May 31, 2019

RhoDeo 1921 Grooves

Hello, except for Diana the rest was released by RCA who 30 years later had no problem selling out mrs Ross with remasters filled up with basically dross, i took it upon myself  to weed some out to keep it palatable, for those that want it all, i can say ,you don't do Mrs Ross any justice to want these cynically filled up remasters.


Today's Artists an American singer, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ross rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, which, during the 1960s, became Motown's most successful act, and are the best charting girl group in US history, as well as one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. The group released a record-setting twelve number-one hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100. Following her departure from the Supremes in 1970, she released her eponymous debut solo album that same year, featuring the number-one Pop hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". She later released the album Touch Me in the Morning in 1973; its title track reached number 1, as her second solo No. 1 hit. She continued a successful solo career through the 1970s. ...... N Joy

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 Indisputably a legend, Diana Ross achieved stardom with the Supremes, a vocal group who during the 1960s grew from struggling hopefuls to Motown leaders to one of the most successful recording acts of all time. The singer broke from the group in 1970 and had immediate solo triumphs leading to more than two-dozen solo Top 40 pop hits. Among them are "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (1970), "Love Hangover" (1976), "Upside Down" (1980), and "Endless Love" (1981), chart-topping classics traversing pop-soul, disco, and adult contemporary ballads. No matter the style or emotion, Ross has exuded uncommon levels of glamour and poise, always sounding connected to her material while conveying a sense of perseverance through even the most distressed romantic scenarios within her rich discography. Nominated for a dozen Grammy awards through her work with and without the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-inducted Supremes, and nominated for an Academy Award via her starring role in Lady Sings the Blues, Ross has also been honored by the Recording Academy with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Her still-thriving, six-decade career was celebrated in 2019 with the documentary Diana Ross: Her Life, Love and Legacy.

A brief period in Bessemer, Alabama excepted, Diane Ernestine Earle Ross was brought up in Detroit, her place of birth. In 1959, shortly after she and her family had moved to the city's Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects, she joined Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson in the Primettes, who became the Supremes. From 1964 through 1969, the Motown group topped the Billboard Hot 100 a dozen times, beginning with "Where Did Our Love Go." They repeated that feat with the Grammy-nominated likes of "Baby Love" and "Stop in the Name of Love," continued with the immediate classic "Reflections" -- by which point they were billed as Diana Ross & the Supremes -- and concluded their run with "Someday We'll Be Together." Along the way, the Supremes became one of the most commercially successful groups of all time.

Primed for a solo career, Ross performed with the Supremes for the last time in January 1970. That June, Motown released Diana Ross, the singer's solo debut. Written and produced almost exclusively by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, it yielded hit singles with "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and a remake of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," previously a smash for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. The latter A-side topped Billboard's Hot 100 and R&B charts and earned Ross a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female. The three LPs Everything Is Everything, the soundtrack to the television special Diana!, and Surrender (all 1971-1972) quickly followed and were eclipsed by Lady Sings the Blues (1972), the chart-topping soundtrack to the Motown-produced film of the same name. Ross made her acting debut as Billie Holiday and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Touch Me in the Morning, the Marvin Gaye duets LP Diana & Marvin, and Last Time I Saw Him (all 1973) soon followed. The biggest hit off these three was "Touch Me in the Morning" itself, written by Michael Masser and Ron Miller. Ross' second solo number one, it too resulted in a Grammy best-performance nomination, this time in the pop field. Live at Caesars Palace (1974), Ross' first solo concert recording, acted as a stop-gap before the romantic drama Mahogany, another big-screen Motown production with Ross as the lead actor. Composed by Masser and Gerry Goffin, the film's "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" returned Ross to the top of the pop charts and was Academy Award-nominated for Best Original Song.

Ross' breathy vocals and natural theatricality proved to be perfectly suited for disco. She made another smooth transition with the Marilyn McLeod/Pamela Sawyer-written, Hal Davis-produced "Love Hangover." One of the style's exemplary epics, it went to the top of Billboard's disco, R&B, and pop charts, sending its parent release, Diana Ross (1976), to the Top Ten of the corresponding R&B and pop album charts, and resulted in Ross' fourth performance-related solo Grammy nomination. The singer responded with Baby, It's Me (1977), on which she was paired with Richard Perry, just before the producer helped revitalize the Pointer Sisters. Among the album's three charting A-sides was another song targeting dancefloors, "Your Love Is So Good for Me," which made Ross a best-performance Grammy nominee yet again. Next up was Ross (1978), evenly split between new recordings and sweetened versions of previously unreleased material recorded earlier in the decade.

Ross continued to alternate between careers with The Wiz (1978), a loose film adaptation of the like-titled Broadway musical production, itself a re-telling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz placed within an African-American context. Another Motown production, it was a success outside standard industry box-office measures with an impact deepening across the years. Its soundtrack, certified gold, featured a version of "Ease on Down the Road" -- with Ross joined by co-star Michael Jackson, assisted by co-production from Quincy Jones -- that topped the disco chart and was nominated for a Grammy. Ross' club appeal continued with a further set written and produced by Ashford & Simpson, The Boss (1979), and the following Chic Organization collaboration Diana (1980). The former became her first solo gold album in the U.S. The latter, powered by the number one pop hit "Upside Down" and number five follow-up "I'm Coming Out," trumped it by going platinum, another solo first for the singer. "Upside Down" became her ninth Grammy-nominated recording. The same month the ceremony was broadcast, Motown issued a second patchwork LP of new and polished archival material, To Love Again (1981).

Ross left Motown for RCA, but not before recording "Endless Love," written by duet partner Lionel Richie for the film of the same title. A number one hit on the Hot 100, R&B, and adult contemporary charts, it reappeared on Ross' otherwise self-produced RCA debut, Why Do Fools Fall in Love (also 1981), and was nominated for two Grammy awards: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and one of "the Big Four," Record of the Year. Like Diana, Why Do Fools Fall in Love went platinum. Ross continued to crank out albums for RCA on a nearly annual basis. Silk Electric (1982) was the source of "Muscles," a Top Ten pop, Grammy-nominated hit written and produced by Michael Jackson. She then worked with fellow Detroiter Ray Parker, Jr. and Gary Katz on another album titled Ross (1983), released the same year she gave two historic performances in New York City's Central Park. Swept Away (1984) went gold on the strength of the Top 20 title song and number ten hit "Missing You," recorded respectively with the teams of Daryl Hall and Arthur Baker and Lionel Richie and James Anthony Carmichael. Her RCA phase trailed off with Eaten Alive (1985) and Red Hot Rhythm & Blues (1987), highlighted by "Eaten Alive," featuring supporting vocals from Michael Jackson and additional writing from Barry and Maurice Gibb.

In 1988, Ross and her Supremes partners Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Coincidentally, Ross signed a new deal with Motown and made her return to the label with Workin' Overtime (1989), a new jack swing-flavored album produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers. The title track was a Top Ten R&B hit. The Force Behind the Power (1991) began a lengthy association with producer Peter Asher, but Ross also aimed toward the charts throughout the decade by working with other established studio veterans and emergent hitmakers, from Arif Mardin and Nick Martinelli to Al B. Sure! and Chuckii Booker. "No Matter What You Do," a duet with Sure!, became her final Top Ten R&B hit.
Through the end of the '90s, Ross issued two more studio albums, Take Me Higher (1995) and Every Day Is a New Day (1999), but she spent the majority of the decade successfully positioning herself as a legacy artist. She celebrated the 20th anniversary of Lady Sings the Blues with a Ritz Theatre concert documented as Stolen Moments: The Lady Sings...Jazz and Blues. Less than three weeks after that performance, she recorded Christmas in Vienna with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. Around the same time, she published the book Secrets of a Sparrow, synchronized with a career-spanning box set, Forever Diana: Musical Memoirs. The single-disc anthology One Woman: The Ultimate Collection summarized the box and was particularly successful in the U.K., topping the pop chart on its way to quadruple platinum certification.

The 2000s began with a Supremes tour for which Ross was joined by later members Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, and continued with numerous high-profile solo performances and accolades. Most notably, Ross performed "God Bless America" at the 2001 U.S. Open women's singles final and two weeks later sang the same song at the first professional baseball game in New York -- at Shea Stadium -- following a break prompted by the September 11 terrorist attacks. Duets with Rod Stewart and Westlife were followed by Blue (2006), a standards-oriented project that had been shelved for three-and-a-half decades, intended as the follow-up to Lady Sings the Blues. Shortly thereafter came I Love You (also 2006), Ross' first studio album in seven years. Produced by Peter Asher, the set consisted of covers of classic love songs, including Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "The Look of Love," Harry Nilsson's "Remember," and Heatwave's "Always and Forever." Ross' contributions to the performing arts were subsequently acknowledged at the annual Kennedy Center Honors, and she earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from both the Recording Academy and BET. Over the course of the 2010s, Ross toured regularly and held multiple Las Vegas residencies. President Barack Obama awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Motown continued to issue catalog titles, including Diamond Diana: The Legacy Collection (2017). The documentary Diana Ross: Her Life, Love and Legacy closed out the decade.

