Shit happens …

Yesterday I had a motor damage during my trip to Naumburg. So I´m back home again … and I´m still sad and angry … but life goes on …

On the road again …

but only for this weekend …

I will go to Naumburg:

Naumburg is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It has a population of around 33,000.The city is part of the World Heritage nomination Naumburg Cathedral and the High Medieval Cultural Landscape of the Rivers Saale and Unstrut. This nomination is representative for the processes that shaped the continent during the High Middle Ages between 1000 and 1300: Christianization, the so-called “Landesausbau” and the dynamics of cultural exchange and transfer characteristic for this very period. (by wikipedia)

Various Artists – Havana Jam 1 (1979)

Havana Jam was a three-day music festival that took place at the Karl Marx Theater, in Havana, Cuba, on 2–4 March 1979. It was sponsored by Bruce Lundvall, the president of Columbia Records, Jerry Masucci, the president of Fania Records, and the Cuban Ministry of Culture.

The festival included, on the American side, Weather Report, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Stephen Stills, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnigan, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge and Billy Joel. The Cuban acts included Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Zaida Arrate, Elena Burke, Orquesta de Santiago de Cuba, Conjunto Yaguarimú, Frank Emilio, Juan Pablo Torres, Los Papines, Tata Güines, Cuban Percussion Ensemble, Sara González, Pablo Milanés, Manguaré, and Orquesta Aragón.

In 1977, US President Jimmy Carter and Cuban President Fidel Castro started to loosen the political tension between the two countries and opened Interest Sections both in Havana and Washington. It was the first time in almost two decades after Castro’s rise to power that there was a real interest in establishing a normalization of diplomatic relations and the lifting of the United States embargo against Cuba.

With a real crisis in the music industry in the United States and the start of the salsa boom, in April 1978, CBS Records director, Bruce Lundvall, saw an open door to probe Cuban music and together with a group of the company’s music enthusiasts made a four-day trip to Havana, where they were overwhelmed by the sound of Cuban music, but especially by Afro-Cuban jazz band Irakere, one of Cuba’s most highly regarded and virtuoso musical acts.

After months of talks, Lundvall managed to sign Irakere and in July the group traveled to New York to perform an unannounced guest set at the famed Newport Jazz Festival-New York. Rave reviews led to an invitation from the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

A few months later, Irakere won their first Grammy with the album Irakere, recorded at their Montreux Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival performances, and Lundvall wanted to try his luck with other Cuban bands too. So, in the Fall of 1978, he joined forces with Fania Records director Jerry Masucci and convinced the Cuban cultural authorities to organize a three-day festival in Havana with the participation of Cuban and American musicians. The event would be recorded and televised for the enjoyment of both the Cuban and American people.

So they all agreed to set a date for the festival, spontaneously entitled Havana Jam. March 2 through 4, 1979, were the days earmarked for this historical step toward establishing a cultural exchange between the two enemy nations. In order to carry out the Herculean task of planning, Lundvall brought aboard Jock McLean and Phil Sandhaus, of Columbia’s artists development department. Both veterans of major concert promotion, they knew the festival needed professional production of the highest caliber, and enlisted Showco (a Dallas-based concert production company) and Studio Instrument Rentals for the task.

At this point in time, Lundvall was diligently “feeling out” select members of the Columbia artist roster, all of whom were honored to accept the invitation to perform in Cuba. By early February the talent was confirmed. Representing the U.S. would be Billy Joel, Stephen Stills, Weather Report, Kris Kristofferson with Rita Coolidge, the Fania All-Stars and the CBS Jazz All-Stars. The latter group was conceptualized by Lundvall and scheduled to feature more than 20 top jazz artists on the label.

With the festival within grasp, other CBS Records personnel were summoned into the picture-rehearsals were set up for the CBS Jazz All-Stars, travel accommodations were made, equipment was rented, a wide cross-section of media was invited, and both recording and videotaping plans were confirmed.

Record producers Bert deCoteaux and Mike Berniker flew down with a crew from the CBS Recording Studios along with a support team and mobile 24-track Recording Studio from Record Plant NY.

Engineered by David Hewitt with Phil Gitomer and Michael Guthrie. McLean, Sandhaus, Freston and various other people were already busy working in Havana’s Karl Marx Auditorium when the musicians landed at the José Martí airport on March 1.

