A BBC4 repeat of Arena played Hank Williams’ version of this and then Tony Bennett’s contemporary cover. I turned to my music machine and played ol’ Jerry Lee’s later remake. It comes from his Sun records period and was produced by “Cowboy” Jack Clement. I can’t get it off my mind now, dammit. - Mitch
One of the most innovative, inventive and versatile musicians in the history of Congolese music, Mangwana has experimented with rumba, soukous, salsa and afro-beat. As a teenager he joined Tabu Ley Rochereau’s African Fiesta, the most popular band in Africa at that time. This is from 1998′s Galo Negro.
- goneforeign
I was lucky enough to see Koko at a jazz and blues festival in Redcar about 20 years ago. What a voice! It was an amazing concert – she didn’t even need to be near the mic for us to hear her! - Maki
This is the title track from their 2010 debut album, which can best be described as festival music. Think Osibisa, with shades of Mandrill, and a whiff of Edward II (if anyone ever saw them at the kazillion summer festivals they always seemed to be playing at the turn of the century). - May1366
The current indie darling in Canada, her mostly chirpy, cheerful debut album This Is Good is doing well. It’s a bit young to really stand out, but someone tossed this whimsical New Orleans-style keeper on to the end. Shows we do still need albums; only having to come up with a couple of singles a year leaves no place for outlier (I hate that word) gems like this. – Tin
Here is a beautiful and completely unseasonal song – traditional, I think – sung by Anne Briggs. Her voice just blows me away and I wander around the house singing this, very badly, at odd moments of the day. - Ali M
No time to listen to all of them now, but had a listen and have to drop a dond for Maki’s Koko Taylor worm, who i just first heard of a few months ago. What a voice she has, and i think her Wang Dang Doodle blew all of the others out of the water.
It’s metaphorical snow i think, Ali – you can have that any old time of year.
I’ve just been listening to Dick Gaughan’s version:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/495196/The%20Snows%20They%20Melt%20The%20Soonest.mp3
rats, did that wrong
Put it in the box instead.
Ooops!
I sent you the wrong track, Tin. It was meant to be “Cold Cold Heart”. Never mind, Jerry’s cover of “Money” isn’t that well known and I like it.
I’ll send you the correct track next week!
as TFD said, better to ‘box it Mitch. We don’t really want the same artist back to back. We want the widest variety of genres and artists so it doesn’t ever get stale.
That’s not what I said at all.
Tinny: It never gets stale. Mitch; I’m glad you made that mistake, one of the advantages of being the oldest inhabitant is that I remember when this was a big hit on AM radio in the 70′s, it all comes gushing back. I saw Koko several times in the 80′s, in real life she’s exactly like she sounds on record, she even looks the part. ‘Kings’ loved it, what energy and precision and deep down inside of all that there’s a reggae band trying to get out. Hannah; loved her, she reminded me of a 20′s speakeasy jazz group, definitely a keeper. Snow; the song and the singer are both new to me and I couldn’t play TFD’s alternate version.
Mangwana; this is the only African LP I know of that uses an acordian as the lead instrument, love the call/response of the lead and the chorus.
oh lol, i see now. duh
er. so as I said Mitch, but without the TFD reference
TFD – thank you, I love the Dick Gaughn version too, he has a wonderful voice.
Another great selection – top pick this week, for me, Anne Briggs. but I enjoyed them all.
I meant to add, it was Jerry Lee’s version of the song that the Beatles heard and covered.
ps; Anybody seen Inception yet? Thoughts?
Great stuff as always, but just wanted to dond the mention of Edward II. I did indeed see them at several festivals in the late 90s, including headlining the Avalon stage at Glastonbury – way more fun than competing headliners Oasis and the Prodigy. Melodeon-led folk-reggae. How could you not love it? Their signature tune was a version of “Dashing away with the smoothing iron”. Sadly, their festival shows didn’t translate nearly so well to record.
barbryn – I was hoping – actually, working on a law of averages – that my Edward II reference would strike a chord with at least one Spiller. Funnily enough, I only ever heard them on record – when I was a venue programmer, I used to get their PR stuff through all the time and the tone of this was always, as you suggest, “this is their CD but the thing is – you’ve got to see them live!” Never booked them because it just seemed to be the stuff of big open-air festivals, but not so much a 180-seater concert hall (ah! the many splendour’d reasons to be found for not booking a really good music act when you’re programming jazz and folk in Pop and Rock City with bugger-all money!). But I did like the sense you got with EII that there wasn’t a music-themed festival going for which they couldn’t be considered appropriate. Reckon they wowed them at Glyndebourne with some skanking Bach.