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Diana Ross would probably be offended by anyone who called her 1980 smash Diana a comeback, but let's face it -- after the flop of The Wiz, and the way that the disco revolution steamrollered so many of her Motown compatriots' careers, that's exactly what it was. Wisely hooking up with Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (both the most traditionally rooted and most fearless of the major disco-era producers), Ross sounds more forceful than she had in years. The helium-toned style of her early hits with the Supremes is worlds away from the assertive way she rips into the funky hit "Upside Down." Even better, the joyous, celebratory "I'm Coming Out" is probably the best solo track of her career, and the heartfelt "Now That You're Gone" is one of her most subtle ballads. The glossy Chic production might sound a bit dated to some ears, but it's matured much better than many similar albums of the era. Overall, this is, in many ways, Diana Ross' best solo record.



 Diana Ross - Diana  (flac   224mb)

01 Upside Down 4:05
02 Tenderness 3:50
03 Friend To Friend 3:19
04 I'm Coming Out 5:23
05 Have Fun (Again) 5:57
06 My Old Piano 3:57
07 Now That You're Gone 3:58
08 Give Up 3:45

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It was the first album Ross recorded after leaving the Motown label, when she signed a $20 million deal with RCA - Originally, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards were slated to produce the follow-up to the platinum Diana album - However, their schedules were filled with commitments to also produce Debbie Harry's solo debut, Johnny Mathis and another Chic album - Ross had given her word to RCA president, Robert Summers to deliver an album for the 1981 holiday selling season.

The irony of a 37-year-old woman having a huge hit covering an anthem for a bunch of teenagers aside, Diana Ross enjoyed tremendous success with this early '80s album. It was her second platinum album of the 1980s and eventually did better than any other full album she issued in the decade, except for Diana. It also started Ross on a run of youthful hits that would include "Work That Body," "Mirror, Mirror," and the ultimate vanity song, "Muscles."



Diana Ross - Why Do Fools Fall In Love    (flac   307mb)

01 Why Do Fools Fall In Love 2:47
02 Sweet Surrender 4:02
03 Mirror, Mirror 6:01
04 Endless Love 4:49
05 It's Never Too Late 3:12
06 Think I'm In Love 4:08
07 Sweet Nothings 2:53
08 Two Can Make It 3:17
09 Work That Body 4:54
Bonus
10 Mirror, Mirror (7-Inch Remix) 3:59
11 Work That Body (12-Inch Mix) 6:24

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Diana Ross continued her steady pace in the early '80s, scoring a hit single with the curious song "Muscles." She was now established as a stylist and show business celebrity, and seldom evoked the soulful or sensual air that characterized her past material. The songs were also more elaborately produced, the arrangements designed to accent the carefully calculated pauses, sighs, and coos, and the compositions more suggestive in their lyrics than convincing or compelling.



Diana Ross - Silk Electric (flac   300mb)

01 Muscles 4:36
02 So Close 4:12
03 Still In Love 4:06
04 Fool For Your Love 3:47
05 Turn Me Over 1:10
06 Who 3:37
07 Love Lies 3:45
08 In Your Arms 4:05
09 Anywhere You Run To 3:30
10 I Am Me 3:50
Bonus
11 Muscles (12" Version) 6:38
12 I Am Me (Extended Mix) 4:27

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Swept Away was Diana Ross' fourth album for RCA, it finds her working with a variety of producers from Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oates) to Lionel Richie and even taking a turn as producer for a highly eclectic album that varies from her standard pop/R&B to rock. The album opens with the tender Marvin Gaye tribute "Missing You" which is very befitting song for one-time labelmate and also shows off Richie's songwriting skill. Next is the lovely "Touch by Touch" which is a highly enjoyable dance number. Track three is a cover of an old 1960s R&B song "Rescue Me" which Ms. Ross breathes new life in by turning it into a R&B-infused rock song. Track five "Swept Away" was which co-written by Mr. Hall and Sara Allen finds once again going into rock mode with a highly infectious pop-rock number that will make you dance and sing along with it. Following that is "Telephone" which finds her working with Bernard Edwards of Chic again for a tender love song about always being there for that special someone. Next up is also the enjoyable pop song "Nobody Makes Me Crazy Like You Do" and she closes the album out with another cover Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" which once was reworked from the upbeat power ballad to a slow tender R&B song which works well with her vocals.



 Diana Ross - Swept Away (flac   360mb)

01 Missing You 4:16
02 Touch By Touch 4:13
03 Rescue Me 2:40
04 It's Your Move 3:31
05 Swept Away 5:20
06 Telephone 4:08
07 Nobody Makes Me Crazy Like You Do 4:16
08 All Of You 3:57
09 We Are The Children Of The World 4:21
10 Forever Young 4:46
Selected Bonus
11 Swept Away (12'' Long Version) 7:38
12 Touch By Touch (12'' Single Mix) %:38

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Diana Ross got a lot of mileage from this album, although it didn't duplicate the success she'd enjoyed with Swept Away. The title track was a Top Ten R&B hit, thanks in part to Michael Jackson's presence on background vocals, and Experience also made the charts. Ross wasn't the powerhouse she was in the 1970s, so here she basicly joined up with that other 70's powerhouse The Bee Gees, this album was written and produced by the Bee Gees and could well have been released under their name with Mrs Ross featuring. With MJ on the title track and the Bee Gees throughout, it's surprising that the original album and its singles didn't do better commercially. (The Brothers Gibb had post-disco production success with Barbra Streisand and Dionne Warwick.)



 Diana Ross featuring the BeeGees - Eaten Alive (flac   3379mb)

01 Eaten Alive 3:53
02 Oh Teacher 3:37
03 Experience 4:54
04 Chain Reaction 3:48
05 More And More 3:05
06 I'm Watching You 3:49
07 Love On The Line 4:20
08 (I Love) Being In Love With You 4:32
09 Crime Of Passion 3:32
10 Don't Give Up On Each Other 3:45
11 Eaten Alive (Hot Extended Dance Mix) 5:54
12 Experience (Special Dance Mix) 5:45
13 Chain Reaction (Special Dance Mix) 6:52

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May 30, 2019

RhoDeo 1921 Roots

Hello, dance in paradise or dancing on the volcano take your pick, the french speaking Caribbean islands music didn't make much of a dent outside their region and France, yes that Anglophone control took care of that, even now after 2 decades of internet. Then there's this French thing of knowing best in things pertaining culture (Louis 14) it even survived the French Revolution. Well i'm not so sure they know best, releasing a live album and a best of at the same time with the same title Kassav' - Chire  Douvan is beyond bizarre for me, but then i'm not French.


Today's artists is a band from the West Indies created in Guadeloupe in 1979. Their name means cassava (cassava pancake) in Creole.  Their music revolutionized Caribbean music, and helped promote it outside the borders of France and the Caribbean as they have played on five continents.  They gave concerts in Congo-Brazzaville as well as in Senegal, the United States, Japan and even the USSR, becoming the first "black" band to play there.. .......N'Joy

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Zouk is a contemporary dance music of the Caribbean that uses both traditional and high-tech musical resources. It is based on interlocking rhythmic and melodic patterns rather than a dense sound where all instruments are played simultaneously. It is connected to a number of Caribbean musical styles such as biguine, merengue, compass direct, cadence, guaguancó, and danzon. Like all of these musical styles, in zouk, rhythm is one of the most significant elements. There are many musical influences on zouk, and the differences between borrowed styles are often smoothed over rather than accentuated. Strong beats are reinforced and the syncopated bass pattern, like that of salsa or funk, is not used. The timbre of the music (its color, the different ways music "sounds") are a vital element in zouk. By using the technical resources available to musicians today, sound can be manipulated to make the familiar sound new. The sound of the conga may be manipulated electronically to give it a variety of sounds. A drum set may receive the same treatment with some parts of the set being left "natural" while others are altered. A basic rule of zouk is to create space in the music by avoiding an overwhelming density of simultaneous parts, allowing the insertion of interesting sounds into the "holes" that are created. Zouk instrumentation usually includes a brass section, two synthesizers, guitar, and bass, and a rhythm section that includes a gourd shaker, conga, drum set, and tumba. The bass line is more than a rhythmic or harmonic instrument, having taken on more of a melodic function. Of the two synthesizers, one acts as a percussion instrument, reproducing what the percussion instruments do, while the other inserts melodic lines at strategic locations. The guitar plays melodic riffs (short repeated melodic phrases) rather than strumming chords, and is also used for solos. The brass section plays in unison, rarely soloing, and is sometimes used to set up counterpoint to the main melody.


