VA - Absolute Funk Vol 1 (2005)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

What with all the Afro funk I enjoy so much, it stands to reason that I would also groove to the original funky sounds that came out of the USA from the late 60s. I have quite a large collection of these funk compilations, many yet to be explored. This first volume from the recent Absolute Funk series is chock full of excellent funk and is a very enjoyable listen. A well selected compilation and looking forward to checking out the rest of the series.3.5/5

Axolotl - Abrasive (France 1981)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Travelling across to the other side of the musical universe with this release of some avant-garde free jazz from France. Free form random sounding horn blowing with some other random sound effects thrown in for good measure. No song structure, no melodies, boring and pretentious. I don't mind this sort of music incorporated into other music or the occasional track blended into normal sounding music on an album, i.e John Zorn or even Frank Zappa play this stuff but a whole album of this just leaves me cold and board and wondering why?

Rating 1/5.

Jake Holmes - The Above Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes (USA 1967)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

What a surprise this one has turned out to be. The surprise being that this guy is the original composer of the mighty "Dazed and Confused" from Led Zeppelins first album. The depth if their thieving appears to be bottomless. A sort of Psych/Folk  album with some pretty cool sounding psych guitar infused into these powerful folksy songs .A Fairly lo-fi recording but that doesn't take away from the quality of these tracks. Jake sings with plenty of emotion, these strong lyrics and although this is not very commercial music it is powerful. This guy is up there with the likes of Nick Drake and Tim Buckley in the Singer/Songwriter stakes and I highly recommend this set. An interesting surprise and worth a Roddus Rating of 4.5/5.

Stack - Above All (USA 1969)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

More obscure psych rock from the US with this ultra rare sole LP from Stack, an above average Psych/acid rock outfit from Los Angeles. Re issued on CD in 1999, it is still available online and definitely worth checking out if you are into this sort of thing. Kicks off with a good version of the classic "Poison Ivy", "Da Blues" is a cool slab of acid blues that could only come from the late 60's and the highlight of this set is the awesome "Everyday", which is so good that I put it on one of my Roddus samplers some time back, a Classic of  underground late 60s rock. Blue Cher is another reference point for the music on this release and overall it is a fine release of it's genre. Rating 3.5/5

Head,Hands & Feet - Head, Hands & Feet (UK 1971)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

01. I'm In Need Of Your Help (1:51)

02. Send Me A Wire (3:54)

03. Look At The World, It's Changin'/You Beacuse You Know Me (8:42)

04. Green Liquor (5:45)

05. Country Boy (5:32)

06. Tryin' To Put Me On (3:21)

07. I Wish You Knew Me (4:26)

08. Devil's Elbow (5:02)

09. Pete Might Spook The Horses (5:18)

10. Everybody's Hustlin'/Hang Me, Dang Me (8:09)

11. Delaware (4:55)

12. The More You Get, The More You Want (6:54)

13. Song For Suzie (7:12)

14. Tirabad (3:30)

15. Little Bit Lonely (2:22)

Another excellent find on the Roddus hard drive today, this wonderful debut album by this short lived but much regarded country rock group from the UK. This is another great rarity from the awesome Rare MP3 Blog. Had this on repeat for the later part of the day and for a double album by such an obscure act, it sure holds up well throughout and has also aged very well. Alt country or Americana was alive and well in England  with this bunch way back then, with some nice jazzy bits and plenty of great pop/rock and a bit of prog thrown in for good measure. Plenty of great guitar licks and the impressive and beautiful guitar break in Song for Suzie foreshadows Dire Straits. A quick review as the rugby is on, rating 4/5.

VA - The Keine Experimente (Germany 1983)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

It's great having so much unexplored music on my hard drive. A big change of pace with this German punk compilation and it is amazing what a difference 12 years made to the German rock scene. This is one of the best Punk Compilations I have heard in a very long time. Full on hardcore punk of the second wave of the style and if it weren't for the singing in German, I'd swear this was a London comp. Really enjoying this lot and glad that this type of music still impresses me. Rating 4.5/5.

