Keith & Enid

I've had this in my collection for many years but can't remember where I bought it for 35p - probably a junk shop in Limehouse. One of the very first releases on Chris Blackwell's Island label in 1963. Director of music - Ernest Ranglin, who probably plays guitar on some tracks here. Excuse the very bad surface noise.

"Island records was founded in Jamaica in 1959 by Chris Blackwel, the son of a white plantation owner. The label took its name from the Alec Waugh novel 'Island In The Sun'. The early releases on the label were by West Indians and in the music styles that were later to be known as Ska, Bluebeat and Rock Steady. It looked a very good investment when one of Blackwell's first productions, "Boogie In My Bones" by the Cuban-born singer Laurel Aitken, stayed at number one on the Jamaican radio chart for eleven weeks. Blackwell opened an office at South Odeon Parade in central Kingston, Jamaica, where he expanded his artistes with recordings by Wilfred 'Jackie' Edwards and Owen Gray. Both singers were already stars on the talent show circuit; so popular that eager youths fought among themselves for the honor of carrying Jackie Edwards' sharp stage-clothes to the dressing room. By 1962 Chris Blackwell was operating from premises in Notting Hill Gate, London. He catered for the large West Indian community in London by releasing records from Jamaica on his Island label. Blackwell also reckoned that, by switching to London, he could not only continue his own productions but also provide an international platform for Island's Jamaican rivals. The company could, therefore, potentially have the pick of Jamaica's hottest records, and hopefully becoming Britain's leading Ska label."


Keith & Enid - What Have I Done

Keith & Enid - Cottonfields

Keith & Enid - Send Me

Keith & Enid - It's Only A Pity

Keith & Enid - Worried Over You

Charlie Gillett - Last Honky Tonk 1978

Acually not sure if this is the very last Honky Tonk or bits of the penultimate show and half of the final show as they are on two tapes - one a C60 and the other , one side of a C90. Anyway, I'm sure fans of Charlie will find these fascinating as I do as he plays some of the highlights of the past shows with sessions from Chas & Dave, Darts etc. and demos from Elvis Costello and Charlie Dore etc.


Charlie Gillett - Last Honky Tonk Pt. 1

Charlie Gillett - Last Honky Tonk Pt.2

Charlie Gillett - Last Honky Tonk Pt. 3

Rao Kyao

Jazzy flute player from Portugal I found at a car boot yesterday. Released on the Parlophone label back in 1977.

Wikipedia via Babelfish says-

"He was pupil of the Military College, in Lisbon. Estreou it the living creature as interpreter of saxofone tenor to the 19 years of age, having been in this phase inspired for the Jazz. It stops beyond touching in numerous clubs lisboetas, also touched in the foreigner, countries as Denmark, Spain, France and the Netherlands. It was fixed in France. In the end of the decade of 1970 it left for India, trying to redescobrir the lost link between Portuguese music and the music of the east. During this period, it studied Indiana music and flute bansuri. Of this experience, they had resulted the Goa album (1979), and new noises in its work. In 1983, it launched the album bailado Destiny, that it would come to be the first Portuguese album to arrive the platinum record. In this work, it interpreted to saxofone diverse workmanships of Amália Rodrigues, with the contribution of the master of the Portuguese guitar António Chainho. In the following year, it launched the album Road of the light, that would come to become it famous the national level for its interpretations with bamboo flute. In the year of 1996, the album to the Alive living creature returned to the destiny, recording the destiny. In 1999, it composed the official hymn of the cerimónia of the transference of sovereignty of Macau, having in this recorded scope the album Junction, with the Chinese orchestra of Macau. The Macau subject would come to return to its workmanship in 2008, in the album Interior, recorded Port in partnership with the Chinese interpreter Yanan."


Rao Kyao - Minha Em Mi

Rao Kyao - Cor De Bambu

Rao Kyao - Alto De Loba

Rao Kyao - Calipso Quarta-Feira

Charlie Gillett - Rico / City Beats 1

More old radio shows from the archive - one from 1977 with Rico Rodriguez playing some of his influences including Don Drummond and Gene Ammons. Rico now plays in Jools Holland's band but has a lengthy career in Jamaica playing on many Ska sessions in the 60's. Also a fragment of another Honky Tonk show that features short snippets of interview with Fats Domino that Martin Newman did in 1978 I think.

I had hoped to include the whole of the fist The City Beats show from 30th September 1984 butthe tape was so damaged I could only manage the last half of it before it gave up the ghost and wobbled to a halt!

Wikipedia says if Rico -


"Rodriguez was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and was taught to play the trombone by his slightly older schoolmate Don Drummond at the Alpha Boys School. In the 1950s, he became a rasta and became closely musically related to rasta drummer, Count Ossie. In 1961, he moved to the UK and started to play in reggae bands there. In 1976, he recorded the album, Man from Wareika under contract with Island Records.In the late 1970s, with the arrival of the 2 Tone genre, he played with ska revival bands such as The Specials. One of his most notable performances was on The Specials' song, "A Message to You, Rudy".

Rodriguez also helmed his own outfit, Rico and the Rudies, to yield the albums Blow Your Horn and Brixton Cat.

In 1995 Island Records released the album Roots to the Bone, an updated version of Rodriguez's earlier work, Man from Wareika.

Since 1996, amongst other engagements, he has played with Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and he also performs at various ska festivals throughout Europe with his own band.

He was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) at Buckingham Palace on 12 July 2007, for services to music."


Charlie Gillett - Rico

Charlie Gillett - Fats Domino

Charlie Gillett - City Beats 1

The Olympics

"The Olympics were one of the great L.A.-based acts who managed to score regional hits on the West Coast by balancing upbeat and often humorous novelty R&B tunes with those about popular dances of the day (some of the other West Coast groups who fit this description were the Jay Hawks, the Cadets/Jacks, the Marathons, and the DooTones). They are perhaps best remembered for their Coasters-derived "Western Movies," but their other L.A.-area hits include the popular dance number "Baby Hully Gully," "Big Boy Pete" (which stalled out at number 50 pop, but went to number ten R&B), and "Mine Exclusively."

The Olympics' original lineup -- raspy baritone Walter Ward (who sang lead), Eddie Lewis (tenor), Charles Fizer (baritone), and Walter Hammond (baritone) -- started out as Walter Ward & the Challengers, waxing "I Can Tell" in 1958. All three baritone leads rarely exploited their low range, preferring to sing in shrill high tones. They changed their name to the Olympics shortly thereafter, hooking up with the songwriting team of Fred Smith and Cliff Goldsmith, who wrote and produced the act's first hit in 1958 for Si Aronson's Hollywood-based Demon Records. "Western Movies," a Coasters-type novelty number, caught on quickly, right around the same time that all of America was preoccupied with Western-themed movies and TV shows. The single climbed to number eight pop and number seven R&B in 1958."

Not sure how this copy on a Brazilian label "Arvec" got to Brick Lane flea market but I'm glad it did. Some great songs on here but not quite in the same league as the Coasters who had Leiber and Stoller writing for them.


The Olympics - What'd I Say

The Olympics - Boo-Dee Green

The Olympics - Dodge City

Karl Denver

A charity shop find I think from a couple of years ago. I dont know why it's taken me this long to add Karl Denver to this blog. He had an extraordinary voice which seemed to span several octaves.