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Kassav 'is considered as the creator of the style zouk desired] by its period of appearance and its new style for the time. Originally, the group decided to renew, modernize and remove from their folk image the carnival root (drum) music they always played. The band combines influences of Kompa, salsa, reggae to the sound rock of the late 1970s, the rhythms of the biguine and merengue.Before the birth of the group, existed mainly as musical styles in Guadeloupe and Martinique:

   
The story of Kassav 'begins in 1979 with Pierre-Édouard Decimus, professional musician in an orchestra (The Vikings of Guadeloupe) dance since the 1960s, and Freddy Marshall. Between 1979 and 1983 several singers will test the machine to zouker.  In 1979, the group's mainstays were Jacob Desvarieux, Georges and Pierre-Edouard Decimus and Freddy Marshall with songs.
 At the release of their second album in 1980, we can hear Jocelyne Béroard in chorus on the title Sun, title it will resume in the album Vini Pou in 1987. In 1981, Christophe Zadire left the band for personal reasons, the band welcomed Jean-Claude Naimro on keyboards and Jean-Philippe Marthély on vocals.  In 1982, it is the shy Patrick Saint-Eloi who joins the group and imposes from then on like Creole lover and will lead a parallel career in parallel.  In 1983, the final mount of the group is made.  Jocelyne, Jean-Philippe and Patrick with vocals, Jacob with guitars and vocals, Jean-Claude on keyboards, Georges on bass, Claude Vamur on drums.  In addition, the group uses two dancers: Catherine Laupa and Marie-Josée Gibon and also to a section of copper which is the particularity of Kassav '

 In 1984, Jacob and George released the album Yélélé with the tube Zouk se sèl médikaman nou which will propel the group to the rank of the greatest [4].  In 1985, it is the first Zenith of the group without the help of the media. That same year, three albums were released An ban chenn by Kassav, An ba latè by Jean-Claude Naimro and an untitled album by Patrick and Jean-Philippe. A year later in 1986, the female voice of the group released her album Siwo [5] which became the first gold record for a Caribbean singer.  It then follows a second tour at the Zenith of Paris and in Africa. In 1987, the Kassav 'machine released a new album, Vini for which will be platinum after two weeks.  On this album, we find many tubes tinged with an African sound like Syé Bwa, Vini pou. At the end of 1988, the band decided to gather all the Caribbean artists in vogue for two concerts under the name of Grand Méchant Zouk.  In 1989, the group is ten years old and for that, a new album is created Majestick zouk and the Zenith is invested three nights in a row for birthday concerts.

 In 1990, Kassav 'organized the second Big Bad Zouk, a concept initiated two years earlier. In 1991, Georges Decimus left the group and was replaced by Frédéric Caracas.  The group also uses choristers to replace Catherine Laupa and Marie-Josée Gibon who will not limit themselves to choreography.  The particularity of these singers is that they come from the English-speaking islands of Trinidad and Tobago.  That same year, Jocelyne released her second solo album titled Milans. 1993 sees the temporary departure of Jean-Claude Naimro, who is going on a world tour with Peter Gabriel.  He is replaced by Thierry Vaton.  In 1995, an important turnover occurred due to the change of manager of the group.  César Durcin left the band and was replaced by Patrick Saint-Elie, a Martinique percussionist.  Douglas Mbida is replaced by the young pianist Philippe Joseph.  Guy Nsangé succeeds Frédéric Caracas on bass.  The biggest change is mainly in the copper section: Claude Romano's trombone starts, Claude Thirifays on saxophones and Jean-Pierre Ramirez on trumpet.  Fabrice Adam, a young trumpet player joined the group in 1994, and Claude Pironneau, saxophonist joined the group from 1998 for some time and finally from 1999 during the group's 20 years in Bercy. It is also the year of the release of their twelfth studio album Difé with many guests such as Manu Katché on drums, Steevie Wonder on harmonica.  A tour will follow with a visit to the Zenith in March 1996.

 1996 is also the release of the album Marthéloi, Marthély and PSE, which succeeds to the Bizness concept in 1985. A year later, Jean-Claude Naimro releases his second solo album Digital dreads in which he invites his friends to  interpret songs.  1998 is the release of two solo albums: Lovtans from PSE and O Péyi from Marthély.  And the band releases an album with Latin sounds a Latin hat where they revisit their greatest hits in Spanish. In 1999, Kassav 'celebrates its 20th birthday in Bercy for 2 days: 32,000 spectators came to attend the concerts.  A year later, the band released their thirteenth studio album Nou la.

 In 2002, it was Patrick Saint-Eloi's turn to leave the group to devote himself to his solo career after 20 years of collaboration within the group.  This is also the year when he produced a last solo album with Kassav, titled Swing Karaib.The solo projects continue the following year, with the release of Jocelyne's third solo album, Madousinay, with a vibrant tribute to Edith Lefel who died in January of the same year.  As for Jacob, he participated in the success of the concept Say time zouk with Passi. In 2004, Georges Decimus returned to the band for the release of the 14th album.  Their song Kolé Séré was featured by Jimmy Buffett.  In 2005, Carnaval tour is the name of a Kassav tour. In 2006, the third edition of GMZ (Grand Méchant Zouk) is organized in Bercy with all the new generation of artists.  It will be a mixed success. Between the tours, the solo projects, Kassav 'meets again in 2007 to present their latest opus, All u need is zouk, which is an almost literal translation of zouk the medikaman nou ni.  Fourteen titles that speak of history, of life simply.Il follows a tour that will make them go through the Zenith in July 2008 as part of the All u need is zouk tour.

On May 16, 2009, Kassav 'celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Stade de France, in front of 65,000 people, with Admiral T in the first part.  A hundred artists accompanied them including Tony Chasseur, Jean-Luc Guanel, Jocelyne Labylle, Princess Lover and Tanya Saint-Val and Congolese Fally Ipupa.  It is also the departure of Claude Vamur after 27 years of collaboration.  Hervé Laval is acting before the group gives the chance to a young drummer Thomas Bellon.  Kassav 'becomes at the same time the first French group to have played at the Stade de France.
In 2011, Kassav 'organizes the 4th edition of Grand Méchant Zouk and fills the Zenith two nights in a row.  The operation is renewed in June 2012. Jocelyne Béroard organizes her first solo concert at Olympia, which has already hosted Patrick, Edith Lefel and Tanya Saint-Val. They are in concert on 7, 8 and 9 June 2013 at the Zenith of Paris for the launch of the Mawonaj tour consecutive tour at the release of the album Sonjé on May 13th.  He pays tribute to Patrick Saint-Eloi and returns to the sources of zouk.  Kassav loses his apostrophe because according to the words of Jocelyne Béroard, it is not very correct in Creole writing.

 2013 is also the year in which, for the first time, the group performed at the Olympia on 8 and 15 December to close their Mawonaj'tour on the metropolitan territory. The sixth edition of Grand Méchant Zouk took place on October 4, 2014 at the Zenith of Paris. On February 11, 2016, the former percussionist of the group, César Durcin dies at the age of 58 following a long illness. On May 27th, 28th and 29th 2016, Kassav 'performed for the last time in his favorite theater, the Zenith of Paris before a new world tour "Chiré Douvan Tour". On October 20, 2017, on the occasion of the seven years of Patrick Saint Eloi's death, Kassav 'is organizing a special edition of Grand Méchant Zouk where many artists have come to perform Patrick's repertoire. On June 16, 2018, Jocelyne Béroard will be performing at La Cigale in Paris for a solo concert before preparations for the 40th anniversary.




