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(Paul Weller - Thirty years and no sign of a letup)

I have always been a fan of Paul Weller, whether it's him solo, as The Style Council or The Jam. It struck me as strange that The Jam in their heyday wasn't as well known over here in the States as they were in the UK or Europe - or why Weller isn't that better known over here now is still something of a mystery.

But the ones who do know him and know his work and have enjoyed what he's been doing the past 30+ years appreciate hearing him any chance they get. And you know who you are.

So tonight I'm running, as part of our Fundraiser a concert Weller gave at Guilfest in 2005.

Classic Weller in fine form - still performing and still recording. Still sounding fresh as ever.

Enjoy.

Oh and um . . .while you're doing that, if you can, put something in the kitty below to keep this all going. Anything and everything helps and it is so appreciated.

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(The Blue Aeroplanes - People still talk about their 1992 Glasto gig)

Going back to 1994 tonight. The Blue Aeroplanes. They've been kicking around on and off since 1981, have gone through various labels and incarnations, have broken up, gotten back together and still have a large and loyal following (in Europe and the UK). As always, or at least seemingly for the past twenty or so years, they have a great reputation overseas, yet are virtually unknown here, save for the ones who do a lot of digging and reading and exploring.
Given the current state of affairs in mainstream music, that seems to be a virtue with just about anybody who cares anything about music. Digging, reading and exploring is almost a necessity if you don't want to drown in mediocrity . . . okay, don't get me started.

The Blue Aeroplanes are still around, planning on releasing a new album in 2010 and gigging extensively in the new year. Check them out if you can, visit their website and find out if they're playing someplace accessible.

Here's a track off their 1994 album Life Model, (I'm A) Smart Drug.

Hear what you've been missing or remind yourself when you first heard them.

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(Fernand Oubradous - did for the Bassoon what Landowska did for the Harpsichord)

Fernand Oubradous had a long and celebrated career throughout France and Europe. In addition to his work on Bassoon, he was also an accomplished clarinetist as well as conductor and led his own orchestra in a series of award winning recordings for French Pathe` in the 1950s.

So we're posting something a bit more familiar today - Mozart: Bassoon Concerto K. 191 with Fernand Oubradous, Bassoon and an unnamed chamber orchestra conducted by Eugene Bigot. Recorded in Paris for HMV, June 23, 1936. This particular recording is from Victor set - M-704, as it was released in the U.S.

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(Telephone - huge in Europe. Over here? Well . . . )

I recently ran across a French Radio station online (Oui FM, which you should check out) that plays some fascinating stuff - old and new - French and non-French. During one of their sets they slipped in Dure Limite by the French punk/post-punk/new wave/hard rock group Telephone. They were enormous in France and throughout Europe in the late 1970s up to 1986, when they disbanded and went separate ways. They hardly made a dent in the States (again, that language thing), but I remembered the band pretty well, having been familiar with them since their first album, but I really hadn't played anything by them, or heard anything about them until the other day when Dure Limite came on. Not a massive seller at the time, it was produced by Bob Ezrin, who was responsible for a lot of memorable albums in the 70s - Doctor John and Peter Gabriel are two that come to mind. According to a website, the band did reunite in 2003. But what has happened since then is a mystery.

Still, it's nice to be reminded of the not-so-obvious 80s every once in a while.

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Rep. Jeb Hensarling fear mongering over European health care systems and claiming that his father who had a heart condition would have been possibly died had he been in one of their systems.

From NOW on PBS--Power Struggle. More available here.

This is what I hate having to explain to my relatives and friends abroad in Europe about politics in the US. We know that global warming is a fact. We know that our actions, if they didn't cause global warming, definitely exacerbate it. We know that we must reduce our dependency on oil, for both ecological and political/strategic reasons. And yet, what we are able to do is hampered so predictably by the Republican party:

Here we go again. James Inhofe, the most prominent climate change denier in the United States Senate, has concocted a new and innovative strategy to thwart the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. To wit, he and his Republican colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee have worked up a plan to simply not show up for next week’s markup:

But Boxer cannot hold the markup unless at least two Republicans show up, and EPW ranking member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) signaled that he has unanimous support among the panel’s minority members to boycott the session until they get more data on the legislation from U.S. EPA and the Congressional Budget Office.

