Stevie Wonder - Musikladen Beat Workshop 1974

 Stevie Wonder - Musikladen Beat Workshop 1974 - Part 1

 

 Stevie Wonder - Musikladen Beat Workshop 1974 - Part 2

 

Stevie Wonder 1974 concert on German TV show Musikladen. Wonderlove members were: Stevie Wonder, keyboards, vocals; Reggie McBride, bass; Michael Sembello, lead guitar; Marlo Henderson, rhythm guitar; Ollie. E. Brown, drums; and vocalists Shirley Brewer (with the glasses on), Lani Groves, and Deniece Williams.
The ladies are amazing, and Wonder throws in quotes from “Danke Shoen” and “Signed, Sealed and Delivered.” Abruptly, he cuts that tune short, and the band slams into the brilliant fusion masterpiece that later emerged on Songs in the Key of Life, “Contusion.” Everything about this is right: Wonder on electric piano, Sembello crushing, McBride and Brown laying down a nasty funky bass, and the ladies on tambourines.
Next Wonder romps on clavinet as the band soars on “Higher Ground,” a track from Innervisions, which had been released the previous August. Brown’s work at drum kit is magnificent. There is another stop/start as they move to “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing” (also from Innervisions). Presumably this was to get as many songs in as possible in the confined television time. The ladies offer fine backing vocals to Wonder’s lead. 
Next is the ballad “I Can See The Sun in Late December,” a song Wonder wrote for Roberta Flack. Two more songs from the new album are next. “He’s Misstra Know-It-All” again intertwines the four voices together in a heavenly chorus. 
It is amazing seeing Wonder perform this music live that has become part of the American fabric. That goes double for “Living for the City.” Sembello is tweaking that synthesizer as Wonder plays electric piano, and the ladies are again front and center. Brown then kicks that unmistakable beginning to “Superstition” (Talking Book), Wonder dancing over his clavinet. This is a powerful if all-too-short version of the song, and the music fades under the closing titles. 

 

From: https://soulfuldetroit.com/mb/index.php?threads/stevie-wonder-1974-concert-on-german-tv-show-musikladen-beat-club.23395/ 

 

The Smithereens - Blood And Roses

"Blood and Roses" is a song by the American alternative rock group The Smithereens. It is the first single released in support of their debut album Especially for You. Pat DiNizio explained of the song's origin, "I was walking home from my job as soundman at NYC's legendary Folk City nightclub through the freezing rain at about four in the morning when the bass line came to me, the chords and melody came later built around the bass part." Lyrically, the song is about a girl DiNizio knew in highschool, who took her own life. The title was taken from a short story of the same name by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, a literary hero of DiNizio's. "I found out years later that Blood and Roses was also the title of an obscure early 1960s horror film directed by Roger Vadim", DiNizio said.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_and_Roses_(song) 

The Claypool Lennon Delirium - Satori

The Claypool Lennon Delirium reinterpret classic tracks from Pink Floyd, King Crimson, the Who and Japanese psych-prog act Flower Travellin’ Band on their upcoming covers EP, Lime and Limpid Green, out August 4th. The four-track set, previously issued for 2017 Record Store Day, will be available as a limited-edition run of 3,000 on clear vinyl with green and double-mint splatter. 
The duo, composed of Sean Lennon and Primus’ Les Claypool, previewed the EP with an eye-popping clip for their version of Flower Travellin’ Band’s 1971 epic “Satori.” Director Koichiro Tsujikawa pairs Claypool’s elastic bass and Lennon’s menacing guitar riffs with a hallucinatory claymation landscape of brains, marching fingers and floating eyeballs. 
Lime and Limpid Green – which follows the group’s debut LP, 2016’s Monolith of Phobos – compiles studio versions of cover songs the Delirium have performed onstage over the past year. In addition to “Satori,” the track list also includes the Who’s abrasive 1966 oddity “Boris the Spider,” Pink Floyd’s 1967 freak-out “Astronomy Domine” and King Crimson’s 1969 prog landmark “In the Court of the Crimson King.” The Delirium looked backward through rock history not only to flesh out their set lists, but also to reflect their mutual love of experimental music. 
“I think the genesis of this band began with Les and I listening to old records together and feeling like our universes were uncannily intertwined,” Lennon tells Rolling Stone. “We were both feeling and hearing something that we wanted to do that was deeply inspired by those people who were the most peculiar in their time, like Syd Barrett. Since we only had one album as a band, we wanted to add songs to the live show that would illustrate and elaborate upon what the Delirium were all about.”
Claypool, who’s set to release a new Primus album this fall, adds, “The thought was to play songs that we hadn’t interpreted in the studio prior. Most of these tunes were played extensively live, so they had time to evolve and develop their own greasy little personalities.” Their aim for the cover tunes was to epitomize what Lennon calls “our band’s persnickety peculiarities.” 
“Satori,” the five-part title-track from Flower Travellin’ Band’s second album, is the EP’s clear left-field selection. Claypool says he’d never heard of the band until “Sean dropped them onto his lap.” He adds, “I was pretty much sold once I heard the name of the band because, coincidentally, I originally wanted to name my band Primus that … except I would have had added the word ‘Banana.'” 
But the cover took on a more personal meaning for Lennon. “‘Satori’ was a kind of spiritual journey of the motherland from my perspective,” he says. “I just wanted to do something for Japan since they had been suffering since the tsunami. The least I could do is give a nod to my people and say ‘Hey, remember we’re fans of your music.’ (He also notes that his mother, Yoko Ono, had known the band personally at one point.) 
While the duo are quick to distance themselves from a defining genre label, they swiftly acknowledge their prog-rock influences. Lennon points to Mahavishnu Orchestra, Egg and Gentle Giant; Claypool, who performed at Rush’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, calls the band’s 1978 opus, Hemispheres, “one of the greatest albums ever.”
“I said that 25 years ago,” he adds. “And the punk-oriented international press threw rocks at my head.”  From: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/claypool-lennon-delirium-cover-pink-floyd-king-crimson-the-who-on-new-ep-195335/ 

Tardigrade Inferno - Execution Is Fun!