 Kassav - Vini Pou    (flac  296mb)

01 Syé Bwa 4:38
02 Flash' 5:00
03 Souf' Zouk 4:25
04 Rosa 4:00
05 Soleil 4:28
06 Ayen Pa Mol 4:13
07 Zot' Vini Pou 5:01
08 Es' Sé An La Fet' 3:52
09 Zou 5:05
10 Palé Mwen Dous' 4:30


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 Kassav - Tekit Izi    (flac  274mb)

01 Ay Mano 4:14
02 Lévé Tèt' Ou 4:08
03 Fabiola 4:21
04 Ba Nou Zouk La 4:20
05 An Nou Tripé 4:07
06 Mwen Alé 4:08
07 Lan Mori Ki Ni 4:27
08 An Sèl Zouk 4:11
09 Mwen Viré 3:51
10 Ou Chanjé 4:01

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Kassav' - Chire  Douvan 1    (flac  555mb)

01 Zouk-la Sé Sel Médikaman Nou Ni6:24
02 Filé Zétwal5:23
03 Chawa 4:43
04 La'w Vlé 3:57
05 Ayé4:26
06 En Balaté 4:40
07 Mwen Malad'aw 5:07
08 Zouke 6:02
09 Kolé Séré 4:45
10 Abò Léwo 3:48
11 Bel Kréati 4:52
12 Se Ou Mwen Inme 3:26
13 Konsa An Yé 4:11
14 Banzawa 6:45
15 Mové jou 5:24
16 Kléré ich-ou 5:15


Kassav' - Chire  Douvan 1  (ogg 184mb)

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Kassav' - Chire  Douvan 2    (flac  525mb)

01 Tim-Tim Bwa Sek 4:25
02 Oh Madiana 4:41
03 Gorée 4:32
04 An-Ba-Chen'n La 5:13
05 Doubout Pikan 3:57
06 San Ayen 4:57
07 Ti Tak Isi 3:50
08 Bizness 5:04
09 An Mouvman 4:59
10 Milans 3:52
11 Soulajé Yo 5:20
12 Ou Pa Ka Sav 5:52
13 Siwo 4:30
14 Zouk Party 4:26
15 Mwen Anvi'w 4:33
16 Pa Bizwen Palé 4:48
17 Pou Zot 4:13

Kassav' - Chire  Douvan 2  (ogg  194mb)

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May 29, 2019

RhoDeo 1921 Aetix

Hello,


Today's artists were a key presence in the synth pop movement of the early '80s, formed in Britain in 1981. Comprised of former schoolmates Pete Byrne (vocals) and Rob Fisher (keyboards), the duo debuted in March 1983 with the LP Burning Bridges, reissued in the U.S. a month later (minus several tracks) as a self-titled effort. The lead single, a majestic cover of the Burt Bacharach-Hal David perennial "Always Something There to Remind Me," emerged as a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching the U.S. Top Ten on the strength of its video, which received heavy airplay on the fledgling MTV network. ... N Joy

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In the early days while still performing in the pubs of Bath, England, Byrne, as one half of the synth-pop pioneers Naked Eyes, along with bandmate Rob Fisher, shared a love for the music of Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. “It was around 1980 that Rob and I formed a band called Neon, that would later include Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal,” says Byrne. “We recorded a few songs, but the band fizzled, and Roland and Curt went on to form Tears For Fears, while Rob and I created Naked Eyes.” Almost immediately, the band signed to EMI and began recording at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. “… I’ve always loved the songs from the great girl singers of the sixties, and one day in the studio we decided to do a cover of one of them; it could easily have been a Dusty Springfield song or a Cilla Black tune, but as fate would have it, we settled on a Sandie Shaw song.” That song, was the Burt Bacharach/Hal David tune “Always Something There To Remind Me,” which immediately exploded into the Top Ten…..followed by the self-penned “Promises, Promises” and “When The Lights Go Out.” The back to back to back hits resulted in massive U.S. radio airplay and an almost constant presence on MTV (even if it was in pajamas.)

Following the release of the band's second album, Byrne moved to California and performed session work. He performed on Stevie Wonder's "Part-Time Lover", sang backgrounds with Rita Coolidge and Princess Stephanie, and wrote and produced for the Olsen twins. Fisher also explored other projects, doing sessions in London and forming Climie Fisher with Simon Climie. The group never toured due to the technical difficulties of recreating their studio sound in concert.

Rob Fisher died on 25 August 1999, aged 42, following surgery for bowel cancer.

Byrne released a solo album The Real Illusion in 2001, which featured some of the last tracks he wrote with Fisher for a proposed third Naked Eyes album. In 2005, Byrne put a band together to play some Naked Eyes shows and has been touring regularly since. In 2007, Naked Eyes released Fumbling with the Covers, an acoustic album which consisted of covers of Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Elvis Costello, among others, along with the Naked Eyes hits.

In the summer of 2008, Naked Eyes completed a US tour along with Belinda Carlisle, ABC and The Human League. In the summer of 2014, Naked Eyes did a US tour with The Go-Go's, Scandal and The Motels.

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Naked Eyes were in peak form for their debut, showing a highly likable, warmer side to the often cold and detached synth-duo form. The songs they're best known for, "Always Something There to Remind Me," "Promises, Promises" and "When the Lights Go Down," are all included here, though the album can also be found in its entirety (save for one track) on the more readily available Promises, Promises: The Very Best of Naked Eyes. [For some reason, Naked Eyes' debut was released in slightly different forms on either side of the Atlantic. Naked Eyes, released a month after its British counterpart, Burning Bridges produced by Tony Mansfield of New Musik fame.



Naked Eyes - Burning Bridges ( 531mb)

01 Voices In My Head 3:43
02 I Could Show You How 3:25
03 A Very Hard Act To Follow 4:05
04 Always Something There To Remind Me 3:36
05 Fortune & Fame 3:18
06 Could Be 2:50
07 Burning Bridges 3:36
08 Emotion In Motion 4:42
09 Low Life 3:53
10 The Time Is Now 3:16
11 When The Lights Go Out 3:02
12 Promises Promises 4:29
bonus
13 Promises Promises (Jellybean Extended Version) 6:55
14 Always Something There To Remind Me (U.S. Remix) 5:44
15 Promises Promises (Extended Version) 6:22
16 Pit Stop 3:32
17 Sweet Poison 3:52
18 Promises Promises (U.S. 7" Remix) 3:45

Naked Eyes - Burning Bridges   (ogg  177mb)

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By late 1984, most synth-pop acts attempted to redefine themselves rather than be trapped by the genre's limited scope. Naked Eyes, however, didn't give up the fight, instead opting to recreate the formula of their debut. Naked Eyes' second album, "Fuel For The Fire," is very similar to their previous album, Burning Bridges. It takes that album's strengths, and emphasizes them more to make a nice follow-up record. Melodically, Naked Eyes is as strong as ever, making tunes that get you hooked and trying to hum along by the first listen. Most of the songs here are much more upbeat and energetic than Burning Bridges's tracks, something they pull off well.

At points throughout this album, the synthesizer creates these very fake-sounding synths, such as in "Once Is Enough" and the intro to "Flag of Convenience." Naked Eyes always uses this in neat ways that add to the sound of the songs they are in. This can be a way to set songs from "Fuel For The Fire" apart from the band's previous album. If you like melody, are okay with pop, and/or liked Burning Bridges, this is a must-listen.The results were predictably less interesting the first outing, but Fuel for Fire did manage to recapture the magic at least once with "(What) In the Name of Love."



Naked Eyes - Fuel For The Fire ( 503mb)

01 (What) In The Name Of Love 4:27
02 New Hearts 3:38
03 Sacrifice 4:07
04 Eyes Of A Child 3:37
05 Once Is Enough 4:10
06 No Flowers Please 4:02
07 Answering Service 3:43
08 Me I See In You 3:34
09 Flying Solo 4:32
10 Flag Of Convenience 4:10
Bonus
11 (What) In The Name Of Love (Extended Version) 6:03
12 Sacrifice (Arthur Baker 12" Version) 6:03
13 (What) In The Name Of Love (Byrne & Fisher Mix) 3:35
14 Two Heads Together 3:51
15 Fuel For The Fire (Demo) 3:46
16 Babes In Armour (Demo) 3:43
17 Sacrifice (Demo) 3:44

Naked Eyes - Fuel For The Fire (ogg  166mb)

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One Way's Everything & More is a godsend for Naked Eyes collectors and serious synth pop fans, since it rounds up all the non-LP tracks, 12" mixes, early singles, and other rarities that the duo released (along with a couple of album tracks from Fuel for the Fire). This also includes singles the band made when it was called Neon, as well as two previously unreleased mixes of the great "Promises Promises" produced by Jellybean Benitez and featuring his then-girlfriend, Madonna, on brief recitation vocals. The rarity of this material would make it necessary for collectors, but it plays to more than just Naked Eyes fanatics because the music is so good. The duo was better than its peers, with a rich yet nimble sound, a good vocalist in Pete Byrne, and strong songwriting skills, all of which add up to one of the most consistently enjoyable catalogs in synth pop. Even better, its songs lend themselves to the kind of elastic remixes that populated the 12" singles of the time, particularly when they were produced by such talents as Jellybean, Arthur Baker, and Tony Mansfield. These mixes provide the opening of the disc, before it gives way to the B-sides and album tracks, then wraps up with the Neon selections, all transferred from vinyl. These are all charming, lo-fi electronic blueprints of the Naked Eyes sound -- melodic and warm electronic pop, thoroughly winning and a very nice way to wrap up a first-rate compilation. Another nice thing about the compilation? The track-by-track notes by Pete Byrne, complete with a fond farewell to his partner, the late Rob Fisher.