Havana Jam was an invitation-only event, with mostly cultural personalities and members of the Communist Party and their children in attendance, though some students from different art and music schools were also invited.

The festival was hardly mentioned on the Cuban press, and thirty years later not many Cubans know it ever existed. (by wikipedia)

In 1979 many of Columbia’s top recording artists made a rare visit to Cuba where they performed (and recorded) at a series of concerts with some of the top Cuban groups. This double LP (unlike the strictly jazz Havana Jam 2) covers a wide range of music from Weather Report, the CBS Jazz All-Stars (an allstar group with Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz and Woody Shaw) and The Trio of Doom (John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius and Tony Williams) to Irakere, Stephen Stills, Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge. There is enough worthwhile jazz on the two-fer to make this set worth picking up (by Scott Yanow).

What a great jam recording !

Recorded live at the Karl-Marx Theatre, Havana, Cuba, March 2-4, 1979

Personnel:

CBS Jazz All-Stars:
Willie Bobo (percussion)
Arthur Blythe (saxophone)
Stan Getz (saxophone)
Dexter Gordon (saxophone)
Jimmy Heath (saxophone)
Percy Heath (bass)
Bobby Hutcherson (marimba)
Hubert Laws (flute)
Woody Shaw (trumpet)
Cedar Walton (piano)
Tony Williams (drums)

Cuban Percussion Ensemble:
Frank Emilio Guillermo Barreto, Changuito, Tata Guines, Los Papines (percussion)

Irakere:
Jorge “El Nono” Alfonso (percussion)
Carlos Averhoff (saxophone)
Armando Cuervo (percussion)
Paquito D’Rivera (saxophone)
Carlos Emilio Morales (guitar)
Enrique Pla (drums)
Carlos del Puerto (bass)
Arturo Sandoval (trumpet)
Jesus “Chucho” Valdes (piano)
Oscar Valdez (percussion)
Jorge Varona (trumpet)

Stephen Stills Band:
Bonnie Bramlett (vocals)
Mike Finnigan (keyboards)
Joe Lala (percussion)
George “Chocolate” Perry (bass)
Stephen Stills (guitar, vocals)
Gerry Tolman (guitar)
Joe Vitale (drums)

Trio Of Doom:
John McLaughlin (guitar)
Jaco Pastorius (bass)
Tony Williams (drums)

Weather Report:
Peter Erskine (drums)
Jaco Pastorius (bass)
Wayne Shorter (saxophone)
Joe Zawinul (electric piano, synthesizer)

And now, I´m too lazy to search all other musicians … sorry …

 

Tracklist:
01. Weather Report: Black Market (Zawinul) 8.59
02. Irakere: Concerto Para Flaut y Adagio de Mozart(Rivera/Mozart) 9.48
03. Stephen Stills: Cuba al Fin(Stills) 7.48
04. Sara González: Su Nombre Es Pueblo (Gonzalez) 3.54
05. CBS Jazz All-Stars:  Project “S” (Heath) 8.36
06. Orquesta Aragón: Que Barla Mionda (Valdés) 7.37
07. Kris Kristofferson: Living Legend (Kristofferson) 4.29
08. Rita Coolidge: (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher (Smith/Miner/Jackson) 3:33
09. CBS Jazz All-Stars: Black Stockings (Laws) 6.24
10. Mike Finnigan + Bonnie Bramlett: How Wrong Can You Be (Gronenthal/Grace) 4.46
11. Fania All-Stars: Juan Pachanga (Blades/Ramirez/Masucci) 4.41
12. Trio Of Doom: Dark Prince (McLaughlin) 3.54
13. Cuban Percussion Ensemble: Scherezada/Sun Sun (Rimsky-Korsakov/Traditional) 7.41

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Various Artists – Mindrocker Volume 4 (1982)

Mindrocker is an extensive series of compilation albums that was circulated through Line Records and then Impact Records in the 1980s. The complete series compacted nearly 200 songs of rare, and obscure material primarily from American garage and psychedelic rock musical artists that were originally recorded in the 1960s, and previously made available to only a handful of collectors. It was organized by record producer Hans-Hermann Pohle, named after a single by California band, Fenwyck, and initially distributed in Germany. The first volume was released in 1981 and by 1986 the thirteenth and final installment of the series was issued.