Inhofe said he will wait for Boxer to file an official notice of the markup — expected today — before responding with his own declaration of the GOP’s markup strategy.

“As soon as we find out what her announcement is and what she wants to do, we’ll have our response,” Inhofe told E&E last night. “We’ll have our unanimous expression ready.”

Sadly, this is a continuation of the GOP’s longstanding strategy of delaying clean energy legislation:

• As Chairman Markey shepherded his American Clean Energy and Security Act through the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Republicans employed multiple parliamentary tricks to — as Politico put it — “nitpick the bill into legislative oblivion.” Brian Beutler called these nefarious stall tactics, and noted that Democrats responded by hiring a speed reader.
• Last year during the debate over the Climate Security Act, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell demanded that the entire 491 page bill be read on the floor of the United States Senate. A strategy memo was leaked at the time detailing the Republican strategy for delaying the bill as much as humanly possible.

While this Republican obstructionism is not necessarily surprising, it is especially egregious this time. Here are a few things about this episode that struck me:

1. Despite the fact that Senator Inhofe has been working to orchestrate this obstruction for a week now, Republicans are pretending the effort is being led by the two moderate Republicans on the committee. Politico handled the stenography.

The Politco, acting as a mouthpiece for the Republican Party? Say it isn't so!

Can you imagine how much further we'd get in this country if we didn't have so many idiots in office?

The Washington Note: Lawrence Wilkerson comments on South Carolina's worst

The Democratic Daily: Freedomworks' Little Frankenstein Lab: Oregon

Matthew Yglesias: John Hannah, patriot

Lawyers, Guns and Money: The Tories and Europe

Newshoggers: Hooverville

alicublog: Notes from the 'compassionate conservative' front

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(Apple - Only album released in 1969 - dismal failure, but history had other plans)

There have been those bands whose first and only album came and went unnoticed at the time, but years later achieved Holy Grail status.

This was the case with Apple, a UK band that started in 1968 and promptly disbanded in 1969 and whose sole album "An Apple A Day" became one of the most sought after by collectors for years. Since they achieved no airplay and minimal sales, their reputation grew strictly by word of mouth and from the people who held on to their original vinyl copies like glue.

It's easy to see why. For anyone with a penchant for Psychedelia, Apple is right up your street without being too on-the-money. Probably because they were light on gimmicks it made them enduring over the years, and always good for conversation that starts with "I'll bet you never heard this before."

This track, Buffalo Billycan was actually issued as a single (one of several). Luckily for everyone, the album has been reissued on CD in Europe. So you don't have to go into hock to find a copy.

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(The Jam - with mended fences, talk about a reunion of sorts)

Starting off the week with one of my favorite bands of the late 70s, The Jam. Huge in the UK and Europe but barely a ripple here (radio was in the process of melting down around this time), they turned out some amazing music in the short period of time they were together. This track Carnation is off their final album "The Gift" - sounding a lot like The Style Council which Paul Weller formed at The Jam's demise.

It was probably a preview of things to come.

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(Elbow - After 12 years it's starting to pay off)

Not an obscure band, or one whose entire recorded history fits on one small record, but a band who have always been critically acclaimed and now are becoming wildly successful, 12 years after they got started.

Elbow aren't all that well known here in the States (unless you listen to some of the alternative stations around the country, which are getting to be less and less), but they've always enjoyed a good reputation in their native England and around Europe.

Any Day Now is off their very first release "Asleep In The Back" which came out early in 2001.

It sounded great then - it holds up now.

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(Pamela Hute - What Paris is sounding like these days)

I first discovered Pamela Hute during one of my browses on MySpace in 2006. Her first ep hadn't come out yet and her player had a demo track for Chocolate Soup, the first song of hers I ever heard.

I was hooked after the first ten seconds and I've been a fan ever since.

This track, Hysterical is off her new album Ghost (coming out in December), but she has a new ep called Turtle Tales From Overseas that has this track on it as well. It's available now and I would urge you to fall by her site and pick one up. Her previous ep's have sold out rather quickly, although they are available from iTunes.

Hute is French, but she splits her time between Paris and London and has been doing a lot of club and concert dates all over Europe the past year and several videos.

I have no idea if there are plans to bring her and her band to the States. It would be rather cool if they did (I think she just signed to Warners in France) - but as has happened so many times before, I'm not going to hold my breath.

