RhoDeo 1925 Re-Up 194

Hello,



16 correct requests for this week, 1 at the wrong place,  0 double (same artist) , whatever another batch of 55 re-ups (16. 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 June 20th !... N'Joy

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5x Aetix Back in Flac (Marc Almond ‎- Mother Fist And Her Five Children,  Marc Almond - The Stars We Are, Marc Almond - Jacques, Marc Almond - Enchanted, Soft Cell - Science Fiction Stories)


3x Sundaze Back in Flac (Blamstrain - Ensi,  Blamstrain - Disfold, Blamstrain - Lowblow)



4x Beats  Back  in Flac ( Thomas Brinkmann - Studio 1 Variationen, Thomas Brinkmann - Rosa, Thomas Brinkmann - Tour De Traum, Thomas Brinkmann - Row)


3x Sundaze Back In Flac (Cell - Phonic Peace, Cell - Live At Kumharas - Ibiza, Cell - Ketama Live)



4x Sundaze Back in Flac (Badalamenti & Lynch - Twin Peaks S2+, Montgomery & Lynch - Lux Vivens,  Angelo Badalamenti - O.S.T. Holy Smoke, Badalamenti & Lynch - Archive part 4 )



3x Sundaze NOW in Flac (Astropilot - Solar Walk 2, Astropilot ‎- Star Walk, Astropilot -  Special Places )



4x Roots Back in Flac ( Gainsbourg - Aux Armes Et Caetera, Gainsbourg - Aux Armes Et Caetera Dub, Gainsbourg - Mauvaises Nou des Etoiles, Gainsbourg - Mauvaises Nou des Etoiles Dub)



2x Sundaze Back in Flac (FSOL - Lifeforms EP , Rothko - Forty Years To Find A Voice)


4x Aetix Back in Flac (Felt - Forever Breathes The Lonely Word, Felt - Let The Snakes Crinkle Their Head , Felt - Poem Of The River, Felt - Me & A Monkey On The Moon)



4x Inside-Out Back In Flac (The Spirit Molecule (pdf),  Roach, Hudson & Hopkins - Sound of the Earth, Didgeri Dudes - Under the Earth Tones, Ayuhuasca (PDF collection))



2x Sundaze Back in Flac (Michael Stearns - Chronos, Constance Demby - Set Free)



4x Sundaze Back in Flac (Caprice - Songs Of Innocence And Experience, Caprice - Sister Simplicity, Caprice - Six Secret Words, Caprice - Kywitt! Kywitt!)



3x Sundaze Back in Flac (Jansen & Barbieri - Worlds In A Small Room + Other, The Dolphin Brothers - Catch The Fall, Jansen & Barbieri - Stories Across Borders)



3x Sundaze Back in Flac (Jansen Barbieri Karn - Beginning 2 Melt, Jansen Barbieri Karn - Ism, Jansen Barbieri Karn - Playing In Room)



6x Wavetrain Back in Flac (Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats , Psychic TV - Force The Hand Of Chance, Psychic TV - Themes , Chris & Cosey - Songs Of Love & Lust, Current 93 - Dogs Blood Rising , Coil - Love's Secret Domain)


2x Aetix Back in Flac (Tubeway Army - Replicas Redux, Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle )




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Sundaze 1925

Hello, so last week someone asked about Namlook, ah yes that man that worked himself to death in ambient, apparently unaware of his heart not keeping up with his worktempo, hence he died in his sleep age 51, leaving behind an enormous body of work. I could easily fill the remaining 2019 Sundazes with it. No need to worry we'll start with a summer of Namlook....



If most artists in contemporary electronica are like islands unto themselves, turning out tracks in relative anonymity, Pete "Namlook" Kuhlmann was a whole continent. A dizzyingly prolific composer who steadily built up an entire industry around his Frankfurt-based Fax label, Namlook's name was inextricably linked with the post-rave resurgence of ambient music, and many of his solo and collaborative recordings with the likes of Mixmaster Morris, Tetsu Inoue, Klaus Schulze, Bill Laswell, Richie Hawtin, Geir Jenssen, Dr. Atmo, Burhan Ocal, Atom Heart, Jonah Sharp, Charles Uzzell-Edwards, and David Moufang, among many others, number among the most lauded and influential in new ambient. "...  ......N-Joy

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Pete Namlook (born 25 November 1960 as Peter Kuhlmann [phon koolman] in Frankfurt, Germany, died on 8 November 2012) was an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer., the extremely prolific Pete Namlook (1960-2012) was one of the high priests of new-school ambient, ie. ambient techno, trance, lounge and other related dance-music spinoffs. In its 20 year history his record label Fax Records released some of the definitive albums in these sub-genres and Namlook stands alongside a handful of other names such as The Orb, Biosphere and Mixmaster Morris as one of the originators of ambient's resurgence and reinvention via dance music in the late 80's and early 90's.

Intriguingly, he often favoured the sounds of analogue synthesisers over digital and - alongside fellow German e-musician Oliver Lieb - was reputed to have one of the most extensive collections of classic analogue equipment in Europe. And although he downplayed the linage, like many of his new-school peers his music has some of its roots in old-school electronica as varied as Brian Eno, psy rockers Pink Floyd, and Krautrock icons like Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream.

But Namlook was no imitator. He deepened and refined the sound of his predecessors with an injection of fresh ideas from the dance world, coupled with fine musicianship honed from many years of playing rock and jazz. In a 2007 interview with e-music magazine Slices he actually made a point of distancing his music from the conceptual influence of Eno particularly:

"You have to differentiate quite clearly between ambient in a techno sense, and on the other hand Brian Eno, a purely conceptual thing. I only knew of a collaboration between Brian Eno and Cluster [the German band], and him with Roxy Music. I only bought his ambient stuff later. Ambient as Eno defines it...is more or less musical wallpaper. It stays in the background and serves the environment rather than saying something about itself. In my definition of ambient, which has nothing in common with Eno's definition, it's about a journey, intense emotions that need to be transported - environmental music, jazz, ethno - depending on what project I'm working on".

The genesis of Fax Records

Although he had long dreamed of making a career from ambient electronica, in Fax Records' early days he was mainly pursuing a dance floor-oriented direction and releasing 12-inch vinyl singles to a warm reception from sectors of Europe's club scene.

But Namlook soon became dismayed at other artists' appropriation of the Frankfurt "hard trance" sound (developed through his genre-defining 4 Voice project). Thankfully his ambient B-sides to these singles - in hindsight a brilliant strategy - were also creating plenty of interest. Within a few years of the label's inception he had set about focusing Fax almost entirely on ambient and downtempo styles.