Russia’s Tardigrade Inferno released their debut Mastermind back in January, but I didn’t catch it until February. It hasn’t left my rotation since, and I love it just as much now as I did then. Hence, a Thing You Definitely Missed.
Mastermind is one odd duck. Put one way, this album is literally my personality written into a metal record. Put another way, it’s a circus-tent nightmare from clown hell, and Frontierer happened to play there once and left their chunky guitar tone there by accident. What sets Tardigrade Inferno apart from the only other act on the planet that I know of who sounds remotely like these Ruskies—Stolen Babies1—is that their concoction of dark cabaret and metal is more straightforward and therefore way more fun. Cheesy? Hell-fucking-yeah. Yet, every microsecond of Mastermind claws deeper and deeper into my brain with every single riff or chorus or synth lead, of which there are multitudes.
Take the opening track, “All Tardigrades Go to Hell,” as the template for the album as a whole. Darya Pavlovich hosts The Greatest Show Under a Microscope with her sometimes sneering, sometimes quasi-operatic ringmastery. Maxim Belekhov and Alexander Pavlovich follow right behind with an elephantine riff that will stomp your skull flat. Keyboardist Viktor Posokhin further ensnares my imagination with eerie calliopes and buzzing synths, and drummer Andrew “Drew” [Last Name Redacted] provides a dynamic, albeit not at all technical, rhythmic backbone to support this colorful cannon of confetti and carnage.  From: https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tardigrade-inferno-mastermind-things-you-might-have-missed-2019/

 

Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People

“Everyday People” is a curious beast. It’s a thesis statement for Sly Stone’s entire enterprise, a perfect-world vision of people from different races and different walks of life learning how to come together and respect each other’s differences. But it was also a departure from the band’s freaked-out chaos. It’s a two-minute soul heater with clean, pronounced hooks, a bugged-out band’s fairly straightforward idea of pop music at work.
The beat of “Everyday People” is almost machinelike, the bass and drums locked in together rather than going off on their own voyage, as they sometimes were in this band. The horns do a pretty good imitation of the Stax house band, but the vocals stay buried in the mix, a reflection of a Bay Area acid-rock scene where the vocals were almost an afterthought. We hear little bursts of gurgly guitar fuzz or rumbling drums, but this is pretty clearly a band holding back, possibly at the behest of a label that was determined to harness their considerable pop-music power before they spun off into insanity again.
49 years after “Everyday People,” the song’s message feels trite in an after-school-special sort of way — not because things are any better between the races in this country, but because we’ve all had its lessons baked into our heads from years of schooling and cultural conditioning. A single line from “Everyday People,” “different strokes for different folks,” became the basis for a sitcom that ran for eight seasons on NBC. (I don’t know whether the “scooby dooby doo” line inspired the cartoon dog, but I do know that Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! debuted on CBS seven months after “Everyday People” hit #1. So… probably?) 
The ideas within “Everyday People” have become such a deeply embedded presence within mainstream American thought that the song itself sounds pat. In 1968, I have to imagine that it was a whole lot more urgent. Civil rights leaders were being gunned down, and racial violence was driving every big news story, so this warm-hearted and gibberish-laced anthem of togetherness struck a chord. Maybe it was revolutionary then. Today, it’s simply a good song.  From: https://www.stereogum.com/2023240/the-number-ones-sly-the-family-stones-everyday-people/columns/the-number-ones/

Purson - Death's Kiss

Frontwoman and main composer Rosalie Cunningham was more than happy to share her thoughts on anything Purson, the sudden rise of vintage/occult rock and her fondness for theatrics.

Purson started out as one of your projects after the demise of Ipso Facto. Can you take us through that period?

It was really bad timing to split up with Ipso Facto because we were about to record a new album. There was also an in between band called Hung Ray, but we never played a gig. It was basically me figuring out Purson really. I wanted to have technically proficient musicians and play prog. In the end it didn’t work out and I needed that experience to figure out what I really wanted to do.

You describe Purson’s music as “Vaudeville Carny Psych”. Care to explain?

It’s just something we made up. People put lots of different labels on our music and we don’t particularly agree with any of them, so we made something up. Vaudeville is old-fashioned entertainment and it’s something typically British, of which I think we have an element in our music. Carny is cockney slang and psych refers to the psychedelic parts in our music. It’s something we made up.

Purson also has a strong visual presentation. Is that a leftover from your Ipso Facto days?

I’ve always been very conscious of the image of the band, because it’s entertainment. A show, if you will. It looks better than ugly men wearing band T-shirts. I really enjoy dressing things up. It’s something our audience deserves.
The album has a very enigmatic title. What’s the thought behind it?

The Circle And The Blue Door is something of a running theme through some of the songs on the album. A lot of the songs have to do with a certain ex-boyfriend who had a mental breakdown. At the time we didn’t know he was schizophrenic. He went through a lot of hardships before he got diagnosed. I had to look after him for a very long time. The Circle And The Blue Door was something he talked about before the time he broke down. It was really interesting and it really inspired my lyrics. It’s ironic, because he really didn’t know what he was talking about, but he was admitted to the Sapphire Ward, which was the blue door he was talking about. It’s a beautiful irony, really.

We understand the recording experience for The Circle And The Blue Door was rather hectic. What happened?

It was very difficult—horrible actually. We didn’t record the album as a band, because the rest of the band couldn’t be around my boyfriend at the time, including myself. It was my album and we had to get it done. He left the band halfway through the recordings. We only had four days to record and the rest was by me at home. Those four days in the studio were utter hell. Crying, fighting, drama, the basic stuff that happens when you hate your boyfriend. We had a very turbulent relationship. He was pretty nuts and any normal task was impossible for him to do, let alone a whole project with pending deadlines.

Despite the proggy edge to your music the songs on the album are very song-orientated, much like pop music. Is that a conscious thing?

Yes and no. I wrote the songs and recorded the demos before I showed them to the rest of the band. The line-up changed lots and lots of times, so there wasn’t much room to grow as an actual unit. At the moment it’s actually them playing my songs. That will change on the next album and there will be more room for improvisation. On the other hand, it was a conscious decision because I feel a well-written pop song has more impact than even the most amazing prog jam. Some jams are very enjoyable to listen to, but for some reason they aren’t very memorable. I love prog, but I’m not interested in noodling wankery. I like to have things structured.

Do you think that because of this poppy approach Purson will appeal to people who aren’t necessarily into progressive music?

I certainly hope so. It’s really a niche market, especially with people our age (Rosalie is in her early 20s). Most people don’t have the same taste in music as the members of the band. I hope that our songs, which are essentially pop songs, will appeal to a bigger audience.

Do you feel any kinship with a band like Ghost? They’re also into the theatrical side of things and they also add a lot pop influences to their music.

Yes,definitely. Our music is very different from Ghost’s, but we come from the same basis. It’s the same theatrical and the progressive take on the Beatles, really. The Beatles are a huge influence on our music. I’d love to play with Ghost, I’m sure it would work out quite well.

Finally, vintage/seventies flavoured rock is really popular at the moment. What’s your take on this phenomenon?

