James & Karin - Den dan då skogen brann (197?)

Hermanos Calatrava - Space Oddity (1974)

Strung out on lasers and slash back blazers Bowie mix by JD Twitch

Strung out on lasers and slash back blazers Bowie mix by JD Twitch by Jd_Twitch on Mixcloud

David Bowie - There Is A Happy Land (1967)

Happy 2016!

Kozmonaut - Row To The Shore

Row To The Shore by Kozmonaut on Mixcloud

Isaac Hayes - Soulsville (1971)

Black man, born free
At least that's the way it's supposed to be
Chains that binds him are hard to see
Unless you take this walk with me

Place where he lives got plenty of names
Slums, ghetto and black belt, they are one and the same
And I call it Soulsville

Any kind of job is hard to find
That means an increase in the welfare line
Crime rate is rising too
If you are hungry, what would you do?

Rent is two months past due and the building that's falling apart
Little boy needs a pair of shoes and this is only a part of Soulsville

Some of the brothers got plenty of cash
Tricks on the corner gonna see to that
Some like to smoke and some like to blow
Some are even strung out on a fifty dollar Jones

Some are trying to ditch reality by getting so high
Only to find out you can never touch the sky
'Cause your hoods are in Soulsville, oh yeah

Every Sunday morning I can hear the old sisters say
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, trust in the Lord to make a way, oh yeah
I hope that He hear their prayers 'cause deep in their souls they believe
Someday He'll put an end to all this misery that we have in Soulsville
Oh yeah, Soulsville, Soulsville, Soulsville, Soulsville, Soulsville

 

Mutual Attraction - Lost tape (2015)

Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg - Intimidation (1978)

Perry Rosewood - Black Magic Ladies (1979)

Brother Resistance - Star Warz Rapso (1986)

Originally released in 1986, Brother Resistance's 'Rapso Takeover' blends calypso, reggae, disco, funk and poetry to create the artist’s signature Rapso sound* "A progressive form of poetry from Trinidad and Tobago, Rapso emerged as a means by which to articulate the daily suffering symptomatic of the social unrest afflicting the nation throughout the 1970s and 80s. Brother Resistance played a significant role in the Rapso movement, deploying his music to spread messages of hope and liberation. The authorities took Brother Resistance’s rising status seriously, destroying what they could of his studios and in the process leaving only a small amount of his music in circulation. Now for the first time we can hear Brother Resistance’s finest work remastered. The music and the message live on through Rapso Take Over’s stripped back rhythms infused with steel and strings, all carried by the voice of resistance.

http://leftearrecords.bandcamp.com/album/rapso-take-over

'Thesda - Spaced Out (1979)

Thesda is a homegrown gem of late-70s funk. Musical ideas collided in a small studio, then were packaged in a record graced with generic cover art; The result, "Spaced Out," was pressed in minute numbers. The only distribution it got was as a Christmas present one year. So producer Eugene Hagburg was surprised when he realized that a small group of collectors not only found out about the album, but thought highly of it. In April 2007, a record collector in Washington, DC, found the album at a thrift store, and contacted Hagburg. After the word got out and a copy sold for top dollar on ebay, he quickly received calls from fans as far-flung as Italy and Vermont.


The story of Thesda begins in the mid-70s, with Eugene Hagburg. Professionally, he was Director of the Management Academy for the United States Postal Service then located in Bethesda, MD. He later became Assistant Postmaster General in charge of Delivery Operations in the US. One of his passions was moonlighting as a music writer and producer. Hagburg and Thomas Crawford led the group in creating two albums released on their private press label IPSI: The Peak Experiences Crawford and Thesdas Spaced Out. Crawford was recorded in 1976 in the same studio Linda Ronstad recorded Heart Like A Wheel. The traditional folk rock sound of Crawford belies its complex inspirations; Oceanic Feeling was, according to Hagburg, an early Freudian concept stressing the need to be different and to avoid the lulling motions in society which try to mold you.

Hagburg accumulated enough equipment to record in his home by the time Thesda was recorded in 1979. The group is even named after the town Hagburg lived in: Bethesda. The combination of a controlled location and recording tools offered, as Hagburg says, more time to experiment with sounds and mixing. They werent rushed by expensive studio time, but could also record and capture first takes.

Everybody arrived past midnight for the sessions, which ran until 7AM. Music arrived spontaneously from Hagburgs lyrics, with Tom Crawfords guidance. The goal was to capture a freshness of interpretation through a group that simply wanted to express themselves with creative sounds. It was a carefully controlled chaos, with no written notes, but plenty of enthusiasm. The resulting album is sounds at home in the late 70s, and even gracefully embraces disco. Its especially noteworthy due to the talented musicians, who 30 years later gave the music an edge that still sounds contemporary.

Co-producer Tom Crawford, a graduate of Hoagy Carmichael School of Music at University of Indiana, was responsible for assembling the musicians and helping them realize the true sound of the music. A few names carry over from the previous Crawford album, such as guitarist Jeff Flemming, but Spaced Out is the only album recorded with this talented group as a whole. One voice stands out from the rest, that of Lateefah. Her vocals soar on songs like Holding Back, belying a young woman with little formal training. Hagburg remembers how she, would sit huddled in a corner listening waiting and then sing her heart out.

Hagburg says, to sum up the experience, the trip ended as each participant went down lifes many paths, never to create as one again. But the sounds of this clustering are still with us and add to the library of special sounds.

Musicians

Thomas Crawford - Alto, Soprano, and tenora saxes, all pianos and string ensemble, back-ground vocals, and fife Thomas Crosson - Guitars, background vocals Raymond Hainsworth - Drums Lateefah - Lead and background vocals Charles Morritt - Tenor sax Anthony Moxley - Funky bass Keith Waddy - Lead and background vocals

Guest Musicians

Jeffrey Fleming - Guitar Solos (all), all acoustic guitar Randy Stewart - Synthesizer solos Jerome Carroll - Background vocals

Notes

Produced by Eugene C. Hagburg and Tom M. Crawford All lyrics by Eugene C. Hagburg Engineered and mastered by Tom Crawford.

http://www.leftearrecords.com/ 

http://leftearrecords.bandcamp.com/

Enzo Avitabile - Soul Express (1988)

Johnny "Guitar" Watson ‎- Ain't Movin' (1981)

Frank Zappa on The Steve Allen Show (1963)