Up to his death in 2012 Namlook released an enormous number of solo and collaborative albums of widely varying quality both under his own name and various other project monikers. Collectors should be aware that many CD's were very limited pressings and some will be difficult to find, even more so now that Namlook has gone and the label is no more. Certain key titles were re-issued on CD and download from time to time, however, and much of the Fax catalogue is now spread widely online.

The Silence series

Silence (1992) is the one that started it all, Fax's first album release and one which caught the ear of both seasoned electronic boffins and dance fans looking for a chilled-out tonic after a night among the thumping beats of clubland. Both this album and Silence II (1993) are collaborations with close associate Dr Atmo and despite being at times almost new age in their choice of themes (a voice whispers sweet cosmic nothings like "we are all part of the universe") the music is outstanding. These beguiling, shimmering, reverberant landscapes are sometimes beatless and sometimes gently beaty with subdued live pads and cymbals. The 20 minute "Garden Of Dreams" is a particular mesmerising blend of slow Mid-Eastern rhythms with sighing and crying electronic chords.

Continuing the series is the the Persian-tinged Silence III (1998) which features Namlook on his own. Titles like "Mirage" "Into The Desert" and “A Ship On A Sea Of Sand” are just perfect; his sense of place is quite stunning and he understands the visual qualities of ambient sound exceptionally well. His creative range across entire series is impressive: from stately progressions of warm, organic-sounding orchestral synthscapes to atonal, purely atmospheric pieces of pure texture. When it comes to sound design Namlook’s attention to detail is faultless, which makes hearing his music on good hi-fi equipment especially rewarding. Silence III is followed by two more superb albums in the series.

The surreal, innovative first volume of Dreamfish (1993) with collaborator Mixmaster Morris is another genre-defining release, still cited today as a favourite by fans of early post-rave ambient. The environmental sound effects are deployed in a quirky way amongst the textured, gently rhythmic landscapes and the music brims with surprises and quiet invention. The jazzy bass notes on "Fishology", for example, move along at a good clip yet are so subtle that the track's calming qualities are never disturbed. The first three volumes of the Air series are also high-water marks for Namlook. Like the Silence series they show some rich ethnic and neo-classical leanings, and they remain particularly effective examples of how he uses live acoustic instruments in an electronic setting. The delicate, tinkling cymbals and soft tom-tom beats on "Je suis seule et triste ici" from Air I (1993), for instance, are utterly refreshing because Namlook is able to maintain a deep electronic ambient feel while still expanding electronica's instrumental vocabulary.

Air II (1994) is deeply psychedelic. An eleven-part "trip" subtitled "Traveling Without Moving", it takes it's thematic cue from Frank Herbert's cult sci-fi novel and movie Dune. Herbert's story posited a strange universe dependant on a life-extending, mind-altering spice drug. On Air II Namlook subtly draws on the story's themes to create a beautiful, creepy, intoxicating universe of his own. Again he utilizes acoustic instruments: didgeridoo, sighing woodwinds, flamenco guitar, Mid-Eastern flutes, and swooping vocal textures that rise and fall to striking effect. They're all integrated seamlessly, proving that despite the club music influences he thrived by exploring outside the rigid structures of electronic beats and sequencing.

Other collaborations

Although as an artist Namlook's focus was far broader than just club-influenced sounds, when he did get into more squelchy or bleepy techy-trance territory the results could be just as stimulating. On the brilliant two-part title track from The Fires Of Ork (1993) that thumping 4/4 kick drum is there alright, but somehow Namlook and cohort Gier Jenssen (aka Biosphere) have managed to mute it just enough to create a truly "ambient" dance music: thunderous yet shadowy and eerie, built around a voice sample of Rutger Hauer from Blade Runner. Also beats-based is the the superb first volume of From Within (1994), one of the pinnacles of ambient techno that marries Namlook's warm keys and spiralling synth sounds with the sparse bleeps and beats of Canadian techno guru Richie Hawtin. Again, the rhythms don't drive you into the ground but rather lull you into a gentle if uneasy trance, particularly on "Million Miles To Earth" and "Sad Alliance". The third in this series, From Within III (1997) is also outstanding

Namlook after the mid 90's

While many aficionados would agree that the early to mid 1990's produced most of Fax's - and Namlook's - most enduring releases, it would be unfair to dismiss some of Namlook's work since then. Highlights from 1995-2001 include the final volumes in what is probably Namlook's greatest series, the magnificent Silence IV (2000) and Silence V (2001). The luminous piano notes and warm orchestral synths of "The Night Before I Left" from Silence IV might just be the most emotional piece of music Namlook has ever made, an elegy that's at once incredibly sad and jaw-droppingly pretty. From the same album is the extraordinary "Bedouin Love", a dark, swirling epic with thunderous Moroccan drums, a strange spoken Arabic monologue and chilling yet beautiful synthesiser chords. In the same sonic universe as the Silence albums is From Within 3 from 1997, again made with Richie Hawtin but this time quite different from earlier volumes due to its softer, warmer sound. There's feather-soft lead guitar lines, lush strings, jazzy improvising and warm analogue melodies, all held together by subtle, intelligent drum programming. It's a fantastic example of accessible, soulful electronica.

In the 2000's and beyond Namlook continued with a busy release schedule of solo albums and collaborations but rarely with the same impact his music made in the previous decade. Not that there's lack of variety; for hardcore Fax fans there's plenty to explore. Experimental releases like New Organic Life (2002) are scarily unfamiliar, experimental, arguably unlistenable at times. Some outstanding individual melodic tracks appear on otherwise less-then-great albums such as Resonate (2006) and Namlook Le Mar (2009). However, some of his other collaborative albums made after the mid 90's - not listed on this page - are highly recommended including recordings with Tetsu Inoue, Klaus Schulze and Wolfram Spyra.

Death and legacy

Aged just 51, Namlook died unexpectedly in his sleep of a heart attack on 8 November 2012. Maintaining his intense work rate right up to the night he passed away, some wondered whether Namlook simply drove himself into the ground, literally living and dying for his art. Yet his sister told UK music journalist Mark Prendergast that "he went to bed happy" that day. Who are we to judge? Namlook left behind an extraordinary and enormous recorded legacy, as well as a generation of underground electronic producers and composers inspired by both his talents and his uncompromising independence. Fax Records is no more, though for the moment a good deal of his discography remains available. Hopefully a sensible licensing deal with the Kuhlmann estate will enable another publisher take on the best of his catalog and keep it available in the coming decades. He deserves no less.

