Cry Awhile

Presenting a six pack that'll make you weep. Sobbing artwork, as usual, by Tinca. Hankies at the ready... here we go.

Dexter Gordon - I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry

Art Pepper Quintet - Tears Inside

Walter & The Admerations - Life Of Tears

The Immortals - Hot Tears

The Tonettes - No Tears
Gregory Isaacs & Ranking Barnabas - Tumbling Tears

All Alone

Good ole Keef, known reggae enthusiast, shows his good taste by covering the Cool Ruler on his new Crosseyed Heart album. Even brought in a real flesh and blood horn section. The original remains unbeatable though.

Keith Richards - Love Overdue
Gregory Isaacs - Love Is Overdue

Mister Mister Pt. Three

Still owe you part three, the last installment, so here goes. It's six pack time again, my esteemed amigos da musica, so better stock up for the wintertime...

Tom Waits - Mr. Henry

The Lollipop Shoppe - Mr. Madison Avenue
The Other Half - Mr. Pharmacist

Mr. Fox - Mr. Fox

Gregory Isaacs - Mr. Cop

John Coltrane - Mr. Day

Seem To Be Lonely

"Just call my name and say that I'm your lover man..." Got a two pack of exquisite lonely lovers from the Island for you today. Two entirely different songs mind, but the message remains the same. Meanwhile, I'll be away for a week, but I guess this duo will keep you plenty satisfied 'til my return. Laster sortu!

The Sensations - Lonely Lover
Gregory Isaacs - Lonely Lover

It's A Sin

"Walkin' like a man, talkin' like an angel, proud like a peacock, swifter than an eagle..." Yonder comes sin alright. Presenting an original six pack. You're very welcome.

Bob Dylan - Yonder Comes Sin

Iggy Pop - Some Weird Sin

Racingpaperplanes - Kingdom Of Sin

Neil Young - Yonder Stands The Sinner

Gregory Isaacs - Sinner Man

Hank Mobley - My Sin

Wild Weekend Vol. 38

Ready for the 38th installment of Wild Weekend? Thought so. And it´s a wild bunch again this week, featuring Japrock and Dylan, reggae inna loversrock style and the blues, old Ohio punk and new Salford trash. Just take your pick and don´t forget to have a wild one.

For a furious blast-off, we turn to a seventies Japrock powertrio called Gedo. Their nihilistic hi-energy rocker Kusatta Inochi, better known in the West as Rotten Life, will surely bring out the inner biker in you. Let it roar. And as I´m digging Dylan´s new Bootleg Series installment so much, we continue with a beauty from said collection. The whimsical All Over You is one of those Witmark Demos to treasure. "Well, you cut me like a jigsaw puzzle, you made me to a walkin´ wreck, when you pushed my heart through my backbone, and you knocked off my head from my neck..."

Gedo - Kusatta Inochi (Rotten Life) MP3

Bob Dylan - All Over You MP3

Pink Anderson was one of the two relatively obscure bluesmen who gave Pink Floyd their name (the other being Floyd Council). I can never get enough of his delightful He´s In The Jailhouse Now. "But when I went to pay that man, I found that lady's hand in my pocket, where my money was... that settled it..." Graveyard bound, that lady. Next we meet the Black Knights, who hail from Salford near Manchester, home of legendary poet John Cooper Clarke, the Dylan of punk. And their ´voodoo trash blues´ goes down a treat, too. Check out them spooky vocals and fuzz guitars, muchachos. Out now.

Pink Anderson - He´s In The Jailhouse Now MP3

The Black Knights - Saturday Night Succubi MP3

One of my fave early punkbands from the States are the Pagans from Ohio. No matter how rough and ramshackle their sound, there´s always a catchy chorus to pull you right in. Let yourself be seduced by the incendiary power of I Juvenile and buy their complementary compilations on the Crypt label (Shit Street and The Pink Album) forthwith. And we´ll conclude this edition of Wild Weekend with a loving tribute to Jamaican nightingale Gregory Isaacs, who sadly passed away last week. The Cool Ruler is no more, and that sucks. Now who's gonna make me feel the way he used to do?

The Pagans - I Juvenile MP3

Gregory Isaacs - Love Is Overdue MP3

Classy

To celebrate my beloved Barça’s´s impressive 1-0 win in yet another steaming edition of El Classico last night, I proudly present... the cool ruler. Here´s to Puyol, Valdez, Ibra and the rest of the squad. "Extra classic that´s what you are..."

Gregory Isaacs - Extra Classic MP3

Gregory Isaacs - Classy Dub MP3

Behind bars

Read an amazing news article yesterday. A recent study said that one in every 100 Americans are currently in jail. There are 230 million adults living in the Land of the Free, and 2.32 million of them are behind bars. For some groups this percentage is even higher: every one in 36 adults with a Hispanic background is doing time, and one in 15 black adults. Even worse: one in 9 black men between the ages of 20 and 34 are locked up as we speak. Staggering figures, right? Makes you think. But don´t worry, as a European I´m not going to judge. I´ll just play you some songs about life in prison...

Picking a Johnny Cash song wasn´t easy, as the man in black did quite a few jail songs in his time (and performed some legendary gigs in the slammer as well). I finally chose Doin´My Time, a Sun recording from the Walking The Line-box (Union Square). "They call me by a number not a name". Gregory Isaacs, the Jamaican nightingale, knows what it is to do time. Jailer Jailer Bring Me Water is from Extra Classic (´78). I have to do a post dedicated to The Mississippi Sheiks soon, as they never cease to amaze me. Jail Bird Love Song is to be found on the excellent Stop And Listen compilation (Yazoo). Choosing between Merle Haggard´s Mama Tried and Sing Me Back Home simply proved too hard. So you´ll get both; find them on The Lonesome Fugitive Anthology (Razor & Tie). I Fought The Law was made famous by the Bobby Fuller Four, but The Clash made it their own in ´78 on their The Cost Of Living ep. It was also added to the U.S. version of their classic debut album. The Blue Sky Boys are one of those classic country brother teams you often find me raving about in these pages. "I will scrub all your floors, I will wash all your clothes, if that will get my baby out of jail..." Hunt down the out of print Are You From Dixie? Great Country Brother Teams Of The 1930´s (RCA) for this gem.

Johnny Cash - Doin´ My Time MP3

Gregory Isaacs - Jailer Jailer Bring Me Water MP3

Mississippi Sheiks - Jail Bird Love Song MP3

Merle Haggard - Sing Me Back Home MP3

Merle Haggard - Mama Tried MP3

The Clash - I Fought The Law MP3

Blue Sky Boys - I´m Just Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail MP3