I have different thoughts on this. It’s great to see that bands that I love are finally getting popular again. My whole life I’ve been listening to music that wasn’t popular with my peers. None of their music appealed to me, ever. For the first time in my life, I feel there’s a hell of a lot of good bands out there now. That’s obviously very exciting for me.I’m not so pleased with the fact that I’m getting tied into this occult rock thing, because I’m a female singer in a rock band. I don’t think Purson sound like any of the occult rock bands out there. It may sound naive, but I think we’re coming from a very different place. I think people are lazy to compare us to those bands, just because we have a female singer.

From: https://ghostcultmag.com/the-door-to-domestic-bliss-an-interview-with-purson/

Lost Crowns - Et Tu Brute

Roger (R) – It falls upon me to guide our readers through the downuplands of this strange weather, otherwise known as The Heart Is In The Body, the new exercise in aural semaphore emanating from behind Richard Larcombe’s excitable brow under the guise of Lost Crowns. Assisting me in this not inconsiderable task I have my diminutive colleague Phil. He’s from Wales. Phil?

Phil (P) – Remember we were talking about the first album? We saw it in allegorical terms as Gentle Giant’s mythical and psychotic descendant. It has probably always existed, locked deep in the dungeons of Richard Larcombe’s Mind Palace. But he released it! The Lost Crowns Monster broke the shackles that impaired its freedom.

R – Yes, and I surmised that since that day it been running up and down the High Street, knocking all the bins over.

P – Yes! And this second album is to their debut album as Mothra is to Gojira. Maybe I’m now just used to the debut album (not really), but The Heart Is In The Body could just make Every Night Something Happens sound like Baby Shark. Well, it is relentless and difficult, so to those who don’t like amazingly complex music, it might.  Just as before, the whole band sounds fantastic on this recording, do they not?

R – These players are all el fabbo for sure, but that drummer chap Keepsie…by crikey, he must be an octopus! He isn’t, obviously, as we’ve seen him behind his drumkit.
Let’s get to the task at hand. This first song falls out of the sky right in our laps. It’s called I Might Not. Richard tells us that the germ of this album arose from a wassail of out-of-synch folk players, convened during a COVID lockdown Zoom meeting. If only my work meetings were half as discombobulating! Apparently, on this recording Richard picks up all manner of folksie instruments he’d not played before, because he could, the lucky fella! Just take a look at those credits. Rhodri isn’t far behind!
I Might Not, like most other songs on this disorienting waxing appears to change musical subjects at will within the same bar. Hey! Look! There’s a bit that I’m sure references Sound As Colour, or did I imagine it? This seemingly directional randomness concept should present no problem to you, eh Phil?

P – The opening bars of I Might Not sound far more accessible than just about anything from the first album. Initially. But hard as this might be to comprehend, I suspect Every Day Something Happens was just Richard testing the water, even lulling us into a false sense of security.

R – Why?

P – Why? Well, a comparison with other music might be useful. But no. It would be misrepresenting the music to try to nail down any influences. In fact, this music may well be a new and future strange influence for the coming generations of musicians!

R – There’s a song ‘ere called Did Look A Fool. “Things look unfamiliar, things look new” sings Richard. He’s right there, innit? As you say, THIITB makes EDSH look, well, not normal, but certainly of a more sensible cut of trouser than one would ever have assumed. This shiny new baby is dancing about just out of reach, I cannae get a hold of it, the slippery beastie…

P – Throughout the album, I fail to successfully analyse it. I used to pride myself in being able to work out the so-called complex time signatures of certain progressive rock bands from the seventies and eighties, but don’t try counting the bars for the last minute or of the first one – therein lies madness.
The brain-mushing complexity may make you feel as if the band is battering you over the head with their virtuosity. None of this matters, just go with it! Then the blend of the rhythm section, keyboards, woodwinds and the plinky guitar, furnishing the music with unique properties, could make you grin like a loon.

R – This loon is grinning! And I just knocked another bin over. Lost Crowns do things with melody that should be only theoretically possible.

P – Richard’s choice of melodies and lead vocals and the band’s harmonies perfectly complement the preternatural combination of notes. If you’ve followed the band and have seen them live, then you may have become accustomed to the unorthodox choice of instrumentation. Yes, there are vocals, drums, bass and keyboards, but a plethora of other instrumentation, played expertly by top people…. TOP people… are evident.

R – Yes – we find theremin, Charlie’s bowed double bass (and his normal one), bagpipes, bassoon, wind instruments, string sections, all manner of things weaving their magic on this lysergic excursion.

P – I’m particularly enamoured of Charlie’s bass lines and Keepsie’s drumming. They form the anchor of this musical adventure. But there are also some lovely bits of atmospheric sound design, albeit abruptly replaced with the surreal. Lyrically – I can’t even begin to…!

R – Lyrically? Well, you have some fabulous word salad reproduced as one slab of text on the CD cover, as if it wasn’t all dense enough to start with! Weaker Than Me celebrates (or castigates, I ain’t sure?) weediness, a pretty unusual subject in the world of rock’n’roll machismo, doncha know? “Blades of grass will crush him”, indeed!

Sea shanty subjects of love left behind, and trad folk concerns of wrongful conviction and execution (for arson no less!) are two other less obvious focal points for Richard’s wily wordsmithery. There’s even Et Tu Brute which bigs up Caesar’s supposed last words: “While Caesar bled, not yet even dead, they whispered ‘Did you hear what he said?'”
Those are the ones I can get a handle on. There’s almost too much going on in here, but maybe that’s the point? I don’t think there are any songs about cars’n’girls.
The album ends with the frankly epic (and for once that overused word definitely applies) A Sailor And His True Love , a tune that builds on swells of storm-tossed emotional seas. It is fitting then that Richard tells us:
“I wrote this tune the day after Tim Smith died. It’s a kind of elegy to that wonderful talented man.”
In summary, imagine Phil and Roger singing this like half a barbershop quartet:
The Heart Is In The Body is a staggering piece of work, resulting in the discombobulating bamboozlement of our two scribblers. Will it stop the bins being destroyed? Doubtful. Somehow, I think the bins are less safe, and to add to the mayhem we could see traffic cones on every stately statue’s head in That London.

