1.27.2012
Songs By Ruben Tagalog
Ruben Tagalog Songs By Ruben Tagalog 10" (Villar, 195?)
Here is another record from the Philippines, one that is much earlier and way different musically than "Anak" by Freddie Aguilar. This one is by Ruben Tagalog, a movie star and singer. He started his career as an entertainer in 1934 at the age of twelve when he and his two sisters set down in Manila as the Wanderers Trio. Occupation of the Philippines by the Japanese during World War II broke up the group, but Ruben kept singing, building a fine career making records and movies.
One of Ruben's groups is called the Mabuhay Singers, which might be a name familiar to those of you who scour thrift stores. Mabuhay Singers records surface from time to time and they are always cheap. Most record fiends have bought at least one, only to be disappointed. I've been burned on enough of them (and other Filipino records) that I swore off anything that originated from those islands (something I am reconsidering since scoring the Aguilar and then this).
Aside from the language, there is nothing remotely Filipino about this Ruben Tagalog record. It sounds like a very nice lounge record with a very nice baritone and a hint of exotica. It has a sound that is dated enough to be romantic. Close your eyes and imagine people dancing to this and then realize that they'd be dead by now. It is really music from a different world.
Charito, I Love You
Tunay Na Tunay
Tugtugin Bukid
1.23.2012
Anak
Freddie Aguilar Anak LP (Sunshine, 1978)
A couple posts ago reflecting on not knowing who Lepa Brena, a Serbian singer who has sold more than 40 million albums, was and the world is really much bigger than we think. Well, here's one more example of that. Freddie Aguilar is not only the pop musician of the Philippines but his importance cross culture to politics and into the history books.
Musically, Aguilar's importance centers on two things. First is he wrote and performed a song called "Anak" (which is the title cut of this record and which you can hear/watch). "Anak" sold millions of copies when it was released. It not only lodged itself in the Philippine charts at number one, it topped the charts in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and other countries in Southeast Asia. There are over 100 versions of it recorded, in 23 languages. Number two: Prior to "Anak"'s success, Aguilar was one of many artists associated with Pinoy Rock, the Filipino version of rock & roll, which started in the 1960s but really took off in the Seventies. Pinoy Rock was to serve as part of the cultural roots of opposition to the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
Politically, Aguilar is important because he is one of the artists who headed up opposition to Marcos. His recording of the protest song "Bayan Ko" (with additional lyrics criticizing Marcos) became the anthem of the "People Power" movement, which lead to the peaceful revolution which toppled Marcos. Aguilar was harassed by Marco's henchmen but stood as a cultural icon against the dictatorship, while giving public support to opposition leaders.
Now I didn't know any of that before I found this record, even though I have a goddamn book on Pinoy Rock (Punks, Poets, and Poseurs), a book that I've read a couple times. And though the book focuses mostly on the Pinoy scene from the mid-Eighties to the Nineties, Aguilar is mentioned. Duh.
As I've written before, all of this is a nice history lesson, but that is all it is if the music doesn't deliver. Aguilar does. While "Anak" is a nice song, it is the rest of the album which I dig the most. Aguilar's best stuff is quiet, moody, and mildly psychedelic. It has the feel of Danny Kirwan-era Fleewood Mac mixed with a bit of Leonard Cohen (music not vocals). When Aguilar "rocks," it is a laid back sound, something that is a bit like a bluesy Sir Douglas Quintet. It's really nice stuff.
Pagibig
Kasaysayan
Ikaw Ba'y Pilipino?
12.23.2011
El Ritmo Inconfundible de Columbia
De Nuevo Los Hispanos De Columbia El Ritmo Inconfundible de Columbia LP (Discos Fuentes, 19??)
I love the Discos Fuentes label - it is one of the labels that is on my buy-blind list. If the record is cheap, the cover remotely promising, and it is a Fuentes, the disk goes into a pile and the pile to the front counter and then off to my place. Not all of these Fuentes blind buys are winners. In fact, a good many of them suck. But when they do hit, I am very happy. This album by De Nuevo Los Hispanos De Columbia is one Fuentes that has made me a happy man. The band skips through cumbias, merengues, plenas, paseos, and a whole lot of paseaitos. There is even a jala jala here and a calypso. Translated for you folks who don't know your Latin rhythms: Los Hispanos play a really nice mix of continental Latin and Caribbean styles. They also have an engaging singer in a fellow named Rodolfo. I have no idea when this was recorded but given the sound and the group's look, I'd say late 60s/early 70s.