Haze - Hazecolor Dia (Germany 1971)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Very good German Progressive rock with some wonderful guitar melodies happening throughout these extended musical musings. The singing is the albums weakness with the singer hitting some cringe inducing notes. Apart from that I am enjoying this a lot, with the music staying consistently good throughout. Rating 3.5/5.

Haystacks Balboa - Haystacks Balboa (USA 1970)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Early 70's heavy psych rock is the order of the day for this obscure release and a damned fine example of the genre it is too, definitely one of the better ones I have heard so far. Plenty of cool here, rocks out with great fuzz guitar playing and totally cool rockin' songs. That describes the first three tracks . "Auburn Queen" starts with a quantum shift to something a lot slower and a lot lamer for the first 3 minutes before turning into Deep Purple and blasting off to the stratosphere for the middle section and then going a bit weird for the last part.

"Sticky Finger" gets us back on track with some straight out psych before we get to the second epic of the set  "Ode To The Silken Men", another organ driven progressive number and perhaps the weakest track here. The last track is an acoustic pop number and finishes the album on a much tamer note than the way it started. Good on them for not just sticking to the formula but mixing it up a bit, but they don't quite pull it off  and the album looses momentum on the second half. Rating 3.5/5

Asakawa Maki -Maki II ( Japan 1971)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

1. shounen (3:29)
2. nemurunoga kowai (3:40)
3. gin house blues (4:16)
4. hanaichimonme (5:05)
5. govinda (4:02)
6. shounen(part 2) (3:22)
7. mekurabana (3:32)
8. yuki no umi (3:24)
9. minato no higanbana (2:53)
10. watashi ga shoufu ni nattanara (3:45)
11. godown moses (2:26)
12. asahi no ataru ie (6:08)

Sticking with the Japanese scene for this release and this set fits very well with the last review I did, except this one is a far superior album than the previous one, to my ears. Maki has a lovely voice, smooth and clear and easier on my ears than Kiyoko Itoh. A real interesting mix of styles with a strong jazz flavour and blues on some tracks, alt pop on others and even a fairly heavy psych number to make it really interesting. A couple of surprises with the last two tracks, with track 11 we are presented with a very good version of "Go Down Moses", a Spiritual I know quite well and even more surprising is a live Japanese folk type version of "The House Of The Rising Sun", which is brilliant. " Govinda" is very Indian sounding with Sitar and Maki sounds very authentic with her singing. "Shonunen" sounds like something out of the soundtrack to a Western movie, with that melancholic harmoniker in parts before straying into more Blood, Sweat and Tears territory. The Western theme belongs even more strongly to "Yuki No Umi" and to make sure they didn't miss out incorporating every style of modern western music into this album, track ten has a real jazzy funk vibe to it. A wonderful musical journey and worthy of a Roddus rating of 4/5.

Kiyoko Itoh - Woman at 23 hour-love In (Japan 1971)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

01. Goji kara juji made no watashi

02. Poem: "Moshimo ryuusei ga..." Shiroi mori

03. Check Mate

04. Kiken kashira

05. Watashi ga michi o aruku toki

06. Chinmoku

07. Onna no sengen

08. Poem: "Papa oboeteiru?..."

09. Crayon

10. Dekigoto

11. Kyoujo

12. Poem: "Hitoribotchi no kokoro ga..."

13. Itsumo to onaji asa

A quick one tonight as time is short. Entering the deep, dark and mysterious world of Japanese music is a journey for the brave and adventurous. This  weird piece of oriental Chamber pop was found on the excellent Mutant Sounds blog. Album consists of quirky off kilter pop weirdness, with hints of jazz overlaid with the silky smooth and sugar sweet, slightly girlish vocals  and poetry of Itoh. Although interesting and unusual, the music failed to grab me and her high Japanese whisper got to annoy me a bit after several listens, not one to keep and gets a rating of 2/5

Aztec Two-Step - Second Step (USA 1975)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