Wikipedia says -

"Denver was born in Springburn, Glasgow and was well travelled by the time he took up singing, having had a previous career in the British Merchant Navy. He also had a country music influence, having lived in Nashville, Tennessee for a short time before being deported from there as an illegal immigrant in 1959. In the US, he adopted the new name that he retained for the remainder of his singing career.
In the early 1960s he formed a trio which included Kevin Neil (b 25 July 1931, Manchester, Lancashire, d. 13 March 2010) and Gerry Cottrell (b. Gerard Cottrell, 18 December 1933, Manchester, Lancashire — d. 24 November 2006, at Trafford General Hospital, Urmston, Manchester)
Denver's song, "Never Goodbye", was an entry in A Song for Europe in 1962.
After the mid 1960s, Denver worked mainly on the cabaret circuit. However in 1989 he enjoyed a brief raise in profile after guesting on Madchester band, the Happy Mondays' single, "Lazyitis (One-Armed Boxer)", on Factory Records (FAC 222). Denver also appeared in The Happy Mondays' video for the song, although he contracted pneumonia whilst filming the video. Following this collaboration Factory released two further Denver recordings, "Wimoweh '89" (FAC 228) and "Indambinigi" (FAC 278; credited to Karl Denver and Steve Lima).
In 1993 he released his final album, Just Loving You, aimed at the country music market. By then, Denver missed almost as many notes as he hit. He was a frail man whose condition was not improved through heavy drinking. The final song he recorded was Burt Bacharach's "The Story of My Life"."


Karl Denver - Canoe Song

Karl Denver - She Moved Thro' The Fair

Karl Denver - ThreeLovely Lasses From Bannion

Karl Denver - Silver And Gold

Karl Denver - O'Brian The Brave Engineer

Charlie Gillett - "Cry Me A River" 1980's

Another upload from the Charlie Gillett archive. Long before Bob Dylan did his Theme Time Radio Hour, Charlie was doing themed shows on the radio back in the 80's. This time a Capital Radio "The Alchemists" themed show based on "Cry Me A River". The first half being crying songs and the second half devoted to river songs. Included are gems by Garnet Mimms, Billie Holiday and Jelly Roll Morton to name but a few.


Charlie Gillett - Cry Me A River

Zimbabwe Stars

Another 45 sent to me by Charlie Gillett back in the late 80's or early 90's. Cant find out much about the Zimbabwe Stars on the internet but again typical of the sparkling guitar style pop of the Bhundu Boys and the Four Brothers whose music did make waves over here in the late 80's.

Benning Eyre says -

"Zimbabwe's music also reflects the foreign music styles that filled the airwaves during the colonial years and the war years. American and African jazz had a big impact early on. Later, rock 'n' roll, Congolese rumba and South African township music held sway. After 1970, Zimbabwean musicians became more and more original in their attempts to meld local rhythms, musical moods and melodies with popular sounds from the outside. Many unique and beautiful styles of music emerged in the process.

Distinct guitar-band sounds developed, characterized by lively, independent guitar and bass lines—not unlike Kenyan benga and other East African derivatives of Congolese rumba—and sweetly harmonized vocals that many compare to the early Beatles as well as the thumping downbeat characteristic of much southern African music. Jonah Moyo and Dvera Ngwena along with John Chibadura emphasized the rumba side, while James Chimombe pressed the South African aspect.

The music, variously known as sungura, jit and just Zimbabwe rumba became the mainstay of the nation's pop-music market. By the mid-'90s, the Zimbabwe rumba torch had passed to a new team, headed up by Simon Chimbetu and Leonard Zvakata. By the turn of the century, many guitar pop legends—including Chibadura, Chimombe, the great Leonard Dembo and Robson Banda, the so called prince of chimurenga—had died, some from AIDS. Chimbetu and Zvakata remained popular, but guitar rumba is being steadily overshadowed on one side by a dramatic rise in the popularity of local gospel music and by the encroachment of American hip-hop, Jamaican and U.K. reggae and slick, urban kwaito from South Africa. These styles have begun to dominate Zimbabwean radio, still under government control.

With Zimbabwean society facing political upheaval, a dramatically failing economy, and one of the worst AIDS crises in the world, these harder-edged foreign sounds seem to strike a chord. Once again, traditions and traditional music seem to be taking a back seat, although they now have a loyal international audience and thrive in Zimbabwe both in rural settings and as a kind of underground music in cities."


Zimbabwe Stars - Fadza Customer

Zimbabwe Stars - Moto Muzhinji

Pengaudzoke

Charlie Gillett was very generous with his spare records over the years and I would get LP's or singles in the post occasionally . Once a batch of 45's from Zimbabwe from which this single from Pengaudzoke was included. I presume Charlie bought them on holiday and after listening to them he shared them out with his regular correspondents and friends. This is typical jangly guitar band style with a flavour of African thumb piano which the pop music of Zimbabwe had assimilated.

The Music Of Zimbabwe site says -

"Members have included Daiton Somanje, Josphat Somanje, Clever Somanje, Laison Ngowera, Marefura Mgowera, Lameck Fadwick.

Marondera band Pengaudzoke has been a fixture in the sungura scene since the late eighties. Since then the band has steadily risen to be one of Zimbabwe's top acts, along both the musical lines and popularity of Alick Macheso. Pengauzoke's messages often feature tales of love, poverty, and offer moral lessons, advice, and social commentary.

The band was founded by brothers Daiton and Josphat Somanje who took care of vocals and lead guitar, respectively. Poverty and the harsh reality of farm life led them to take refuge in their music and, eventually, carve out their careers. The band, whose name translates to "what goes around comes around", released their first singles in 1989, and also issued their first album, Kwatakabva Nenhamo, that same year. Despite the departure of the Ngowera Brothers (who left in 1993 to form their own band, the Twin Brothers), their success has carried on. Zvibate Pamhaka was released in 1997 to immense success and widespread critical and mass acclaim. The following year they release a greatest hits album, compiling songs from their first eight albums.

However, this wasn't enough to keep the band together. Lead guitarist Josphat Somanje left the band for a solo career, amid rumours of money disputes. He released his first solo album, Sango, in 2002. Daiton has carried on with Pengaudzoke, releasing Upile in 2002 while playing shows with major Zimbabwean artists such as Alick Macheso and Oliver Mtukudzi. "


Pengaudzoke - Tezvara Revai Pfuma

Pengaudzoke - Politics Inanga Yadunia

Charlie Gillett - Nick Hornby 16/6/95

A more recent radio show from Charlie here with guest Nick Hornby who's book High Fidelity was riding high in the book charts. Interesting "ping pong" with Nick playing some of his favourite records including Smokey Robinson and Otis Redding etc.

Wikipedia says-

"Hornby was born in Redhill, Surrey, England. Hornby's sister, Gill, is married to writer Robert Harris.He was brought up in Maidenhead and was educated at Maidenhead Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge. His parents divorced when he was 11.

Hornby has been married twice. He and his first wife have one son, born in 1992, who has autism. Hornby's second wife is producer Amanda Posey. They have two sons, born in 2003 and 2005.

Hornby's first published book, 1992's Fever Pitch, is an autobiographical story detailing his fanatical support for Arsenal Football Club. As a result, Hornby received the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. In 1997 the memoir was adapted for film in the UK and in 2005 an American remake was released, following Jimmy Fallon's obsession with the Boston Red Sox. With the book's success, Hornby began to publish articles in the Sunday Times, Time Out and the Times Literary Supplement, in addition to his music reviews for the New Yorker. High Fidelity—his second book and first novel—was published in 1995. The novel, about a neurotic record collector and his failed relationships, was adapted into a 2000 film starring John Cusack and a Broadway musical in 2006."


