I loathe Steve Perry. No, not as a person. I’m sure he’s swell and a blast to hang out with. I mean what he did to Journey. Former members of Santana, guitarist Neal Schon and vocalist Gregg Rolie, started the band out as a really good jazz-fusion band, touched a bit with hard rock. Perry’s vocals killed the band, at least for me, though millions of screaming teeny-boppers will, no doubt, tell me otherwise.
70s
[Music] Mahmoud Ahmed – Hulum bègizéw nèw
Some funky Ethiopian soul, courtesy of Mahmoud Ahmed, one of the best voices of the old guard.
[Music] Twenty Sixty Six and Then – Winter
Fine, heavy, expansive Krautrock from one of the better German bands of the era, 2066 (Twenty Sixty Six) and Then.
[Music] RIP Dieter Moebius
Extremely sad news today. The Quietus reports that Dieter Moebius, one-half of the legendary Cluster, along with Hans-Joachim Roedelius, a collaborator with Michael Rother in their Harmonia project, as well as Brian Eno, and a source of influence for so many musicians who delved into making electronic music, passed away today at the age of 71.
I had the pleasure of meeting Dieter and Achim a few times as they would pass through my home on tour. I wish his wife, Irene, Achim and his family, and all those who worked with him, much comfort in the days ahead.
[Music] Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing (Old Grey Whistle Test, 1978)
I never could understand the fascination my friends in Eastern Europe had with Dire Straits. I saw them as nothing more than a white-boy blues band trying to act cool, yet I never bothered to give their early work a chance. After hearing this, I think I get it now.
I was a fan of guitarist Mark Knopfler’s work outside of Dire Straits, especially his collaboration with Chet Atkins. I can finally appreciate his roots now.
[Music] 26 Best Anatolian Rock & Turkish Psychedelic Rock Songs
Turkish rock is amazing! From Moğollar to Barış Manço and Erkin Koray, there are a wealth of treasures to be found from Anatolia during the 1960s and 70s.
ATDAA does a fine job compiling some of the best here. If you have any further listening suggestions, feel free to get a Disqus account and post them in the comments section.
[Video] Sevil – Sevil (1971, Azerbaijan, USSR)
Outside of Vagif Mustafa-Zade, who has been featured here before on this blog, there’s not a lot of information on music from Azerbaijan. Sevil is a band who played a type of jazz-funk which was popular throughout the Soviet Bloc. Really solid music.
If any of my friends from the region could point me to some biographical data about the band, I’d be most thankful.
[Video] ABC Ansambl Angela Vlatkovića – Snovi (1975, LP)
One wonders if Blaxploitation soundtracks were big in the Former Yugoslavia. Here’s Serbian bandleader Angelo Vlatković funking out.
[Video] Johnny Cash – Ragged Old Flag
In honor of Independence Day, here is The Man In Black. Classic Americana.
[Video] Aleksandar Subota – Watermelon Man (1970, LP)
Aleksandar ‘Saša’ Subota was a jazz musician from Belgrade, Serbia, who was quite a big player in the ex-Yugoslavian jazz scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Here, he does sterling work in covering Herbie Hancock’s 1962 classic.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 