From: https://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2025/04/03/lost-crowns-the-heart-is-in-the-body/

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar: This song, which Klara has described as both “mystic” and “symbolic” in various interviews, is Dylanesque in its imagery: not specific, but powerful enough to evoke strong, precise emotions from its listeners. In its lyrics the sisters discuss the faces of religion, loneliness, courage, and foolishness.
In Buddhism, there are two “lion’s roars.” First, there is the roar of the Buddha himself, who roars as a lion to extol his own doctrines and spiritual truths. The second is the roar of the disciple, who roars to signify he has achieved the goals set for him by the Buddha. This is outlined in The Lion’s Roar: Two Discourses of the Buddha.
‘The Lion’s Roar’ was written during a U.K. tour when we drove through a very dramatic moorland in Scotland. During the tour, we listened a lot to Townes Van Zandt in the car. We were inspired by this mystic scenery, as well as Townes Van Zandt’s beautiful melodies. By far our darkest song to date. It was the first song we wrote for the new record, and we chose to name the record after it. ‘The Lion’s Roar’ marked a new stage in our songwriting, and the mystic feeling of this song came to characterize a big part of the new record.  From: https://genius.com/First-aid-kit-the-lions-roar-lyrics

Deerhoof - The Devil and his Anarchic Surrealist Retinue

Clutter-rock band Deerhoof release their new album The Magic today via Polyvinyl Records, along with a music video for “The Devil and his Anarchic Surrealist Retinue.” The claymation reverie was created by Joseph Baughman, who has previously created videos for Cool Uncle, Tuxedo, The Roots and more. In the video description, Baughman explains:
Stop-motion improv is probably the slowest form of spontaneity, but even so it allowed the characters and actions to take shape as I was animating them. It was a strange way to animatate, but it felt appropriate for this track. I’m grateful for the freedom Deerhoof gave me to animate in this style and for getting to work with such an interesting tune (both lyrically and musically). The visual’s landscape is full of multi-colored Minotaurs, spinning chessboards and celestial pinballs that charge like rogue molecules alongside Satomi Matsuzaki’s vocals.

From: https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/deerhoof/deerhoof-share-the-devil-and-his-anarchic-surreali

The song’s title is taken from Alex Ross’ book The Rest Is Noise, describing Stalin-era Soviet Union. Full quote: “…in Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita, written in secret in the 1930s and not published until 1966… that Russian-Soviet version of the old Faustian tale the devil and his anarchic-surrealist retinue expose the madness of Stalin’s society by way of violent farce.”

From: https://genius.com/Deerhoof-the-devil-and-his-anarchic-surrealist-retinue-lyrics 

Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine

“Astronomy Domine” is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, written by founding member Syd Barrett. The song was released on their 1967 debut album, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”.
The lyrics describe an otherworldly journey through space and time, with imagery that is both vivid and surreal. The title “Astronomy Domine” is Latin for “Lord of the Stars” and the song’s lyrics reflect the psychedelic and cosmic themes that were prevalent in the band’s early work.
The song is known for its use of dissonant guitar and organ riffs, as well as its innovative use of panning effects to create a sense of movement and space. It is considered a seminal work in the psychedelic and space rock genres, and is often cited as a defining moment in Pink Floyd’s early career.  From: https://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/astronomy-domine-lyrics-pink-floyd-piper-at-the-gates-of-dawn

Bab L' Bluz - Live at Musica Mundo Festival Amersfoort 2022 / Live MTN Bushfire Festival 2021

 Bab L' Bluz - Live at Musica Mundo Festival Amersfoort 2022

 

 Bab L' Bluz - Live MTN Bushfire Festival 2021

 

One thing that has been very important to you is your message of spreading love, peace, and respect through music, and I'm wondering in these globally very tumultuous times we are in do you still feel that you are able to make a difference?

Brice Bottin: Yeah, for sure. Our audience are mixed with all kind of people, and when we play they realize that they'll enjoy the same stuff. I remember we were at the Oregon Sisters Folk Festival where there were these very American people with boots and you know, the cowboy style. And they really enjoyed our show, and even that Yousra was singing in Moroccan Darija, they seemed to having fun. They told us they enjoyed a lot the show and there are a lot of both points of convergence because of music. So we know that people who grew up in Oregon can like the same stuff that people born in Morocco or France or whatever. Because it's a bit rock and it's a bit trance. And in a lot of kinds of music, they can recognize themselves in it.

Yousra Mansour: I think music now is needed more than any time to bring people together. I think in these very difficult times, it's important to keep doing what you're doing – even though it's very hard because we can see the tension, and feel the tension in some places, where sometimes people will have less courage to go to a show, especially to go to a Moroccan show because maybe they don't speak the same language or don't have the same religion, or especially because of political opinions. But I think most people find their courage and they don't care. Then they see they might appreciate the same music and dance in the same way. And then they also stand and fight for peace. So we're not alone. A lot of people are also fighting for the same purpose. 

Bottin and Mansour: It's why we do this. 

I am very interested that you've made a point of talking about Darija, which is the language you sing in. For people who don't know about the language, would you tell me about it and why it became this thing to sing in?


Mansour: Yeah. Darija is a mix of a lot of languages – from colonizers and locals. You can find some Arabic words, some French, some Spanish, even some Portuguese words. So it's really a mix of all of this. I grew up speaking Darija, but the native language in Morocco, which is not generally spoken is Amazigh, which is the language of the Berbers. They actually don't like being called Berber, so the word “Amazigh” has a more positive significance. It was sort of banned or forbidden years ago, but then the government restored it. And now even you can find people learning it at school, but my parents and grandparents, they didn't get the chance because it was banned. So Amazigh is the native language of Morocco, but not the whole population speaks it. And so Darija is like the combination of Amazigh, Arabic and other languages. So that's why it's the most popular language in Morocco. We say it's a dialect, though a lot of people say that it is fully Arabic, but I would say no, because a lot of people from the Middle East, when we start speaking in the region, they don't understand because there are many words in Amazigh. So it's a mix that only Moroccans understand. But then there's also “classical” Arabic, and in all the Arab-speaking countries, they use it for papers, institutions, and school, but the dialect of each country is very different than the classic Arabic. So there is also Algerian and Tunisian Darija, which are different, but they all have basically the same roots. 

From: https://afropop.org/articles/bab-lbluz-returns-to-america

 

 