Charlie Gillett - Nick Hornby Pt. 1

Charlie Gillett - Nick Hornby Pt. 2

Albert Lee

My old mate Jim in Basingstoke sent this tape to me recently of a concert he attended back in 1998 at the Woolwich Tramshed in London. It's Albert Lee and his band - the first headliner gig in the UK apparently. Up until then Albert played on many sessions and in bands such as Heads Hands and Feet and The Thunderbirds.

Wikipedia says-

He grew up in Blackheath, London. His father was a musician, and Albert studied piano. During this time, like many of his age, he became a fan of Buddy Holly, and also of Jerry Lee Lewis. He took up guitar in 1958 when his parents bought him a second-hand Höfner President which he later traded in for a Czechoslovakian Grazioso, the forerunner of the Futurama. Later, he wished he had bought a Fender instead. Albert Lee left school at the age of 16, to play full-time.


Lee was with a variety of bands from 1959 onwards, playing mostly R&B, country music and rock and roll. In addition to Buddy Holly, his early guitar influences included Cliff Gallup, The Everly Brothers, Scotty Moore, James Burton and Jerry Reed. Lee first experienced commercial success as the lead guitarist with Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds. Lee says that he enjoyed playing the Stax-type material, but he really wanted to play country music. Consequently he left Farlowe and the Thunderbirds in 1968.
During his time playing with Heads Hands & Feet, Lee became a "guitar hero", playing his Fender Telecaster at breakneck speed.[ Heads Hands & Feet became a very popular live band in the UK, making appearances on The Old Grey Whistle Test and also in Europe, where they appeared on the German music programme Beat-Club and later performed with German bassist Georg Grimm who discovered Nasville Singer-Songwriter Sylkie Monoff."

Discover more about Albert Lee and Hogan's Heroes HERE.


Albert Lee - Woolwich Tramshed 1998

Charlie Gillett - Art Neville 1970's

Another segment of Honky Tonk radio show from back in the mid 70's when Charlie talked to Art Neville about his musical career prior to the Neville Brothers forming.
Fascinating insights into the music world of New Orleans and great records including Allen Toussaint, The Meters, Jerry Byrne and Chris Kenner.

Wikipedia says-

Art Neville (born December 17, 1937) is an American singer and keyboardist from New Orleans. Neville is a part of one of the most famous musical families of New Orleans, the Neville Brothers. He was also a founding member of The Meters, and also continues to play with the spinoff group the Funky Meters along with his son Ian on guitar. As a session musician, he has played on recordings by many notable artists from New Orleans and elsewhere, including LaBelle (on "Lady Marmalade"), Paul McCartney, Lee Dorsey, Dr. John and Professor Longhair. Art's daughter, Arthel Neville is a journalist and television personality.

Discover more about the Neville Brothers HERE

Thanks again go to John Mister who supplied this old wobbly cassette from his archive. I tried it in several tape machines and this is the best I could get!


Charlie Gillett - Art Neville 1970's

Dark City Sisters

A record I found some years ago in a remaindered record shop in East London.

"The Dark City Sisters were a group of session singers who came together to record an album and in the process popularized an innovative new style of singing. Rather than
singing a common four-part harmony, the Sisters used five parts, which created a richer tone. Sometimes known as "vocal jive," this technique was subsumed under the umbrella term "mbaqanga," meaning, literally, dumpling, and figuratively, a homegrown style. ~ Leon Jackson, All Music Guide"

It puzzles me though that there are only three ladies featured on the front cover of this sleeve? No other information found on the interweb sadly though see they have a couple of compilations available on CD on Sterns and World Curcuit records.


Dark City Sisters - Isinkwa Nofishi

Dark City Sisters - Kusa Kusile

Dark City Sisters - Ontsekisang

Dark City Sisters - Sihamba Kancane

Dark City Sisters - Pelowane

Dark City Sisters - Segametsi

The Spotnicks

"The Spotnicks was formed in Göteborg, Sweden, in 1957, by guitarist and undisputed bandleader Bo Winberg. The other members were guitarist and singer Bob Lander, drummer Ove Johansson, and bassist Björn Thein, several of whom had already played together in local rock & roll bands like the Blue Caps, Rock Teddy, and the Rebels. The first year, they performed under the name the Frazers, but soon changed it to the Spotnicks. In 1961, they were signed by Karusell and released their first singles containing mostly instrumental covers of famous songs. The selection of songs was as varied as the performance was homogenous, including titles like "Hava Nagila" and "Johnny Guitar." Later the same year, the Spotnicks toured Germany, France, and Spain and in 1962, they released the debut album The Spotnicks in London, recorded on their first trip to England. Featured on this tour were the space suits that the band would wear on-stage until 1969. "Hava Nagila" became a hit in England in 1963 and the same year, Johansson left and was replaced by Derek Skinner. The rest of the '60s meant increasing success in Europe, the U.S., and Japan, and the band even managed to compete with themselves on the Japanese charts when the Spotnicks' song "Karelia" took the first position from the Feenades' "Ajomies." The song was the same, just recorded under different titles. The Feendes were a Finland-based side project to the Spotnicks, built on Winberg and Peter Winsnes, who had joined the Spotnicks in 1965. Winberg also released less successful recordings under the name the Shy Ones. Compared to the following decades, the '60s were a relative stable period for the group when it came to the lineup. Some new members were recruited though, like drummer Jimmie Nicol, bassist Magnus Hellsberg, and drummer Tommy Tausis, who had earlier played with Tages

In 1969, the Spotnicks disbanded, but Winberg continued to record using the name until the group reunited in 1972 on request by a Japanese record company. The same year, "If You Could Read My Mind" from the album Something Like Country became a big hit in Germany. The Spotnicks would keep their popularity there for a long time, even as it faded elsewhere. Only the Japanese audience proved more faithful and accordingly, the Spotnicks located most of their tours during the '70s to these countries. After the release of Something Like Country in 1972, by many fans seen as the Spotnicks' best album, they had practically ended being a band, consisting mainly of Winberg and various session musicians."

I must apologize for the terrible condition of this record. Found at Brick Lane flea market many years ago. The sleeve photo is a classic and the music is pretty good too despite the crackles and jumps!


The Spotnicks - Orange Blossom Special

The Spotnicks - Happy Henrik's Polka

The Spotnicks - Ol' Man River

The Spotnicks - Nightcap

The Spotnicks - High Flying Scotsman

The Spotnicks - Moonshot

Charlie Gillett - Rockabilly / James Burton 1975

Two more Honky Tonk shows courtesy of John Mister who kindly sent me the remains of his HT Archive on some very cheap cassettes so please excuse the sound quality.

The first is with guests Charlie Feathers, Buddy Knox and Jack Scott in the midst of a UK Rockabilly package tour. I think they recorded a live album at the Rainbow Theatre that year which was later released. I should check my own blog as it's on here somewhere!

The second is with James Burton the session guitarist who has played with many of the great names in rock and country, including Elvis and Ricky Nelson. He was in town with the band backing Emmy Lou Harris who was touring at the time.

As usual fascinating snippets of conversation and some great records.

Wikipedia says of James Burton-

"Born in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish, Louisiana, Burton moved to Shreveport with his family in 1949. He is self-taught, and was playing guitar from his childhood.