Initially, Mindrocker was comparable to the popularity and specialization of the Pebbles series, however, with the ready availability of most of its material via digital means or specified anthologies, the series has not managed to endure as long as other relatable collections. Nonetheless, during its original run, Mindrocker was pivotal to the revival of garage rock. Most of the volumes were arranged to a certain region or record label, though some pieces of the series hold no such pattern. (by wikipedia)

And this is the story of the great Line Records Label:

Back in 1979.
Several major labels had just squeezed out the Punk movement and its followers such as New Wave, when a new small independent record company based in Hamburg made a bold step back into the future: LINE RECORDS.
Virtually nobody still cared about the music of the glorious 60s and 70s then – except Uwe Tessnow, a former A&R rep of Kinney Music and Teldec Records.
Surprise releases by almost forgotten rock stars such as Mitch Ryder and Roger Chapman made their way into the shops and were sold by the vanload immediately.
The news was spread almost overnight, and many musicians got in touch with LINE to find a new platform for their products nobody else was interested in.

A highly attractive artist roster took shape almost by itself, the term “re-release” was (re)born and has become a substantial part of the international recording industry since.
Highly acclaimed (but almost forgotten) artists from America and Great Britain were back in the biz, critics’ darlings got their second chance, lost vinyl rarities were available once again, unknown bands and soloists made their marks on LINE.
Uwe Tessnow signed contracts, acquired rights, the so-called “small label with the scale-paper” had fulfilled groundbreaking, pioneering work – fans and collectors cheered alike.

LINE also set a new standard in extracting valuable material from foreign label catalogues:
LINE got the meat out of cult labels such as BOMP and Star-Club, and took over product from newly established indies from the likes of Stiff, Albion, Beserkley among others for the German market.
There seemed to be a niche for everything: Rock and Rock’n’Roll; R&B and Soul; Blues and Pubrock; 60s Garage Rock, Punk and New Wave. Promoting sound from the past and present, LINE had finally arrived.

Furtheron the label set even more new standards – sometimes with a twinkle in the eye: Uwe Tessnow offered coloured vinyl, double LPs with only three sides housed in normal one-album sleeves, 10-inch promo items, special cassette editions – LINE paved the way once more, got imitated but was hardly conquered.

In the mid-80s, comprehensive parts of the label’s catalogue were transferred onto the new compact disc format.
It was the starting shot for special compilation series as well, making LINE a forerunner once again: Rock File, Pop File, and the Backline series – presenting the US pop history from the 40s to the mid-50s – have become legendary projects since, got copied by many competitors but are still a distinctive part of the label’s catalogue.

These days Uwe Tessnow is marketing classical music (core theme: rare opera recordings) – with his pop job expertly done and left behind.
Without his bold reanimation strategy at times when nobody cared, the international rock scene would have been much poorer.

Rock and pop re-issues these days are still a significant part of the record business.
The crucial pattern has got a name: LINE.

The Moving Sidewalks (pre-ZZ Top)

And this is volume 4 of this series … What a great compilation … lot´s of very rare stuff including The Moving Sidewalks (pre-ZZ Top), a rare Johnny Winter song (taken rom a single by Pacemaker Records) and bands like The Scotty McKay Quintet or The Bad Roads (had vever heard of them). You´ll find more informations on the backcover of this LP.

This entry is dedicated to all music maniacs like me !

More compilations like this will come !

Tracklist:

The Moving Sidewalks:
01. 99th Floor (Gibbons) 2.13
02. What Are You Going To Do (Gibbons) 2.24
03. Need Me (Gibbons) 2.10
04. Every Night A New Surprise (Ames) 2.54

