Lee Hazlewood - Poet, Fool Or Bum/Back On The Street Again (EMI - 1973/Maverick - 1977)

Poet, Fool Or Bum and Back On The Street Again are certainly not Lee Hazlewood most revered albums. Poet, Fool Or Bum was greeted by a one word review by the NME ("bum") while Back On The Street Again, recorded in FM hard rock band Scorpions studios in Germany for radio programmer Bobby Bobcine, was just ignored. The album only came out in Sweden, Holland and Germany. Poet, Fool or Bum deserves clearly to be rehabilitated to its real value and is a good Lee Hazlewood record. Eveything we come to like about him is present here. His deep voice from out of grave, his lush arrangements between pop and country. The only things missing are duos with girls. You can find duos with girls on Back On the Street Again but the production work sounds just too cheesy most of the times. It was smelling the end for the great Lee Hazlewood. He never really came back but never gave up nor sold out.

 Download => Lee Hazlewood - Poet, Fool Or Bum/Back On The Street Again

Super Diamono feat. Omar Pene & Ismaël Lô - Star 80s (Frochot Music Cantos - 2010)

"This album contains a selection of the strongest tracks released by Super diamono between 1980 and 1984. During this period, two incredible singers (...) shared centered stage - Omar Pene and Ismaël Lô. Behind them (...) the band made full use of three years' musical research carried out in the four corners of Senegal." Super Diamono was not an hotel or club dance band. They considered themselves as rebel and were signing for the peasants and the poors against corruption and and President Senghor authoritarian regime. Their mix of ethnic musics, jazz, funk and reggae with psyche flavor is purely unique, original and outstanding. 

 Download => Super Diamono feat. Omar Pene & Ismaël Lô - Star 80s

Erotico... Nicaud (Barclay - 1970)

Yes the music sounds like what the cover looks like: erotic gallic pop, in the great Serge Gaisnbourg tradition. Philippe Nicaud was a second rank French actor but was pening texts full of sex and filth when it was about signing. In his case, it's more talkover comedy than actual signing in fact. The symphonic and pop orchestration, influenced by bossa nova and easy listening, was due to Gérard Gustin, a guy you can find behind a lot of French records of the time. Listening to this record is like watching a 70's porn: it's fun, fresh, liberating and makes you believe that something is missing today when it comes about the graphic representation of sexual intercourses between consenting adults. Erotico... Nicaud had the reputation to be a hard to find must-have UFO among record collectors. Vadim Music reedited it in 2009 and it was a brilliant idea. Enjoy, you perverts... It's DSK favorite record, I heard.

 Download => Erotico... Nicaud

Jorge Ben - Alô Alô, Como Vai ? (Som Livre - 1980)

Jorge Ben is my favorite Brazilian singer and musician. His mix of samba, pop, soul and, here, disco funk is unique and belongs only to himself. His songs are so good and catchy you can't help but hum them all day long. Like a Brazilian Stevie Wonder, he churned out masterpieces after masterpieces in the 70's and at the beginning of the 80's, releasing at least one album a year. The most surprising is that the guy was nerver properly distributed in Europe and his discography was erratically released. The names of the albums were changed, the covers as well and it is quite difficult to find his records, even in CD. I don't know if Alô Alô, Como Vai ? was even released somewhere in vinyl. I finally found it thanks to the CD reedition made by a Spanish bargain label, Discmedi. Alô Alô, Como Vai ? is maybe  not Jorge Ben most famous  and laudated LP but there are plenty of nice breaks and floor fillers in it. It's definitely worth a listen.

 Download => Jorge Ben - Alô Alô, Como Vai ?

Lee Hazlewood - The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes & Backsides (1968-71) (Light In The Attic - 2012)

LHI stands for Lee Hazlewood Industries. The label was created by the singer in 1967 to support his own releases and a few others. IN 1971, the adventure was over. This compilation focuses on the sides released by Lee during this three years ventures as singles or on the albums The Bed, Cowboy In Sweden, Requiem For An Almost Lady and The Cowboy & The Lady. You can find as well a previously unreleased song, I Just Learn To Run. For those who still doubted, those 17 magnificent songs, between luxuriant country and magnificately crafted and orchestrated pop, prove that Lee Hazlewood was one of the brightest composer and musician of the era. The record cover is brilliant and sums up perfectly what's inside. One of the best new record I bought this year.

 Download => Lee Hazlewood - The LHI Years

Star Band De Dakar - Star 70s (Frochot Music Cantos/Bellot Records) - 2010)

The Star Band was created by Ibra Kassé in the 60's as an house band for his club, the Miami, set in Dakar, the capital of the then newly independent Senegal. The orchestra was  playing latin music (cha-chas, pachangas, merengués or rumba) for the youth of Dakar elite. The Star Band will nurture Senegalese greatest musicians (Pape Seck, Balla Sidibé, Youssou N'Dour, Pape Fall, Laba Sosseh, etc.) before they leave  to create their own orchestra. That in the star band that Pape Seck will mix latin music with sabar drums and m'balax rythms, signing in Wolof as well as in Spanish, giving birth to Afro-feeling and M'balax.This compilation features tracks recorded between 1975 and 1979 just before The Star Band De Dakar definitely disbands. I don't know if their best titles are featured here, as I am not a specialist of African music, but this record is refreshing, excellent and a good way to discover this great band.

 Download => Star Band De Dakar - Star 70s

Jean-Michel Jarre - Les Granges Brûlées (Dreyfus - 1973)

Les Granges Brûlées is a 1973 movie by Jean Chapot with some of the best French actors of the era, Alain Delon and Simone Signoret. It is the story of a judge (Alain Delon) who is investigating the murder of a young girl in the French country. Her body is discovered near a farm run by a strong woman, Simone Signoret and quickly the judge suspects a member of the family being the murderer.  Jean Chapot and Alain Delon didn't get well together and quickly the movie was finished by the star himself without Jean Chapot who had left the set. The music is the first record released by French king of keyboards, Jean-Michel Jarre. Jean-Michel Jarre is the son of French soundtrack composer Maurice Jarre so it must have been a real challenge for him to dare releasing a soundtrack. Jean-Michel Jarre only used keyboards for the soundtrack, making proto electronica. Jean-Michel Jarre then mixed his electronic song with pop FM and became a billionaire. But this another story and Les Granges Brûlées is still a landmark in electronic music history.

 Download => Jean-Michel Jarre - Les Granges Brûlées

Keith Hudson - Rasta Communication (Deluxe Edition) (Joint International/Greensleeves - 1978/2012)

VP Records just had the excellent idea of reissuing Keith Hudson masterpiece, Rasta Communication, in a deluxe edition full of excellent bonuses: you can find the original album , 12" mixes of Nah Skin Up, Felt We Felt The Strain, Bloody Eyes, the 7" version of Rasta Country and an extra CD with a dub version of the album. Rasta Communication was mixed by King Tubby so there are pretty good chances that the dub master himself was invested in the dub version of the album. With Rasta Communication, Keith Hudson was targeting Bob Marley's sales figures. He never achieved them but at least realized a perfect roots joint and and a true reggae heads favorite.