By the time he was thirteen years old, Burton was playing guitar semi-professionally. A year later he was hired to be part of the staff band for the enormously popular Louisiana Hayride radio show in Shreveport. Burton left Shreveport for Los Angeles while in his teens after joining Ricky Nelson's band. In L.A., he made numerous recordings as a session musician. Burton created and played the guitar solo on Dale Hawkins 1957 hit song "Susie Q," a record that would become one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll."



Charlie Gillett - Rockabilly Special Pt. 1

Charlie Gillett - Rockabilly Special Pt.2

Charlie Gillett - James Burton Pt.1

Charlie Gillett - James Burton Pt.2

The Five Smith Brothers (Re-Up)

I can't believe I haven't uploaded the Five Smith Brothers before now. Very little can be gleaned from the internet about them , only that they came from Newcastle and very popular in the North East of England in the 40's and 50's.
This compilation is one of two volumes on the MWM Records label from the 80's one imagines.

"The Five Smith Brothers were Alfred, Harold, Martin, Royston, Stanley - all born prior to the end of WW1 in Newcastle. Alf Harold Stan had been professional footballers. First prof.sing appearance Gateshead 1932. All served in WW2 but Martin killed in raod accident 1946. Replaced by Ronnie Culbertson who became Ronnie Smith. On radio with Jewel & Warris in Up The Pole. 1948 Summer Season at Blackpool with J&W and Josef Locke. Royal variety Show in 1950 and also 1955 (the one at Blackpool).

Last record for Decca in 1956 - then 7 years later a record by Two Smith Brothers. (Don't know which ones) Interesting to note that in 1954 they covered Bill Haley's ABC Boogie!!"


Five Smith Brothers - Shoemaker's Serenade

Five Smith Brothers - The Cobbler

Five Smith Brothers - Hop Scotch Polka

Five Smith Brothers - Sunshine Of Your Smile

Five Smith Brothers - Goodnight Irene

Five Smith Brothers - The Thing

Charlie Gillett - Dr. Hook 1975

Charlie Gillett on the left on this photo from the Oval Records website back in the 70's when this Honky Tonk radio show was broadcast, probably in November but not absolutely sure.
Guests are the anarchic Dr. Hook whose entertaining banter enlivens a great 90 minutes with songs from Dr. Hook's new album at the time and various records that Charlie thought they might enjoy. He manages to control the proceedings pretty well considering!
Thanks go to John Mister for supplying this tape from his archive.

*Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show got their start around 1968 playing the bar circuit in and around Union City, New Jersey. Originally, they were comprised of five people, most notably Ray Sawyer on vocals and guitar and Dennis Locorriere on lead and vocals. Sawyer's trademarks were the cowboy hat and the eyepatch, the result of an automobile accident in 1967. Locorriere was bearded. Both guys were the center of the group because of their crazy antics onstage. Their energy, strange sense of humor (they once appeared as their own opening act!) alternating with the ability to pull off an emotional ballad made Dr. Hook one of the most successful bands in the 1970s, scoring 35 gold or platinum hits."


Charlie Gillett - Dr. Hook Pt.1

Charlie Gillett - Dr. Hook Pt.2

Daniel Farson presents..... (re-up)

I love this Philips International label LP recorded in 1961 at the Metropolitan Theatre , Edgeware Road in London which features a few of the very last stars of the music-hall. Sadly the Metropolitan Theatre met the fate of so many old music halls and a hotel was built where it used to stand. Daniel Farson, who used to have his own programme on TV in the 60's and also owned a pub in the East End, takes us on a short history of the genre with the help of Hetty King, Albert Whelan, Ida Barr, G.H. Elliot, Billy Danvers and Marie Lloyd Jnr.
As the sleeve notes say- " ... we are lucky that this valuable and poignant record exists to show us what music hall was all about."

Discover more about Daniel Farson HERE


Daniel Farson - Side One

Daniel Farson - Side Two

Charlie Gillett - Errol Dixon 8/1/78

Another Honky Tonk radio show with Charlie talking to Errol Dixon for the first half back in 1978. Errol started out making Ska records in Jamaica but soon began his own sould band when arriving in Britain in the mid 60's. He made his first blues record with Mike Vernon in 1967 and has continued as a boogie-woogie and blues pianist ever since, mainly touring central Europe. Errol plays some of his favourite records and chats with Charlie about his career and some of his influences which include Smiley Lewis and Dave Bartholemew.


Charlie Gillett - Errol Dixon Pt. 1

Charlie Gillett - Errol Dixon Pt.2

Butch Cage and Willie B. Thomas

An old scratchy LP I've had a for many years. I can't remember how I came by it. Its on the Folk Lyric label and recordings done in the field by Harry Oster in 1959/60.
Lovely down home guitar and fiddle playing and one can imagine them on the porch of an old shack with chickens and dogs running around. One can clearly hear African roots here especially in tunes like Foxhunt.

"The songs on the album Country Negro Jam Session were recorded in Southwestern Louisiana between 1959 and 1962, some in Angola Prison, others at house parties around Baton Rouge (the remaining 5 titles on CD reissue were recorded by Chris Strachwitz and Paul Oliver in 1960). In it’s earliest incarnation, the first 14 tracks of the 25 title program were released on Dr. Oster’s now-defunct Folk Lyric label, and then re-released on Arhoolie intact after Chris Strachwitz purchased the Folk Lyric catalog. Oster did a series of field recordings, informal jams with a group of obscure blues men and women, only one of whom, Robert Pete Williams, won fame. Otis Webster was recorded extensively by Oster in 1959 and 1960 all in Angola Prison. Many of the sides remain unissued. Willie B. Thomas (vocal & guitar) and James ‘Butch’ Cage (vocal & fiddle) make up a good part of Country Negro Jam Session. The duo’s string band music is reminiscent of Peg Leg Howell and his gang and the two play not only blues but also pop, and religious music. They also back singer/guitarist Clarence Edwards on several numbers. Butch Cage was born in 1894 near Meadville, MS, and whom Oster describes aptly in the liner notes as “a great representative of the now virtually extinct 19th century black fiddle tradition”, while Willie B. Thomas was born near Lobdell, LA in 1912."

Taken from Big Road Blues website.

Butch Cage/Willie B. Thomas - 44 Blues

Butch Cage/Willie B. Thomas - Mississippi Heavy Water

Butch Cage/Willie B. Thomas - Smokes Like Lightnin'

Butch Cage/Willie B. Thomas - Who Broke The Lock

Butch Cage/Willie B. Thomes - Foxhunt

Ivy Pete & His Limbomaniacs

An LP on the Somerset label from the late 50's when "limbo" was a big dance craze. This is a weak kind of blue-eyed calypso that was made for tourists and for playing at parties. Great kitsch sleeve though which is the only reason I bought it.
The sleeve notes don't tell us much about Ivy pete and his band but says- " Authorities say all you need for a limbo party is three poles ( two upright and one across - see sleeve ) and a group of people with strong backs "bent" on having a ball with "Ivy" Pete and the gang. We recommend you don't try the flame bit on the pole.... this is for real experts or drunks that live near the firehouse."