Joni Mitchell - Clouds - Side 1

01 Tin Angel
02 Chelsea Morning
03 Don't Know Where I Stand
04 That Song About The Midway
05 Roses Blue

I chose to review Clouds because it’s relevant to my life right now—most of the songs are about a young woman in flux, trying to figure out what life is all about. Having changed my country of residence, lived at three different addresses and started a new job—all in the last six months—I think I qualify as fluxed. I feel like I’m in a fast-flowing river where I can’t quite touch the bottom and find some sense of stability. I’ve found that the songs on Clouds express the self-doubt, the mood swings and the instinctual confusion I’m feeling right now. And while I’ve always tended to be a thinker as opposed to a feeler, I tend to be a think-in-the-moment, active thinker who tends to skip self-reflection before moving on to the next thing. This is why I’ve been attracted to Clouds lately: its mood and content are deeply reflective, allowing me to downshift, slow down and gain some perspective on all the changes I’ve experienced.
The reflective mood of the album is firmly established in the tone and theme of the opening track, “Tin Angel.” Opening with only the sound of single acoustic guitar notes, the music shifts to unusual chords—ninths and sustained seconds—chords that defy expectations and create a sense of detachment from the humdrum of daily life. The lyrics sing of mementos that are “reflections of love’s memories,” the little souvenirs we keep in boxes to help us recall past feelings and, perhaps, past failures. While such physical reminders of existence are an endangered species in our digital world, “Tin Angel” reminds us that tactile and olfactory experiences can make such past experiences seem more alive (I still have a precious little box where you can find odd things like subway tokens, obsolete currency and a small wooden whistle given to me by a Ukrainian woman I met in Vienna). More important to the purpose of the song is that these trinkets from the past fulfill a need during times of sadness, reminding us that we were once happy, once loved. Hence the chorus, “Guess I’ll throw them all away/I found someone to love today.” What is so wonderful about Joni Mitchell at her best is that she is rarely one-dimensional; in this case, the love she has found is a risky proposition: “Not a golden prince who’s come/Through columbines and wizardry/To talk of castles in the sun.” She further describes him as having a “sorrow in his eyes,” and wonders “What will happen if I try/To place another heart in him.” The song ends ambiguously, never describing the consummation of the relationship. This is what is so beautiful about “Tin Angel”—it leaves you on the knife edge of risk, and too often, despite our inherent loneliness, we feel that love represents the greatest risk of all.
Unfortunately, the mood dissipates with the far too sweet “Chelsea Morning,” a song about which Joni Mitchell said, “I don’t think of it as part of my best work.” It’s not, and the lines “And the sun poured in like butterscotch/And stuck to all my senses” make me cringe as if I’d just eaten a mouthful of Duncan Hines Cherry Chip Cake. Fortunately, it’s a brief departure into youthful exuberance, for she quickly returns to nascent womanhood with “I Don’t Know Where I Stand.” Echoing the theme of love and risk we heard in “Tin Angel,” the song starts as if she’s just left the saccharine experience of her Chelsea room where she was “braiding wildflowers and leaves in my hair,” to find her exuberance collapsing with the realization that love involves risk and the possibility of deep pain. In this situation, she wants to tell someone “I love you” but doesn’t know where she stands with that someone. I’ve always found it interesting that fear of rejection often blocks us from taking action to move a relationship forward because it’s a paradox: the relationship can’t go forward unless we make the move, but our paralysis prevents us from the possibility of having the very thing we want. The rationalizations for inaction are plentiful, and we take advantage of every single one to avoid having to face the possibility that the person of interest may not be interested.
“That Song About the Midway” is more of a character sketch than a relationship song, though the intensity with which the narrator follows the intriguing character suggests that she believes there’s something elusive and attractive about this particular soul. It is said that the song is about Leonard Cohen, and the “midway” is symbolic of the life of the traveling musician, of searching for a lucky break and becoming tired of it all. Perhaps, but I’ve always found that once I hear that a famous person wrote such and such song about another famous person, the experience is similar to glancing at the cover of People while waiting at the checkout stand (haven’t done that in a while!) and finding out who’s cheating on whom. Who gives a shit? The knowledge reduces the potential universal appeal of the song, trivializing it by turning it into a secret code for an exclusive club. If I step back from that bias, I would say “That Song About the Midway” has some interesting imagery but there are other more moving songs on Clouds.
“Roses Blue” is one of those. This sketch is about a woman who has found alt-religion (“She’s gotten to mysterious devotions/She’s gotten to the zodiac and zen/She’s gotten into tarot cards and potions.”) It would be out of character for 60’s child Joni Mitchell to condemn someone who had such hip beliefs, and she doesn’t. The real problem is what every religion does to a true believer—it turns a potentially nice person into a flaming asshole:
This song triggers another one of my biases, and in my role as a music reviewer, I have an obligation to disclose such biases. Here goes: if I met the genie in the lamp and he gave me my three wishes, the first two would have to do with certain sexual fantasies and the third would be to order the genie to abolish all forms of religion on earth and wipe the memories of every person on the planet of any religious influence. Religion has caused more pain, death and separation than any single force in human history, and frankly, the benefit of something as ephemeral as faith hardly compensates for the millions and millions of lives that have been cut short or diminished by the violence and oppression that religion generates. While you may not agree with my views, it does explain the anguished attachment I have to this song: Rose’s crime is not religion, but what she has allowed religion to do to her—cut her off from human friendship by giving her the illusion that arcane knowledge entitles her to elevate herself above the unbelievers. I have experienced people like Rose far too often: the glazed look of distant disdain, the pity in the voice as she tells you how limited you are for not buying her shit . . . the works. “Roses Blue” gives me both the creeps and a sense of sadness that I have to accept that there are people on this earth to whom I will never be close, for there’s no way I can break through the religious plexiglass and relate to them as equals. In that sense, the song is a microcosm of the larger sorrow that religion continues to bring to our world today. The comment box is down below for those of you who want to condemn me to the everlasting fires of hell.  From: https://altrockchick.com/2013/09/04/classic-music-review-clouds-by-joni-mitchell/

Uriah Heep - Gypsy / Walking In Your Shadow / Bird Of Prey

The cover of Uriah Heep's "...Very 'Eavy, Very 'Umble" still gives me the creeps, 51 years after the LP was released. The photo is of David Byron, the lead singer of Uriah Heep, with his face covered in cobwebs. Eek, this really scares me. The cover reminds me of the haunted house at the fair and my dominant niece from back in the day. But more on that later. Whether the cover has a deeper meaning or is just a pretty (..) picture I haven't been able to figure out. "Very 'Eavy..." is Uriah Heep's first album. Organist Ken Hensley himself makes a connection on the inside of the cover with the group's inexperience and the title. Uriah Heep quickly grew into a top-notch band in the seventies, ranking amongst such peers as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. David Byron had a voice that was as good as that of the lead singer of Deep Purple (Ian Gillan) or that of Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. The beautiful organ sounds of Ken Hensley are also worth mentioning. Rock music with a progressive touch. (The name Uriah Heep is taken from the bookkeeper's name from the book David Copperfield by the well-known English writer Charles Dickens. He behaves, like his mother, very submissive and humble, which he always emphasizes when he says something.) The original line-up did not last long. Its heyday was from 1970 to 1976. David Byron was no match for the success. He felt like a rock star 24/7, with the accompanying alcohol abuse. Bassist Gary Thain suffered an electric shock during a live show and as a consequence suffered paralysis of the arm. He was replaced by John Wetton, of King Crimson fame. Thain overdosed on heroin and died in 1975. Byron drank himself to death and died in 1985 at the age of 38. He had long since been kicked out of the band. The performance at Pinkpop in 1976 was one of Byron's last appearances with Uriah Heep. Not a story that makes you happy. Nevertheless... Uriah Heep still exists, albeit in a varying line-up. The band still performs and regularly visits De Boerderij. A highlight every time round. Uriah Heep's album covers from the 1970s are all brilliant. Take for instance "Look at yourself" with a piece of aluminum foil as a mirror. Or "Demons and Wizards" with a drawing by Roger Dean, who is best known for his Yes covers. But for me this cover for "Very 'Eavy..., Very 'Umble" beats everything.  From: https://poppodiumboerderij.nl/en/nieuws/column-verhaal-achter-de-platenhoes-very-eavy-1970-uriah-heep/ 