Naked Eyes - Everything And More ( 449mb)

01 Promises, Promises (Jellybean 7'' Mix) 3:41
02 Always Something There To Remind Me (Tony Mansfield 12'' Mix) 5:45
03 Promises, Promises (Tony Mansfield 12'' Mix) 6:21
04 (What) In The Name Of Love (Arthur Baker 12'' Mix) 6:04
05 Sacrifice (Arthur Baker 12'' Mix) 6:06
06 Promises, Promises (Jellybean 12'' Mix) 6:56
07 Pit Stop 3:33
08 Sweet Poison 3:53
09 Once Is Enough 4:11
10 Answering Service 3:45
11 (What) In The Name Of Love (Byrne / Fisher Mix) 3:29
12 Making Waves (as Neon) 3:00
13 Communication Without Sound (as Neon) 3:17
14 Me I See In You (as Neon) 3:25
15 Remote Control (as Neon) 2:24

 Naked Eyes - Everything And More (ogg  157mb)

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Two: Dreaming Spires LP (the only LP from this UK minimal wave/experimental electronic duo) . This was a male-female synth duo (Gill and Iain - who, I might add, are both quite attractive and hip-looking. How's that for useless information?. They were from a small town near London. This LP is pretty experimental, especially on the 15-minute "It Won't Work". The term Dreaming Spires have come to denote the sheltered conditions of unwordly academics (Oxbridge). This was released on Future Records, the new wave/synthpop/post punk offshoot of the punk label No Future. This record uses almost all electronics and bass, which is always a great combination that makes for some dark, dark music. Anyway... enjoy!



Two - Dreaming Spires ( 173mb)

01 Picture Frame 4:19
02 Waiting 2:00
03 Regime 4:01
04 Architecture 3:47
05 Pale Yellow 2:22
06 End 2:25
07 It Won´t Work 15:36

  (ogg  113mb)

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May 28, 2019

RhoDeo 1921 Triffids

Hello, lots of traffic here today and lots of re-up requests


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John Wyndham
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John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was a prolific writer of novels and short stories, all published under variations of his name. John Beynon, Lucas Parkes, Wyndham Parkes, John Beynon Harris and Johnson Harris were all called into service as a nom de plume at various points during his writing career1, but it was as John Wyndham that he achieved lasting fame. Wyndham's position within the literary canon is a variable one, for at times he has been admired for writing science fiction which appeals beyond the normal readership for the genre, while some critics dismiss his major novels as 'cosy catastrophes' with little depth or insight and thus easily dismissed.

Early Years:
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John Wyndham's early life was far from settled. He was born in 1903 in Knowle, Warwickshire. His parents separated eight years later, and John and his brother Vivian spent the rest of their formative years in many different towns and boarding schools across England. After leaving school in 1921, he tried his hand at various careers including farming, law and advertising before settling on a career as a writer.

From 1931, his stories began to appear in pulp science fiction magazines such as Wonder Stories, Modern Wonder and Amazing Stories. Many of his early stories were fairly typical SF fare, but Wyndham wanted to stretch the rather limited boundaries of what was considered commercial in the genre and began to explore concepts and themes within these stories which would eventually lead to his more famous novels of the 1950s. These persistent themes include human nature (both good and bad), the co-existence of intelligent species, the evolution of mankind and children being gifted with unusual powers. Like other British writers of science fiction (such as Olaf Stapledon, whose most important works were published during the 1930s; or HG Wells in the final years of the 19th Century), Wyndham was arguably more interested in the exploration of ideas than in characterisation or an eventful plot. However, although glimmers of his ambitions did show through in stories such as 'The Puffball Menace' (1933) and 'Child of Power' (1939), the economics of genre publishing at the time meant that most of his experimentation would have to wait. The editors of the magazines were chiefly interested in straightforward stories of action and adventure.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, Wyndham had some two dozen stories published, many of them falling into the category of 'space opera', although he did also write Foul Play Suspected (1935), a detective adventure set in the world of advertising. Then, during the Second World War, he served his country, first as a censor in the civil service and later in the Royal Signal Corps.

After the War:
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In the aftermath of the Second World War, and amid the beginnings of the Cold War, Wyndham's published output changed greatly. Science fiction in general became more serious than it had been during the 1930s, and some of Wyndham's earliest post-war stories display a profound melancholy, most notably 'Time to Rest' (1949) which explores the end of Earth and the decline of human civilisation elsewhere. During the 1950s, Wyndham wrote the four novels for which he is best remembered. They reflect the fears of the time and also allowed Wyndham to explore the ideas that had been stifled in his earlier short stories. These are the so-called 'cosy catastrophes' where humanity's status quo is threatened by strange and disturbing forces.

The Day of the Triffids:
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Originally serialised in Collier's Weekly in 1951, The Day of the Triffids focuses on an everyman hero and narrator, Bill Masen, who wakes up after an eye operation to find that most of the world's population has been blinded following what may have been an exceptionally bright meteor shower, or possibly a malfunction in an orbiting system of satellite weapons. At the same time, bands of triffids - intelligent, mobile carnivorous plants bred behind the Iron Curtain, valued for their oil and feared for their sting - are roaming the country. These plants take advantage of mankind's sudden mass blindness, and could thus become the dominant species on the planet. Masen wanders the country and encounters a number of groups attempting to deal with the catastrophe in various ways. Slavery, religion and feudalism are options presented to the hero, who rejects them all in turn, preferring to fight the triffids in a small pseudo-family unit. Although the novel does end with a glimmer of hope, much of the situation is left unresolved.

The book was adapted for radio four times between 1953 and 1971. It was also adapted for film in 1962, with the triffids transformed from man-made creations to true aliens which came to Earth in a meteor shower. Starring Howard Keel2, the film expanded the scope of the action to include continental Europe and also gave the triffids a simple weakness that would allow mankind to wipe them out. A BBC television adaptation in the 1980s was more faithful to the original book and continues to be fondly remembered.

In The Day of the Triffids, Wyndham explores the various ways in which society would cope with a huge catastrophe, and finds all existing models of society to be inadequate in this situation. Various groups are doomed because they stubbornly cling to the old ways; by the end of the novel it is clear that adaptation is essential. As Clytassamine, a character in 'Pillar to Post' (1951), says of our civilisation, long gone in her time:

    Each new discovery was a toy. You never considered its true worth. You just pushed it into your system - a system already suffering from hardening of the arteries. [...] It never seems to have occurred to you that in Nature, life is growth and preservation is an accident.... What is preserved in the rocks or in ice is only the image of life, but you were always regarding local taboos as eternal verities and attempting to preserve them.

The world of this catastrophe is certainly not cosy. There are triumphs of the human spirit, but human nature is also seen at its worst: suspicious, exploitative or despairing - several suicides are observed by the narrator.

The Kraken Wakes:
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Two years after forcing mankind to face genetically-engineered plants, Wyndham wrote another book with a similar pattern. Strange meteor showers are observed and, after a while, mankind comes under attack. Ships and islanders disappear and the polar ice caps begin to melt as water-dwelling aliens decide to make this world their own. Our everyman narrator this time is writer Mike Watson, who, along with his wife Phyllis, observes the events. The two of them take very little part in the fight against this fearsome new intelligence, but observe and comment on the effects of the invasion. Phyllis Watson is, for the time, a very strong female character, who has more determination than her husband. They both suffer a nervous breakdown after witnessing a terrible scene, but it is Phyllis who recovers first and who takes some sensible precautions for their future.

Once again, Wyndham examines society's response to a terrible threat, and this time he takes a more global view, as the differing reactions of many different governments and groups are discussed. Essentially, most governments turn out to be rather incompetent and the European response is initially to pretend that nothing's happening - the bureaucratic equivalent of a collective sticking of fingers into ears and singing loudly. With such concentration on the 'what if...' of the situation, there are less action set pieces than in The Day of the Triffids, as Wyndham moves further away from standard science fiction. However, although much is left open-ended, The Kraken Wakes does have a more obvious happy ending than his previous novel.

The Kraken Wakes is also known as Out of the Deeps and has been serialised for BBC Radio three times. The most recent version, which has been released on audio cassette, takes itself terribly seriously and thus ends up being unintentionally amusing.

