Alphabet Soup II ( U)

Hello, time for another Alphabet Soup II, we say hello to U ..from the mists of time we see rising Uriah Heep, still touring i might add. Over the years they have released 21 studio albums, 12 live albums, 13 compilation albums and 27 singles and still touring to this day, althought there's just one original member left, Mick Box, that said some of the current line up have been part almost 3 decades now. Way to go....With our next band, their first strike took them almost all the way, set up as an open project The Unknown Cases just released the one album, Cuba a decade after their megahit Masimbabele..it's German re;ease hasnt reached Discogs...whats in a name i'd say ? Do you really think Usain Bolt would be the worlds topsprinter, if his father's name had been Snail ? I dont think so.. but i drift off ..The guys behind The Unknown Cases got distracted and entered the dance scene as Trance Groove, as such they released a considerable body of work.....finally Unkle , i was unpleasently surprised when my disk of Psyence Fiction showed damage which rendered the last 3 tracks unusable. Now i do have their other work so i switched to Never, Neverland. It didnt get the DJ Shadow status obviously, but it did produce a face, one that got numerous surgeries in the years following...i almost forgot..being a good customer i got slipped a CDR copy from the Revisited album..really dislike that strategy, very disrespectful to fans and early adopters to release the same album with a bonus remix disk one year later ..Well its here now, btw many many remixes followed, it was as if Unkle intentionally tries to push fans away. If not, they should have set up a website where there body of work is available for download and at reasonable prices....


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Uriah Heep - Live (73, flac ^ 420mb)

Uriah Heep's by-the-books progressive heavy metal made the British band one of the most popular hard rock groups of the early '70s. Formed by vocalist David Byron and guitarist Mick Box in the late '60s, the group went through an astonishing number of members over the next two decades -- nearly 30 different musicians passed through the band over the years. When Ken Hensley (guitar, keyboards, vocals) , bassist Paul Newton joined the pair and drummer Nigel Olsson got together with the duo Uriah Heep had taken shape.

Uriah Heep released their debut album Very 'eavy...Very 'umble (called Uriah Heep in the U.S.) in 1970. It introduced a heavy organ and guitar-driven sound, with David Byron's theatrical, dynamic vocals soaring above thunderous sonic backgrounds, although acoustic and jazz elements also featured in the mix. The album's title references the signature phrase of the Dickens character Uriah Heep ("very 'umble") from the novel David Copperfield from which the band took its name. After its release, Keith Baker became the group's drummer; he recorded Salisbury, the group's second album, before deciding he couldn't keep up with the band's extensive touring and was replaced by Ian Clarke. Their second album, Salisbury, was more squarely in the progressive rock genre, with its 16-minute title track featuring a 24-piece orchestra; it also included Lady in Black. Later that year, Ian Clarke was replaced by Lee Kerslake and Gary Thain replaced Newton to became the group's bassist. This lineup of Uriah Heep was its most stable and popular; beginning with 1972's Demons and Wizards, they released five albums between 1972 and 1975. Including the live album at hand here.

Their third album, "Look at Yourself", released at the end of 1971, included the single "July Morning". Subsequent releases would find the group's ever-shifting lineup (between 1969 and 1980, the band changed drummers five times, bassists four times, and lead singers twice) frequently exploring fantasy-oriented lyrical themes, often in lengthy, multi-part compositions, largely penned by Hensley, who would eventually come to dominate the band during his tenure. On December 8th 1975, New Zealand-born former bassist, Gary Thain, was found dead in his Norwood Green home, aged 27, having overdosed on heroin.

After David Byron left (replaced by John Lawton), Uriah Heep turned away from fantasy-oriented lyrics and multi-part compositions back toward a more straightforward hard rock sound typical of the era. The replacement of Lawton with vocalist John Sloman for the 1980 album Conquest didnt go down well, Ken Hensley departured in fury and left the group in a state of collapse. That would have been it were it not for Mick Box he soldiered on took aboard new members and Uriah Heep continued to tour and release both (occasional) studio and (frequent) live albums. The lineup was unchanged from 1986 until early 2007, being veteran Mick Box at the helm, Trevor Bolder on bass, Lee Kerslake on drums, vocalist Bernie Shaw and Phil Lanzon on keyboards. In early 2007 drummer Lee Kerslake had to leave the group due to ill health. In March 2007, the band recruited Russell Gilbrook as their new drummer, and immediately started recording a new studio album entitled Wake the Sleeper. Universal Music finally released Wake the Sleeper on June 2, 2008.



