Italian 45s

Anna Identici – Era bello il mio ragazzo/
E quando saro' ricca
Ariston, AR.0537, Made in Italy, 1972

I have quite a large 45 collection but I don't buy many in thrift stores any more. Reason for this is that you hardly ever find them with their original jackets—most don't have one at all, which leaves the vinyl unprotected and all scratched up. It seems that a lot of 45s available in the US came out of jukeboxes and have therefore been played too often and are separated from their cover. When I do browse through the supply (not every thrift store carries 45s anymore). Hardly ever do I find one that is both interesting and in good enough shape. And when I do buy one it is almost always European. Apparently there's more of a 45-with-jacket culture in Europe, and almost all 45s in my collection stem from the time I was still living in Europe. But just yesterday I ended a long period of not expanding my 45 collection with the purchase of three Italian singles, the first ones of 2013. My favorite of the three is the one pictured above by Anna Identici. Both sides are really nice, they're happy and sweet, side A being the happier, while side B is the sweeter. I don't speak Italian, so my happy/sweet judgement may well be far of the mark, especially considering the bloody design of the jacket and the last word sung on side B which is "finita". And it is side B that I chose to share, the sweetest of two, it's called E Quando Saro' Ricca.

Odetta Sings Odetta

Odetta Sings...
Produced by John Boylan
Polydor 24-4048

Made in New York, 1970

The folk singer Odetta Gordon (1930-2008), known as simply Odetta, released a score of records between 1954 and 2001. Not that would like to collect all these but if I see one at a thrift store I'll pick it up for sure. I have about ten of them. My favorite is The Essential Odetta on Vanguard records released in 1973 as a package of earlier live albums. A few months ago I posted a song from her 1960 record Christmas Spirituals and today I'll do one from Odetta Sings, a 1970 record that I picked up at the Goodwill around the corner the other day. Neither of these records are "essential" but still a good listen. Odetta Sings is apparently her attempt to cross over into the mainstream as it is loaded with covers of popular songs of the time. It is also her only record on the mainstream Polydor label (most of her best work is on Vanguard) and contains renditions of Rolling Stones, Randy Newman, and Elton John songs among others. Half the record was recorded with session musicians in Los Angeles (Carole King is one of these), and the other half at the famous Muscle Shoal Studios in Alabama. The best songs on the record are the only ones that aren't covers but were written by Ms. Gordon herself: Hit or Miss and Movin' it on. You can listen to Hit or Miss below. The song was recorded at the Muscle Shoal Studios.

Conjunto

"Conjunto Obaoso" de Onelio Scull –
Santeria-Cubana: Toques y Cantos Sanretos Lucumi
Santero LP-135, Made in Mexico

Don't Judge a Record by its Cover was the title of a piece I wrote on a Hungarian record back in December. That adaption of the adage was in the spirit of its meaning then, but that the adage also has to be taken quite literally is a well known fact among collectors of thrift store records. Even the girl behind the cash register will sometimes tell you to check the record. I always check the record. But if I like the cover I'll buy the record regardless. A nice cover is worth the 50 cents or dollar, and sometimes, if there's not even a record in it, they even might give it to you for free. I did check it too, when I came across this Santeria Cubana record in the Goodwill on Palm Beach Boulevard right near our house. And I knew, before I even checked, that the content wasn't going to match the cover, it was simply too heavy for that. I knew I was going to get two for the price of one. You can't be too picky when collecting from thrift stores. Not only do you have to accept that sometimes the record inside doesn't match the picture on the outside, you also have to take the scratches for granted. The content of this Santeria Cubana record had everything wrong with it but yet I was excited to buy it. The cover is beautiful and while I regret not having the record that's supposed to be in there (a record that promises this spiritual Caribbean religious practice that combines Voodoo with Catholicism,  and all the drumming and chanting that comes with it), I still was excited to hear what was inside. It appeared to me that it would be in the spirit of the cover. The first record inside is called Santos Cantados con Nieves Quintero y Su Conjunto (Canta Luz Celeni Tirado) Y Coro on a label called L.P. Antillano (LP 25) from which I selected a track from side B Misterios Espriritistas. The second record is a rosario (a rosary prayer, I assume) that lasts more than 30 minutes. I copied the first 5 minutes of the Rosario en Honor a San Martin de Porres to share. Neither record has any information concerning place and time of recording on it. That said it didn't take too much effort to find Nieves Quintero on line. He's apparently a legend of Puerto Rican cuarto music. The rosary in honor of San Martin de Porres record yielded less information. The saint, of course, is well written about, but the recording remains a mystery. There's no name attached to the recitation, and Leonor (the record label) is not found anywhere on line. There is no additional information whatsoever printed on that label.