But check this out in the meantime and visit her site.

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(The Motions - Dutch Psychedelia you probably never heard of)

The Motions were a big deal in Holland from 1963-1971. During their Beat phase they were produced by none other than Scott Walker (of the Walker Brothers) for several singles. And their label, Philips had issued their last album in the States to very little notice. They are all but unknown in the States and really only known by collectors even in Europe.

This track "Wonderful Impressions" comes from their psychedelic period from 1967. It was short lived, but it did yield some interesting tracks, even though their label decided it would be a good idea to mix a fake audience in (think: John's Childrens infamous Orgasm album with overdubbed audience). It doesn't seem to serve a purpose, but luckily it doesn't detract from what is a very nice track.

More unearthed gems.

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(Jacques Helian - A taste of Big Band from France)

And now for something completely different.

Jacuqes Helian and his Orchestra (or et son Orchestre if you're so inclined) from February 24, 1947. "Josephine" featuring Zappy Max, Jo Charrier and Ginnette Garcin on vocals.

No doubt, you've probably never heard French Big Band of the 1940's before. Sure, everyone knows Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelly and The Quintet of the Hot Club of France. But Big Band? Probably not.

Jacques Helian (pronounced "eleeyan") was probably one of the biggest names in Jazz and popular French music from the 1930's to the 1960's. He recorded a massive amount of material and was wildly popular all over Europe and South America.

Aside from many of the Jazz musicians who toured or worked in France from the States, he's really not known here at all. None of his records were ever issued here, even though many were issued in French speaking Canada throughout the 1950's. Jacques Helian is pretty much of an unknown in these parts.

So now's your chance.

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(Sadistic Mika Band - rumored to have been named in honor of Mika's cooking)

Sort of in keeping with the Prog/International feel of the week, I thought I would toss something a little different in the live concert department. The Sadistic Mika Band wasn't really characterized as a Prog-Rock band. They came about at a time Glam was starting to take off in 1972 and had the distinction of having their second and third albums produced by Chris Thomas (whom Mika wound up having an affair with and later marrying) and released in the UK, to good reviews and a decent following.

They toured as opening act for Roxy Music in October 1975 (where this concert comes from) to coincide with the release of their 3rd album "Hot Menu" and did several appearances on British television.

As usual, they were never issued by a label in the U.S. and had only the hardcore import collectors here for a following. Naturally, they never performed live in the U.S. even though there was a lot of press about them and a goodly amount of hype, which in turn made it possible for a number of other Japanese bands to explore popularity outside their own country during the middle and late 70's.

It's highly likely that the popularity in Europe for bands like Sadistic Mika made it possible for bands like Yellow Magic Orchestra (which morphed from ex-Mika Band members) and Ryuichi Sakamoto to establish themselves to English speaking audiences. Just as it was possible performers like Stomu Yamash'ta made it possible for bands like Sadistic Mika to be considered for release in the UK. Just speculating.

Vocals are a bit weak and not their strong suit. But the bulk of the tracks during this concert are instrumental, which are top notch and confirms the idea a lot of great musicians were not confined to a couple of countries.

After the affair surfaced, Mika and Kazuhiko Kato, the bands lead guitarist and estranged husband, divorced and left the band. Mika becoming Mrs. Thomas, Kazuhiko pursuing a solo career before becoming a TV personality, while the rest of the group continued for a time as simply The Sadistics.

Just a reminder that music is the universal language and its spoken everywhere and you don't necessarily have to understand it to get into it.

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(Fields - Just one album. One very rare album)

Heading into Prog territory this week. Fields is probably not a recognizable name, unless you're a big fan of early Rare Bird (oh, haven't heard of them either?)

Both bands have one person in common; Graham Field who has been probably one of the more neglected keyboard players in the 1970's Prog-rock scene. Field was a founding member of Rare Bird and left when the band decided a change in direction was called for. He regrouped and formed Fields and was quickly snapped up by CBS Records in the UK. The result was one album and a couple of singles before CBS lost interest and Fields broke up.

Field went into semi-retirement, but is rumored to be getting active again.

But in the meantime he did leave a very auspicious first (and only) album in 1971, which has seen a brief reissue on CD in Europe and Japan, but nowhere else.

A Friend Of Mine is the track you will hear when you hit the play button.