The Great Believers:
05. Comin’ Up Fast (Boynton/Winter) 2.37

The Scotty McKay Quintet:
06. he Train Kept A Rollin’ (Kay/Mann/Bradshaw) 2.20

A-440:
07. Torture (Clark/Romano/Sartie) 2.00

Johnny Winter:
08. Birds Can’t Row Boats (Winter) 2.58

The Things:
09. I Don’t Believe It (Things) 3.04

The Stoics:
10. Enough Of What I Need (Marechal/Quillian/Ash) 2.15

The Pandas:
11. Walk (Bellams/Kelso) 2.28

The Bad Roads:
12. Blue Girl (Bad Roads) 2.07

The Stoics:
13. Hate (Ash) 2.43

Satori:
14.  Time Machine (Warkentin) 1.39

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Eric Dolphy – The Berlin Concerts (1980)

This two-LP set features the great multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy mostly stretching out on standards, coming up with very original statements on such songs as ‘Hot House,’ ‘When Lights Are Low,’ ‘Hi Fly,’ ‘I’ll Remember April’ and ‘God Bless the Child’ (the latter taken as an unaccompanied bass clarinet solo), in addition to two brief originals.

With trumpeter Benny Bailey helping out on half of the selections along with a strong rhythm section, the twofer would be a perfect introduction for listeners not familiar with Eric Dolphy’s innovative style, but this set is very difficult to find. (by deejay.de)

This two-LP set features the great multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy mostly stretching out on standards, coming up with very original statements on such songs as “Hot House,” “When Lights Are Low,” “Hi Fly,” “I’ll Remember April” and “God Bless the Child” (the latter taken as an unaccompanied bass clarinet solo), in addition to two brief originals. With trumpeter Benny Bailey helping out on half of the selections along with a strong rhythm section, the two-fer would be a perfect introduction for listeners not familiar with Eric Dolphy’s innovative style, but this set is very difficult to find. (by Scott Yanow)

Tracks 1 to 3 recorded at Funkturm Exibition Hall, Berlin, Germany, August 30, 1961
Tracks 4 to 7 recorded at Club Jazz Saloon, Berlin, Germany, August 30, 1961
(recorded by SWF Radio facilities.)

Personnel:
Pepsi Auer (piano)
Benny Bailey (trumpet)
Eric Dolphy (saxophonne, flute, clarinet)
George Joyner (bass)
Buster Smith (drums)

Tracklist:
01. Hot House (Dameron) 19.04
02. When Lights Are Low (Carter)13.02
03. Geewee (Dolphy) 2.49
04. God Bless The Child (Holiday/Herzog) 3.29
05. Hi-Fly (Weston) 14.40
06. The Meeting (Dolphy) 5.38
07. I’ll Remember April (DePaul)13.12

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Alternate frontcovers

This album is part of the great greygoose collection … thank you !

Lady Pank – Teraz (2004)

Lady Pank is a popular Polish rock band. It was started in 1982 in Warsaw by Jan Borysewicz and Andrzej Mogielnicki. Its first famous song was “Mała Lady Punk” (Little Lady Punk). Lady Pank garnered some attention in the United States in 1986 when MTV placed the video for the band’s single “Less Than Zero” on heavy rotation.

Lady Pank is quite a curiosity on the Polish musical market. They got popular before they were actually… formed! The group, which was originally planning to call itself “Żużel”, received a lot of media coverage as a result of a skilfully conducted promotional campaign combined with group’s unquestionnable talent.
Lady Pank’s lineup has changed many times over the years. The most frequent changes concerned the drummers and guitar-players, but the group has always remained a quintet with an easily-recognizable guitar sound. The core of the group are Jan Borysewicz and Janusz Panasewicz, who have been constituting the image of the group from the very beginning.

Lady Pank is a quintet, although there have been times when more musicians were involved. Despite all changes in the lineup, the basic shape of the group remains the same: lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass and drums. The role of the frontman is played by Janusz Panasewicz, with occasional help from Jan Borysewicz who sings a couple of songs too.

The band’s most popular songs are: “Tańcz głupia, tańcz”, “Mniej niż zero”, “Wciąż bardziej obcy”, “Kryzysowa narzeczona”, “Zamki na piasku, “Tacy sami”, “Zostawcie Titanica”, “Mała wojna”, “Zawsze tam gdzie ty”, “Znowu pada deszcz”, “Na granicy”, “Stacja Warszawa”.