The Chrysalids:
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Sometimes also known as Re-Birth, Wyndham's third novel of the 1950s followed after another two year gap and altered the pattern completely. This is a post-apocalyptic novel, set many years after a great cataclysm (more than likely of nuclear origin) in what was once Canada. In this world, all mutants are feared, hunted and exiled as humanity clings to a rigid religious purity that parallels Senator McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunts in America. The narrator of the story is David Storm, a telepathic boy, part of a group of similarly-gifted youngsters who must hide their gift for fear of persecution, exile or even execution. Of all Wyndham's novels, this is the most action-packed and one of the most morally ambiguous. Among the various human factions there is no clear right or wrong - almost all factions are quite happy to destroy anyone who is not like them.

As in the two earlier novels of mankind versus the alien intelligence, this novel explores the different ways in which society copes with a cataclysm, but does so with hindsight. The most successful society is the one that is most prepared to adapt, but even this group is not a particularly desirable model to follow. Although this novel has one of Wyndham's most obviously 'happy endings', it is an uncomfortable one.

The Chrysalids has been adapted for radio several times and a stage version was also produced in 1997, performed at the National Theatre in London among other venues.

The Midwich Cuckoos:
--------------------
In 1957, the fourth of Wyndham's most influential novels was published. This is the disturbing tale of what happens when an insignificant English village is cut off from the outside world for a day and finds that almost all of the women present are suddenly pregnant. The resulting children are soon discovered to be quite different from the people of the village, with mental abilities which nobody can fully comprehend. Wyndham's alien intelligence is much more normal than mobile plants or undersea monsters, and all the more creepy because of it. The children are compared, within the book as well as in its title, to cuckoos - birds which lay their eggs in the nests of other species, coercing them to rear alien offspring and draining all their resources.

The novel has many similarities to Triffids and Kraken. The narrator is almost entirely an observer of events - his wife is not among those who bear the children and he is absent from the village for many years. He simply reports on significant events, being present for many of them, but never directly involved. The alien intelligence embodied by the children has a form of hive mind, and the various reactions to the situation, both within Midwich and later, as reported from elsewhere in the world, are examined, to explore once again the ways in which humanity copes with the unexpected. And a consistent theme rears its head once more - where two intelligent species are sharing the same planet, cooperation between them is strained and may not be sustainable. The survival of the fittest includes sapient beings.

A radio adaptation of The Midwich Cuckoos was broadcast on the BBC World Service. It has also been filmed twice, under the more lurid title of Village of the Damned.

Later Work:
-----------
Wyndham never stopped writing short stories, but, like his novels, they changed in tone in the years following the war. The 'space opera' genre was largely abandoned, or when it was used, the stories were more chilling than the usual adventurous fare - 'Survival' (1952), is a borderline horror story and 'Dumb Martian' (also 1952) explores the issues of racism and sexism. Like many other science fiction authors, Wyndham also took an interest in the possibilities of time travel. While his pre-war time travel tales had included alien intelligences, he explored various different paradoxes and concepts during the 1950s and early 1960s. 'Pillar to Post' (1951) is a battle of wills across the millennia; 'Pawley's Peepholes' (1951) is an entertaining speculation on the potential form of time tourism; 'Chronoclasm' (1953) and 'Opposite Number' (1954) are love stories involving time travellers of one kind or another; 'Consider Her Ways' (1956) involves a vision of a future world where the men have been wiped out by disease3. Other stories ponder robotics or raise environmental concerns4. The closest Wyndham came to typical 'hard' science fiction, was in The Outward Urge, a series of linked stories (1958-1959) about the exploration of space which take place over several generations. These stories include much technical detail alongside the reactions of various members of the Troon family to the stages of space exploration which they experience. During the 1960s, Wyndham also published two further novels.

Trouble With Lichen:
--------------------
Published in 1960, this novel explores what happens when two scientists simultaneously identify a substance which slows down the aging process. Both of them realise that such a substance will increase exploitation of the impoverished and widen the gap between rich and poor and each ponders how best to use it for the betterment of mankind. One decides to suppress it, though he is not above using it on himself and his family. The other decides that she trusts women more than men, and in order to tap into the influence that women have over their husbands, she opens an exclusive and expensive beauty salon which is frequented by the wives of MPs and business magnates.

Unusually for Wyndham, this book does not have a single narrator, which makes it clearer than ever that his interest is ideas rather than people. Once again, this book is a theme in search of a plot and characterisation, exploring issues surrounding the commercial exploitation of science which are even more urgent now than they were when it was written. Wyndham also casts light on the situation of women in the middle years of the 20th century: Diana Brackley is presented as an intelligent, forward-thinking scientist and a resourceful and successful businesswoman but, significantly, she is unmarried. Her mother and most of her customers seem content to give up their own power in order to take the rôle of supportive wife and helpmate.

Chocky:
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A touching and intriguing tale quite unlike much of Wyndham's other work, Chocky (1968) concerns a young boy who appears to be in communication with some other form of intelligence. His parents and others wonder whether this is a particularly developed invisible friend, a case of possession, or something else entirely. Unlike most of his earlier work, the book concentrates on one family and thus explores psychological reactions to the strange events in place of the usual sociological speculation.

In another move uncharacteristic of Wyndham, everything is explained at the close of the novel, and the truth of the situation is reminiscent of Olaf Stapledon's Starmaker. This is in many ways a more positive view of alien intelligence than that offered in his novels of the 1950s, although it does contain similar musings on mankind's unwillingness to change.

Chocky has been dramatised twice for BBC Radio and was also filmed for Thames Television as a children's series, later inspiring two original TV sequels - Chocky's Children and Chocky's Challenge.

The End and After...
--------------------
In 1963, Wyndham married Grace Wilson, a teacher. He had been in regular correspondence with her during the war years, but they had known one another for over twenty years before they married. The couple lived in Hampshire until Wyndham's death in March 1969.

Just as many of his novels ended, but didn't quite tell the end of the story, Wyndham's publishing career continued even after his death. Various collections of short stories emerged during the 1970s, and ten years after his death, his estate released Web, a tale concerning intelligent, co-operative spiders which inevitably come into conflict with mankind. The book contains many of Wyndham's most persistent themes - two intelligent species in conflict with one another, a species with a hive mind, the role of women in society, mankind's folly - and while it is not as polished as the novels published during his lifetime, it is generally held to stand up well alongside his other work.

Wyndham's novels were staples of school reading lists in the United Kingdom for many years, and several of them are still very popular, both with science fiction devotees and with members of the reading public who generally avoid the genre. Very much products of their time, his books continue to resonate fifty years later, not only for the frightening alien intelligences, but also for the issues they raise.


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The Day of the Triffids has become a sci-fi classic. It is an engrossing and entertaining novel that contains the best elements of the genre – it indulges the reader with an experience of a fantastical world while making poignant observations about our own. Its wide influence is clear to see in our current era of post-apocalyptic storytelling.

There is a lot of social criticism in the novel, so much so that it is difficult to know where it begins and ends. Barry Langford, who wrote the introduction to this edition, goes as far as to suggest that Masen and Josella are being punished for their former lives as a practitioner of a ‘perverted’ science and a privileged party girl respectively. I’m not entirely convinced of that but it remains clear that the novel has much to say about modern society.

In the novel, individualism is a selfish privilege of modern society. Once the triffids are in control, the individual, and even small groups, cannot hope to survive. Collectivism is the only viable path forward. Even so, the best way to proceed is not clear. Several potential new societies emerge from the egalitarian, militaristic and religious fundamentalist.

Paradoxically, even with the turn towards collective survival, exclusion seems an inevitable part of it. Survivors struggle to know how generous they can afford to be towards those whose chance of survival is low and who will be completely dependent on the more able; about how to reconcile the competing impulses of principle and pragmaticism, of compassion and indifference. The loss of moral direction and the question of how to find it again, of when to adhere to the ethics of the world that has just ended and when to accept that the new world needs a new code if any are to survive, is a significant problem for the characters and a consistent theme of the book.

But I can see, too, that the more obvious humane course is also, probably, the road to suicide. Should we spend our time in prolonging misery when we believe that there is no chance of saving the people in the end? Would that be the best use to make of ourselves?

Society before the triffids take over may be interpreted as an arrogant one where humans, convinced of their own superiority, confidently assume they can control the natural world which is theirs to exploit. The rise of the triffids is the natural world fighting back. There seems to be a critique of technocracy; of a society that has become over-reliant on technology and experts. Even after its downfall, the survivors make no attempt to seek out and collect available knowledge the way they are hoarding food and fuel even though it may prove as essential.