The tribute: Die Welt ist Klang

A superb Namlook tribute album appeared in 2013, almost as essential as any of the work released by the man himself. Die Welt ist Klang ("The World Is Sound") was put together in 2012-13 via a crowdfunding campaign by Dave Wade-Stein from EAR/Rational Music, the longtime North American distributor for Fax and related labels. The album is presented thus: four volumes of mostly new or unreleased music by former Fax artists, and four volumes of new material by mostly unknown musician-fans.

It's only fitting that one of the most prolific recording artists in the history of music - in all recorded music, not just a genre - should be honoured with a sprawling 8-volume tribute. It would take pages to review so much music in detail; suffice to say the standard of contributions overall is very high. Interestingly, most of the former Fax artists here don't seek to recapture peak moments from their past works. They just do what they do - from beatless ambient to bleepy dance grooves, from lounge to techno, from gentle dissonance to sweet, tender melodies. As for the the 40 or so musician-fan contributions, they were chosen from a large pool of submissions by a blind vote. Although there are some easy-to-spot pastiches among them, here too there is much freshness and surprise.

Die Welt ist Klang is a massive treasure chest of (mostly) new ambient and electronica. Some of it is the sound of now and some of it wistfully looks back. All of it acknowledges the contributions and example of one remarkable man.


Namlook" is "Koolman", a phonetic rendering of his real name, spelled backwards.

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Silence (1992) is the one that started it all, Fax's first album release and one which caught the ear of both seasoned electronic boffins and dance fans looking for a chilled-out tonic after a night among the thumping beats of clubland. Both this album and Silence II (1993) are collaborations with close associate Dr Atmo and despite being at times almost new age in their choice of themes (a voice whispers sweet cosmic nothings like "we are all part of the universe") the music is outstanding. These beguiling, shimmering, reverberant landscapes are sometimes beatless and sometimes gently beaty with subdued live pads and cymbals. The 20 minute "Garden Of Dreams" is a particular mesmerising blend of slow Mid-Eastern rhythms with sighing and crying electronic chords.

Pete Namlook & Dr Atmo - Silence ( 367mbmb)

01 Omid / Hope 21:53
02 Garden Of Dreams 22:25
03 Santur 9:50
04 Trip 20:09

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Pete Namlook & Dr Atmo - Silence II (flac  375mb)

1 Life / Death 29:28
2 Heaven (aw-Cut) 6:57
3 Faith 11:22
4 What Is Time? 14:26
5 Sweet Angels 11:19

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Continuing the series is the the Persian-tinged Silence III (1998) which features Namlook on his own. Titles like "Mirage" "Into The Desert" and “A Ship On A Sea Of Sand” are just perfect; his sense of place is quite stunning and he understands the visual qualities of ambient sound exceptionally well. His creative range across entire series is impressive: from stately progressions of warm, organic-sounding orchestral synthscapes to atonal, purely atmospheric pieces of pure texture. When it comes to sound design Namlook’s attention to detail is faultless, which makes hearing his music on good hi-fi equipment especially rewarding. Silence III is followed by two more superb albums in the series

Pete Namlook - Silence III (flac  240 mb)

01 Into the Desert 8:30
02 Mirage 8:27
03 A Ship on a Sea of Sand 14:38
04 Lost City 3:20
05 Stars 5:08
06 The Bottom of the Ocean 10:57
07 Dream Time 9:28

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The first three volumes of the Air series are also high-water marks for Namlook. Like the Silence series they show some rich ethnic and neo-classical leanings, and they remain particularly effective examples of how he uses live acoustic instruments in an electronic setting. The delicate, tinkling cymbals and soft tom-tom beats on "Je suis seule et triste ici" from Air I (1993), for instance, are utterly refreshing because Namlook is able to maintain a deep electronic ambient feel while still expanding electronica's instrumental vocabulary.

Pete Namlook - Air I ( 270mb)

01 Wind 7:53
02 1st Impression 4:36
03 Breeze 0:37
04 Je suis triste et seul ici 7:34
05 Spiritual Invocation 3:13
06 Arc 11:40
07 Mystical Appearance 2:55
08 Chaque ligne de ta peau fut aimée 9:29
09 Lost in Passion 12:05

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Air II (1994) is deeply psychedelic. An eleven-part "trip" subtitled "Traveling Without Moving", it takes it's thematic cue from Frank Herbert's cult sci-fi novel and movie Dune. Herbert's story posited a strange universe dependant on a life-extending, mind-altering spice drug. On Air II Namlook subtly draws on the story's themes to create a beautiful, creepy, intoxicating universe of his own. Again he utilizes acoustic instruments: didgeridoo, sighing woodwinds, flamenco guitar, Mid-Eastern flutes, and swooping vocal textures that rise and fall to striking effect. They're all integrated seamlessly, proving that despite the club music influences he thrived by exploring outside the rigid structures of electronic beats and sequencing.

Pete Namlook - Air II ( flac   299mb)

Travelling Without Moving (60:00)
Trip 1 11:45
Trip 2 5:59
Trip 3 2:23
Trip 4 4:30
Trip 5 7:37
Trip 6 3:52
Trip 7 0:59
Trip 8 4:34
Trip 9 8:22
Trip 10 4:31
Trip 11 5:43


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RhoDeo 1924 Grooves

Hello,


Today's Artists are a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million-selling instrumental track "Pick Up the Pieces", and their albums AWB and Cut the Cake. . ...... N Joy

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The Average White Band (also AWB) are a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million-selling instrumental track "Pick Up the Pieces", and their albums AWB and Cut the Cake. The band name was initially proposed by Bonnie Bramlett; the band backed Bramlett on her first solo outing, 1973's Sweet Bonnie Bramlett, an album that presaged the Disco movement, particularly with the track Crazy 'Bout My Baby played heavily in dance clubs. They have influenced others such as the Brand New Heavies, and been sampled by various musicians including the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, TLC, The Beatnuts, Too Short, Ice Cube, Eric B. & Rakim, Nas, and A Tribe Called Quest, Christina Milian, as well as Arrested Development – making them the 15th most sampled act in history. As of 2018, 46 years after their formation, they continue to perform.

AWB was formed in early 1972 in London by Alan Gorrie, and Malcolm "Molly" Duncan, with Owen "Onnie" McIntyre, Michael Rosen (trumpet), Roger Ball, and Robbie McIntosh joining them in the original line-up. Hamish Stuart quickly replaced Rosen. Duncan and Ball, affectionately known as the Dundee Horns, studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art (now part of the University of Dundee, but which at the time was part of the Dundee Institute of Art and Technology, now known as Abertay University), and were previously members of Mogul Thrash. Gorrie and McIntyre had been members of Forever More. McIntyre and McIntosh were used as session musicians on Chuck Berry's recording of "My Ding-a-Ling". According to Duncan, members of the band had played together before in Scotland, but had moved to London separately and met up by chance at a Traffic concert. They decided to jam together; a friend heard them and remarked: "This is too much for the average white man," which became adapted as the name of the band.