Ivy Pete - Jamaica Farewell

Ivy Pete - Little Brown Skin Girl

Ivy Pete - Sly Mongoose

Ivy Pete - I Adore Her

Charlie Gillett - Roy Brown 6/8/78

Another great old Honky Tonk radio show from 1978 broadcast on Radio London. Charlie is talking to R&B pioneer Roy Brown and playing some of his hits from the 40's and 50's and tracks from Roy's latest release. Interspersed with some fascinating tales of how it was for black artists in the record business back then - unscrupulous managers and all.

Wikipedia says -

"Roy James Brown (September 10, 1925 — May 25, 1981 was a pioneering Rhythm & Blues singer, songwriter and musician who had a primary influence on the early development of rock & roll music. Brown sang R&B tunes with a gospel feel, the first blues singer to do so. The "call and response" gospel style was limited to the church prior to Brown's arrival to the music scene. R&B was mostly "jivey" novelty tunes, like "Caledonia" by Louis Jordan and blues sung behind jazzy, boogie-woogie beats like "Roll 'em Pete" by Joe Turner. His seminal "Good Rocking Tonight" was covered by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Pat Boone. In addition, his melismatical pleading, gospel-steeped delivery impacted the vocal styles of B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Jackie Wilson and Little Richard. His role as a crucial link between postwar R&B and rock's initial rise is underappreciated by the masses."


Charlie Gillett - Roy Brown Pt. 1

Charlie Gillett - Roy Brown Pt. 2

Ann Stephens

I rarely buy records from the Oxfam shop as the prices tend to be a bit steep but for 49p this seemed like a bargain steeped as it is in nostalgia for far distant innocent age when we had "Children's Favourites" on the wireless ( long before the radio was invented ) Also someone called Uncle Mac who used to introduce it every Saturday morning. I think his name was Derek McCulloch? A kindly old uncle figure who smelled of Werther's Originals and had a wooden leg.
I suppose it's just the nostalgia that makes this EP on the HMV label so appealing.

The sleeve notes don't tell us much about the precocious Ann but it does say-

"Ann was an HMV recording discovery, for when they needed an Alice for their Alice In Wonderland series in 1941. Ann was the successful applicant out of 700 who were auditioned for the company. Her debut on record was successful and instantaneous, and her natural, untrained voice endeared her to a nation and led her to being offered several film parts."

The whistler on Dicky Bird Hop is Ronald Gourley. The orchestra on Buckingham Palace and Christopher Robin is conducted by Clifford Greenwood. The orchestra on the other two songs is conducted by Henry Geehl.


Ann Stephens - Buckingham Palace

Ann Stephens - Dicky Bird Hop

Ann Stephens - Teddy Bears Picnic

Ann Stephens - Christopher Robin

Laurel & Hardy

One of my favourite all time comedy duo's. They still make me smile despite having seen these classic shorts and features dozens of times. These tracks were taken from a CD called The Laurel & Hardy Collection on HMV that was released back in the 90's mostly comprising of extracts of dialogue from the films and a few songs - two of which I have uploaded here.

Wikipedia says -

"Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular comedy teams of the early to mid Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. Composed of thin, English-born Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and heavy, American-born Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) they became well known during the late 1920s and the 1930s for their work in motion pictures and also appeared on stage throughout America and Europe.

The two comedians first worked together on the silent film The Lucky Dog. After a period appearing separately in several short films for the Hal Roach studio during the 1920s, they began appearing in movie shorts together in 1926. Laurel and Hardy officially became a team the following year, and soon became Hal Roach's most lucrative stars. Among their most popular and successful films were the features Sons of the Desert (1933), Way Out West (1937), and Block-Heads (1938) and the shorts Big Business (1929), Liberty (1929), and their Academy Award–winning short, The Music Box (1932).

The pair left the Roach studio in 1940, then appeared in eight "B" comedies for 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1941 to 1944. Disappointed in the films in which they had little creative control, from 1945 to 1950 the team did not appear on film and concentrated on their stage show, embarking on a musical hall tour of England, Ireland and Scotland. They made Atoll K, a French/Italian production and their last film, in 1950/1951, before retiring from the screen. In total they appeared together in 106 films. They starred in 40 short sound films, 32 short silent films and 23 full length feature films, and in the remaining 11 films made guest or cameo appearances."


Laurel & Hardy - Another Fine Mess

Laurel & Hardy - Way Down South

Laurel & Hardy - Goodbye

Charlie Gillett - Ry Cooder - Brad of The Specials

Two more old radio shows in tribute to Charlie Gillett who died last week. Both from the Undercurrents series on Capital Radio around 1982/3.
Ry Cooder had just undertaken his UK tour with the John Hiatt and his band and plays some favourite records and talks about the origins of some of his new songs.
Brad of The Specials had just started his own Race record label and plays some initial releases.

I apologise for the poor recording quality - these cassettes are over 25 years old!

Wikipedia says of Ry Cooder -

"Ryland "Ry" Peter Cooder (born 15 March 1947, in Los Angeles, California) is an American guitarist, singer and composer.

He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in blues-rock, roots music from his native North America, and, more recently, for his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.

Cooder's solo work has been an eclectic mix, taking in dust bowl folk, blues, Tex-Mex, soul, gospel, rock, and much else. He has collaborated with many important musicians, including The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Earl Hines, Little Feat, Captain Beefheart, The Chieftains, John Lee Hooker, Pops, Mavis Staples, Gabby Pahinui, Flaco Jiménez, Freddy Fender and Ali Farka Touré. He formed the Little Village supergroup with Nick Lowe, John Hiatt, and Jim Keltner.

Cooder was ranked 8th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."


Charlie Gillett - Ry Cooder

Charlie Gillett - Brad of The Specials

Texas Kitty (Re-Up)

Jim in Basingstoke sent this cassette to me recently. Its a rare copy of a 10" LP on the Philips label from the late 50's early 60's that he was sent many years ago and he has been wanting to hear more of Texas Kitty but the internet does not tell us much.
The only image I could find is of an EP. called "Texas Kitty" that was put out about the same time and contains some of the same tracks.

Luckily a Dutch friend Jan managed to track down a short biography on a dutch website. Her real name was Kitty Prins.

"She was born in Groningen, The Netherlands. She was not only a singer, but a professional painter as well. However her carreer in our country never really got from the ground. She was more succesfull in Vlaanderen (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium). She also had a fan-club in South Africa and she had contacts with the Country Music Assocation in the VS, where she perfromed in the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
After being seriously disappointed in The Netherland by people breaking contracts and so on, she decided to move to Vlaanderen permanently. Untill 1981 she presented a country show on Belgian radio. The last years of her life she spent painting. The website isn't clear about her birth and death date (1900-1900?)."

Thanks for that Jan.




Texas Kitty - Just A Little Lovin'

Texas Kitty - New Mule Skinner Blues

Texas Kitty - My Sweet Love Ain't Around

Texas Kitty - My Love For You

Texas Kitty - I Don't Care

Texas Kitty - Mule Train Yodel

Texas Kitty - After Dark

Texas Kitty - Granma's Old Grey Car

Charlie Gillett - Honky Tonk 1977 - Ian Dury

I'm sure all fans of the late Charlie Gillett and Ian Dury will enjoy this programmme on Radio London from 1977 - not sure of the exact date recorded just as New Boots & Panties was being released. Dury engages us with some poetry and an eclectic choice of records and some entertaining banter between the two.

Wikipedia says of Dury-

"Dury was born in north-west London at his parents' home at 43 Weald Rise, Harrow Weald, Harrow (although he often pretended, and indeed all but one of his obituaries in the national press stated, that he was born in Upminster, Havering). His father, William, was a bus driver and former boxer, while his mother Margaret (known as Peggy) was a health visitor, the daughter of a Cornish doctor, and granddaughter of an Irish landowner.