01. It's Going on Saturday (3:14)

02. Our Lives (3:22)

03. I'm in Love Again (3:18)

04. Faster Gun (3:49)

05. Humpty Dumpty (3:27)

06. Move up to Love (3:43)

07. Cosmos Lady (3:03)

08. Walking on Air (2:26)

09. Lullabye on New York (5:03)

10. Hey Little Mama (2:41)

Uncle Roddus has got his hands on another Laptop, finally, and so am back to more regular reviews, hopefully. I start of my random reviews again with this obscure little nugget posted over on Rare MP3 Blog some time last year. This was the second album from this folksy duo, who are still active today. The music contained in this set is pleasant  Pop/folk with a good nod to CSN&Y. Enjoyable enough and consistent, with nothing really standing out and pretty much rooted at the AOR end of the musical spectrum. A Roddus rating of 3.5/5

Clarence "Gatemouth"Brown - The Man (USA 1994)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

The other Gitanes release I picked up last week from Gatemouth-Brown, this one also has a very large line up of musicians and again is very well recorded. The Man was entering his 70s when he recorded this set and his playing and singing sounds like someone still in his 40s. The album starts off well enough with some excellent blues number,s both covers(Louis Jordan's "Early in the Morning") and self penned ( the cool slow blues of "You Can Disagree"). Unfortunately for me, Gatemouth doesn't feel restrained by just one style of music and although I usually really enjoy albums that incorporate diffrent styles, I am not really a fan of Cajun or Zydeco, of which there are several examples here. "I Wonder" is a pretty straight Country song and not one that I enjoy too much, I don't like Gatemouth's country singing either, although Tommy Moran's Steel guitar solo is quite nice." Unchained Melody" takes half the song to get into gear before becoming an uninspiring instrumental. The self penned "There You Are" gets us back to some seriously excellent slow tempo R&B with the Hammond B-3 giving it a serious Jimmy Smith feel. Another blues is enjoyed before we go all country again and it is quite amazing the difference between Gatemouth's country singing and blues singing. I like some country music and I respect the talent of The Man to have a go at this stuff, but it just fails to move me.After the Zydeco version of  "Jambalaya" another great self penned slow blues, just proves again what an awesome blues composer and player Gatemouth really is and the album finishes with a much more enjoyable old fashioned, fiddle lead country hoe-down. Some better choice in country covers and doing away with the Zydeco songs would have made this an excellent album, all the Bluesy numbers are excellent, but the rest don't do it for me.Rating 3/5 

Johnny Copeland - Catch Up With The Blues (USA 1993)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

I had to make a quick trip to the Earthquake ravaged city last week and while there had sufficient time for a quick browse at my favourite CD emporium, of which there are not too many left now, and was fortunate enough to come across a couple more of those Gitanes releases, of which I mentioned a few reviews back, in the second hand blues section. Another quality contemporary blues album with full band including brass section and  backing singers. This is the second Copeland release I have found on Gitanes and I am finding this one as enjoyable as the other one. There is not too much to say about this album as it is a fairly generic example of the genre and Copeland is an accomplished exponent of the style. So if you like well recorded, well executed, standard modern blues then I give this the thumbs up. Rating 3.5/5  

VA - Smells Like Bleach: A Punk Tribute To Nirvana - Cleopatra Records

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

1. Come As You Are - Vibrators

2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Blanks 77

3. Stay Away - UK Subs

4. On A Plain - Agent Orange

5. Breed - Total Chaos

6. Nagative Creep - Dee Dee Ramone

7. Lithium - Vice Squad

8. Something In The Way - Burning Brides

9. Scentless Apprentice - Flipper

10. All Apologies - DOA

11. Aneurysm - Dr. Know

12. Dive - I.C.U.

Got this one from the same place as the last one and were at the other end of the quality spectrum with this one. First point of note is that all the bands that I recognise on this collection were around well before Nirvana   and some of them were influential for Kurt Cobain and the boys. Second point of note is that many of these bands were well past their use by date when they recorded these songs. Third point of note is that this is a punk tribute and so doesn't give much scope for creative interpretations of these songs  as was the case on the last comp I reviewed. So what we have is mostly second rate, straight covers of some pretty awesome songs that none of these artists have really added to and some of them have actually butchered the songs they have chosen to destroy. Quite often the shear quality of the music that these tributes try to cover, lifts the interpreting artists to new levels of creativity and gives us some great versions of already great songs, sadly this set is not one of them.Rating 2/5 and will be deleting, would rather listen to the originals.

