Al compás del mundo - programa #103 - Rhythm & Blues from the 1960s and 70s

Chaingang Ecstasy - Turns out this week’s Al compás program falls on November 23 – Thanksgiving, celebrated in the United States by overeating and nods of gratitude. In Mexico, el Dia de Gracias is slowly making inroads though is not a national holiday. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy a little gluttony and a day off hanging with the family…even tio Prospero with his far-right political views (sheesh, what a pendejo)? We gringos have eagerly jumped on the Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrck’s day bandwagons while Halloween has become more and more a “thing” down South. I guess it’s obvious that people just like to party. And here’s the soundtrack. It runs the gamut from blues, to its progeny, rhythm and blues, even a little gospel, and finally tearjerkers and indignant you-done-me-wrongs: all under the umbrella of soul music. It was righteous then and 50-60 years later it still sounds, well, soulful.

Run list Rhythm & Blues from the 1960s and 70s - First broadcast 11-23-23

01 Clarence Williams - The Seventh Son

02 Bettye LaVette - Let Me Down Easy

03 Allen Toussaint & The Stokes - Go Back Home

04 Denise Lasalle -Trapped by a Thing Called Love

05 Little Willie John - Heartbreak (It’s Hurtin’ Me)

06 The Impressions - Keep on Pushing

07 The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There

08 Jackie Moore - Precious Precious

09 Eddie Lang - I'm Gonna Make You Eat Those Words

10 James Carr - These Ain’t Raindrops

11 Vernon Guy - Youve Got Me (Just Where You Want Me)

12 Candi Staton - As Long as He Takes Care of Home

13 Luther Ingram - If Loving You Is Wrong

14 The Dells - Oh What a Night

15 Joe Simon - Drowning in The Sea of Love

16 David Ruffin - My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)

17 Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man

18 Ohio Players – Ecstasy

Did Toussaint write l'Overture?

Comments

Al compás del mundo - programa #99 - Los Folkloristas

This week’s Al compás del mundo earns a pair of dedications. Primarily, to Las Folkloristas, a group of Mexican musicians who first came together in 1966 and who continue to the present day, delighting their public and educating them as to the breadth of folk music genres and instrumentation found in every corner of Latin America. The second dedication is to me and my sweetheart wife Claudia – we met at a concert of Los Folkloristas at the Sala Agora in Mexico City, in 1976. And yes, we too are still together. Get out your handkerchiefs and dry your eyes because there’s a story to be told as evidence that there’s a soulmate out there for everyone. You just have to make the effort to look, even if it takes you to a foreign land. And so it goes like this: I spent all of 1976 living in Mexico City, ostensibly to learn Spanish, but en realidad to loaf around, drink beer, practice my saxophone, and maybe, just maybe, look to meet a señorita. I lived in a pension (boardinghouse) owned by Jul...

Al compas del mundo, programa #92 - Japan

The Japanese historically have been a most creative people, excelling in aesthetic conventions like architecture, painting, culinary arts, theatre, music, and more. A craftsman’s care and an artist’s flair have come to define everyday household objects such as articles of clothing and kitchen ware, designed with a sensibility that imbues them with import and elevated status. After WWII in the United States however, an item inscribed “made in Japan” usually indicated a tchotchke of mediocre quality. A perfect example is the large number of Northwest Coast Native American-style bone totem poles made for the tourist shops in the Northwest. There is a distinctive difference in these “artifacts” from the real, home-made variety that illustrates someone from another culture tackling aesthetics they don’t fully comprehend. And that leads us to some of this week’s musical choices. Imitating Western pop, rock and jazz, Japanese artists have recorded many forgettable efforts – not unlike those o...

Al compas del mundo - programa #114 - potpourri of fun, fun, fun

Fun, Fun, Fun. And I do mean fun. Sometimes this summary of a weekly radio show veers off to a serious side, but not today. Not with this batch of winners. Not when we’re leading off with Los Xochimilcas. Like a mix of The Three Stooges and Spike Jones, they clamor for a round of “pulque for two!” with an eloquent danzón accompaniment. Then there’s Pigbag showing off some serious jazz chops…but is it jazz? Then again, who cares? Why fret over labels when we’re here to have fun?! So The Magnetic Fields’ tune isn’t exactly light-hearted glee and all, but fun comes in many packages. I had fun when I first heard I Die You Die. They sounded like the Velvet Underground had they hailed from West Virginia instead of New York. That’s not fun? Relatively speaking, there’s always room for Ennio Morricone. That lonesome whistle thrills me, along with the chorus of grunting injuns. A Spaghetti Western at its stereotypical best. Allen Toussaint, by the way, is one hell of a song writer, in cas...

Search This Blog