Yaelokre - Kamahalan

Yaelokre understands that sounds alone can evoke fantasy worlds. Arguably the most exciting artist to come out of the Philippines as of late, Keath Osk’s musical storytelling project has rejected the overtly autobiographical tendencies of many songwriters, while still managing to be deeply personal through and through.
If their first EP, ‘Hayfields,’ was an introduction to the world of Meadowlark, ‘Origins’ acts as an expansion of their worldbuilding. The first track “My farewells to the fields” starts with isolated strums of their guitalele, you are instantly taken somewhere else, to a scene in a land of fantasy, to a storyteller gathering listeners around in a circle, sharing a tale in hushed whispers that eventually turn into cries of triumph, a tale of leaving an old home and finding sanctuary in a found family. The track’s thematic richness manages to cut through to even the most casual listener.
“Bird cage blue and yellow” is a track that exudes character, both that of the in-universe storyteller and that of Osk’s. “I can be different, I can’t be puppeted!” they both proclaim in a dramatic declaration of independence and self-determination in the face of the overwhelming pressure to conform. The artist’s heritage is on full display here as Osk softly sings in Icelandic and repeats lines in Filipino, a combination that wonderfully contrasts with each other while still being in harmony.
While “To douse a scalded tongue” seems to promise to be a more mellow track compared to the previous two, that assumption is quickly proven wrong with an abrupt lofi vocal more akin to a condemnation than a song. It’s a call to action, inviting the listener to get up and refuse to stay silent. From here, it’s clear that Osk intends to keep the intensity up throughout the EP, never giving the listener a break from their theatrics and dramatic flair. 
The EP closes with “Kamahalan,” unique in all of the Yaelokre discography by being fully in Filipino. It is every bit as intense as all the other songs in the tracklist, but it achieves this through pounding percussion and a bassline that adds a subtle yet significant groove. While there is no lull in energy, it still manages to be a satisfying ending, and before you know it, the scene of masked storytellers in your head fades away as you’re taken back to reality.
‘Origins’ is a reinforcement of what the Yaelokre project stands for, which is fitting for an EP that explains the backstories of the four main characters. It is a desperate plea to you, the listener, to listen to your inner child, to unapologetically be your authentic self, no matter how much you are pressured not to. It’s just up to you if you have the courage to heed that call, a call made clearer in one of Yaelokre’s most compelling set of stories yet.  From: https://theflyinglugaw.com/ep-review-yaelokre-origins/

Strawbs - The Shepherd's Song

"From the Witchwood" marked the start of the Strawbs’ transition in earnest from a primarily acoustic folk based band, to a prog rock oriented band with strong folk influences. The album represents Rick Wakeman's last venture with the Strawbs, before he was headhunted by Yes. In retrospect, his keyboard skills whilst apparent, were somewhat suppressed in the Strawbs, with only brief displays of his virtuosity such as those on "Sheep" and "Glimpse of heaven". It was perhaps inevitable that when the opportunity arose, he would move on to a band where he would be afforded more room to exercise his skills. Rick Wakeman and Dave Cousins have however remained firm friends, collaborating more recently on the Strawbs flavoured "Hummingbird" album. 
Wakeman does manage to add some wonderfully dramatic effects to "From the Witchwood", particularly with the menacing organ on "The hangman and the papist". The song is an incredibly powerful story of a hangman finding his next victim is to be his brother, who is to be punished for his religious beliefs. You can almost touch the raw emotion as Dave Cousins sings "forgive me God we hang him in thy name".
The opening track, "A Glimpse of heaven" has a hymnal quality to it, with church like organ and choir like vocals on the choruses. The brief keyboard solo has some effective phasing, something of a forgotten art these days. The band's folk influences come to the fore on tracks such as "Witchwood", and "In amongst the roses", while "Cannondale" and "The shepherd's song" have a deeper, more haunting structure. "Sheep" is an out and out rocker, with a great if brief organ solo by Wakeman, leading into a reflective ending. Surely one of the only songs ever written about an abattoir?  From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=2912 

Rabbit Rabbit Radio - Tiny Invasion

Rabbit Rabbit Radio is a song spinning duo whose music draws on their love of art song, folk song, industrial music, improvised music and heart-wrenching balladry. Carla is a lapsed classical violinist who wandered away from that path decades ago and never looked back. Matthias is a drummer/multi-instrumentalist with a lifelong commitment to absurdism and a good groove. If you listen closely, you'll hear traces of their other musical associations – Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Tin Hat, Skeleton Key, 2 Foot Yard, Minamo, The Book of Knots, Fred Frith's Cosa Brava – but Rabbit Rabbit Radio dares to peel back influence and to reveal a music that is stripped down and intimate. Their songs are raw and beautiful, sparse and rich, lighthearted and full of pathos - bringing to life the small stories of unsung heroes... and almost always telling the truth.  From: https://www.thirdangle.org/rabbit-rabbit-radio

Planxty - The Pursuit Of Farmer Michael Hayes

John Lyons sang Farmer Michael Hayes in 1974 on his Topic album The May Morning Dew. A.L. Lloyd and Sandra Kerr commented in the sleeve notes:

The period 1850-70 was one of great unrest among Irish tenant farmers. Laws passed enabling landlords speedily to evict any tenants who fell behind with rents. Dispossession was often violent, leading to reprisals in the form of terroristic attacks on landlords and agents. In places, agrarian crime took on the aspect of guerrilla warfare. Against this background, the song of Michael Hayes was made. After being evicted from his farm, the enraged Hayes murdered the landlord’s agent Badel at Thurles, Co. Tipperary, and went on the run. Despite close pursuit, involving telegraph messages and mounting offers of reward, he managed to get to America, thumbing his nose to all his enemies.