01 - Introduction (1:02)
02 - Sunrise (4:13)
03 - Sweet Lorraine (4:39)
04 - Traveller In Time (3:27)
05 - Easy Livin' (2:55)
06 - July Morning (12:03)
07 - Tears In My Eyes (4:41)
08 - Gypsy (13:59)
09 - Circle Of Hands (8:55)
10 - Look At Yourself (7:53)
11 - Magician's Birthday (1:14)
12 - Love Machine (3:26)
13 - Rock n Roll Medley (8:29)
-------Roll Over Beethoven
-------Blue Suede Shoes
-------Mean Woman Blues
-------Hound Dog
-------At The Hop
-------Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On
-------Blue Suede Shoes

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The Unknown Cases - Cuba (flac 439mb)

The Unknown Cases developed out of DUNKELZIFFER back then. The band name is a somewhat translation of the German word "DUNKELZIFFER" into English: We simply wanted to make music that was fun, without having to discuss and agree with five other band-members first. We wanted to take things in our own hands. This means being in charge and not shifting the responsibility to another band-member or like a guest-performer, but being responsible, and producing Helmut Zerlett and Stefan Krachten initially planned The Unknown Cases as a loose project, where new people could join at any time. New musicians from song to song. One day, they had the idea to call Jaki Liebezeit of Can to ask him if he'd join us in the rehearsal-room. Thats how the Can-members became our teachers, and that's why groove's always a priority in our projects. Through Can we got to know Reebop Kwaku Baah, former percussionist of Ginger Baker as well as bassist Rosko Gee (Traffic). The first time they were mentined was with the release of "Masimbabele" in 1983, trendsetter for ethno-dancefloor.

One of the biggest fans of the record was the legendary radio DJ John Peel - over several weeks, he played Masimbabele almost daily in his radio show on BBC Radio1. "A record you wish would never end" he moderated the single. The 12" made history as no other remained available in their original version and original packaging for a full decade as did Masimbabele. Meanwhile it's an expensive collector traded on eBay It influenced clearly tracks of other artists, be it in MARRS ( "Pump Up The Volume"), Ofra Haza ( "In Nin Alu"), Art Of Noise or Massive Attack. Peter Gabriel to released Masimbabele introducing Africa, a very successful World Music compilation on his Real World label, contributing significantly to global dissemination of the track.

Zerlett and Krachten didn't really plan to go onstage with The Unknown Cases at first it was a pure studio-project. Only later, in 1991, did we put together a band to tour with, which included Alex Heilhecker. In 1995 The Unknown Cases released their only album "Cuba". The title was inspired by the cover by Walter Dahn, which reminded us of pictures of Cuba. Besides others, Rosko Gee, former bassist of TRAFFIC and CAN (vocals in "She knows it"), as well as Dj Heli joined us and the rapper XL Singleton, whose single "Tequila" was a hit in France collaborated on it. The album includes tracks from over 10 years of work. Most of it hadn't been released until then. When will the next album be released - I don't know. By the way, The Unknown Cases also produced the music for the movie "5-Uhr-Schatten".

The cover of the Unknown Cases album "Cuba" was made by Walter Dahn (a student of Josef Beuys). Collaborations on several projects connected me to Walter Dahn, besides others the project #9 Dream. I've been a fan of his art for a long time, especially of his photography. The hyenas, by the way, are a picture of a piece in the Museum of Modern Art in New York." Another project of Zerlett / Krachten is Trance Groove one could say it's their main activity as they recenly released a sixth album, Orange.



01 - The Traveller (4:15)
02 - Stop the madness (4:27)
03 - Masinmabele (5:50)
04 - Mountains (6:04)
05 - (i'm an) Unknown case (5:27)
06 - Memowalk (3:54)
07 - If you want me to stay (5:50)
08 - Nenem auryn (7:01)
09 - T.M.Y.S (3:22)
10 - She knows it (4:00)
11 - Bogota boogie (dub) (7:01)
12 - Travel to the center of paradise (3:41)
13 - Monkey chant (3:22)
14 - Dal martino (2:54)


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UNKLE - Never, Never, Land (03 ^ 433mb)

Unkle (also written as UNKLE and U.N.K.L.E.) were founded in 1994 by school friends James Lavelle and Tim Goldsworthy. They were joined by Masayuki Kudo and Toshio Nakanishi of the Japanese hip hop crew Major Force. They also brought on board a host of collaborating artists, including Money Mark ( Beastie Boys), and the Scratch Perverts. Their first release in 1994 was the EP The Time Has Come, on Lavelle's recording label Mo' Wax.In 1995, while working on their debut album, Lavelle and Goldsworthy disagreed over the direction the music was taking. Goldsworthy wanted to continue with the Mo' Wax house style of earlier tracks, while Lavelle wanted to bring in singers, hip hop and rock artists. Goldsworthy left the group and went on to work with Belfast DJ and producer David Holmes. From these early sessions, Berry Meditation and several tracks with Money Mark and Beastie Boys producer Mario Caldato Jr. were subsequently released as singles, and several without Lavelle surfaced on the album Major Force West in 1997.