VA - Star Power! K-Tel Hits Of The '70s - Pravda Records

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

1. Venus - Southern Culture On The Skids

2. Welcome Back - Rex Daisy

3. Spiders And Snakes - World Famous Blue Jays

4. Mama Told Me Not To Come - The Silos

5. Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, The - Vic Chesnutt

6. Kung Fu Fightin' - Fig Dish

7. I'm Not In Love - Red Red Meat

8. Popcorn - Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet

9. Don't Give Up On Us - Brown Betty

10. How Do You Do - Wanna-Bees

11. Ode To Billy Joe - Susan Voelz

12. One Tin Soldier - Dick Nixons

13. White Bird - Love Battery

14. Rock The Boat - A-Bones

15. Half Breed - New Clear Clouds

16. I Am Woman - Big Fish Ensemble

17. Give Me Just A Little More Time - Falstaff

18. Horse With No Name, A - Loud Family

This very obscure curiosity was something I obtained from Emusic quite sometime ago and had not actually listened to it as it was buried somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my hard drive. I found it again while loading all my music into Itunes on the new laptop.

This release was volume three in a set of compilations released by Pravda Records back in the early 90s and consists of a bunch of  alternative types, ranging from Grunge through Punk to Alt Country and a few unclassifiable versions as well, doing their own warped versions of  all these well known K-Tel chart hits from the 70s. Most of the songs were familiar to me and  several  are well liked in their original versions and others are quite impressive in their reinterpretations even though I'm not a fan of the originals. Overall I am enjoying almost all that is on this set, although I can't stomach "One Tin Soldier - Dick Nixon's", some of the highlights are Southern Culture On The Skids minimal rockabilly version of "Venus", Rex Davies version of the Theme to "Welcome back Kotter is a bit of a giggle and a trip down memory lane and an enjoyable version."Spiders And Snakes" by the World Famous Blue Jays is a cowpoke version of a song that I don't recognise and so they make it their own. "Popcorn is another giggle and very well done in a cooler version than the original and the highlight of this set is the brilliant Low inspired version of my old fave "Ode To Billy Joe". Also worth a mention is a grungy spacerock version of the fabulous "White Bird". A very interesting and surprisingly good  compilation and I am curious to hear the other two volumes, which are still available to buy.Rating 4/5

The Reverend Horton Heat - Space Heater (USA 1998)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

This was one of those wonderful bonus finds that occasionally fall into your hands when collecting music. I was browsing in a pretty nondescript music store while on holiday several years ago when I spotted this baby for 5 bucks in a bin. I wasn't really there to buy any thing, but I had heard of Horton and for a fiver I thought it was worth the risk. This later day Punkabilly album is well polished, heavy enough and very well written enough to impress me considerably and the best find since a mate found Elvis Hitler in another bargain bin several years earlier. The Trio of "Lie Detector", Hello Mrs. Darkness" and "Jimbo Song" are the real highlights here, with Jimbo being an absolute punkabilly classic(check out all three tracks on this Roddus Sampler) while the rest of the record is still entertaining and pretty bloody impressive for a bargain bin find.

