950s claimed that she was an Incan princess, directly descended from Atahualpa. A story claiming that she was born Amy Camus—Yma Sumac backwards—in Brooklyn or Canada was fabricated while she was performing in New York City in the early 1950s.

Chávarri adopted the stage name of Imma Sumack (also spelled Ymma Sumack and Ima Sumack) before she left South America to go to the U.S. The stage name was based on her mother's name which was derived from Ima Shumaq, Quechua for "how beautiful!" although in interviews she claimed it meant "beautiful flower" or "beautiful girl".

Imma Sumack first appeared on radio in 1942 and married composer and bandleader, Moisés Vivanco, on June 6 of the same year. She recorded at least eighteen tracks of Peruvian folk songs in Argentina in 1943. These early recordings for the Odeon label featured Moisés Vivanco's group, Compañía Peruana de Arte, a group of forty-six Indian dancers, singers, and musicians.

In 1946, Sumack and Vivanco moved to New York City, where they performed as the Inka Taky Trio, Sumack singing soprano, Vivanco on guitar, and her cousin Cholita Rivero singing contralto and dancing. Sumack bore a son, Charles, in 1949, and was signed by Capitol Records in 1950, at which time her stage name became Yma Sumac.


The cover of Yma Sumac's debut album, Voice of the Xtabay (1950).During the 1950s, Yma Sumac produced a series of legendary lounge music recordings featuring Hollywood-style versions of Incan and South American folk songs, working with the likes of Les Baxter and Billy May. The combination of her extraordinary voice, exotic looks, and stage personality made her a hit with American audiences. Sumac appeared in a Broadway musical, Flahooley, in 1951, as a foreign princess who brings Aladdin's lamp to an American toy factory to have it repaired. The show's score was by Sammy Fain and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg, but Sumac's three numbers were the work of Vivanco with one co-written by Vivanco and Fain."


Yma Sumac - Jivaro

Yma Sumac - Sejollo

Yma Sumac - Batanga-Hailli

Yma Sumac - Wanka

Bobbie Comber

Historic recordings dubbed from 78's to tape from a great compilation on Windyridge Records that is still available I think. I've mentioned Bobbie Comber before but happy to upload these novelty songs from the 20's and the 30's.
Not much gleaned about Bobbie Comber on the interweb. He was born in 1890 and died in 1942. and was most successful with songs of a nautical nature like "Barnacle Bill The Sailor" during the 30's. He also acted in many films.


Bobbie Comber - All Hands On Deck

Bobbie Comber - He Played The Ukulele As The Ship Went Down

Bobbie Comber - The Flies Crawled Up The Window

Slim Galliard

"Born: Bulee Gaillard, January 4, 1916, Detroit, Michigan - Died February 26, 1991 - England
Other sources including Gaillard himself have claimed he was born on 1 January 1916 in Santa Clara, Cuba. Gaillard led an adventurous childhood. On one occasion, while traveling on board a ship on which his father was steward, he was left behind in Crete when the ship sailed. His adventures became more exciting every time he recounted his tales and include activities such as professional boxer, mortician and truck driver for bootleggers. Originally based in Detroit, Gaillard entered vaudeville in the early 30s with an act during which he played the guitar while tap-dancing. Later in the decade he moved to New York and formed a duo with bassist Slam Stewart in which Gaillard mostly played guitar and sang. Much of their repertoire was original material with lyrics conceived in Gaillard's personal version of the currently popular 'jive talk', which on his lips developed extraordinary surrealist overtones. Gaillard's language, which he named 'Vout' or 'Vout Oreenie', helped the duo achieve a number of hit records, including 'Flat Foot Floogie'. Their success led to a long running radio series and an appearance in the film Hellzapoppin."

Find out more about Slim HERE

I think Slim is on the left in the photo.


Slim Galliard - Sonny Boy

Slim Galliard - Cement Mixer

Slim Galliard - Chicken Rythym

Slim Galliard - Fried Chicken O'Routie

Slim Galliard - African Jive

Cosmotheka - (re-up)

Cosmotheka sing a few old favourites from the days of music hall on their 1992 BBC radio show "Cosmotheka's Comedy Songbook" live from the Palace Theatre , Redditch in the West Midlands.