The band's breakthrough was a support slot at Eric Clapton's comeback concert in 1973. MCA Records released their debut album, Show Your Hand (1973), which sold poorly. Bruce McCaskill, who was Clapton's tour manager, liked the band's music and agreed to manage them. He borrowed money to take them to the US and to promote them. McCaskill had many contacts from his days with Clapton and managed to get Atlantic Records to sign them. The band relocated to Los Angeles and released the follow-up, AWB, better known as The White Album. It reached No. 1 and was the first of many with renowned producer Arif Mardin.

McIntosh died of a heroin overdose at a Los Angeles party on 23 September 1974. Gorrie also overdosed, but Cher kept him conscious until medical help arrived. The NME reported in January 1975 that AWB played a benefit show for McIntosh's widow at the Marquee Club in London. McIntosh was replaced by Steve Ferrone (previously of Bloodstone), and, like McIntosh, previously with Brian Auger's Oblivion Express. In 1975, the single "Pick Up the Pieces" – taken from the No. 1 AWB album – reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song knocked Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good" out of No. 1 and sold over one million copies. It was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in March 1975. It also prompted The J.B.'s, the backup band of the "Godfather of Soul", James Brown, to record and release a song in reply, "Pick Up the Pieces, One by One", under the name AABB (Above Average Black Band). It was both a tribute to AWB's knowledge of funk and a tongue-in-cheek play on the Scottish band's name.

AWB followed up with the LPs Cut the Cake (1975) and Soul Searching (1976), both big sellers and yielding further Top 40 singles. Cut the Cake was dedicated by the surviving band members to McIntosh's memory. A double live album "Person To Person" was issued in late 1976. Their next LP, Benny & Us, was a collaboration with Ben E. King. After several more albums, "Warmer Communications" (1978), "Feel No Fret" (1979) and after a switch to the U.S. Arista label, "Shine" (1980) and "Cupid's In Fashion" (1982), AWB's audience and sales dwindled. The group initially disbanded by 1983. Their 1980 disco hit "Let's Go Round Again" (UK No. 12), was covered in the late 1990s by Louise.

Ferrone went on to work with Duran Duran whilst Hamish Stuart joined Paul McCartney's touring group. In 1985 Gorrie released a solo album, Sleepless Nights.

The classic lineup of Gorrie, McIntyre, Ball, Stuart, Duncan and Ferrone reunited for one last time at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary in 1988. Gorrie, McIntyre, and Ball then continued in 1989 to record Aftershock. Alex Ligertwood (ex-Santana, Jeff Beck Group and another veteran of Brian Auger's Oblivion Express) also appeared on this album, replacing lead singer Hamish Stuart, along with Eliot Lewis who co-wrote with Gorrie and joined the band. Ligertwood left after the album's recording and drummer Tiger McNeil joined for the reunited band's live shows. McNeil was with the group until 1994. He was then succeeded by Peter Abbott (ex-Blood Sweat and Tears), who in turn was replaced by Fred "Catfish" Alias in September 1998. Drummer Adam Deitch did a two-year stint with AWB from 1999 to 2001.

Average White Band has continued recording (1997's Soul Tattoo, 1999's Face to Face) and touring since. Ball worked on Soul Tattoo with the group but was replaced by Fred Vigdor (aka Freddy V.) in 1996. Brian Dunne took over the drum chair in 2001 and when Eliot Lewis left the band in September 2002 to pursue other musical opportunities (including a stint with Hall and Oates), he was replaced by Klyde Jones. Their line-up as of 2002 became Alan Gorrie (bass guitar, guitar, lead and backing vocals), Klyde Jones (keyboards, bass guitar, guitar, lead and backing vocals), Onnie McIntyre (guitar, vocals), Freddy V (sax, keyboards, vocals), and Brian Dunne (drums).

Dunne was replaced by Rocky Bryant as drummer as of the 2006 tour. After Jones left in 2011 to join Hall and Oates, Monte Croft (keyboards, bass, guitar) and former Earth Wind and Fire member Morris Pleasure (keyboards, bass, guitar) came in to do brief stints before Rob Aries arrived in 2013. Brent Carter (ex-Tower of Power) has been singing with AWB since 2011.

In July 2015, Malcolm ‘Molly’ Duncan, Steve Ferrone and Hamish Stuart reunited to form The 360 Band. This is in essence one half of the original AWB. They released an album titled "Three Sixty" in 2017 and have been performing live together along with supporting musicians. As of 2019, Alan Gorrie and Onnie McIntyre are the only two original members left in the Average White Band.





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AWB's artistic winning streak continued with its outstanding fourth album, Soul Searching. Interestingly, this wasn't an album that enjoyed a great deal of publicity or that contained a lot of major hits. In fact, its biggest single, the dreamy "Queen of My Soul," only made it to number 21 on Billboard's R&B albums chart. But thanks to the devoted following AWB had acquired since signing with Atlantic in 1974, Soul Searching went gold. Indeed, AWB aficionados were quite receptive to first-rate material ranging from the invigorating "I'm the One" to the hauntingly romantic "A Love of Your Own." By zeroing in on their strengths -- hard-hitting funk and delightfully melodic soul -- AWB saw to it that Soul Searching was every bit as rewarding as its predecessors.

 Average White Band - Soul Searching  (flac   310mb)

01 Overture 2:15
02 Love Your Life 4:53
03 I'm The One 4:22
04 A Love Of Your Own 5:34
05 Queen Of My Soul 6:08
06 Soul Searching 3:18
07 Goin' Home 4:44
08 Everybody's Darling 3:36
09 Would You Stay 5:35
10 Sunny Days (Make Me Think Of You) 3:20
11 Digging Deeper (Finale) 2:46


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Scotland's Average White Band was in a celebratory mood on its third major-label release, the live double-album Person to Person. Following the crossover success of the band's self-titled debut and subsequent Cut the Cake, Person to Person presented the six-piece R&B/funk act stretching out on most of its hits. Lead vocalists Alan Gorrie and Hamish Stuart switch between guitar and bass chores throughout, and drive the opening title track and "Cut the Cake." The ballads "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" and "Cloudy" provide nice changes of pace; rhythm guitarist Onnie McIntyre and drummer Steve Ferrone shine on lesser-known gems like "I'm the One" and "Love Your Life." But the real prize of this collection is an 18-minute version of the Average White Band's biggest hit, the instrumental "Pick Up the Pieces." After the expected solos from the studio version by saxophonists Roger Ball and Malcolm "Molly" Duncan, McIntyre, Stuart, Gorrie, and Ferrone take extended leads in this masterpiece of editing -- the track actually features different versions from four concert halls, all spliced together so that each musician could have the solo of his choice represented. A few walk-through versions ("T.L.C.," "School Boy Crush," and the Marvin Gaye hit "Heard It Through the Grapevine") away from being a classic, Person to Person still shows what a great live act this underrated band was in its heyday.

