It is Zimbabwe versus the United States this week.
The Four Brothers (who are not brothers) were formed as far back as 1977 when Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia. They play jingly jangly pop music with songs sung in the Shona language.
Along side the likes of Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited and The Bhundu Boys they were championed in the UK by John Peel and Andy Kershaw and they released a number of albums on the Cooking Vinyl label.
Sadly three of the founding members died between 1997 and 2002 with Frank Sibanda who had replaced Edward Matiyasi passing away in 2010.
The Rogers Sisters were an Indie band from Brooklyn who were active from 1999 to 2007 releasing three albums during that period. They consisted of sisters Laura and Jennifer Rogers and multi instrumentalist/vocalist Miyuki Furtado.
They play some bouncy and feisty indie rock but having just listed to the album Makorokoto by the Brothers there is only one winner for me this week.
Refreshed from our truckstop we are now back on the road.
Now there have been suggestions that this series will be pretty much exclusively Country. There will certainly be a LOT of Country but some other genres will sneak in here and there.
Had he lived long enough Marc Bolan may well have tried his hand at Country. I think that he would have made a reasonable stab at it. In the meantime we will have to make do with some Glam Truckin' with Truck On (Tyke).
Khayem offered up a few suggestions in the comments last week. He was so determined that some be included that he sent me a playlist. Here is some Soul Truckin' courtesy of the Tom Moulton Mix of our title track Keep on Truckin' by Eddie Kendricks. It's a long 'un
County lovers worry not as it is Truckstop time. We have got as far as La Grange courtesy of a lift from the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash. We will rest up for a few days prior to getting back on the road next week.
Regular readers (or should that be reader?) will know that we usually attend some shows at the annual Celtic Connections festival and that I provide some brief feedback.
This year we attended three shows. We limited ourselves to shows at the Royal Concert Hall due to good parking and easy access for Mrs CC's mum.
18/01/24 - Opening Concert 5/10
A tale of two halves. A short opening set was a few numbers by the Danish instrumental group Dreamers Circus and some songs by the wonderful Rachel Sermanni. Unfortunately I missed a couple of songs as I had to leave the auditorium with a coughing fit.
The main show features mandolin player Chris Thile (of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers fame) and the Scottish Symphony Orchestra. We were unaware that this was to be the European premiere of his musical theatre piece ATTENTION! It was not our kind of thing at all and I would say that was the case for about 60% of the audience. The other 40% gave him a standing ovation.
23/01/24 - The Good Lovelies/Josie Duncan 7/10
The Good Lovelies are a Juno Award-winning ensemble comprising Ontario, Canada natives Kerri Ough, Sue Passmore, and Caroline Marie Brooks who have been on the go for 17 years. They could probably be described as mainstream Country comparable to the early Dixie Chicks. Their harmonies were faultless, musicianship and they seemed really nice folk who were genuinely glad to be there. However they were a wee bit too bland (in a nice way) for me.
I much preferred the opening act Gaelic singer Josie Duncan and her band. I would go and see them again.
02/02/24 - The Transatlantic Sessions 8/10
We saved the best for last. The Transatlantic Sessions is a Celtic Connections institution. Led by Jerry Douglas and Ali Bain with a band of about a dozen brilliant traditional musicians including the likes ofPhil Cunningham and John McCusker. They are joined by guest singers including Kim Carnie and Carlene Carter. The level of musicianship was exceptional. It is the first time we have managed to get tickets for this and hopefully it won't be the last.
I'm not sure whether this actually technically counts as Shazaming. Let me explain.
A few days ago we went to the pictures to see the rites of passage film The Holdovers starring Paul Giammati. It was pretty good if a bit formulaic. It had an interesting soundtrack and on more than one occasion I felt the urge to reach for my phone and the Shazam app.
However, as I am sure you are all aware, the use of phones in a cinema is frowned upon and if you are perceived to be recording something you can get into serious trouble.
Therefore, I waited until I got home and took advantage of the services offered by Mr Google to identify who was singing what As you can see there has been a soundtrack album released and I was quite taken with the two tracks which bookend the film.