William Dury trained with Rolls-Royce to be a chauffeur, and was then absent for long periods, so Peggy Dury took Ian to stay with her parents in Cornwall. After the Second World War, the family moved to Switzerland, where his father chauffeured for a millionaire and the Western European Union. In 1946 Peggy brought Ian back to England and they stayed with her sister, Mary, a physician in Cranham, a small village bordering Upminster. Although he saw his father on visits, they never lived together again.

At the age of seven, he contracted polio; very likely, he believed, from a swimming pool at Southend on Sea during the 1949 polio epidemic. After six weeks in a full plaster cast in Truro hospital, he was moved to Black Notley Hospital, Braintree, Essex, where he spent a year and a half before going to Chailey Heritage Craft School, East Sussex, in 1951. Chailey was a school and hospital for disabled children, and believed in toughening them up, contributing to the observant and determined person Dury became. Chailey taught trades such as cobbling and printing, but Dury's mother wanted him to be more academic, so his aunt Moll arranged for him to enter the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe which he attended until the age of 16 when he left to study painting at Walthamstow Art College, having gained GCE 'O' Levels in English Language, English Literature and Art.

From 1964 he studied art at the Royal College of Art under British artist Peter Blake, and in 1967 took part in a group exhibition, Fantasy and Figuration, alongside Pat Douthwaite, Herbert Kitchen and Stass Paraskos at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.[6] When asked why he did not pursue a career in art, he said, "I got good enough [at art] to realise I wasn't going to be very good."[citation needed] From 1967 he taught art at various colleges in the south of England.

Dury married his first wife, Betty Rathmell, in 1967 and they had two children, Jemima and the recording artist Baxter Dury. Dury divorced Rathmell in 1985, but remained on good terms."


Charlie Gillett - Ian Dury Part 1

Charlie Gillett - Ian Dury Part 2

Calypso Carnival (Re-Up)

Scouring the archives I thought I had uploaded this one before but I couldn't find it so here it is. It was released in 60's on the Melodisc label inthe U.K. The blurb on the back of the 10" sleeve proclaims -

"In this album you not only have Calypsos in different, colourful and contrasting styles from Trinidad's leading calypsonians in The Lion's "COME PUNKSIE", a contsant favourite to George Browne, The Roving "trooperdor" singing "The Single Man", an old Jewish melody - to the Mighty Terror expressing in "Chinese Children" grave predicament with seriousness and feeling which is undoubtedly felt by many today.
Perhaps it was at this stage Meloldisc Records Ltd. decided to give "Calypso Carnival" a fuller Federal Caribbean flavour and leaving Trinidad to the South they proceeded North to Jamaica for haunting mentos by Tony Johnson and Eric Hayden - the former giving his advice and opinion on the Smarter Sex. Leaving Jamaica they go to Haiti for the Calypso Merangue "Stone Cold Man" by the Charmer. This is the current craze in the Caribbean, Norht and South America. In this you will note strong French influence, but unlike the French in "Sone Cold Man" the blame is on the wife. Please excuse the jumps and crackles. "

Discover more about calypso HERE.


Lord Kitchener - Big Toe

George Brown - Single Man

Eric Hope - Give Her The No. 1

The Lion - Come Punksie

The Charmer - Stone Cold Man

Little Nora - Tomato

The Mighty Terror - Chinese Children

Tony Johnson - Man Smart, Woman Smarter

Charlie Gillett 1942 - 2010

Very sad news today of the death of Charlie Gillett - one of the greatest DJ's and knowledgeable broadcasters/writers about popular music ever.
I followed his radio shows avidly from the early days of Radio London's pioneering "Honky Tonk" in the early 70's to the latest world music shows on BBC Radio 3. Charlie's calming soothing voice was the perfect antidote to all those other DJ's who sounded like they were shouting by comparison. He obviously loved all the music he played and that came across in his shows.
I used to send him mix-tapes of my scratchy market finds back in the 80's ( the cassette equivelent of this blog!) and he seemed to enjoy them - so much so he invited over to Capital Radio , the station he was working for at the time, to play some of them.
It was a very nerve racking experience but one I shall never forget. Charlie was the perfect host and tried to put me at my ease as he could see I wasa nervous wreck!
He gave me a lift home afterwards and when he saw I lived next to a pub in Lambeth Walk he said " Blimey, I used to put bands on at that pub a few years ago , I hope they didn't make too much noise!"

Wikipedia says-

Gillett was born in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom. He began in journalism in 1968 with a weekly column in the Record Mirror. His 1970 book, The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, originally written as his Master's thesis for Columbia University, was a seminal history of popular music. It received excellent reviews in both Time magazine and The New York Times and enabled Gillett to further his music journalism career and to write a second book, Making Tracks. He wrote for a variety of music magazines including Rolling Stone and New Musical Express and contributed to The Observer.

He began a weekly radio programme, Honky Tonk on Radio London in 1972, leaving in 1978. He brought Ian Dury to public attention, and was the first DJ to play demos by Graham Parker, Elvis Costello and Dire Straits ("Sultans of Swing"). In the latter case, significant numbers of London's A&R men had contacted Gillett's studio by the time he had finished playing the song - sending Dire Straits on their journey to global stardom.

With partner Gordon Nelki, Gillett launched the Oval record label in 1974 with Another Saturday Night, a compilation album which popularised Cajun music in the UK. The duo managed Ian Dury's first group Kilburn & the High Roads, co-produced the first Lene Lovich album (including the hit "Lucky Number") and published Paul Hardcastle's worldwide number one hit, "19". More recently they worked with record producer David Lowe on the projects Touch and Go (including the pan-European hit "Would You...?") and Dreamcatcher.

In 1980 Gillett joined Capital Radio, and began to play more independent music. He was fired in 1983, but after listener complaints was re-hired with orders for a new format. He chose to follow his new interest in music from the rest of the world and his show, A Foreign Affair, is credited with helping to launch 'world music'.Having been the first British DJ to play Youssou N'Dour, Salif Keita, "Hot Hot Hot" by Arrow (Alphonsus Cassell) and many more, he left Capital in December 1990. He was presented with the Sony Gold Lifetime Achievement Award the following year."

Obituary in The Guardian HERE

Here's one of my favourite shows when Charlie used to pick a different theme every week on Capital Radio back in the 80's- this one is "Letters".


Charlie Gillett- Capital Radio - Letters

Sparrow

Another LP from The Mighty Sparrow who has dropped the Mighty from this 1984 LP on the B's Records label. Recorded in New York and very much more "Soca" than the calypso in days of old.

"Slinger Francisco, better known as The Mighty Sparrow, affectionately dubbed, The Birdie is the unrivaled Calypso King of the World, with a career that spans over 40 years and counting. This artist par excellence has earned his rightful place as "King of the Calypso World" by defeating every other competitor/pretender to his throne. He has entertained audiences across the globe, including, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, to name but a few.

Sparrow's roots are in Gran Roi, a rural fishing village in Grenada. He was born to a poor working class family. They migrated to his adopted homeland, Trinidad, when he was just one year old. He attended the New Town Boys School where he was selected to sing in the boys. choir of St. Patrick's Catholic Church. This was his initial involvement in music. The harmonics of the Gregorian Chants and the Plainsongs of the church that were embedded in him would later affect the depth and intensity of his compositions. His vocal abilities also reflect his childhood role as the head choirboy who sang baritone and tenor in Latin in the church."


