Season's Greetings

 

Mrs CC and I have are both recovering from chest infections so it has been hard to get into the Christmas spirit and to keep the posts coming.

So this is just a quick one to wish you and yours a very merry Christmas.

See you on the other side.

Lucinda Williams - Merry Christmas Baby

Darlene Love - Christmas ( Baby Please Come Home)

Blog Country 104 - Panama

 

The next new Blog Country visitor was from Central America - Panama to be precise. Ernie's encyclopedic African knowledge was therefore not required.

Panama is probably best know for canals and hats. It has appeared here in 2018 as I drew them in my work's World Cup sweepstake.  They were beaten 6- 1 by England - six blatantly offside goals as I recall.

For my previous post I provided songs with Panama in the title by Sugar and Slowclub. This time round I'm going for Panamanian artists which was considerably harder. At times like this Mr Google is often your only friend.

The alias of Latin American recording artist Camilo Navarro Q, Cienfue is known for mixing Latin Roots with modern electronic elements to create a sound dubbed “Psicodelia Tropical”. I know this as he has a Bandcamp page. The song that I have sourced is Ella Es Mi Patria Torturada. 

 For almost 20 years Señor Loop have apparently been producing contagious and rhythmic Latin alternative rock music. This article by lost.fm gives a pretty detailed biography of the band. The song I have picked at random is Insensato.

If my Spanish is correct (which is a big if ) Dorindo Cárdenas  is an accordionist who plays in the Cumbia tradition namely  in a Panamanian folk dance and musical genre, developed by enslaved people of African descent during colonial times and later syncretised with American Indigenous and European cultural elements. The track I have selected is called Desolación

We will be back on safer ground next time round as we welcome visitors from another African country 

Cienfuie - Ella Es Mi Patria Torturado

Señor Loop - Insensato

Dorindo Cardinas - Desolacion

                                                                                            

NEXT

0:02 / 3:46

Northern Soul Sunday 4

 

Week four of the Northern Soul compilations and yet another one from the budget Crimson label. This is Northern Soul was released in 1999 and has 24 tracks which form a pretty reasonable playlist making it probably one of the better ones.

There is inevitably a bit of crossover with other compilations with some of the more popular songs (ie  (I Got the ) Sweetest Feeling, The Snake and Long After Tonight is All Over) but less face it you can never have enough of a good thing. There is probably a Northern Soul song with that title out there somewhere. 

I was close Robert Palmer has a song called You Can't Get Enough of a Good Thing!

I'm sure that the mighty Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield appears on more than one compilation. Here it is in all its glory - all 8 minutes and 54 seconds of it. It was a bit unfair of the compilers to include this as the first track as it is near impossible to follow,

Dobbie Gray has a brave stab as he gets Out on the Floor.

There is a reasonably  encouraging female contribution on this one with solo female artists appearing on a quarter of the tracks. Judy Street gets the nod with What.

We are back Out on the Floor  next Sunday

Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up

Doobie Gray -Up on the Floor

Judy Street - What

Saturday Shuffle 80

 

As the Saturday Shuffle becomes an octogenarian some excellent songs which pop up have to be by-passed as they have featured in the series before. This week it was the turn of the Mekons with Folsom Prison Blues and the Council Collective with Soul Deep.

Worry not however as we have still managed to come up with three belters.

Let's start with The Knight Brothers and a great bit of Southern Soul namely Temptation 'Bout to Get Me.

They are followed by the UK Americana legends The Rockingbirds who despite their longevity are still Gradually Learning.

The 5,6,7,8's have still got a long way to go before they become octogenarians and are still young enough to enjoy a Guitar Date.

More shuffled dates next Saturday if we survive the Christmas festivities.

The Knight Brothers - Temptation 'Bout To Get Me

The Rockingbirds - Gradually Learning

The 5,6,7,8's - Guitar Date

Sharks,Dolphins and Whales

 

I was going to have a Fishy Friday today until I realized that I had posted something along those lines relatively recently.

Therefore I decided to go for the next best thing namely Sharks,Dolphins and Whales. One of each I think.

Let's start with Shark Song by Stealing Sheep which has got me wondering if I have enough material for a post about our Ovine friends.After checking the music folder it seems that the answer is yes so keep posted.

There were a few dolphins floating around as well but it has really got to be Tim Buckley.

Similarly when it comes to whales it is hard to see past Nic Jones

Time to head back to dry land.

Stealing Sheep - Shark Song

Tim Buckley - Dolphins

Nic Jones - The Humpback Whale

Swimming Pools,Movie Stars ...

 

As a general rule when looking for good music by Dwight Yoakam it is wise to focus solely on the music he released up until the year 2000.

However, recently the twin tag team of George and Jez have pushed 2016's Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars ... and 2024's Brighter Days  in my direction. I've still to listen to the latter

2016? Gulp. It was with a degree of apprehension that I gave Swimmin' Pools a listen. It seems that I needn't have worried as it is an album of Bluegrass versions of his earlier songs.It is all tremendous stuff.

There is even a Bluegrass version of Purple Rain for those of you brave enough to go there.

Thanks for the heads up chaps. I'm off to pursue Brighter Days

Dwight Yoakam - Two Doors Down (2016)

Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs (2016)

Dwight Yoakam - Purple Rain

1971- Never a Dull Moment

 

I've finally finished reading 1971 - Never a Dull Moment - Rock's Golden Year by music journalist David Hepworth.

It has a chapter for each month focusing mainly on one or two artists and album releases. It started fairly promisingly but I found myself getting bogged down in places and yes, for me there were a few dull moments.

On the positive side there was a playlist included for each month and 1971 in 100 Albums. I'm a big fan of lists.

It was interesting to note how many of the albums have stood the test of time and how many have found their way into my record collection since then. I was only 10 at the time and it was a good few years before I got round to buying albums, or singles for that matter. 

It was also interesting to note the change in emphasis from singles to albums and the changing of the guard with the likes of The Beatles and Elvis being replaced by Bowie, Bolan, Roxy Music et al.

I've probably got between 10 and 15 of the 100 albums listed and music by many  if not most of the others.

Here is something from Hunky Dory, Sticky Fingers and Every Picture Tells a Story three of the 1971 albums that I have.

David Bowie - Queen Bitch

The Rolling Stones - Sister Morphine

Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story