Music from the Far North

Music from the Far North
The Living Tradition series
produced by Deben Bhattacharya
ARGO, ZRG 533, Made in England, 1967

They're not quite the true academic field recording records, but much more authentic than the Souvenir from... records tourists used to gather. They're field recordings that are sold commercially. They're an important part of my record collection which is becoming more and more like a stamp collection that doesn't have a topic but holds stamps from all over the world. A collection that's more about diversity than about depth. Records like the one above were owned by people that had a serious interest in some geographical entity, not quite an academic interest but certainly well beyond a tourist's interest in the music of a region. They're records of traditional music, typically played not by the areas biggest stars, but not by the remote and isolated rural population either. The musicians are the in-between musicians, semi-professional, well regarded locally, that would perform in regional cultural festivals. Music from the Far North features traditional music out of Finland and from Sweden. It features the solemn Finnish music on the kantele, and some wild fiddling gatherings from Sweden. There's enough excitement in the music on this record to last a midsummer night but I chose to share here today the two Lappish joiks that are featured at the end of the record. They're not the most interesting joiks I've ever heard, they're not the best tracks on the record, but they're joiks. There aren't that many joik recordings in the world. Joiks are the age old musical singing traditions of the Sami people of Northern Scandinavia. The singing sounds a lot like the chanting of Native Americans. The Sami are remote descendents of the Chukchi people, a handful of whom are believed to have crossed the Bering Sea and are the common ancestors of all American Indians.

The singer of the joiks featured here is Karin Stenberg. She was recorded by Deben Bhattacharya in or before 1967 in Arvidsjaur, Sweden . The first example is a joik about reindeer and the second about mountains. 

p.s. I've never been to Sweden but I have a Volvo. I learned yesterday that if you buy a new Volvo, directly from the factory, they'll fly you over, put you up, and ship the car back for you. Now my Volvo is getting pretty old...

Obey

Chief Commander Ebenezer 
Obey and His Miliki Sound
Decca, WAPS 78
Made in England, 1973

Here's then the second entry concerning Nigerian records found in Florida thrift stores. As promised last week I'll share a song from an album by Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey. The song is Alowo Majaiye, it's the opening track on the album. As with Anyinla Owomura's last week, I only estimated the break between the first two songs as all tracks are woven together medley style. At that point I faded it out, hoping not to cut off anything from the track in question. Really, both side one and side two are just two continues songs that happen to have multiple titles. Kinda like an opera, except that it doesn't sound anything like an opera. It's all about Obey's guitar breaks. The guitar playing throughout this record is magnificent.

African Records

Ayinla Omowura and His Apala Group, Vol. 8
Procuced by Taoreed Adedigba
Nemi (LP) 0110, EMI, printed in Nigeria