Sparrow - Don't Back Back

Sparrow - BYO

Sparrow - Marajhin Cousin

Carson Robison (Re-Up)

My CD recorder is busted at the moment so can't upload any vinyl just now, so here's a couple of CD tracks from some 78's at the Country & Western Music Archive. I remember him best from his song "The Runaway Train" that was constantly featured on Children's Favourites on the radio during the 50's and 60's.

Wikipedia says-

"Carson Jay Robison (August 4, 1890 - March 24, 1957) was an American country music singer and songwriter. He was also known as Charles Robison.
Born Carson Jay Robison in Oswego, KS. His first professional job was as a singer and whistler at radio station WDAF (Kansas City, MO). In 1924 he moved to New York City and was signed to his first recording contract with Victor Records. From 1928 to 1931 he teamed with Frank Luther and recorded songs. In 1932, he started his own band and continued touring and recording through the 1930s and 1940s. In the late 1940s and early 1950s he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry.
Although he played country music for most of his career, he is also remembered for writing "Barnacle Bill The Sailor" with music composed by Frank Luther.
Carson Robison died in 1957 in Poughkeepsie, NY and was posthumously inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame in 1971."


Carson Robison - Cross-Eyed Sue

Carson Robison - Peg-Leg Jack

Carson Robison - Didn't He Ramble

Carson Robison - The Bum Song

Little Jack Little (Re-Up)

An excerpt from a radio show dubbed to a tape that a friend sent me a few months back. Not much info. about Little Jack Little could be found at the time but since then a few more snippets of his biography have emerged. Recorded at the Green Room of the Edison Hotel in New York.

Songs include-

1. Hortense
2. You Taught Me To Love Again
3. Crazy Rythym
4. Bolero Medley


"Little Jack Little was a 1930s bandleader and singer who enjoyed a major hit with "Hold Me" in the mid-'30s -- another song with which he was closely associated was "You Oughta Be in Pictures." He was a master of a singing-talking technique that was popular in the 1930s, and he was successful until his violinist, Mitchell Ayres (aka Mitchell Agress), bolted from the orchestra with some of its other best members and formed their own band. Little later led a bolero rhythm orchestra -- he is best remembered by Honeymooners fans for his mention, alongside Basil Fomeen and Ted Fiorito, by Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the episode "Young at Heart," as he recalls the bands that used to play at the Sons of Italy Hall in Brooklyn. Little passed away in 1955."

Discover more about Little Jack Little HERE.

Lonnie Donegan

A scratchy LP on the Pye label from the late 50's with some frantic live tracks recorded at the London Palladium in 1957 and a few hits including Grand Coulee Dam , Tom Dooley and Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour On The Bedpost Overnight. You can hear plainly why the youth of the day including the likes of John Lennon and Paul MacCartney loved this so much and made them rush out to get a guitar!

"He formed his own group, the Tony Donegan Jazz Band, in 1952. They were successful enough that the National Jazz Federation asked the band to play a show at Festival Hall with American ragtime pianist Ralph Sutton and blues/jazz legend Lonnie Johnson. The Federation had brought to the two over to England in defiance of a Musicians' Union ban on all foreign performers and needed a non-union band like Donegan's to play support for the two guests. The master of ceremonies at the show made a mistake in his announcement, introducing the American guitarist as "Tony Johnson" and the British banjo man as "Lonnie Donegan." The name stuck.

Donegan and his band eventually hooked back up with his old friend Chris Barber, who'd kept his band going throughout the previous two years, and eventually Barber and Donegan linked up with fellow jazzman Ken Colyer, into a kind of supergroup led by Colyer. The Ken Colyer Jazzmen, as they were called, specialized in Dixieland jazz, and built a formidible reputation, their shows popular in every club they played. It was during these shows, between sets by the full band, that Donegan would come on stage with two other players and perform his own version of American blues, country, and folk standards, punched up with his own rhythms and accents, on acoustic guitar or banjo, backed by upright bass and drums. The name "skiffle" was hung on this music as a way of referring to it on the group's posters. The word, according to Donegan, was suggested by Ken Colyer's brother Bill, who remembered an outfit called the Dan Burley Skiffle Group, based in Chicago in the 1930's. It seemed to fit, and it caught on; the Ken Colyer Jazzmen became almost as popular for Donegan's between-set skiffle songs as they were for their Dixieland music. "



Lonnie Donegan - Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O

Lonnie Donegan - Putting On The Style

Lonnie Donegan - Gamblin' Man

Lonnie Donegan - My Dixie Darling

Lonnie Donegan - Bring A Little Water Sylvie

Lonnie Donegan - Cumberland Gap

Sir Victor Uwaifo

A record in the wrong sleeve Ive just discovered. It's not by Apola King Idowu after all but Sir Victor Uwaifo who comes from Nigeria. Some splendid Afrobeat from 1975.
Amazing claims on his website-

"RESEARCH AND DISCOVERIES:
Sir Victor Uwaifo, a research scholar, discovered the structural rightness in sculpture that stands without a supporting base. Most of the works which adorn the Revelation Tourist Centre in Benin City were done personally by him.
Sir Victor Uwaifo designed and constructed a functional sculpture of Aeroplane House, now the largest man – made sculpture in Africa and second to the Tower of Liberty in New York, USA.
Victor Uwaifo stands out tall as the first artisit in igeria to sculpt a motorized giant kinetic sculpture also the first in Nigeira “The Dancing Chief” in form to Oba Akwnzua II Cultural Complex, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.



SPECIAL INVENTIONS:
The maestro not only plays the guitar with his fingers which is normal, but also with his jaw, his toes, his teeth, from behind his neck and back which are unusual, then, he spins the guitar 360 degrees suspending in the air with amazing speed faster than sound in a phenomenon.

He invented the double-neck guitar with 18 strings fashioned after the Mammy-water esoteric encounter in 1967 while looking for inspiration during a late night outing at the Barbeach, Lagos.



A VISIONARY:
A man full of dreams and accomplishments, Victor Uwaifo is the founder of the Revelation Tourist Center which stands as the key to the historical events, horrors tragedies, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Beautiful.



OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS:
Sir Victor Uwaifo 50 years of music and stage performance was celebrated by N.T.A. with a golden jubilee award and broadcast live to the world in 2006.

Victor Uwaifo, the Living Legend, twanging of the guitar in quick successions, the up-and-down strokes by hand on the strings have exceeded 5 million kilometers accumulated length measured at an average speed of 10 strokes per second and combined with the movement of the left had to and fro on the guitar neck are long enough to go round the planet earth. "

Discover more revelations at his website HERE.


Sir Victor Uwaifo - Okokoko Sasakosa

Sir Victor Uwaifo - Amuwa Ekassa

Sir Victor Uwaifo - Ilobi Ekassa

Orch. T.P. Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou

An album on the Tangent label made in Paris in the 80's I would guess. Curious mixture of soukous and tinny synth sounds and funk guitars.