"For those of us that had the pleasure of witnessing the ‘act’ that was Cosmotheka (Dave & Al Sealey) should count ourselves lucky. I say this in the knowledge that I, along with countless others will recall with nostalgia the songs set before us for the first time on CD. So, congratulations to Graham Bradshaw at Folksound for issuing it. I won’t re-trace the history of the duo (Dave does that in the accompanying booklet) but needless to say a majority of the most popular numbers from their extensive repertoire appear here. To name-check a few, we have ‘Wot A Mouth’, ‘Don’t Do It Again, Matilda’, ‘Thuthie’ and ‘Wot I Want Is A Proper Cup Of Coffee’. Dave and Al’s tireless pursuit of the rich music hall heritage that was so much a part of Britain’s social structure is a testament to all song collectors. I reflect with fondness my particular association with the duo when I was asked to play a difficult banjo break on one of their recordings and all the encouragement they gave me in completing the task. Without the likes of Cosmotheka, the world of folk music (which they embraced as much as the music halls) would be a poorer scene. Sadly Al passed away in 1999 leaving a legacy of recordings that if they were to be released today would bring a smile to the sternest of critics. Perhaps now the ball has started rolling someone somewhere will re-issue all of Cosmotheka’s back catalogue."

Buy the CD of some of their best known songs HERE.


Cosmotheka - Radio Session 1980's

Cosmotheka - Guest Spot Radio 2 1986

Mickey Katz

I already uploaded a couple of tracks from another great LP last year but had some requests for more. How could I refuse? These tracks are from a CD called "Mickey Katz Greatest Shticks" and full of some great yiddish flavoured novelty songs.

"Long before Allan Sherman and Woody Allen showered the public with Yiddish slang -- and decades before the klezmer revival breathed new life into a once-popular ethnic music -- a little clarinetist with a lot of chutzpah blazed the trail, exposing "crossover" audiences to the language and the melodies of his forebears with a series of English-Yiddish parody records.

Being Jewish "was always popular in my house," recalled Mickey Katz, who embraced his heritage from the early days of his career. "The only people it wasn't popular with were those who were frightened." Among those who were displeased with him for being open about his religious persuasion was the Jewish editor of Variety, who reprimanded Katz for "defiling" the legend of Davy Crockett when the bandleader's parody "Duvid Crockett" became a hit record.

Katz made a lot of people uncomfortable in the 1940s and '50s. He was too ethnic for many Jews of his generation who couldn't shed their Old World roots fast enough, and too much of a comedian for the purists -- a strange hybrid of Naftule Brandwein and Spike Jones they didn't quite dig."


Mickey Katz - Duvid Crockett

Mickey Katz - Knish Doctor

Mickey Katz - Borscht Riders In The Sky

Mickey Katz - Old Black Smidgick

The Great "Hee Haw" Disk

Delving into the archives now in the run up to Crimble as the boot sales have fizzled out and the charity shops have less and less of tapes and vinyl to root through.
Not sure where this originated but a fine compilation of cockney rock and novelty songs from the 70's and 80's including diverse "talents" such as Laurie Lingo & The Dipsticks, The Wurzels to Alfie Bass and Bernie Winters.

Discover more about Jackie Lynton HERE

Discover more about Ricky Cool HERE

Discover more about The Firm HERE


Jackie Lynton - Don't Try To Make Me Love You Tonight

Ricky Cool - You're Not My Type

Wolfie Witcher - No Money Down

The Firm - Arthur Daley

Cockney 'n' Westerns - She's No Angel

Fred Douglas - (re-Up)

Not really a boot sale find but an excuse to upload some novelty songs by Fred Douglas who I know nothing about except he made lots of cover versions of hits on the cheap Regal label that sold in Woolworths I believe back in the 30's and 40's. Later they had the Embassy label which did a similar service - all the pop hits of the day by obscure singers who nobody had ever heard of! Fred Douglas went by many other nome de plumes, some say as many as 60 including the comedy duo The Two Gilberts.

Chris Gavin says of The Two Gilberts -

"Almost nothing is known about this comedy duo, but it can be surmised from their recordings that the people making up the pairing varied with time. The odd thing is that the Two Gilberts appear at a time when comedy duettists had just about died out in terms of popularity. Harry Cove & Billy Thompson had dominated the recording studios (along with the likes on Will Brockton, Jack Charman, Stanley Kirkby, Lionel Rothery etc) with their duet records from before WWI. People with a good ear claim that Fred Douglas, a prolific maker of records in his own name, is always one of the pair. Recently it has been claimed that the most regular duo were Fred Douglas and Leslie Rome.

Interestingly, both Cove and Thompson were mainstays of The Two Gilberts at different times. Thompson seems to be Douglas's first partner before Cove took over in mid-1924. Recordings by Tom Gilbert exist, usually paired with recordings of the Two Gilberts, these records issued as by Tom Gilbert are also by Fred Douglas; the Regal company obviously dreamt up the name as a tie-in with the duettists as well as issuing record under Douglas's own name.

It seems that about these artists: Douglas, Thompson & Cove, very little is known as they spent pretty well the whole of their careers as recording artists, generally looked down upon by collectors and researchers as "of no historical importance or interest"."


The Two Gilberts - Santiago

Fred Douglas - My Wife Is On A Diet

Fred Douglas - I love Me, I'm Wild About Myself

Fred Douglas - Dirty Hands - Dirty Face