Solo piano stuff. I found this online and don’t have any info about the performance, but it’s a lot better than the shitty Naxos Records version that I own.
Thanks to the eloquent writers over at Allmusic.com:
I was sad to hear about Davy Graham's passing a couple of months ago. A truly adventurous and eccentric musician, his open-tuning acoustic guitar stylings were massively influential, inspiring such luminaries as Bert Jansch, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Nick Drake and Johnny Marr. While primarily associated with the 1960s British folk scene due to the seminal duo record he put out with singer Shirley Collins, his playing included elements of jazz, blues, North African and Indian music, and he constantly traveled the world in search of new sounds. His albums can be pretty hard to find on the internets, so I figured I’d upload the ones that I own. The first one, Folk Roots, New Routes, is the aforementioned Shirley Collins collaboration. Mostly folk tunes and a couple of neat instrumentals, including a Thelonious Monk cover. The second one, Hat, is a bit more eclectic. A bunch of covers (Beatles, Paul Simon, Dylan), some wild, nearly atonal guitar instrumentals, and some standard “trad arr” material, all done in his inimitable style. Hope you dig.
This guy is my favourite of those Buena Vista Social Club geezers. Here’s a compilation of his recordings, dating from the 50s to the 80s. Really groovy stuff. I like his voice, which is somewhat plain but evocative.
Live recordings from around 1957-58 of Dizzy Gillespie’s state-sponsored big band, featuring a then-teenaged Lee Morgan as a main soloist.
Phenomenal live recording from the 1960 Antibes Jazz Festival. Eric Dolphy is definitely the star of the show here; he alternates between going absolutely ape-shit and playing cool, intensely lyrical lines.
Another great little roots reggae album. The Abyssinians were an intensely spiritual group that sang moody minor key odes to Jah in lovely three-part harmony.
The last record Richard and Linda put together before taking an extended break from music to join a Sufi commune. These are intense songs of spiritual longing disguised as fairly straightforward love tunes. “Dimming of the Day” is one of the prettiest things I’ve ever heard.
Cybotron was a band put together by Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins. This is a CD reissue of their 1983 LP entitled Enter. Some of these songs aren't really my cup of tea (cheesy electro-pop like “Enter” and “Industrial Lies”), but for the most part these are top-notch robo beats.
Now that I got all of that folky stuff out of my system who’s in the mood for some old-school Detroit techno? I’m guessing not too many people. Anyway, here’s a sweet compilation that was put out in the UK back in 88. It’s been long out of print, and is kind of a historical artifact, since it gave a name to the nascent genre and introduced it in Europe, where it was embraced to a much greater extent than it was in the States.
Yet another lost and rediscovered late-60s/early-70s psych-folk gem. This one’s been a favourite for a while. It’s the only album she ever made, and it’s astounding just how fully realized and unique her style is. The way she sings and layers her voice, in particular, is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. The songs are great too. Everyone needs to download this.
Here was the Rounders' chance to mix all of the roots folk that had informed their work since their formation into a blender, topped off with some seriously wacko drugged-out strangeness and hard rock. Jug band, country, blues, ragtime, folk-rock--everything segued in and out of each other, figuratively and literally… As strokes of mad genius go, it was a winner, managing to just about walk the tightrope between art and chaos. Given just how chaotic the production of the record was, though, it's something of a miracle that the album was made in the first place, let alone eventually enshrined as a cult classic. (from the liner notes written by Richie Unterberger)
Espers is a band that I had really high hopes for, especially after reading a bunch of reviews that favourably compared them to trailblazing folkies like Pentangle and Fairport Convention. I found them to be kind of bland and overly affected, sounding more like a revivalist act than the real deal. The one thing that did captivate me though was Meg Baird’s singing. She has a great voice, with a sort of timeless quality that lends itself particularly well to this kind of material. This is her first solo record, and it’s really good. She accompanies herself on guitar and dulcimer and plays a couple of her own songs, some covers, and a bunch of traditional British tunes.
War Ina Babylon is simply one of reggae's finest moments. Along with The Heptones' Party Time and Junior Murvin's Police And Thieves, this album can be seen as part of a Black Ark "holy trinity". This album is perhaps the strongest of the three, with passionate vocals, powerful songwriting, and Scratch's expert hand at the mixing board. Max and Scratch shared a common vision when it came to music, and you can certainly hear that in every groove of this album. Highlights include the moving "Uptown Babies Don't Cry", the militant "Chase The Devil", and the film noir reggae of "Norman". Essential listening. http://www.upsetter.net/scratch/disco/albums/war_ina_babylon.htm
This one’s for a friend who had a bit of a rough day. Hope it cheers you up a little bro.