Average White Band - Person To Person  (flac   268mb)

01 Person To Person 6:51
02 Cut The Cake 4:48
03 If I Ever Lose This Heaven 8:05
04 Cloudy 6:31
05 T.L.C. 14:12

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Average White Band - Person To Person 2 (flac   308mb)

06 I'm The One 4:35
07 Pick Up The Pieces 18:06
08 Love Your Life 4:50
09 School Boy Crush 7:25
10 I Heard It Through The Grapevine 9:02

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Benny and Us resulted from a chance meeting in Miami between Ben E. King and the Average White Band, who were vacationing there just when King was starting work on a new album. The finished LP yielded two hit singles and became King's best-selling LP, rising to number 33. The sound is soulful and funky, very bright and passionate -- the upbeat, relentlessly catchy "Get It Up for Love" and the soaring, horn and string driven "A Star in the Ghetto" made respectable showings on the R&B charts, and a good portion of the rest ("The Message," "What Is Soul") is pretty powerful stuff as well. "Imagine" is so busy and so self-consciously earnest that it's difficult to enjoy, but King is so good in the moments when he is on target, that it's hard to skip this track, even if it is the weakest number here. The radiant "Keepin' It to Myself" and the poignant cover of Donny Hathaway's "Someday We'll All Be Free," by contrast, are among King's very best records. Benny and Us was a good enough record that it nearly led to a joint tour (as opposed to some joint appearances, which actually happened) between King and the Average White Band -- one can only marvel at what those shows must have sounded like, and lament that fact that no live album was cut. It also marked King's last major appearance on the charts for Atlantic. To date, however, it's only available as an import from Sequel Records. That reissue, apart from excellent sound, also includes alternate edits of "Fool for You Anyway," "The Message," and, especially "Star in the Ghetto," including the 12" single version of the latter -- all are worth hearing.

Average White Band • Ben E. King - Benny And Us (flac   298mb)

01 How Can You Go Home 3:08
02 This World Has Music 5:53
03 Twilight Zone 5:25
04 Put It Where You Want It 5:09
05 Show Your Hand 4:26
06 Back In '67 4:08
07 Reach Out 4:02
08 T.L.C. 8:09

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RhoDeo 1924 Roots

Hello,


Today's artist Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (born February 3, 1977), is known by his stage name Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, and record producer. Ayala was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, and was raised in the neighborhood of Villa Kennedy Housing Projects.  Daddy Yankee is the artist who coined the word Reggaeton in 1994 to describe the new music genre that was emerging from Puerto Rico; he is known as the "King of Reggaetón" by music critics and fans alike. ......N'Joy

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Daddy Yankee is often considered to be one of the pioneers within the Reggaeton genre. Ayala was originally going to become a professional baseball player but he was shot in his leg while taking a break from a studio recording session. The bullet was never removed and he credits this incident with allowing him to pursue a musical career. He first appeared on the 1991 DJ Playero's Mixtape, Playero 34, with the song "So' Persigueme, No Te Detengas".[citation needed] His first official studio project as a solo artist was No Mercy, which was released on April 2, 1995 through White Lion Records and BM Records in Puerto Rico. Early in his career he attempted to imitate the rap style of Vico C. He went on to emulate other artists in the genre, including DJ Playero, DJ Nelson, and Tempo taking elements from their styles in order to develop an original style with the Dembow rhythm. In doing so, he eventually abandoned the traditional model of rap and became one of the first artists to perform reggaeton. Throughout the 1990s, Daddy Yankee appeared in several of DJ Playero's underground mixtapes which were banned by the Puerto Rican government due to explicit lyrics; these songs would later be among the first reggaeton songs ever produced. DJ Playero and Daddy Yankee would later be credited for inventing the name "Reggaeton" to describe their music on the album Playero 36 in 1994.


In 1997, Daddy Yankee collaborated with the rapper Nas, who was an inspiration for Ayala, in the song "The Profecy", for the album Boricua Guerrero. He released two compilation albums with original material: El Cartel (1997) and El Cartel II (2001). Both albums were successful in Puerto Rico, but not throughout Latin America. Between those years, Ayala released a total of nine music videos, including "Posición" featuring Alberto Stylee, "Tu Cuerpo En La Cama" featuring Nicky Jam, and "Muévete Y Perrea". In 2000, Daddy Yankee formed an unofficial duo called "Los Cangris" with Nicky Jam and released several successful singles together. Yankee and Nicky Jam fell apart in 2004 due to personal issues and creative differences

In 2002, El Cangri.com became Ayala's first album with international success, receiving coverage in the markets of New York City and Miami with hits including "Latigazo", "Son Las Doce", "Guayando" and other songs like "Enciende", which talks about different social problems of the era, mentioning 9/11, corruption and religion. In 2003, Daddy Yankee released a compilation album named Los Homerun-es, which contains his first charted single ("Segurosqui"), five new songs and 12 remakes of DJ Playero's albums songs. that was later charted, "Seguroski", being his first charted single after six of them. In 2003, Ayala collaborated for the first time with the prestigious reggaeton producers Luny Tunes on the album Mas Flow, with his commercial success song "Cógela Que Va Sin Jockey" (a.k.a. "Métele Con Candela"), and Mas Flow 2. Luny Tunes would later produce Daddy Yankee's album Barrio Fino and hit single Gasolina which were released in 2004, and received numerous awards, including a Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Music Album, Lo Nuestro Awards and a Latin Billboard, as well as receiving nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards.

Ayala's next album, Barrio Fino, was produced by Luny Tunes and DJ Nelson among others and released in July 2004 by El Cartel Records and VI Music. It was the most highly anticipated album in the reggaeton community. Ayala had enjoyed salsa music since he was young, and this led him to include music of genres besides reggaeton in the album. The most prominent of these cross-genre singles was "Melao", in which he performed with Andy Montañez. The album was described as his most complete, and with it he intended to introduce combinations of reggaeton and other genres to the English-speaking market. Barrio Fino was followed up by an international tour with performances in numerous countries including the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Honduras, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, and the United States. The album has sold over 500,000 copies in the United States alone and has sold well throughout Latin America and worldwide. During this same time, Daddy Yankee was featured in N.O.R.E.'s single "Oye Mi Canto" which hit number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; a record for a reggaeton single at the time. Other successful featured singles included "Mayor Que Yo" and "Los 12 Discípulos".