Asi Empezaron Papa Y Mama
Cumbia Cereteana
Maka Suerte
12.19.2011
Voli Me, Voli
Lepa Brena Voli Me, Voli LP (RTB, 1986)
Listen, I might know a lot about music, but damn if I can tell one Yugoslavian pop mega-star from another. Ignorant though I may be, when someone hands me an album with a cover shot of a pretty woman dressed in white, cuddling a dove and says "Fifty cents and it's yours," I shell out cash just to find out what it is and why the dame is snuggling a bird. Of course, the payoff is always the music (though you gotta admit that this cover pose is very fetching) and the needle drop on this really raised an uni-brow. Over the speakers comes swirling Balkan dance music with a nice pop feel, a cool sounding drum machine, and a little Arabesque and I'm thinking of finding myself a dove or at least a pigeon and a can of white spray paint. So who is this mystery fowl fancier? Type type type and click, I find she is Lepa Brena and since the early 1980s she's sold over 40 million albums. Oh. 40 million? That is quite a lot. Perhaps I should have known of her. Or perhaps not. There are thousands of artists like Ms Brena, huge in their own country and zilch here in America. Forget the internet as some kind of portal to the world. That is one of the biggest lines of horseshit going today. Unless you've got Serbs in your family, who maintain some kind of cultural attachment to the motherland or you have a fetish for chicks with chicks, Lepa Brena isn't going to be in your ear any quicker today than it was pre-internet. Pre-internet you'd be reading this screed in some magazine. Magazines? Remember them? Made of paper, words inside, came out every month or two - really neat things, these magazines. And you don't have to worry about someone kicking the plug out of the wall and all the words disappearing. So, assuming that this is your intro to Lepa Brena, had you not found this here at Crud Crud the blog, you would have read about it in Crud Crud the zine, all one thousand of you. Sooooooo....Lepa not only sold a ton of records, she made a bunch, many with this band Slatki Greh, a couple of them the best selling Yugoslavian pop albums of all time. Voli Me, Voli is the only one I've heard. Half of it is a snooze, a quarter of it is pretty good, and a quarter of it is really good, like the songs below. I have no doubt that right now some Balkan is laughing their ass off, thinking "What a fucking loser to rave about this junk." All I gotta say is LISTEN MISTER, I DON'T MAKE FUN OF YOU WHEN YOU ARE SPOUTING OFF ABOUT WHAT A GENIUS MOVE CHER'S HALF BREED WAS SO SHUT YOUR DAMN TRAP. Believe me, in this case I know that ignorance is bliss. Enjoy.
Voli Me, Voli
Ljibim Te Ja
12.07.2011
Radio 12.06.11
Hey there! Sorry about lack of updates. It is not for lack of great records, but of time! Hopefully, I'll get some stuff up this weekend. Meanwhile, take a listen to the radio"
The Rebel Kind Radio show playlist 12/6/11
Wounded Lion Roman Values [In the Red]
Arnold I Don't Wanna Go Back To School [First American]
Dirk Debonaire I'm Weak [Obvious Moose]
The Kaleidoscope You Don't Love Me [Epic]
Crabby Appleton Go Back [Elektra]
Ron Eliran High in the Desert [Polydor]
Xuxa Danca Da Xuxa [Somlivre]
Bee Gees Jim Braff [Atco]
Harangue Wisteria [Wilder Pryor]
Lewis Furey Poetic Young Man [Aquarius]
Kim Fowley I Hate You [Capitol]
Home & Garden Big Winter [After Hours]
Malcolm Mooney & the Tenth Planet Soul Desert [Milva Son]
A.R. & Machines Station 4 [Polydor]
Mariane Faithful Broken English [Island]
Listen http://www.kdvs.org/show-info/1901
10.26.2011
KDVS Record Swap 10/30
10.10.2011
Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
Ansell Wyatt & the Cook Recording Orchestra Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered 45 (Cook, 1962)
A very nice song here! Early Calypso from Trinidad on one of the best labels of the time. I've written about Cook before, it was sort of a Caribbean obsessed Folkways (and now owned by the Smithsonian), which released some fantastic records in the 1960s. One of those records is this one by Ansell Wyatt, one of the kings of Calypso guitar. Wyatt had a long career, however much of it was playing tourist hotels, bars, and such - which was pretty much the fate of most Calypso musicians. I'd give you the flipside of this single but it is trashed.
Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
10.06.2011
Harlem Nocturne
Rusty Geis Harlem Nocturne b/w Danny Boy 45 (Down Home)
If you are a long time follower of this blog, the name Rusty Geis might ring a bell. Back in August 2006, I wrote a short review of this single in a rundown of 45s I'd picked up. At the time I was a bit critical about Geis's playing style - I thought that while he blew his horn hard, he didn't go far enough or he went two far, that he was stuck in a stylistic middle ground. Five years later I think that I was full of shit. His style is fine. It give the songs a bite. I also wrote that "Danny Boy" was the unexpected star in this single and I still think so. Great version. Funny thing is that I almost passed on this because there was a version of "Danny Boy" on it. Because it was a buck, I figured any version of "Harlem Nocturne" is worth picking up for one greenback. Good call.
Harlem Nocturne
Danny Boy
10.03.2011
There Ain't No Age For Rock And Roll
The Veterans There Ain't No Age For Rock And Roll 45 (Best Seller, 1979)
Crap alert! Crap alert! The Veterans protest for rock & roll acceptance of seniors is not only one of the shittiest songs I've heard but it pretty much makes the case against the aged having anything to do with the music. Seriously, if I was in Forever Young I'd track these two Belgians down and gum them to death. Read somewhere that this not only made the charts in Europe but hit #6 in Australia. Good on ya, my Aussie friends. Rumor has it that Gus Roan and Marc Malyster the oldsters behind this thing had an early single commenting on the jogging craze, but I've yet to track it down.
There Ain't No Age For Rock And Roll
9.30.2011
Downtown
The Revels Downtown b/w Dollar Sign 45 (Kapp, 196?)
Not to be confused with the West Coast hot rod/surf band of the same name, these Revels were a Black R&B group who made some fantastic singles in the early 60. This is one of the best. Pet Clark might have made the Bridge & Tunnel Crowd's theme for downtown, but the Revels speak for everyone else. A great song with a slight noir feeling to it. The flip "Dollar Sign" is just as good as the A side and one of my favorite songs about money. Enjoy.
Downtown
Dollar Sign
9.29.2011
Radio 9.27.11
Plum Run Little Miss Inside [Avco Embassy]
Ronnie Self Ain't I'm A Dog [Columbia]
Lynette West If She Doesn't Want You [Josie]
Renfro & Jackson Elephant Game [GSP]
Phil Gordon Good Mornin Judge [Riviera]
Group Therapy Bad News [Canterbury]
Hoyt Axton w/ the Chamber Brothers Greenback Dollar [Horizon]
The Paradons I Want Love [Milestone]
Bobby Straker Leave Marriage Alone [Hunt]
Orchestre African Fiesta Linga Mbala Moko [Vita]
Ralph Sharon The Night Prowler [Duchess]
The Stratfords Never Leave Me [O'Dell]
The Spiders How Could I Fall In Love [Philips]
Tin Tin Toast & Marmalade for Tea [Atco]
John Roberts I'll Forget You [Duke]
Victory Five of Sacramento John [Gospel Corner]
Eddie Curtis The Louisville Lip [Raftis]
Lee Austin Real Woman [People]
I literally grabbed a stack of records and head out the door. Many of these songs I heard for the first time playing it on this show. Flying blind and it turned out well, one of my favorites! Listen http://kdvs.org/show-info/1901
Also available for parties, anniversaries, bris's, and corporate mixers
Ronnie Self Ain't I'm A Dog [Columbia]
Lynette West If She Doesn't Want You [Josie]
Renfro & Jackson Elephant Game [GSP]
Phil Gordon Good Mornin Judge [Riviera]
Group Therapy Bad News [Canterbury]
Hoyt Axton w/ the Chamber Brothers Greenback Dollar [Horizon]
The Paradons I Want Love [Milestone]
Bobby Straker Leave Marriage Alone [Hunt]
Orchestre African Fiesta Linga Mbala Moko [Vita]
Ralph Sharon The Night Prowler [Duchess]
The Stratfords Never Leave Me [O'Dell]
The Spiders How Could I Fall In Love [Philips]
Tin Tin Toast & Marmalade for Tea [Atco]
John Roberts I'll Forget You [Duke]
Victory Five of Sacramento John [Gospel Corner]
Eddie Curtis The Louisville Lip [Raftis]
Lee Austin Real Woman [People]
I literally grabbed a stack of records and head out the door. Many of these songs I heard for the first time playing it on this show. Flying blind and it turned out well, one of my favorites! Listen http://kdvs.org/show-info/1901
Also available for parties, anniversaries, bris's, and corporate mixers
9.14.2011
Radio 9.13.11
Playlist for show 9.13.11 (aka Listen to me butcher language other than English)
some trippy rock stuff at the end of Mick Mucus's show