The recording history of Lady Pank is impressive. Their discography consists of about 20 albums and over 200 tracks, many of which exist in a few versions (eg. studio, live, English-language, acoustic, techno). Juni 28, 2004 saw the issue of the latest Lady Pank’s album so far – “Teraz” (“Now”). (by wikipedia)

And here´s their last album … I understand no word … but the music … wow ! A real strong rock album … with many sweet memories into the history of rock …

Personnel:
Jan Borysewicz (guitar, vocals, piano)
Kuba Jabłoński (drums, percussion)
Krzysztof Kieliszkiewicz (bass)
Janusz Panasewicz (vocals)
Michał Sitarski (guitar)
+
Wojtek Olszak (keyboards)
Mariusz “Georgia” Pieczara (vocals)

Tracklist:
01 Sexy-Plexi 3.03
02. http://www.god.com 3.42
03 Krzycz Mały, Krzycz 3.57
04. Stacja Warszawa 4.22
05 Mój Dom Wariatów 3.52
06 Bóg I Boogie Woogie 3.34
07. Walker 4.30
08. Pani Moich Snów 4.06
09. Lachy Na Strachy 3.52
10. Ciepły Śnieg 6.20

Music: Jan Borysewicz
Lyrics: Andrzej Mogielnicki

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Status Quo – Live (1977)

Live! is the first live album by English Rock band Status Quo. It contains 2 discs. It is an amalgam of performances at Glasgow’s Apollo Theatre between 27 and 29 October 1976, recorded using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.

Recorded, with perfect timing, just as Status Quo hit their live peak, 1977’s double Live! album is, contrarily, a timeless reminder of just how much power and excitement was bound up in the band through the mid-’70s — and on, in fact, into the early ’80s. It would be several years before Status Quo turned into the faintly embarrassing cabaret singalong that scarred the latter years of their career, a fact that Live! broadcasts via a picture-perfect snapshot of the last calm before that particular storm. Touring to support 1976’s Blue for You (U.S. title Status Quo) album, the band is still reaching back to the dawn of the decade for material. “Junior’s Wailing” and “In My Chair” both date back to the tentative days of 1970, as the band prepared to slide from psych to boogie without knowing whether there was even an audience for such a shock.

The fact that there was, of course, would be celebrated with some of the most visceral singles of the decade. “Roll Over Lay Down,” “Rain,” “Don’t Waste My Time,” and, most impressively, “Caroline” all slough off well-loved 45s, to be transformed into veritable showstoppers, while the LP epics “Forty-Five Hundred Times” and “Roadhouse Blues” receive marathon workouts that all but defy gravity.

The mid-’70s were a golden age for double live albums, and from Frampton Comes Alive! to Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous, the era is littered with what now rank as classics. Live! effortlessly takes its place alongside those most hallowed of halcyon howlers, and no matter what else Status Quo might have become in later years, this is what they sounded like before that happened. Priceless. (by Dave Thompson)

In other words. A classic live album including a brilliant version of “Roadhouse Blues” original recorded by The Doors !

And it´s fun and fun only !

Personnel:
John Coghlan (drums)
Alan Lancaster (bass, vocals)
Rick Parfitt (guitar, vocals)
Francis Rossi (guitar, vocals)
+
Andy Bown -(keyboards)
Bob Young (harmonica)

Tracklist:

CD 1:
01. Junior’s Wailing (White/Pugh) 5.21
02. Backwater/Just Take Me (Parfitt/Lancaster) 8.28
03. Is There A Better Way” (Rossi/Lancaster) 4.17
04. In My Chair (Rossi/Young) 3.36
05. Little Lady/Most of the Time (Parfitt/Rossi/Young) 7.19
06. Rain (Parfitt) 4.53
07. Forty-Five Hundred Times (Rossi/Parfitt) 16.42

CD 2:
08. Roll Over Lay Down (Rossi/Parfitt/Lancaster/Coghlan/Young) 6.04
09. Big Fat Mama (Rossi/Parfitt) 5.22
10. Don’t Waste My Time (Rossi/Young) 4.05
11. Roadhouse Blues (Morrison/Densmore/Krieger/Manzarek) 14.21
12. Caroline (Rossi/Young) 6.43
13. Bye Bye Johnny (Berry) 6.22

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This entry is dedicated to one of the boys in the band:
Rick Parfitt (12 October 1948 – 24 December 2016)