"Arguably West Africa’s best kept secret, Benin's finest band spent the 1970s mixing funk and Afrobeat with the bewitching rhythms of their native Voudoun tradition. Their output, both in quantity and quality, was astonishing - and live they're still producing revelatory psychedelic grooves.
'It's like feeling that a doll in your image is being pierced through and that the needles are in the hands of James Brown.' Les Inrockuptibles

The cultural and spiritual riches of traditional Beninese music had an immense impact on the sound of Benin’s modern music. Benin is the birthplace of Vodun and two Vodun rhythms dominate the music of Orchestre Poly Rythmo: Sato, an amazing, energetic rhythm performed using an immense vertical drum, and Sakpata, a rhythm dedicated to the divinity who protects people from smallpox.
Both rhythms are represented here mixed in with Funk, Soul, Crazy organ sounds and Psychedelic guitar riffs."


Orch. T.P. - Semassa (Zero+Zero)

Orch. T.P. - Belle Belle

Alphonse The Horse

Not much to say about this one. A slightly creepy horse to scare children at their Christmas parties! Sleeve art done by a horse with a crayon. On the Alphonse Productions label from 1977.


Alphonse The Horse - Space Ride

Alphonse The Horse - Jungle Safari

Alphonse The Horse - You're A Star

Alphonse The Horse - Silly Statues

Slip Fingers O'Reilly

Not much found about Mr O'Reilly. This E.P. was found at Brick Lane a few years back I think. Again it was the amusing sleeve that made me buy it. The curious renditions of classical works fused with cockney knees-up pub piano and honking saxaphone would make most lovers of Brahms and Lizst reach for the ear-plugs!


Slip Fingers O'Reilly - Chopin's Nocturne

Slip Fingers O'Reilly - Schubert's Serenade

Slip Fingers O'Reilly - Bizet's Toreador Song

Slip Fingers O'Reilly - Tchaikovski's Melodie

Slip Fingers O'Reilly - Tchaikovski's Waltz Swan Lake

Slip Fingers O'Reilly - Verdi's La Donna Mobile

Hank Snow

Happy to upload some more Hank Snow from an EP I found a couple of years ago from the early 60's I imagine although these tracks seem much earlier. Nice country and western/ rockabilly cross-over style , more upbeat than the maudlin C&W of that era.


Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was born on May 9th, 1914 in the sleepy fishing village of Brooklyn, Queens County, on Nova Scotia's beautiful South Shore, just down the tracks from Liverpool.

"As a boy, Hank faced many difficulties and shortcomings. He had to face the trauma of his parents' divorce at just eight years old and he was forced to stay with his grandparents. He then had to deal with an abusive grandmother who forbid him to see his mother. He regularly sneaked out at night and walked the railroad tracks to Liverpool where his mother was living. Not willing to return to his grandmother, who would often beat him for visiting his mom, he would sometimes seek shelter in Liverpool's railway station, now home of the Hank Snow Country Music Centre.

Both his parents had musical talent and Hank picked up his basic guitar-playing skills from his mother. In 1926, Hank went to sea as a 12-year-old cabin boy on fishing schooners based out of Lunenburg to escape his abusive step-father and never returned to school. With his first earned income he bought his first guitar, a T. Eaton Special for $5.95. While at sea, Hank would listen to Jimmie Rodgers on the radio and began to imitate him and entertain the crew. It wasn't long before Hank had picked up his own style."

Discover more about Hank Snow HERE.


Hank Snow - A Fool Such As I

Hank Snow - The Star Spangled Waltz

Hank Snow - The Golden Rocket

Hank Snow - I Don't Hurt Anymore

Frankie Lymon

EP on the Columbia label from the early 60's I would guess. I've had this one for a while and can't remember where I bought it. I've always had a soft spot for a bit of Doo-Wop and this is some of the best despite the orchestral accompaniment.

Wikipedia says -

"Frankie Lymon was born in Harlem, New York City to a truck driver father and a mother who worked as a maid. Lymon's father, Howard Lymon, also sang in a gospel group known as the Harlemaires; Frankie Lymon and his brothers Lewis and Howie sang with the Harlemaire Juniors (a fourth Lymon brother, Timmy, was a singer, though not with the Harlemaire Juniors). The Lymon family struggled to make ends meet, and Lymon began working as a grocery boy at age ten, augmenting his legitimate income with proceeds gained from hustling prostitutes and was known for having relationships with women twice his age.

At the age of 12, Lymon heard a local doo-wop group known as the Coupe De Villes at a school talent show. He befriended their lead singer, Herman Santiago, and he eventually became a member of the group, now calling itself both The Ermines and The Premiers. Dennis Jackson of Columbus, Georgia was one of the main influences of Lymon's life. His personal donation of $500 helped start Frankie's career.

One day in 1955, a neighbor gave The Premiers several love letters that had been written to him by his girlfriend, with the hopes that he could give the boys inspiration to write their own songs. Merchant and Santiago adapted one of the letters into a song called "Why Do Birds Sing So Gay?" With Lymon's input, the song became "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". The Premiers, now calling themselves The Teenagers, got their first shot at fame after impressing Richard Barrett, a singer with The Valentines. Barrett, in turn, got the group an audition with record producer George Goldner. On the day of the group's audition, Santiago was the original lead singer but Santiago was late. Lymon stepped up and told Goldner that he knew the part because he helped write the song."


Frankie Lymon - I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent

Frankie Lymon - Love Is A Clown

Frankie Lymon - Teenage Love

Frankie Lymon - Am I Fooling Myself Again?

Paddy Roberts (Re-UP)

Another EP found in a charity shop last year featuring whimsical songs about subjects not normally sung about in that strange olde worlde voice of his.

"Paddy Roberts (1910 - 1975) was a popular songwriter, having previously been a lawyer and a pilot (serving with the RAF in World War II). He was born in South Africa and died in the United Kingdom. He enjoyed success with a number of songs in the 1950s and 1960s and wrote songs for several films. He released several LPs and EPs of his own material, often featuring what were, for the time, slightly risqué lyrics."

Buy Paddy Roberts HERE.<

Paddy Roberts - Auntie Bridget

Paddy Roberts - The Little Village

Paddy Roberts - I Remember Tilly

Paddy Roberts - The Rabbi & The Priest

Tabou Combo (Re-up)

A record from that tragic country that has been in the news so much lately. A record found at a flea market some years ago. This record was recorded in 1974. The two tracks featured here are the title track "8th Sacrement" and " Pace Domine".

"Formed in the Port-Au-Prince suburb of Petion-Ville by the Chancy brothers, Albert on bass and Adolphe on guitar, this young band won the Radio Haiti mini-jazz competition in 1968. They relocated to Brooklyn in 1971, and their song "New York City," which spoke of the difficulty of life in exile, reached #1 on the Paris pop charts in August 1975. They competed with Ska-Shah for top band honors in the 70s and 80s and fought "musical duels" similar to the Weber Sicot/Jean-Baptiste Nemours battles of the 50s and 60s.

An irresistible live band, Tabou Combo takes Haitian compas to the widest of audiences. From their regular appearances in the '80s at the famous Zenith Theatre in Paris, to an audience of 20,000 in New York's Central Park, to the Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, in football stadiums throughout the Caribbean, and on the turntables of the top DJs, this band makes people dance. Influenced by funk and soul in their adopted home, Tabou took on the likeness of the Commodores on the covers of their late-'70s releases. They even made a demo tape with hopes of a Motown contract. Their desire to reach the Black US market remains unsatisfied, but they should be proud that popular musicians such as Kassav' from the Antilles/Paris and Wilfrido Vargas from the Dominican Republic have absorbed their music."

Visit the band's official website HERE.
HERE.