Planxty sang The Pursuit of Farmer Michael Hayes on their 1979 album After the Break. Several Planxty live recordings from between 1979 and 1982 were released in 2016 on their DVD Between the Jigs and the Reels and in 2018 on their CD One Night in Bremen. They commented in their original album’s notes:

The Pursuit of Farmer Michael Hayes was learned from several sources: Christy heard versions of it sung by John Lyons, Tom Lenihan, and an unknown singer on Donnacha O Dulaing’s radio programme “Highways and Byways”. He received written versions from Mike Flynn and Seamus Mac Mathuna and there’s another in Zimmerman’s Songs of Irish Rebellion (Figgis, Dublin). The air is that of a song that Andy Irvine used to sing in early Planxty days. The words of that song were not to our taste but we were glad that the air fitted Michael Hayes so well.

From: https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/thepursuitoffarmermichaelhayes.html 

Paula Cole - Saturn Girl

It would be easy to describe Paula Cole as ‘just another 90s singer-songwriter’. Every biography mentions her association with the Lilith Fair festivals, that zeitgeist of 90s new wave feminism that faded as quickly as it came (attempts to re-create the Lilith Fair hype only a few years ago fell embarrassingly limp). And of course, we can’t forget that this is the woman whose voice opened up every episode of the 90s cultural phenomenon (might be a bit strong a word, but it was certainly popular) that was Dawson’s Creek. While her ambitious creativity was rarely met with commercial success (Where Have All the Cowboys Gone and I Don’t Want to Wait remain her sole Top 10 singles in the States), Cole is an artist in the truest sense. Over the course of her 20 years in the music industry Cole has followed her muse before all else. Where  her contemporaries have often chosen to play it safe (Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow) rather than tip the applecart, Cole has  proven herself a true successor to the likes of Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and Kate Bush in her willingness to eschew convention for creative growth.
Growing up in the small town of Rockport, Massachusetts, Paula Cole was the youngest daughter of a elementary school teacher and a scientist. Cole’s family were musical, her father playing in a polka band and family sing alongs encouraged. After surviving the angst of adolescence and high school, Cole followed her musical dreams to the Berklee College of Music studying jazz singing and improvisation. However, studying the works of great composers like Gershwin was paralleled by Cole’s own burgeoning songwriting. Cole found herself at a crossroads: a record contract with a jazz label or pursue her own craft and musical vision. Cole took the plunge, and in 1993 signed with Imago records to begin recording her debut album. While Cole wanted to produce her own album from the get-go, the record label felt it better for her to work alongside someone more ‘experienced’ and the reigns were handed to Kevin Killen. Killen had had a hand in many a great record (and continues to), and was a good fit for the restless and introspective Cole. ‘Harbinger’ was truly a departure from Cole’s jazz studies although remnants of her training would emerge briefly in song structures. Like it’s stark album cover depicting a huddled Cole in a too-big trench coat (this is the better known cover anyway – there were two), ‘Harbinger’ is an album of shadow, introspection, and emotional catharsis.  From: https://matsmusicblog.wordpress.com/tag/paula-cole/ 

Antimatter - Paranoid Carbon

Antimatter was formed by ex-Anathema bass player and song writer, Duncan Patterson, and Mick Moss, a musician who had up to that time, played with several unsigned bands. As a pair, Patterson and Moss released three albums together: Saviour, Lights Out and Planetary Confinement. Shortly after the completion and release of the third effort, Planetary Confinement, Duncan Patterson left the pair to form his own group, Íon. Continuing without his former partner, Mick Moss kept the project alive, releasing its fourth and most recent album, Leaving Eden, with current Anathema guitarist Danny Cavanagh.
The first two albums released by this collaboration were made with a musical focus on melodic, layered vocal lines and an often borderline techno melancholic rock sound, with ambient post-rock overtones. This was often achieved by using techniques such as layering the vocals of female guest musicians to create an eerie effect and ambience. Acoustic guitar riffs and rhythmic sections also helped to give this duo their unique sound. After the departure of Duncan Patterson from the project, the sound rapidly changed and evolved, now developing a more metallic based sound brought on by Danny's input. The early atmospheric sounds are now mostly gone, replaced with a more guitar oriented rock sound, which has earned the band a favor amongst prog metal lovers the world over. Antimatter is easily recommendable to fans of post-metal, post-rock and prog metal, their two most recent albums containing a sound akin to Anathema, Porcupine Tree, Katatonia and many other rock groups with atmospheric overtones.  From: https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=5156 

Gone Cosmic - For Sabotage

One of the cruelest fates to befall any given record that comes across my desk at Angry Metal Guy Judgment Emporium is to be totally forgotten. It happens, more often than I’d like. Gone Cosmic’s last record, Sideways in Time, succumbed to such a fate. It was a good record, with tons of groove and fronted by a passionate, powerful vocalist. But it was only because I caught the Canadian quartet’s upcoming sophomore full-length, Send for a Warning, the Future’s Calling, in the promo bin three years later that I remembered that Gone Cosmic existed. Which raises the question: what will they do to ensure I remember them better this time?
If nothing else has changed, I can say that Gone Cosmic grows ever more confident as a unit. Vocalist Abbie Thurgood in particular is even more the versatile performer that she was on Sideways. Musically, their Pink Floyd psychedelia is still fueled by the vim and vigor of Dead Sara and similar acts, which is a winning combo any way you slice it. Groove and energetic riffcraft, especially in the hands of bassist Brett Whittingham, blends wonderfully with blissful swaths of chilled-out, spacefaring drifts, and the balance struck in that duality defines the band’s signature sound. The production quality takes a hit on album two—it received an extra dose of compression, one that I feel was entirely unwarranted as it robs the album of the same breathing room that delighted me last time—but Gone Cosmic’s increased emphasis on softer textures and effortless transitions generally makes up the gap in dynamics.  From: https://www.angrymetalguy.com/gone-cosmic-send-for-a-warning-the-futures-calling-review/

Grant Lee Buffalo - Truly, Truly

With the departure of bassist Paul Kimble, Grant Lee Buffalo became the sole province of singer/songwriter Grant Lee Phillips; he may still be supported by drummer Joey Peters, but now, more than ever, he is the main focal point. With Kimble left, some of the band's appealingly messy ambition has been reigned in, resulting in a brighter, sharper sound. And that means Jubilee, the group's fourth record, doesn't quite hit the heights of Fuzzy and Mighty Joe Moon, but it's arguably their most consistent effort yet, simply because it puts Phillips' songwriting on full display. He still has eclecticism in his blood -- there's everything from lumbering hard rock to sweet country tunes on the album -- but his skills have grown; he now has the ability to make it all sound like it was coming from the same source, instead of different planets. Consequently, Jubilee does sound joyous -- Grant Lee Buffalo fills the record with more genuine ambition and accomplishment than many of their peers have managed.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/jubilee-mw0000036770#review 