There's gotta be a few notes written in the margins of the above statement because "a whole history of music" turns out to be a very subjective term. The statement holds the people of a city or region in very high esteem when the truth is that especially those people that are represented in the collection of thrift stores are not as expansive and discriminate more than one would hope. Africa is arguably the continent with the most interesting (and on average highest quality) of commercial LPs. Yet records from this continent arrive in thrift stores few and far in between. Occasionally you will find one produced in the West for the Western market (either by Africa's biggest selling stars, like Miriam Makeba, or else compilations of traditional music, both of field recordings and of commercial intent) but hardly ever records plucked from the streets, popular by locals but unknown beyond. The last time I found some of the latter was about five years ago, when I got two Nigerian records in a thrift store in Saint Augustine, Florida. One is by Ayinla Omowura, the other by Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey. Obey is fairly well known in the West but of Omowura I had never heard. Both records belonged to a certain Bergmann. As always when I find multiple records that once belonged to the same person, I am curious about the circumstances. Bergmann got his (or hers) in the US I think. I don't think Bergman bought the records in Nigeria because the Obey one has an import sticker on it from an African market in Brooklyn. The Obey record was pre-owned when Bergmann got it. That's all the clues I have to the Bergmann puzzle. The two records are remarkably similar in production and content. Both records are recorded in medley style, apparently produced for dancing. The songs that are listed as being played are not separated by any noticeable clue (the sound clip below is faded out somewhere in the second song of side A of the Omowura record). It feels like they could be playing forever. In fact Omowura's record is Volume 8, and I wouldn't be surprised if all eight records were recorded in a single or maybe two recording sessions. The opening seconds of both records are spectacular instrumental introductions by (I assume) the respective instruments of the bandleaders: Obey's guitar and the talking drum of Omowura. From an objective point of view these opening seconds are probably all you need to know about, the rest only becomes interesting when you engage in it (like dancing). Next week I'll discuss Obey's (my favorite of the two) some more. The songs you can listen to below are the opening minutes of the medley on side A; Akigbo wo awon and part of Chief Adeniyi Idowu. The word "Yoruba" printed on the label of the vinyl probably refers to the language used in the lyrics. I estimate the recording to be from the early 1970s.

Country Records

Sammi Smith – New Winds, All Quadrants
Produced by Ray Baker
Elektra Records, 6E-137, New York, 1978

There's a reason why I don't collect country records. I don't like them. If I did, I would have had an enormous collection because on my numerous visits to thrift stores as I always see ones I'd never seen before. That's not to say that I don't have any country records, I actually have quite a few, but I really don't add to these much any more. And that I don't like them is of course a too broad generalization. There are plenty great country records out there that I really like. I love David Allan Coe, Dolly Parton, Kinky Friedman, Hank Williams (Sr.), to name just a few. What I don't like about country records most is the political conservatism that oozes off these records, and the pathos. Well I don't mind pathos, but in the wrong ignorant hands it all ends up being pathetic. While this is not a podium to be critical of any record (it's a celebration about the vastness of the record universe, and the many jewels it contains), I will indulge for once and have a rant about this country record I bought for a dollar the other day. You can read it as a celebration of (bad) records that are not included in the canon of the popular music history if you'd like, because that's the purpose here. This record by Sammi Smith has so much pathos embedded in it, that it becomes embarrassing to listen to. It's not so much Sammi Smith per se—her voice is good, her singing is sound, not overly dramatic or emotive, and she had produced really good country before (like her hit Help Me Make it Through the Night, written by Kris Kristofferson)—but the songwriting on this record is poor to say the least. Take the song Norma Jean (that you can listen to below), a narrative song about Marilyn Monroe, the lyrics of which would have gotten a B- in a sixth grade English class. No matter how well or how sincere Sammi Smith's performance of this song is executed, it could never save it. Now it doesn't help that I speak English, maybe it is possible I would have liked the song if it were in Polish or some other language I couldn't understand but I will never find out because I just can't listen to the song without hearing the words. Now the songwrit(h)ing is grave throughout the disc but I have to admit that I selected the worse one to share with you. (Most others wouldn't be appropriate for grade school anyway, adding yet another layer of embarrassment—too frank, too honest, which are bad qualities for badly written lyrics.) Needless to say after this rant that, instead of putting in my record recycle bin, I will gladly insert the record into my collection (hers will be right after my Patti Smith records). On a more positive note about the production: I think the record title New Winds, All Quadrants, is cute, and witty, and smart, I would expected it on gospel record. On a less positive note about the production, this question: Why is the title of the song about Marilyn Monroe spelled Norma Jean, and not Norma Jeane?