talk about Mick's flea bath & uric acid
Villagers of Krustiltsi Planino Pirin [Nonesuch Explorer]
Moondog Themes & Variations/Rim Shot [Honest Jon's]
Hej Nackskott Liten och kissnodig [Lystring]
Limonada Pies Descolzos [Lion]
Les Baxter Jungle River Boat [Capitol]
Lol Coxhill Two Sleepy People [Habada]
William Matta Waynik Ya Leila [Voice of Beirut]
Joe Farrell Quartet Collage for Polly [CTI]
Koscak Yamada Rokkyuh [Toshiba]
Deftene Belete Mengesh Bagana [Lyrichord]
John Fahey The Waltz that Carried Us Away... [Takoma]
Joe Chambers Jihad [Muse]
C Section 8 Gated Horns [Turned Word]
Kip Setchko Breath (the endless poem) [Lazy River]
Stream/DL http://kdvs.org/show-info/1776
9.13.2011
Somewhere Along the Line
Carey Foster Somewhere Along the Line LP (1987)
I am sure everyone reading this knows the story of the evolution of Rhythm & Blues from Black gospel music and the secularization of church music by Ray Charles and others. Prior to this break, along with jazz, gospel was the innovating force in American music. However as R&B developed and became Soul (and then Funk), gospel lost its place as the leader. For a while it stuck to its sound and musically became pretty stagnant. While people like Andre Crouch brought gospel much commercial success and a wider audience, musically there's been no one on par with James Brown, Sly Stone, George Clinton, Prince, Quincy Jones, etc. But what there has been are moments, reactions to whatever sound was reverberating in Soul. In the Seventies, gospel funk takes hold. Vernard Johnson pioneered gospel sax, with sounds that, at times, echoed Albert Ayler. Later, gospel rap took hold. Between gospel funk and gospel rap, there was another reaction happening. That was gospel's response to modern soul, i.e. the music of Prince, Cameo, Rick James, Lakeside, Gap Band, Zapp, etc. For the random music fan, this is not a genre I recommend jumping into. Like modern soul, the gospel reaction has a much higher miss ratio to the hits. Though there are great songs in the genre, I have yet to find an album as back-to-back great as Zapp II or Price 1999. Nothing close to Cameo's Knights of the Sound Table or Rick James Street Songs. Could be lurking out there but I haven't come upon it. I have found the mod gospel equivalent of Gap Band 8 and the Mary Jane Girls LP (unfortunately in quality not content!). But I have found a handful of really great songs. Take the title cut from Carey Foster's (only?) album Somewhere Along the Line. Backed by keyboard and drum machine, hanging on a single riff, Foster's "Somewhere..." sounds like it came from the studio of Sly Stone (think Little Sister). And check out the backing vocal aping Sly's guitar before engaging in some killer singing. Foster goes between sing talking and gospel wailing with perfection. Listen to this a couple times in a row and you'll be bouncing up and down, trying to sing along with the background singers. Great song. Unfortunately, nothing else like it on the album.
9.03.2011
Radio
Playlist for 08.30.11
Skeleton Crew The Border [Rift]
If - Then - Else Hey Big Oil [Contagion]
Pink Floyd Main Theme [Harvest]
Wolfgang Reichmann & Streetmark Eileen [Sky]
Manfred Mann Chapter Three Travelling Lady [Polydor]
Graham Matters You're Driving Me Insane [Inter Planetary Pictures]
Billy Syndrome Brooklyn [Slutfish]
The Red Crayola March No. 14 [Bomb]
Le Ton Mite The Year of the Cherry Blossom [Galerie Pache]
Chiemi Eri Kuroda-Bushi [King]
Jose de Molina La Rueda de Historia [JS]
Harvey Mandel Uno Ino [Janus]
The Animals When I Was Young [MGM]
Love My Flash On You [Elektra]
Stream/DL http://kdvs.org/show-info/1776
8.03.2011
More Radio
Another radio show, this one aired on KDVS 8.02.11. You can stream or download it right here! Hopefully, I will get a proper post or two up soon.
G'dou G'dou (Show Boat)
La Logia Sarabanda Todos O Ninguno (Discos Rex)
Yoko Ono Approximately Infinite Universe (Apple)
Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come Conception (Passport)
Tom Fazzini Smokescreen (Locust Music)
Alan Vega Be Bop A Lula (Z)
Colin Newman Lorries (4 AD)
Eddie Callahan Where Will We Be Tomorrow (Ocean)
The Poppy Family Of Cities & Escapes (London)
Karl Blake Babys In Grey (Normal)
Einzelganger Liebes-Arie (Casablanca)
Alex North Belle Reeve (Capitol)
Aristeu Queiroz Pajussara (Sinter)
Neil Young Captain Kennedy (Reprise)
The Moeders Jolene (MDM)
John Carpenter Main Theme from Halloween (Columbia Nippon)