My rating 4/5

Fusion - Border Town (USA 1969)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Quite probably my favorite album found in that little bookshop that I mentioned in the previous post and most fortunately another one I have finally found on CD. This awesome late 60s showstopper is another fabulous Blues/Rock/Jazz/Fusion set with Beefheartian overtones, inflicted by the singer, who sounds a little like the captain himself. Every song is awesome, with no duds and plenty stylistic changes to keep it interesting. Stand out tracks include the wonderfully bluesy "Struttin' Down Mainstreet", which really sets the pace for the rest of the album, the very catchy "One More Hand" and the very Jazzy finale of "Erebus"

A Classic LP, still sounding fantastic after 40 odd years. Rating 5/5

Rock Workshop - The Very Last Time (UK 1971)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Many moons ago, I used to browse a small second hand book shop, nestled amongst a small group of other rundown shops in an outer suburb of the central city. This particular shop also had a fairly large collection of used vinyl, which was the main reason I went there. Back in those days, I was always on the lookout for obscure early 70s rock bands and occasionally I would find a real gem or two in this shop, this album being one of them. I parted company with this album, after much enjoyment, when I sold my vinyl collection back in 98' but was lucky enough to find a re-release on Cd a couple of years back.

Rock Workshop was a short lived project and this was their second and last LP. This exceptional record is a great mix of Funky, Soulful, Motown influenced Rock/Jazz fusion with some great guitar work, plenty of cool jazzy brass licks and plenty of variety to keep it interesting. A mix of uptempo rockin' funky tracks with some slower folk tinged numbers and cool soulful Male/Female vocals and a very impressive extended jam on the outstanding "Street War". A somewhat political album with anti war sentiments and what with the unlimited plethora of obscure 60s & 70s  Rock, Fusion and Prog albums posted on so many blogs in Internet land, a set that stands well above many of those rarities that I have managed to hear. One of several little masterpieces that I managed to discover in that little shop.

As with many re-issues, this Cd has several bonus tracks of live and demo tracks cut between the two albums, all previously unreleased. The first 3 bonus tracks feature the Manic Alex Harvey on Vocals, as he also sang on the first album(Which I haven't heard). These numbers are a lot more chaotic with some real free jazz blowing thrown in as well  and all are good but not as good as the original songs on this album. The rest of the bonus songs are interesting and ok but don't really add anything to the original album either. I Rate the original LP 5/5 and the CD release with extra tracks 4/5.

Joe Louis Walker - Blues Survivor (USA 1993)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Some years ago I stumbled across a brilliant compilation of contemporary Electric Blues (for an absolute bargain price) from the Verve Records "Gitanes" Imprint. This compilation is packed full of outstandingly well recorded  modern blues and has become a favorite over the preceding years. Slowly I have been collecting any Blues CDs that I come across supporting the "Gitanes" label from the mid 90s(although they have been not easy to find) and I find them to be stunningly produced examples of great contemporary blues, with this set from Joe Louis Walker is no exception.

A full band plays on this set, with some tracks with  brass section and choir. Joe's Guitar playing is wonderful and his singing and style of blues reminds me a bit of Stevie Ray Vaughn. The Overall sound is very polished and sounds very nice blasting out of the Cyrus. The songs are not outstanding but very strong and accomplished with a mix of upbeat numbers mixed with some slower numbers and some jazzy bits as well. A most enjoyable release which doesn't flag even after 60 minutes. Rating 4/5

Pearl Jam - Twenty -Tuesday 20th September 2011

An Uncle Roddus Movie Review

Mrs. Roddus, Bless her heart, spotted that this doco was being shown in town for one night only, and due to her new found love of Pearl Jam (since I took her to see them here in 2009) and her lust for Eddie Vedder, she paid for the tickets to go.

Pretty much par for the course as far as band docos go, with plenty of rare and original footage of the band early in their career and indeed footage from the previous band (Mother Love Bone) that two of the founding members were in back in the late 80s. Some good concert footage and although pretty egocentric towards the bands success, it was pleasing to see them paying tribute to the debt owed Nirvana and Kurt Cobain for leading the way for this type of music to crossover. An enjoyable film, if somewhat predictable and ending just in time with its two hour length, before it became too long. Fans of the band will enjoy it, fanatics of the band will have already seen a fair bit of the footage and know the story. Rating 3.5/5

VA - Nigeria Special - Modern Highlife Afro sounds and Nigerian Blues 1970-76 (Strut 2007)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Here it is, the last of the Afro compilations that I have on CD(for Now) and another excellent Strut release, with this volume being a double to help dissipate the large quantity of totally brilliant Afro-centric music they have unearthed.  I still have another couple of these Nigeria Special collections on the hard drive, but I think that this one is the best of the series, full of sublime tunes with unforgettable melodies and a real mix of different styles, not just all heavy Afrofunk.