In 2005, Ayala won several international awards, making him one of the most recognized reggaeton artists within the music industry. The first award of the year was Lo Nuestro Awards within the "Album of the Year" category, which he received for Barrio Fino. In this event he performed "Gasolina" in a performance that was described as "innovative". Barrio Fino also won the "Reggaeton Album of the Year" award in the Latin Billboard that took place on April 28, 2005, where he performed a mix of three of his songs in a duet with P. Diddy. The album was promoted throughout Latin America, the United States, and Europe, reaching certified gold in Japan. Due to the album's success, Ayala received promotional contracts with radio stations and soda companies, including Pepsi. His hit single, "Gasolina", received the majority of votes cast for the second edition of Premios Juventud, in which it received eight nominations and won seven awards. Ayala also made a live presentation during the award ceremony. "Gasolina" received nominations in the Latin Grammy and MTV Video Music Awards. The commercial success of "Gasolina" in the United States led to the creation of a new radio format and a Billboard chart: Latin Rhythm Airplay. According to Nestor Casonu, CEO of Casonu Strategic Management, "Daddy Yankee and 'Gasolina' triggered the explosion of urban Latin music worldwide".

El Cartel: The Big Boss was released by Interscope on June 5, 2007. Ayala stated that the album marked a return to his hip-hop roots as opposed to being considered a strictly reggaeton album. The album was produced in 2006, and included the participation of will.i.am, Scott Storch, Tainy Tunes, Neli, and personnel from Ayala's label. Singles were produced with Héctor Delgado, Fergie, Nicole Scherzinger and Akon. The first single from the album was titled "Impacto", and was released prior to the completion of the album. The album was promoted by a tour throughout the United States, which continued throughout Latin America. He performed in Mexico, first in Monterrey, where 10,000 attended the concert, and later at San Luis Potosí coliseum, where the concert sold out, leaving hundreds of fans outside the building. Ayala performed in Chile as well, and established a record for attendance in Ecuador. He also performed in Bolivia, setting another record when 50,000 fans attended his Santa Cruz de la Sierra concert. This show was later described as "the best show with the biggest attendance in history" and as "somehappy that his album had sold more than those of Juan Luis Guerra and Juanes, and that this was an "official proof that reggaeton's principal exponent defeated the rest of the genres".

In July 2008, Ayala announced that as part of his work, he would produce a cover version of Thalía's song, "Ten Paciencia". On 17 August 2008 his soundtrack album Talento De Barrio for the eponymous film was released. Prior to the album's release, Ayala scheduled several activities, including an in-store contract signing. The album was awarded as Multi-Platinum by RIAA on 17 April 2009.[39] On February 27, 2009, he performed at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile. In this event, the artists receive awards based on the public's reaction. After performing "Rompe", "Llamado de emergencia", "Ella Me Levantó", "Gasolina", "Limpia Parabrisas" and "Lo Que Pasó, Pasó" over the course of two hours, Ayala received the "Silver Torch", "Gold Torch" and "Silver Seagull" recognitions. On April 24, 2009, he received the Spirit of Hope Award as part of the Latin Billboard Music Awards ceremony. The recognition is given to the artists that participate in their community or social efforts throughout the year.

The single, "Grito Mundial", was released on October 8, 2009, in order to promote his ninth album, Mundial. The song was going to be the official theme for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but Ayala rejected the FIFA offer, which gave them 100% of the rights. Despite releasing "El Ritmo No Perdona (Prende)" more than a month before, that single was not considered the first official promotional single. The second single, "Descontrol", was released on January 12, 2010, and topped the Billboard Latin Rhythm Airplay. The music video was filmed in New York City and was released on May 17, 2010. "La Despedida" was the third single, released on August 4, 2010. The song reached #4 in both Billboard Top Latin Songs and Latin Pop Songs. Other songs, like "Bailando Fue" (featuring Jowell & Randy) and "Échale Pique" (featuring Yomo) were not included in Mundial.


Daddy Yankee's 6th studio album, Prestige was released on September 11, 2012. It was scheduled to be released on November or December 2011, but a hurricane damaged El Cartel Records and half of the album was lost. The lost tracks had to be reworked and was finally released nine months later. The first single, "Ven Conmigo," featuring bachata singer Prince Royce, was released on April 12, 2011 and peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Latin Charts. The second single, "Lovumba," was released on October 4, 2011 and was a number one hit on the Billboard Latin Charts and the Latin Songs chart. It was also nominated for Best Urban Song at the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards. The third single, "Pasarela," was released on June 20, 2012. The album peaked at number 39 on the Billboard 200, number one on both the Billboard Latin Albums and Latin Rhythm Albums charts. It also peaked at number five on the Billboard Rap Albums chart. The fourth and last single, Limbo, was released with the album. The song had a great success, reaching three #1 Billboard charts (Hot Latin Song, Latin Pop Song and Latin Rhythm Airplay) and having more than 790 million views on YouTube. The album was certified as Gold by the RIAA on March 8, 2013.

The year 2012 had one of the most important genre events of the year: the reconciliation between Daddy Yankee and Wisin & Yandel, after some years of rivalry. Six years after their last collaboration, Daddy Yankee appeared on the duo's remix song "Hipnotízame", with positive acclaim from fans. Two months later, on February 16, 2013, Wisin & Yandel collaborated in the remix of "Limbo". Later in 2013, the three artists performed songs like "Hipnotízame", "Mayor Que Yo" and "Noche De Entierro" in two concerts (one in Puerto Rico and another in Colombia).
On February 25, 2013, Daddy Yankee performed in the 2013 Viña del Mar International Song Festival, to a sold-out audience. He performed hits like "Limbo", "Gasolina", "Pose", "Ella Me Levantó" and "Descontrol". He won the Silver and Golden Torch and the Silver and Golden Seagull recognitions.

In 2013, Daddy Yankee performed on his Prestige World Tour, touring several countries in Europe including, Spain, Germany, France and Italy. He has also toured in Colombia, Peru, Chile to sold-out audiences. In 2013 he released music videos of "El Amante" featuring J Alvarez, "Summertime" and "Noche de los Dos" featuring Natalia Jimenez, with millions of views on YouTube. On October 29, 2013, Daddy Yankee released a mixtape entitled "King Daddy", produced by Los De La Nazza (Musicologo & Menes), as part the Imperio Nazza Mixtapes series and was released as a digital-format only. The mixtape was made because of the high demand from the fans and is a return to his original reggaeton roots. It includes 11 tracks with collaborations from J Alvarez, Arcángel, Yandel, Farruko, and Divino. According to Ayala, "King Daddy" was recorded in two and a half weeks, because there was "a lot of inspiration". The song "La Rompe Carros" has garnered popularity among the public, but his hit single was "La Nueva y La Ex" which has been widely received all over South America, Europe, and North America. During a press conference earlier this year, Daddy Yankee announced the physical release of King Daddy scheduled for later this year with 3 or 4 bonus tracks for a total of 14 or 15 songs included.