Jefferson Airplane - Triad

"Triad" is a song written by American singer-songwriter David Crosby in 1967 about a ménage à trois. It was recorded by the Byrds that year, while Crosby was a member of the band, but their version went unreleased at the time and was not issued until twenty years later. Jefferson Airplane released a version of the song in 1968 on their Crown of Creation album and a live version performed by Crosby was included on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 4 Way Street in 1971.
"Triad" was written while Crosby was a member of the rock band the Byrds, who were at that time recording their fifth studio album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers. The song's lyrics concern a ménage à trois and were largely inspired by the sexual freedom that Crosby enjoyed at his home in Beverly Glen in Los Angeles. Byrds biographer Johnny Rogan has described the song's subject matter as being perfectly in keeping with the "free love" hippie philosophies of the day. The song also alludes to author Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land, with references to "sister lovers" and "water brothers". 
Although the Byrds did record "Triad" and performed it live during a September 1967 engagement at the Whisky a Go Go, it was not included on The Notorious Byrd Brothers album. According to Crosby, bandmates Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman felt that its subject matter was too controversial, with McGuinn allegedly deriding the song as a "freak-out orgy tune". However, this has since been denied by Hillman, who has stated, "I don't think it was a moral decision. The song just didn't work that well. David was drifting and bored and wanted to do something else, and that song just added fuel to the fire." There had been growing animosity between Crosby and the rest of the band throughout 1967, which, coupled with the discord over "Triad", contributed to McGuinn and Hillman's decision to fire him from the band in October of that year.
Following his departure from the Byrds, Crosby gave the song to the band Jefferson Airplane, who included a recording of it on their 1968 album, Crown of Creation.This version also appears on Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick's compilation album The Best of Grace Slick. A live recording of "Triad" performed by Crosby himself was later included on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 1971 album, 4 Way Street. The Byrds recording of the song remained unreleased for twenty years until the 1987 archival album Never Before was issued.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triad_(David_Crosby_song)

Agam - Brahma's Dance

Software engineers by day and musicians by evening or at least over the weekend – such is the story of Agam. Formed in 2006, following a few compositions (which were mere experiments then) by a bunch of friends in an apartment studio, Agam has become a powerful force with their brand of music since then. This Bangalore-based ensemble features Harish on vocals, Praveen on lead guitars, Swamy on keyboards, Vignesh on bass guitar, Jagadish on rhythm guitars, Ganesh on drums and Sivakumar on ethnic percussions.
From winning a musical reality show helmed by maestro A. R. Rahman himself to collaborating with Shreya Ghoshal, the band has had a glorious journey thus far. Though, a performance on the fabled Coke Studio stage has been the talking point for a while now and makes a perfect setting for the release of their debut album. ‘Agam’ literally translates to ‘the inner self’ and hence the album gets the name ‘The Inner Self Awakens’. Each song in the album pivots around a central Raga and is embellished by the elements of progressive rock, which brings into perspective a completely unheard of and unexplored genre – ‘Carnatic Progressive rock’. With the songs quite often delving into religious themes, the cover art of the album has been aptly chosen to depict the Keralite festival of Theyyam.
‘Bramha’s Dance’ starts off with a vedic chant accompanied by war-field percussions and roaring bass-lines that provide a worthy build up to this terrific album – almost as if calling out to awaken the enormous beast from its Carnatic foregrounds. Harish’s violin is subtle but adds the most mellifluous of touches to the song. The appropriate use of cymbals, the ghatam and Praveen’s electric guitar are in complete sync with the vocals as the song goes through a plethora of moods and tempos.  From: https://whatsthescene.com/album/the-inner-self-awakens-by-agam-2/

Christine Perfect - I'd Rather Go Blind

"I'd Rather Go Blind" is a blues song written by Ellington Jordan with co-writing credits to Billy Foster and Etta James. It was first recorded by Etta James in 1967, released the same year, and has subsequently become regarded as a blues and soul classic. Etta James wrote in her autobiography Rage To Survive that she heard the song outlined by her friend Ellington "Fugi" Jordan when she visited him in prison. She then wrote the rest of the song with Jordan, but for tax reasons gave her songwriting credit to her partner at the time, Billy Foster, singer with doo-wop group The Medallions. Etta James recorded the song at the Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It was included on the album Tell Mama and as the B-side of the single of the same name.
It has since been recorded by a wide variety of artists, including the blind-from-birth Clarence Carter, on his 1969 album The Dynamic Clarence Carter. The song reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart in 1969 in a version by the British blues band Chicken Shack, featuring Christine Perfect, later to become Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac. After she left Chicken Shack, but before she joined Fleetwood Mac, Christine Perfect released her debut solo album, Christine Perfect. Being that she was on the same label as Chicken Shack, the Blue Horizon label included the same Chicken Shack recording of "I'd Rather Go Blind" on Christine Perfect's album since the song had only been released as a single for Chicken Shack and had not been included on any Chicken Shack LPs.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27d_Rather_Go_Blind 

Puscifer - V Is For Versatile

 Puscifer - V Is For Versatile - Part 1

 

 Puscifer - V Is For Versatile - Part 2

 

During the pandemic, the Pusciforce was not diminished. Instead of sitting around afraid, eating lousy food and watching terrible television, the great Puscifer crew took this moment to find new outlets to express their creativity and share their incredible talent with the world. Lead singer-lyricist Maynard “MJ” Keenan (also well-known from Tool and A Perfect Circle) shows off his hysterical acting abilities in two masterfully recorded and edited concerts that streamed live over Halloween weekend, V is for Versatile and Parole Violator. He has surrounded himself with a group of extremely talented musicians who understand and mesh with his eccentricities, and each brings their own individual flair to the project.
V is for Versatile contains music from the “V” is for Vagina era (yes, I said it) and, ohhh, does it slay. Maynard, playing the wild character Agent Dick Merkin, kicks off this live performance by reminding us that celebrities are the aliens that live among us. The rendition of “Mama Sed” is so heavenly it will put you in a seated position. Maynard digs deep into his lower register from which his vocals reach new heights. Puscifer vocalist Carina Round straight-out sounds like an angel from above. During “Trekka” she plays a slightly out-of -tune guitar that seems to blend perfectly with the different “Art Of Noise”-like tribute sounds. The remaining Puscifer player, Mat Mitchell, is a synth God who also plays a clean Telecaster and key-tar, creating such undefinable music styles on his vintage equipment. The leaps between live songs and studio sessions, and the variety of characters Maynard plays keeps things interesting and entertaining from start to finish.  From: https://brutalplanetmag.com/puscifer-v-is-for-versatile-and-parole-violator-brutal-planet-review/