Just so we know

"Consumers have musical choice? What musical choice? In or society we choose only from what we are given to choose from, and that choice is determined by 5 major media corporations who control the exposure outlets that consumers depend on for their entertainment." -Christopher Knab

 "Record companies like to make money, and that is their only goal. They do not care about the content that they sell - they care about maximizing their profits. It is because of this that I hate record companies with the same passion that I hate venture capitalists. The record companies do not try to foster a creative environment which rewards musicians who serve their respective niche, but create an environment which attempts to market a small amount of music to the largest audience possible. It is more profitable for the record company to sell a few decent records in bulk than to have a vast array of cult hits that sell decently." -Numair Faraz

"This is all about greed, something the record/entertainment industry has honed to a science. Dusty LPs, the artists, they don't care! But if there's a nickel on the floor, look out; they'll cut your throat for it because they 'need' that nickel. Artists get paid a small sum, then the capital boys live off them like kings until the next big thing, then it's over. So it's not about the music you see it's about their nickel. That's why you can't have any sharing of long gone music, because there might be a nickel there and they want it. They wouldn't give to a charity if it wasn't showing them handing over a cheque or had a building named after them so why would they be charitable on long lost material. Strangely they even tried to stop resale of used CDs because there was that darned nickel they wouldn't get. May all the 'industry suits' have children who hate them." -Jannx




Saturday, May 23, 2009

SMOOTH POSTS - NEW CONTRIBUTIONS (2009)

Buddy Smooth at My Jazz World drops by my blog again with two brand new and oh so lovely contributions. Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack, together with Donny Hathaway. Three fantastic artists and two fabulous albums. Now since I'm currently DJ in residence at our local Jazz Festival, I have to keep it brief, but my guess is that nobody wants to miss these marvellous gems. One little remark for the beat diggers and sample hunters: the track "Back Together Again" by Flack and Hathaway was once used by Biz Markie for his hit "It's Spring Again".

Of course Smooth delivers two CD like rips in his signature audio quality, everything pristinely compressed to MP3 at 320Kbps and of course with high res cover scans! Enjoy, folks!


ARETHA FRANKLIN - TODAY I SING THE BLUES (1969)



01. Walk On By
02. One Room Paradise
03. Take A Look
04. Evil Gal Blues
05. Every Little Bit Hurts
06. Won't Be Long
07. Without The One You Love
08. Trouble In Mind
09. Rough Lover
10. Today I Sing The Blues

Aretha Franklin


Note: Simon666 left a great comment and told me that we should all read THIS super informative article written by Ish from the great Ile Oxumaré. And read it folks. It shines a new light on Smooth's out of print contribution. We have a winner here! There's a story to this gem and it turns out that this Aretha Franklin album ain't exactly easy to get by!


ROBERTA FLACK - FEAT. DONNY HATHAWAY (1979)



01. Only Heaven Can Wait (For Love)
02. God Don't Like Ugly
03. You Are My Heaven
04. Disguises
05. Don't Make Me Wait Too Long
06. Back Together Again
07. Stay With Me

Roberta Flack ft. Donny Hathaway

Note: it turns out that there's a story to this album as well. Smooth came up with a nice little customer review from Amazon: "This was intended to be Roberta's second full fledged collaboration with Donny Hathaway but as we all know, Donny committed suicide before the recording was finished, so we'd never know what the final product might have been had the album been completed. Nevertheless, what we eventually got from the sessions were 7 tracks featuring Donny's vocals on only 2 of them. On 2 tracks, the songs ran back to back for nearly 18 minutes long, so Atlantic must have been pretty desperate to drag out the half complete sessions into a full length album. How else to explain an interminable 9-minute plus take of "Back Together Again" when a 4 to 5 minute version would have done the job ? That aside, the good news is that the quality of this, Roberta's disco album, is remarkably even. Roberta's and Donny's voices blend beautifully on their hit duet, "You Are My Heaven". For those who think Roberta doesn't ever let rip, just listen to the last 15 seconds before the fade out. For a fleeting moment, I thought I was hearing Aretha! The other stand out but curiously ignored track is Gwen Guthrie's "God Don't Like Ugly". Here, Roberta gets into an unusually funky groove with excellent phrasing and some of her most soulful singing. The two non-disco ballads on the album, "Disguises" and "Stay With Me", also hold their own. "Disguises" is particularly poignant and moving. So, "Roberta Flack featuring Donny Hathaway" isn't quite what its title professes. She flirted with disco but avoided its excesses and worst influences. This album is clearly one of Roberta's better late 70s/early 80s efforts since abandoning the persona of virtuoso performer for that of classy MOR artiste."

Thank you, Smooth, for another mesmerizing guest post and don't be a stranger: let's see those replies, folks!!

Reply to this post says Baby Grandpa op 10:57 29 replies Links naar dit bericht

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

CERRONE - CONTRIBUTIONS (2009)

Well folks, as most of you will remember, I posted the first Cerrone album in the Brigade Mondaine trilogy a while ago and it's still there. But in the reply field of that post, many visitors uttered the wish to complete the trilogy with "La Secte De Marrakech" and "Vaudou Aux Caraïbes". After some misunderstandings that occurred in the reply field, I got in touch with a fellow blogger who kindly suggested to share his rips of the two remaining Brigade Mondaine soundtracks with us.

Let's all thank Simon at Disco Connection, 'cause he's been the one to hook us up with two fine rips at 320Kbps, complete with great label scans and the original artwork. And although the covers might not be in high resolution, they will still add to the enjoyment of these fantastic Cerrone soundtracks. No extensive descriptions this time, so let's all enjoy Cerrone's masterpieces. Let's see those replies folks!

CERRONE - BRIGADE MONDAINE 2, LA SECTE DE MARRAKECH (1979)

Cerrone - Brigade Mondaine 2


CERRONE - BRIGADE MONDAINE 3, VAUDOU AUX CARAïBES (1980)

Cerrone - Brigade Mondaine 3



Thanks again to Simon at Disco Connection for completing the Brigade Mondaine trilogy!


Note: BM2 has a few digital skips (especially around 1'10" into the track of "Le Cachot"), which indicates that the original rip was most probably taken from CD-R. These error readings are in the original source of the one who ripped it and can't be blamed on our contributor!

And don't forget to reply folks! This piece of intercontinental collaboration took a lot of time and effort!

NOTE: It has come to my attention that Andee The Disco Prince was responsible for the rip of the third album in the trilogy, so just like Simon already did in the reply field: credit where credit is due, thank you Andee The Disco Prince!

Reply to this post says Baby Grandpa op 22:41 18 replies Links naar dit bericht

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