Looking back at the shape of things then, the amount we did not know and did not care to know about our daily lives is not only astonishing, but somehow a bit shocking. I knew practically nothing, for instance, of such ordinary things as how my food reached me, where the fresh water came from, how the clothes I wore were woven and made, how the drainage of cities kept them healthy. Our life had become a complexity of specialists all attending to their own jobs with more or less efficiency, and expecting others to do the same.


Wyndham's novel has a deep thoughtfulness and an observant eye for human behavior. Likewise, its deconstruction of modern civilization is less bombastic and more realistic than 21st century entertainment likes to project.



John Wyndham - The Day of the Triffids 01-03 ( 90min mp3     40mb).


The Day of the Triffids 01 of 17 29:49
The Day of the Triffids 02 of 17 29:51
The Day of the Triffids 03 of 17 29:51

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previously

George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty Four - Part 1 ( 57min mp3     52mb).
George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty Four - Part 2   ( 57min mp3     52mb).

Franz Kafka - The Castle (Das Schloss) 1 ( 57min mp3     52mb).
Franz Kafka - The Castle (Das Schloss) 2   ( 57min mp3     52mb).

Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost World   ( 46min mp3     21mb).
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost World 2 ( 46min mp3     21mb).
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost World 3 ( 46min mp3     21mb).

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May 27, 2019

RhoDeo 1921 Re-Up 190

Hello,



15 correct requests for this week, 2 too early and 2 doubles (same artist) , whatever another batch of 46 re-ups (15.5 gig)


These days i'm making an effort to re-up, it will satisfy a smaller number of people which means its likely the update will  expire relatively quickly again as its interest that keeps it live. Nevertheless here's your chance ... asks for re-up in the comments section at the page where the expired link resides, or it will be discarded by me. ....requests are satisfied on a first come first go basis. ...updates will be posted here remember to request from the page where the link died! To keep re-ups interesting to my regular visitors i will only re-up files that are at least 12 months old (the older the better as far as i am concerned), and please check the previous update request if it's less then a year old i won't re-up either.

Looka here , requests fulfilled up to May 21th !... N'Joy

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3x Grooves Back in Flac (Parliament - Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein, George Clinton - Computer Games, Parliament - Funked Up )


4x Grooves Back in Flac (James Brown - Gettin' Down To It,  James Brown - Say It Loud, James Brown - Sex Machine)



5x Sundaze  Back  in Flac (Komet - Gold, Bretschneider + Steinbruchel - Status, Bretschneider + Duimelinks - Fflux, Frank Bretschneider - Rhythm, Frank Bretschneider - Exp)


2x Grooves Back In Flac (The Fabulous Impressions + We're A Winner , Impressions - My Country+Young Mod's Forgotten Story )



2x Sundaze Back in Flac (Mertens - Best of Wim, Roedelius - Variety Of Moods)



6x Sundaze Back in Flac (Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye , Ulrich Schnauss - Missing Deadlines, Ulrich Schnauss - Far away trains passing by, still in ogg Daniel Land - Love Songs For The Chemical Generation )


3x Sundaze Back in Flac (Robert Rich - Somnium 1, Robert Rich - Somnium 2, Robert Rich - Somnium 3, Robert Rich - Somnium 4)



3x Aetix Back in Flac (Malcolm McLaren - Duck Rock, Malcolm McLaren - Fans, Malcolm McLaren - World Famous Supreme Team Show, Malcolm McLaren - Waltz Darling)


4x inside-out Back In Flac (Brainwave-Sync-Shamanic Consciousness, Koan - When Invisible+Fulfilled Wish, Koan - Two Moon Butterflies, Koan - When the Silence is Speaking)


3x Beats NOW in Flac  (Spooky - Gargantuan, VA - Trance 2, VA - Dub House Disco The Third)



1x Grooves NOW in Flac (Gilles Petterson - Broken Folk Funk Latin Soul)



4x Grooves Back in Flac (Vanity 6 - Vanity 6, Jill Jones - Jill Jones, Wendy & Lisa - Wendy And Lisa , Wendy & Lisa - Fruit At The Bottom)



3x Grooves Back in Flac (Bambaataa & Soulsonic- Planet Rock, Afrika Bambaataa & Family - The Light, Time Zone - Warlocks And Witches)



3x Aetix NOW in Flac (Laughing Clowns ‎- Cruel, But Fair, Laughing Clowns ‎- Cruel, But Fair 2, Laughing Clowns ‎- Cruel, But Fair 3)



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May 26, 2019

Sundaze 1921

Hello, today the Giro saw two big dogs fight over a bone and let a third take it home unopposed, this could be a crucial mistake from Rogliz and Nibali as the third Carapaz is an excellent climber who almost secured his place on the podium today, certainly Nibali should know better than to play poker with a winner like Rogliz, but somehow i think we haven't seen the last of this silly game, they even let Yates whom they had dropped ride back up and past them as they were virtually surplacing, gifting Carapaz 100 sec after they had closed him down to 19 seconds. Anyway an exiting final week coming up. Then there was a qualifying for today's Grand Prix at Monaco, poor Leclerc got timed out as he failed to qualify beyond the first round after being fastest in the third and final training 2 hours earlier, but it's Mercedes again, Hamilton on pole and Bottas behind, latter will undoubtedly be instructed to keep Verstappen at bay, who's Red Bull came up as usual a few tenths short, Vettel on 4 should keep it easy as the battle in front unfolds. And if Verstappen succeeds in passing Bottas it will be much easier for him to do the same. Anyway at Monaco expect the unexpected...




Today's artists are often compared to German krautrock legends Faust and Can, labelled as post, trance, hypno or ambient jazz, they have released more than twenty albums and their sound is an enduring hammer that smashes jazz lethargy. The Australian export trio is an example of three decades lasting virtuosity without limits, whose poetics captivates a wide audience. Tony Buck (drums), Lloyd Swanton (double bass) and Chris Abrahams (piano) – they all belong to the cream of international improvisers. Their impromptu compositions draw on the minimal music tradition and their concerts are often structured around a simple, recurrent melody, gradually reworked in a complex and hypnotic monumentality. They transform ambient chamber sound into a wall of a 'supernatural' intensity  A word of warning is called for here "people who "get it" usually become devoted fans"...  ......N-Joy

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The Necks are a virtually unclassifiable piano trio from Sydney Australia. Neither jazz nor rock, this deceptive unit has kept to a single line of conduct -- whether recording or performing -- throughout its career. Pianist (and sometimes organist) Chris Abrahams, bassist Lloyd Swanton, and drummer Tony Buck usually commence their shows and recording sessions by playing a single, basic, melodic, and rhythmic vamp or figure, that over an extended period of time -- usually an hour or so -- gradually transforms its shape without ever completely discarding it, amid microscopic tonal, dynamic, electronic, and textural changes, as well as similarly minimal harmonic variations are gradually introduced into the music. By the time any particular piece reaches its nadir, the listener will have been transported to very different head and heart spaces as the music evolves into something else entirely -- though all of its root layers are ever present. Some critics have compared them to Krautrock groups like Can and Faust. Others find similarities in the works of minimalist composers like LaMonte Young, Tony Conrad, even Philip Glass. No matter, the Necks exist on a terrain uniquely their own. Whether it is in the gentle, trance-like grooves of 1995's Sex, (issued in the U.S. on the now-defunct, new age-leaning Private Music label, before the group used electronics), the undulating exchange of synth and piano passages in 2003's Drive By, the quaking space rock of the following year's Hanging Gardens, or the dark, brooding, elegantly fractured -- and occasionally explosive -- interludes on 2015's Vertigo, the Necks never remain (quite) static as they shapeshift all through and around the piano trio format. Over the past three decades, their reputation has spread across the globe as a band that only fits comfortably in its own category.

The Necks were formed in 1987 in Sydney by founding mainstays Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck on drums, percussion and electric guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and double bass. In 1983 Abrahams (ex-Laughing Clowns) on keyboards and Swanton on bass guitar were founders of the Benders, a jazz group, with Dale Barlow and Jason Morphett on saxophones, and Louis Burdett on drums; which disbanded in 1985. Abrahams had formed the Sparklers in 1985, a dance pop band, with Bill Bilson on drums (ex-Sunnyboys), Gerard Corben on guitar (ex-Lime Spiders), Ernie Finckh on guitar, Melanie Oxley on lead vocals (ex-Sweet Nothing), and her older brother Peter Oxley on bass guitar (ex-Sunnyboys). Abrahams left in 1987 before that group's first album, Persuasion (October 1988). Buck had been a member of a number of groups: Great White Noise (1983), Women and Children First, Tango Bravo and Pardon Me Boys; prior to forming the Necks. In 1986 Swanton had been a member of Dynamic Hepnotics.