From May 13 to June 22, 2014, Ayala performed on his King Daddy Tour, touring several cities in Europe. He has also toured in South and North American cities. In Spain, his concerts were on the 4º position in the box-office ranking, being the first Latin artist on the top 5 in this country, underneath Iron Maiden and The Rolling Stones, and over artists like Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus and Michael Bublé. On June 17, 2014 the single "Ora Por Mí" (Spanish for "Pray For Me") was released as part of the King Daddy's bonus tracks and uses the Scorpions' "Send Me An Angel" instrumental, with a rap sampler. The official video for "Ora Por Mí" was released on June 24, 2014. It was filmed in many locations in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and talks about Ayala's life and the dark side of fame. According to Ayala, it is the most personal song of his career. On September 2, 2014, it was released another single called "Palabras Con Sentido" (Spanish for "Words With Sentiments"), which defends reggaeton and urban music of all the accusations of being a "society poison". Daddy Yankee expressed that all music has something good to give, even urban music. On his single, he also says that urban music saves lives, like his own, and the solution would be that churches have to remain, journalists have to tell the truth, artists have to have more inspiration, and the rich people have to help the poor ones. On September 9, 2014 he released his first totally English single called "This Is Not A Love Song" featuring new rapper Duncan.

On April 28, 2016, Daddy Yankee was awarded the "Industry Leader Award" during the 2016 Latin Billboard Awards. After a decade's feud with longtime rival Don Omar for the "King of Reggaeton" title, in early 2016 Daddy Yankee and Don Omar announced in a Billboard press conference that they would perform together on stage in a concert series called The Kingdom World Tour. The tour announcement left many fans in disbelief as it sold out in minutes in major cities like Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles, New York. The concerts were structured like a boxing match, where the two artists got to trade off musical rounds, and fans voted for their winner in each city via an app designed for the event. “Two kings, one throne,” said Pina Records founder Rafael Pina, who had a well-established relationship with both artists, and who also came up with the idea for the tour concept. Discussing the tour and his rivalry with Daddy Yankee, Don Omar said “Let me clarify: I am not his best friend, and he is not my best friend, but we respect each other. That desire to be the best is what has pushed us to be better.”

In 2017, Daddy Yankee, in collaboration with Latin pop singer Luis Fonsi, released the hit single "Despacito". It became the first Spanish-language song to hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since "Macarena" in 1996. The single gained global success. The official video for "Despacito" on YouTube received its billionth view on April 20, 2017 after 97 days. Its success led Daddy Yankee to become the most listened artist worldwide on the streaming service Spotify in June 2017, being the first Latin artist to do so.

As of 2017, Daddy Yankee has won 82 awards from 270 nominations since his rise to international fame in 2004. He has won 5 Latin Grammy Awards, 2 Billboard Music Awards, 14 Billboard Latin Music Awards, 2 Latin American Music Awards, 8 Lo Nuestro Awards, an MTV Video Music Award and 6 ASCAP Awards. He also received a Puerto Rican Walk of Fame Star, special awards by People en Español magazine, and the Presencia Latina at Harvard University. He was named by CNN as the "Most Influential Hispanic Artist" of 2009, and included in Time 100 in 2006.

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 No Mercy is the debut studio album by Puerto Rican singer Daddy Yankee and was released in April 1995 by independent labels White Lion Records and BM Records. Daddy Yankee made the album alongside reggaeton pioneer DJ Playero . This album had rhythms of hip hop , reggae and dancehall . Both artists were inspirations of Daddy Yankee. During this time, Daddy Yankee was known as "Winchesta 30-30" or "Winchesta Yankee". After his completion of No Mercy , he began to sell his cassettes in various stores and clubs, and performing for free in high school dances and private parties. After his mild success of No Mercy , many producers and artists began to work with him, taking then the name "Daddy Yankee". In the end little came of No Mercy, however, he continued to work the reggaeton underground for the remainder of the '90s.

 Daddy Yankee - No Mercy    (flac  291mb)

01 Intro: Prelude Opus Yankee 2:22
02 Run Come Follow Me 4:18
03 Chica Interesada 4:01
04 They Cry 4:18
05 Busco Una Yale 3:40
06 Oh My God! 4:31
07 Dan De Dan3:40
08 La Soledad 4:38
09 Conserva Tu Figura 5:07
10 Shoat Outs 2:39
11 Raza Unida  6:51

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Cangri.Com1 is the second studio album by Puerto Rican singer Daddy Yankee that was released on June 20, 2002 under the VI Music and Los Cangris Music Inc labels. This album was very well received by the Latin audience.  From this album are released great classics such as Latigazo, Are the 12, Sigo Algare, Brugal Mix, She is single and Guayando both a duet with Nicky Jam.  It is considered the first album that opened doors internationally, since it was several weeks on the Hot 100 Billboard.The album also received mainstream success in Spanish-language radio stations in Miami and New York City in the United States.

Daddy Yankee - El Cangri.com    (flac  316mb)

01 Intro - Cangri 2:08
02 Latigazo 2:31
03 Guayando 3:01
04 Recuerdas? 3:12
05 Son Las 12:00 Am 3:16
06 ¡Dímelo! 3:13
07 Muévete Y Perrea (Nota Mix) 2:44
08 Ella Está Soltera 3:08
09 Le Gusta A La Mujer 3:36
10 Interlude 0:53
11 No Te Canses 2003 2:34
12 Interlude 0:41
13 El Cangri 3:28
14 Interlude 0:44
15 Enciende 3:59
16 Sigo Algare 2:48
17 Outro 0:34
18 Brugal Mix 1:45


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In the wake of Daddy Yankee's breakthrough success with Barrio Fino (2004), Machete Music re-released Los Homerun-es, a semi-compilation of previously released material from the reggaeton superstar's underground years. Most of this material was originally released on Puerto Rican mixtapes, some of it dating back to the 1990s. Los Homerun-es, originally released in 2003 by VI Music, kicks off with some more recent material; for instance, "Segurosqui" and "Gata Gangsta," the latter a collaboration with Don Omar, were released shortly before Barrio Fino. These album-opening songs are highlights, no doubt, but Los Homerun-es gets especially interesting once the track list reaches "Donde Mi No Vengas," the first of a run of tracks taken from Playero mixtapes. These recordings date back to the mid-'90s and consequently are formative in nature, with Daddy Yankee employing a reggae-style flow over a rudimentary "dem bow" riddim for several minutes. These Playero recordings are quite storied nowadays, and it's great to have them readily available here in good quality. There are also some non-Playero mixtape recordings; "Mix Rap 1: 30-30/Mi Fanatico/Se Acelera el Flow," from 1997, is one such highlight, featuring New York legend Nas and showcasing Daddy Yankee rapping over a Mobb Deep-style rhythm. In total, Los Homerun-es represents a selective journey through Daddy Yankee's underground years, before he teamed up with Luny Tunes and broke through with "Gasolina." In fact, Los Homerun-es is an ideal complement to Barrio Fino, for the stark contrast of the two reflects the evolution reggaeton underwent in 2003-2004, roughly the point in time when the style came to fruition after years of street-level synthesis.