Lavelle drafted in DJ Shadow to work on the debut album, and essentially discarded all previously recorded material. Lavelle and Shadow released Psyence Fiction in 1998 to critical acclaim. The album included collaborations with an all-star lineup including Thom Yorke, Mike D (Beastie Boys), Kool G. Rap, Jason Newsted (Metallica), Badly Drawn Boy and Richard Ashcroft (The Verve). Shadow left the group after touring Psyence Fiction and was replaced by turntablist group the Scratch Perverts, who deconstructed the album and performed it live on turntables in 1999.

In 2001, Lavelle, amid much work as a DJ, recruited singer/songwriter Richard File together they resurfaced as Unklesounds, with a DJ mix created for Japanese radio entitled Do Androids Dream of Electric Beats? This highlighted a new, more electronic direction the group had taken, and featured a number of tracks from Psyence Fiction, remixed in an ambient style. Richard File co-produced, played and sang on the second album, Never, Never, Land, released in 2003. The album again featured a number of high-profile contributors, including Ian Brown, Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Robert Del Naja (Massive Attack) and Mani (The Stone Roses, Primal Scream) among others. Due in part to label changes (the album was variously released by Mo' Wax, Universal Island Records and Global Underground) and Lavelle's trademark insistence on multiple formats, it was not a major success.

Lavelle and File continued releasing mixes as Unklesounds. The mix album Edit Music for a Film: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Reconstruction, featuring movie samples and tracks from film soundtracks, was created for the After Dark 2004 event at the ICA London. A single CD version was handed out at the event, and it was released officially as an extended two disc set in 2005. In September 2006, Global Underground released Self Defence: Never, Never, Land Reconstructed and Bonus Beats, a CD box set of remixes and bonus tracks from the Never, Never, Land sessions, including tracks previously only available on the original DVD release of the album. It also contained remixes of a track mooted for their next album, featuring Ian Astbury of The Cult, titled "Burn My Shadow".

War Stories, the third album from Unkle, was released in summer 2007. The album again featured a number of guests including Josh Homme, Gavin Clarke, Robert Del Naja, Ian Astbury, The Duke Spirit, Autolux and Neil Davidge. Following the release of the single "Hold My Hand", Pablo Clements (of The Psychonauts) became an Unkle member. In January 2008 Unkle released More Stories, containing a mix of B-sides, remixes, unreleased War Stories session tracks, and music composed for the film Odyssey In Rome. The same month, Richard File announced he was leaving Unkle after 10 years' collaboration to pursue work with his new band, We Fell to Earth. Unkle's fourth full album titled End Titles... Stories for Film was released in July 2008. It includes collaborations from Chris Goss, Black Mountain, Philip Sheppard, Dave Bateman, Joel Cadbury, and James Petralli (White Denim). The album is described in the sleeve notes by Lavelle as "not a new album in the usual sense, but new music that has been inspired by the moving image."



01 - Back And Forth (0:54)
02 - Eye For An Eye (5:45)
03 - In A State ( Feat Jarvis Cocker ) (6:59)
04 - Safe In Mind (Please Get This Gun From Out My Face) (Voc.Josh Homme ) (6:21)
05 - I Need Something Stronger (4:08)
06 - What Are You To Me? (6:52)
07 - Panic Attack (5:13)
08 - Invasion (Voc.Robert Del Naja) (5:15)
09 - Reign (Voc.Ian Brown) (5:32)
10 - Glow (4:18)
11 - Inside (7:21)
12 - Awake The Unkind (Bonus Track) (4:34)

On October 24, 2004 an expanded edition entitled Never, Never, Land Revisited was released.

UNKLE - Never, Never, Land Revisited (04 ^ 469mb)

01 - Blackout (6:51)
02 - Tracier (2:09)
03 - Panic Attack (Ape Sounds remix) (6:08)
04 - Reign (Psychonauts remix) (9:44)
05 - In A State (DFA remix) (11:59)
06 - Invasion (Medway Vs Eva Coast To Coast remix) (8:41)
07 - Have You Passed Through This Night (9:35)
08 - Glow (Hybrid remix) (7:58)
09 - In A State (Sasha remix) (11:04)

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