The original lineup of pianist Chris Abrahams, bassist Lloyd Swanton, and drummer Tony Buck has remained stable, even though they all lead busy and highly divergent careers. Abrahams is an acclaimed session keyboardist who has released a couple of solo piano albums, written music for film and television, and toured the world in 1993 with the rock group Midnight Oil. Swanton is a much in-demand session jazz bassist and a regular on the jazz festival circuit. He has played in the Benders and the Catholics, and accompanied Stephen Cummings and Sting. Buck spends most of his time in avant-garde circles, with multiple collaborations and projects. His best-known engagements have included the trio PERIL and the klezmer-punk group Kletka Red.

The group issued their debut album, Sex on the Spiral Scratch label in 1989. It consists of a single track of the same name, which is just under an hour long. Couture noticed that "The difference between Sex and the many other CDs they would record afterwards is the purity: The trio's hypnotic repetitive piece relies only on piano, bass, and drums; no electronics, extra keyboards, samples, or lengthy introduction. The reviews were enthusiastic, most people praising the group's ability to blend simplicity and experimentation. They would play whenever the three musicians were in Australia at the same time. The next three albums experimented with the format, integrating occasional guests (Stevie Wishart on Aquatic), electronics, and more. But, by the 1998 Piano Bass Drums, the recipe had become fixed and would not change anymore.

In 1996, the Private Music label released Sex in the United States. It was the Necks' first exposure on the North American continent and it did not get them far. But Europe was catching on and the group began a series of annual tours there. Piano Bass Drums and the soundtrack for Rowan Woods' film The Boys both received Australian award nominations in 1998. The more energetic, almost space-rocking Hanging Gardens, released in 1999, opened more doors, including a first American tour in late 2001. The album was picked up for distribution by the British avant-garde label ReR Megacorp the same year. Another North American tour in 2002 followed the release of Aether, the group's studio masterpiece. Drive By followed in 2003, and took home the ARIA Music Awards Best Jazz Album prize in 2004.

Subsequent albums Mosquito/See Through (2004), Chemist (2006), Silverwater (2009), and Mindset (2011) continued to bring in the accolades, delivering consistently fresh takes on the trio's signature riffing. In 2013 they released Open which, like its 2015 single-track follow-up Vertigo, saw a return to the long-form improvisation of their earlier works. Arriving in 2017, the ambitious Unfold, a double album on Stephen O'Malley's Ideologic Organ label, it featured four non-sequential tracks (they could be heard in any order) -- each is its own suite. During the summer of the following year, the trio issued BODY, their 20th album on Family Vineyard, showcasing a return to the single, long-form improvised work.

Geoff Winston of London Jazz News described how "Each performance by [the Necks] begins with a blank page which one of the trio will start to fill in to commence the journey, an uninterrupted set of around forty to sixty minutes. There are no rules, no agreements about who will take that lead and about how the discourse will evolve. The only criteria that apply are those of their own impeccably high standards." Typically a live performance will begin very quietly with one of the musicians playing a simple figure. One by one, the other two will join with their own contributions–all three players independent yet intertwined. As the 'piece' builds through subtle micro-changes, the interaction of their instruments creates layers of harmonics and prismatic washes of sound that lead some to apply the genre label 'trance jazz'. Their live performances can be challenging for those expecting a conventional musical experience.


Their soundtrack for The Boys (1998) was nominated for ARIA Best Soundtrack Album, AFI Best Musical Score and Australian Guild of Screen Composers Award. They have also recorded soundtracks for What's The Deal? (1997) and In the Mind of the Architect (three one-hour ABC-TV documentaries, 2000). The band won two ARIA awards for the albums Drive By (2003) and Chemist (2006).



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The Necks' first album was released in 1989 in Australia and in 1996 on the label Private Music in the U.S. Right from the start, all the elements of the group's sound were firmly in place. The difference between Sex and the many other CDs they would record afterwards is the purity: The trio's hypnotic repetitive piece relies only on piano, bass, and drums; no electronics, extra keyboards, samples, or lengthy introduction. We would have to wait for Piano Bass Drums nine years later before they would come back to these essentials. Apart from the instrumentation, everything here is as one would expect from a Necks album. There is a single hour-long track, a two-bar motif repeated endlessly with minute variations "populating" it. Pianist Chris Abrahams remains self-effaced, keeping things very quiet. The light swing in Tony Buck's high-hat and Lloyd Swanton's bass give the piece a serious jazz feel -- probably the reason why the group continued to be considered jazz, even though their music exists outside standard categories. It all works well, better than in Aquatic. The music here is not as communicative as in Piano Bass Drums, nor as mesmerizing as in Aether or as contagious as in Hanging Gardens. In the end, Sex stands in the Necks' discography as an average example of their work. One cannot point any specific problem, but they did better albums than this one.



The Necks - Sex ( 362mb)

01 Sex 56:06


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Although Next is officially the group's second release, tracks 1 and 3 (Garl's and Pele) are infact the first studio recordings the Necks ever made. In contrast to the single track form of Sex (their first album), Next contains 6 tracks some of which see the band augmented by various guests namely; Dave Brewer on guitar; Michel Rose on pedal steel; Mike Bukovsky on trumpet; and Timothy Hopkins on saxophone. The follow-up album Next literally continues where its predecessor left off, opening with ten seconds of, um, Sex before launching into six new tracks. Additional instruments this time around include guitar, trumpet and saxophone. “Pele” and “The World At War” retain the ambient grace and spare, hypnotic pulse of the previous album. The more upbeat “Jazz Cancer” and “Nice Policeman, Nasty Policeman” both have a certain rude vigor, while the amusing title track owes obvious inspiration to the David Byrne/Brian Eno album My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (1981) with sampled voice fragments woven into a funky, third world polyrhythms.

The first two Necks albums are best starting points for newcomers, firmly establishing the trio's subtly eclectic sound and spare, minimal style. If these are to you taste then a number of subsequent releases are equally compelling.



The Necks - Next (flac  397mb)

01 Garl's 7:19
02 Nice Policeman Nasty Policeman 4:54
03 Pele 28:31
04 Next 9:49
05 Jazz Cancer 6:12
06 The World At War 16:35

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The Necks make free-flowing music using a very rigid canvas. For Aquatic, they made the rules a bit more supple. First, unlike all their other albums, it doesn't contain a single hour-long piece, but two tracks of a little under 30 minutes each. Second, the trio of Chris Abrahams, Lloyd Swanton, and Tony Buck is joined for the second piece by Stevie Wishart on hurdy-gurdy. This old but still highly unusual instrument shatters the standard mood and pace of a Necks tune. The collaboration works very nicely and is refreshing, even surprising, to an old fan's ears. Yet, Aquatic falls below the group's average and that has little to do with Wishart's guest appearance. One finds the expectable artistry and charm, the almost easy listening/light jazz atmosphere, but this music is all about repetition and hypnotic induction and somehow, for reasons hard to explain, the ingredients of the recipe fail to coalesce into something as soothing as Sex or as captivating as Aether. Not a bad album by itself, Aquatic doesn't showcase the trio at its peak form. The album appeared in Australia in 1994 on the group's own Fish of Milk label. Carpet Bomb released it in the U.S. five years later.



The Necks - Aquatic ( 323mb)

01 Aquatic 1 27:37
02 Aquatic 2 25:31

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Released in 1996, Silent Night is a double-CD set. Each disc contains a single one-hour piece, "Black" and "White." With this album the group firmly established what would remain their highly distinctive sound for years. "Black" begins with samples from what sounds like old movies. Similar snippets will reappear throughout the piece, providing a strange "cinema for the ear" experience for a music that remains pretty static. Things begin with a slow-paced bass riff. Tony Buck keeps the drums very quiet. A short piano motif in the low register and ethereal organ chords help build an atmosphere akin to film noir. The samples greatly contribute to the mood, but they can also be distractive. As suggested by its title, "White" is less dark. The samples are limited to light sounds and electronics, mostly in the middle of the piece and confined to the background. The piece begins on a quirky 12/8 ostinato that eventually evolves into a conventional 6/8 riff. Chris Abrahams plays mostly the piano, but adds occasional drops of organ, scattered staccato notes one could mistake for something more electronic. A small but gradual buildup in the last third leads to a quick finale that leaves only a bass drum pulsating in the distance. Very well done, but not as spellbinding as the group's later works.



The Necks - Silent Night 1 ( flac   368mb)

01 Black 63:29

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The Necks - Silent Night 2 (flac   321mb)

01 White 51:51

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