Time and laziness prevents me from ranting on in more detail about the awesome quality of this set and anyway, the music speaks for its self. For those who dig this sort of music and want to explore some more, then I highly recommend this release and rate it 5/5.

Well that about wraps up the all the Afro comps that I have on CD for the moment. More on the way in the near future(I hope).

VA - Nigeria Rock Special - Psychedelic Afro Rock And Fuzz Funk In 1970s Nigeria

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Back to Nigeria again as I take a breather from the Rugby World Cup, being held here, with another quick review of yet another African compilation, this being the 2nd to last of my recent CD purchases of these excellent 70s Afro music collections.

This set is one I didn't have on my hard drive, but I picked it up at a local music store last Christmas, along with the "Ghana Special" and  "World Ends" comps which I posted about earlier.There are several volumes to the Nigeria Special Series which are compiled and released on the wonderful Soundways Label.

As the title suggests, this set is more rooted in Rock than the usual Funk that we normally groove to with these comps, but that don't mean that this stuff don't make ya want to shake ya bootie. The Hygrades "In The Jungle" is a magnificent Afro-Psych extravaganza with some truly awesome Psychedelic sounding guitar pyrotechnics and there are plenty of other class groups here like Ofo The Black Company, Mono Mono and the Funkees, which have been featured on the Voodoo funk Playlists.

After a very enjoyable set with plenty of wonderful guitaring, this disc closes with the monumental Afro-Psych Classic "Chant To Mother Earth", which must be heard to be believed.

A great collection keeping up the very high standards of the Soundways catalogue, gets a rating of 4.5/5.

VA - Ghana Sounds Vol 2 - Afrobeat, Funk And Fusion in 70s Ghana (Soundways 2004)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Still on planet Afro Groove with another totally mind blowing Soundways release and so looking forward to getting my hands on a physical copy of Vol 1 as well. With my collection of these Afrofunk CDs growing rapidly and several more awaiting more moolah to purchase, these Reviews are really just mini rants from me about how utterly fantastic this music is and how much it just blows my mind and that every one should be grooving to this wonderful music.

Of course this second volume of Ghana Sounds goes a long way to showing that Ghana was just as capable of producing this outstanding music as was Nigeria at the time, and this mighty comp is just stuffed full of non-stop funkadelic, Afrodelic, jazzadelic, grooveadelic and beatadelic muse to feed your feet and your soul.

Another 5/5. Dig It!

VA - The Danque!! - A Compilation Of West African Funk (Afrodisiac 2003)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Yet another Afrofunk Comp recently arrived from Amazon and one which I had found on some blog a while back. When I first found this particular comp(and another which I have yet to obtain on CD) I thought they were actually original collections from the actual time at which the music herein was originally recorded. I now know that this is a more contemporary release and judging from the packaging and lack of liner notes and band information, a budget release as well. Although not quite of the awesomely high standard  as the Strut and Soundways releases, this is still a very very good collection of Afrofunky groovieness. Definitely a bit more heavy on the funk angle with the African influences a little more subtle but still discernible to give the music that exotic feel.

I don't have too much else to say in detail about all these African compilations I am collecting except that all the ones I have so far are bursting at the seams with fantastic music, toe tappingly groovie with excellent vocal melodies to equal any classic western Pop and also loaded with brilliant funky jazzy brass instrumentation. I just love this music.