I have Damien Jurado's 1999 debut album Rehearsals for Departure and saw him live around then. Thereafter he slipped off my radar. This song Silver Joy is rather lovely.
Labi Siffre is rightly best known for the songs It Must Be Love and Something Inside So Strong. I would argue that Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying should be up there too.
All a bit mellow so I will end with the Allman Brothers and the version of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed from their At Fillmore East, 1971 album which is slightly more raunchy.
I finally seem to have recovered from the dreaded lurgy and am slowly getting back to my usual regime. This means that the gym MP3 player is now being used for its intended purpose of drowning out the awful canned music as well as for this series. In the highly unlikely event that any of the three songs below were to feature on the in-house system I would be a happy gym bunny.
How could you not build up a sweat exercising along to Dave Edmunds and the Stray Cats blasting out their take on the George Jones classic The Race is On?
David Byrne wouldn't need the sauna to build up a sweat if he turned up wearing his big suit. I never got round to seeing Stop Making Sense at the pictures when it was recently re-released. I have the album, the extended CD and saw it first time round and that's enough for me.
I'm a Boy proudly proclaims Roger Daltrey so there should be no dilemma as to which changing room to use. The Who classic is yet another one taken from the brilliant compilation Jon Savage's 1966 - The Year the Decade Exploded.
2024 Charity Shop Purchases # 8 - The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
Not for the first time I was pretty late to the party when it came to The Hold Steady.
Seeing Craig Finn , who looks like your average bank manager, at a Roaming Roots Review concert celebrating Bruce Springsteen's 70th birthday plus them being championed byRol and George led me to picking up their Stay Positive album
It remained their only one on the shelves until I picked up Separation Sunday their 2nd album from 2005 on the Frenchkiss label on my last charity shop outing.
It was not released in the UK until 2007 and is a concept album following the stories of several fictional characters. Had I know it was a concept album I probably wouldn't have picked it up. Having said that had I not read that I would have been none the wiser.
I've learnt a new word - Sprechgesang - which is German for spoken singing which is the style that Craig sings. The sticker that adorns the jewel case gives some quotes with saves me looking them up
Epic and huge and molten and beautiful - Pitchfork 8.7/10
Finn's l-hoarse holler sits atop a fat barroom stomp that recalls The Band and pre-arena Springsteen - Spin.
Pre- arena Springsteen is a good thing. As things stand the jury is still out but it is one I feel will grow on me after a few listens.
Some artistes just invite derision. Their whole demeanour just seems to annoy. The most obvious person was that former teacher of English Gordon Summer. But the song that inspired this series is by a group with that bloody annoying Irishman in it.
I played the two songs today lying on the bed at the farm with Billy. The first one did meet with a look of disapproval (he was settling down for a hard-earned rest after returning from his afternoon siesta next door), and his mood was not improved with the second tune, especially the musical interlude at about 2 mins. 20 seconds.
“Beautiful day” is a very finely crafted pop song (when I was listening to it previously I was rudely interrupted, FFS, with a “you don’t like U2” from my partner). No early-on vocal histrionics in this song a laWhitney, no off-key verses, no tedious guitar interlude from a bloke with a stupid bloody name, just a simple, memorable and uplifting song.
THAT is one damned fine song. One, though, with that voice is enough, two in a row would just grate. There is a U2 cd in the house, but is most certainly not in my music room. That’s probably a first appearance on these pages for them.
The second lot are loved by millions. Millions and millions. Not by me, and not by Mr CC who might dislike them more than I. This might be what Ernie would describe as “trying too hard to be contrary”, but nevertheless, We Do Not Like Them. There is one song that has somehow sneaked through my Wall of Contrairiness:
ELO have made a career based on that single song.
CC writes
You are quite correct George it is the first time that the tax dodger and U2 have "graced" these pages. I don't think too many will disagree with your choice. Under the Blood Red Sky is their only listenable album.
I would imagine that lots of folk will disagree with your second selection. You are correct again I don't particularly like them but there are a good few of their albums here as Mrs CC likes them. She also likes ELO! I don't actively dislike them as much as I used to do. I must be mellowing in my old age.