Overall, this compilation pretty well keeps up that standard and has no really weak tracks, and so will get a Roddus Rating of 4/5

VA - Nigeria 70 - Lagos Jump:Heavyweight Afrobeat, Highlife and Afro Funk (Strut 2009)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

The second volume of the awesome Strut Records Nigeria 70 series completes my purchase of this 3 volume set(with maybe more to come). As with the others, chock full of funky Afro classics and not a dud track to be found. Another essential disc of this wonderful music from the fertile music scene of 1970s Nigeria. Rating 4.5/5

The Mothers Of Invention - Weasels Ripped My Flesh (USA 1970)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

As I was working in my office the other day with my Ipod sitting on my desk still playing with the headphones attached, I happened to hear the most excellent "Directly From My Heart To You" seeping out of the phones. I decided that, as I had the time, I would dig out the offending album from which it came and give it a listen, as I hadn't heard it in quite a while.

In light of some of the Sun Ra and John Zorn I have been getting into lately, " Didja Get Any Onya", The opening track from this first period Mothers of Invention album fits quite well, with its free sounding Jazz madness and Avant-Garde leaning and other all round weirdness. A prime slab of Zappa weirdness. It then segues into something completely different with the aforementioned "Direct...", a Jean Luc Ponty violin led slow blues number which along with the brilliant psych rocker"My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama" are the two most normal sounding tracks from this disc.

Culled from both live and studio material recorded between 1967-1969, "Weasels..." is one of The Mothers albums that never really got a lot on my attention(apart from the two brilliant "Normal" songs mentioned above)due to the difficult experimental material that comprises most of this LP.

Listening now, later in life, with much more listening experience under my belt, I am able to appreciate this kind of music more(although I have always enjoyed much of Zappa's weirdness) and i must say that the opening track is a most enjoyable and classic peice of Zappa weirdness. After the interlude of "Direct...", track three resumes the Avant-free jazz style, sounding almost industrial in its manufacture and hits some of those brilliant 60s Zappa rhythms before getting even more bizarre with the vocal antics, but starts to loose the plot with the infamous piggy noises towards the end.

'Toads of the Short Forest" is a more conventional sounding instrumental with discernible melody and reminds me a bit of some of the stuff Zappa will do much later with his Sinclaver, before degenerating in to more Jazzy wackiness with impressive free sounding Sax. Another Zappa, Varese, Coleman hybred.

"Get A Little" is a pleasant shot number with Zappa presenting some nice guitar noodling over a good backing track. The "E.B.M.B" is a slower Jazz/Rock fusion type of instrumental with Vibes played in the beginning before descending into more avant territory and then oscillating between the two styles a bit . Pure Zappa and incomparable.

The next track is similar in style to the above mentioned "Toads..." for about 45 seconds before lapsing into some aimless sounding weirdness and then segueing into the aforementioned wonderful "my guitar...".

"Oh No!" is a sort of Zappa ballad with a kind of Doo-wop cum operatic vocal, an interesting little dittie.

"O.C.L.T" is one of those great Zappa guitar instrumentals with Frank letting rip on the strings for some nice pyrotechnics, a minor Zappa classic and we end this set with the title track consisting  of a minute and a half of wall of noise that would make Throbbing Gristle proud, recorded at the end of a concert, before Frank bids us all goodnight.

Not the best Mothers record from this period, but still a classic of of 60's freak rock and chock full of signature Zappa. My Rating 4/5

Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band - Egyptian Jazz [1968-73]

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

I'm on a roll here tonight and as I am listening to this album as I was typing in my last review, after downloading it for a listen from a link directing me to it from the blog where I got the last album from that  I reviewed.

A quick post to say that this album contains the three tracks that so impressed me off the previous post and that the rest of the material on this album maintains the quality of the other three. Have been most impressed with all that I have heard off this set and totally recommend it for an enjoyable listen to a bit of World Jazz.

Rating 4/5

Check it out here

Sun Ra - The Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Released 1999)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Sticking with Sun Ra for the moment with this interesting and rare release of Ra and Arkestra playing in Egypt with a fellow called  Salah Ragab, the founder of Egypt's  first Jazz band and the one who invited Ra to Egypt to play and record. in 1983/4. The first 3 tracks on this release were recorded by Ra and The Arkestra, with the first two written by Ragab. Both these tracks fit the Arkestra well and are not bad with some good solos and interesting rhythms, although "Dawn" gets a bit tiresome, maybe goes on a bit too long. The 18 Minute live version of "Watusa", although most probably very impressive in the context of a RA live show, with all the costumes and dancing ect...also gets a bit tiresome on record, especially with the long solely percussive section.

The Two Tracks "Ramadan" and  "A Farewell Theme" are preformed by the very impressive Cairo Jazz Band and "Oriental Mood" is preformed by a smaller group led by Ragab. All three tracks are very good Jazz compositions and fit well with Sun Ra with the Egyptian feel of their rhythms, most impressive and for me and the highlight of this release. This disc closes with a chaotic free jazz workout by the Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble which isn't too bad and allows me to give this an overall Roddus Rating of 3.5/5.

For more info and to listen to this set check it out Here

Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Jazz in Silhouette (USA 1958)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

A small diversion from  reviewing some of the recent CD arrivals, but staying with the Jazz stuff(especially what with all the Masada Stuff that has arrived(more on that later)) and staying with Sun Ra, as I have been inspired to listen to some more of his music after reviewing "Live at Montreux" recently(must do a shop on Amazon for more Ra soon) and not to mention some of the interesting rare Ra stuff on the Adventure-Equation Blog . 

"Jazz in Silhouette" is another of the records that I borrowed from the local public library about the same time as the Live album mentioned above and it made such a big impression on me that it was the first Ra CD that I purchased several years back. Probably one of my favorites of the early Arkestra's 50's Saturn big band Swing/Bop discs. The influence from Ra's time with Fletcher Henderson earlier on had a big influence on the music of these early releases and so the music on this excellent disc is a lot more conventional sounding Jazz swing than much of his later compositions.

"Enlightenment", "Saturn" and "Velvet" are all very strong and very enjoyable swing numbers with some good solos and very good melody's which make them sound like they should be Jazz Standards, although the Liner notes suggest this album was little noticed at the time. "Ancient Aiethopia" is a bit more exotic and experimental with its Egyptian sounding rhythms and was a taste of what was to come from Ra. The rest of the album continues on with some more excellent swinging numbers  to keep the toes tapping and the set closes with the wonderful  11 Minute Bop work out of "Blues At midnight"

I have always really enjoyed this set and it would easily make my all time top 20 Jazz albums and so I would rate it 5/5.

VA - Nigeria 70 - Sweet Times: Afro-Funk, Highlife and Ju Ju From 1970s Lagos (Strut 2011)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

79 Minutes of pure awesomeness from the consistently fabulous Strut Records with this third volume of the Nigeria 70 series, which kicked off with the first volume 1(reviewed Here) back in 2001 and was one of the first Afro-Funk Comps in the latest re-discovery of this brilliant music.

All three volumes of this set have recently arrived in my post box for my listening pleasure and the music on this volume is still up there in quality even after all the other comps of this type of music from Strut, Soundways and Analogue Africa, just to mention a few that i have been enjoying. The shear wonderfulness of the tracks on offer here is still outstanding. I don't need to talk about what this music sounds like as the title goes a long way towards that end but of course this disc is crammed full of all the usual great African rythems, jazzy melodic brass playing and some wonderful vocal melody's,sounding all the more exotic for being sung in Native African langauges. The first few tracks are excellent examples of Highlife and Ju Ju but not so much Afro-Funk. Tracks four and five are mind blowers with their sublime grooves and vocals and things settle down again for the Overly long "...JU JU Music" of track 6, before going stratospheric with the awesomely funky "Unity in Africa", which could be one of the coolest tracks of the whole series. The first half of this compilation is more in the Highlife and Juju vein and gets more Afro-funky in the later stages.

Plenty of sleeve notes and bits if info about the artists helps makes this another well executed Strut release and the re-mastering is also excellent.Rating 5/5