 Daddy Yankee - Los Homerun-es    (flac  465mb)

01 Intro - Segurosqui 5:36
02 Musica Killa 3:58
03 Gata Gangster 3:41
04 Flow Gangsteril 3:22
05 Mejor Que Tu Ex (Re-Mix) 2:51
06 Donde Mi No Vengas  2:00
07 Estan Locos 1:26
08 Sigan Brincando 1:32
09 Me Quedo 1:14
10 Yamilette 1:40
11 Ya Va Sonando 1:46
12 El Gistro Mix (Interlude) 3:05
13 No Te Canses, El Funeral 4:14
14 Donde Estan Los Giales 2:37
15 Soy Pelon, Muerte Yo Le Doy 2:26
16 Baila Girl, Todo Hombre Llorando Por Ti 3:03
17 Camuflash 2:34
18 Que La Enamoren 3:22
19 Corrupto Oficial 3:12
20 Mix Rap 1 (30-30 / Mi Fanatico / Se Acelera El Flow) 4:54
21 Mix Rap 2 (Sigo Algare / Enciende / Gargolas 2) 5:50
22 Segurosqui (Re-Mix) 3:45
23 Outro (anuncio) El Cangri.com 2 "Barrio Fino" 0:59

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Already well established in the reggaetón underground, with roughly a decade of street-level experience under his belt, Daddy Yankee broke into the Latin mainstream big time with Barrio Fino. The first reggaetón album to reach number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, Barrio Fino covers all the bases over the course of 21 tracks, from all-star collaborations ("No Me Dejes Solo," with Wisin & Yandel; "Tu Principe," Zion & Lennox; "Sabor a Melao," Andy Montañez) to English-language crossover ("Like You") to empowering political rap ("Corazones"). Daddy Yankee works chiefly with two production teams -- Luny Tunes and the trio of Monserrate, Fido, and DJ Urba -- though there are also contributions from Eliel, DJ Nelson, Echo & Diesel, and Nely. The Luny Tunes collaborations pay the most dividends, with "Gasolina" and "Lo Que Pasó, Pasó" standing tall as album highlights. Other highlights include "Dale Caliente," "No Me Dejes Solo," "Tu Principe," and "Que Vas a Hacer?" Actually, the first half of Barrio Fino is remarkably solid. Only toward the final quarter of the album sequence do the songs begin to grow tiresome. This is partly because Barrio Fino is so long -- had a half-dozen songs been trimmed from the running length, it would be a non-stop highlight reel. Daddy Yankee deserves a lot of credit for the success of Barrio Fino, for his charisma, energy level, and command of the proceedings are well evident and often infectious. But also credit the producers -- especially Luny Tunes, who turned this album into a showcase of their hitmaking prowess -- and Glory, who sings several of the best hooks and serves as Daddy's sultry female counterpoint. Everyone plays his or her role on Barrio Fino, which, along with Don Omar's The Last Don (2003), is a milestone reggaetón release for its time.

Daddy Yankee - Barrio Fino    (flac  498mb)

01 Intro 1:19
02 King Daddy 2:31
03 Dale Caliente 3:15
04 No Me Dejes Solo 2:50
05 Gasolina 3:12
06 Like You 3:22
07 El Muro 2:59
08 Lo Que Paso, Paso 3:30
09 Tu Principe 3:25
10 Cuetame 2:35
11 Santifica Tus Escapularios 3:19
12 Sabor A Melao 3:43
13 El Empuje 3:23
14 Que Vas A Hacer 3:19
15 Salud Y Vida 3:26
16 Indermedio 'Gavilan' 1:12
17 Corazones 3:29
18 Golpe De Estado 3:06
19 2 Mujeres 3:09
20 Saber Su Nombre 3:38
21 Outro 3:09
22 Sabor A Melao (Salsa Mix) 3:39
23 Lo Que Paso Paso (Bachata Mix) 3:47

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RhoDeo 1924 Aetix

Hello,



Today's Artists were one of the best post-punk outfits Great Britain ever produced. Combining the gut-level force of punk with the anthemic political fervor of U2 and the Alarm, as well as the urban protest folk of Billy Bragg, NMA sounded like few other bands mining similar post-punk territory. Their attack was hard, spare, and precise, but as time wore on, they were just as likely to deliver modern-day folk-rock replete with acoustic guitar, violin, and harmonica. Throughout their career, they remained staunch advocates of the British working class, occasionally tempering their leftist, anti-Thatcher political fury with moments of personal introspection. Their shout-along anthems often borrowed the football-chant feel of Oi!, but NMA were far less given to rabble-rousing, instead aiming for intelligent dissidence.  ..............N'Joy

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The band were formed in Bradford, West Yorkshire in the autumn of 1980, taking their name from the army established by Parliament during the English Civil War, and played their first concert in Bradford in October, playing songs based on their shared love of punk rock and Northern soul. Until the mid-1980s, Sullivan used the alter ego of "Slade the Leveller" (Levellers being a radical political movement of the 1640s), supposedly so that he would not lose his unemployment benefits if the authorities realized he was making money from music. They continued to gig around the United Kingdom with little recognition, but in 1983 released their first singles "Bittersweet" and "Great Expectations" on Abstract Records, and were given airplay by Radio 1's John Peel.

In February 1984, they were invited to play on popular music show The Tube, being introduced by presenter Muriel Gray as "the ugliest band in rock and roll". The producers of the show however were concerned about the lyrics of "Vengeance", which the band were due to perform ("I believe in justice / I believe in vengeance / I believe in getting the bastards") and so the band played "Christian Militia". Following this performance, the band's first mini-album Vengeance reached Number 1 in the UK independent chart in early 1984, pushing The Smiths from that position. After a further single "The Price" also reached a high placing in the independent charts, the band were signed by major label EMI.[8]

The band then made four studio albums (plus a live album) for EMI and one studio album for Epic, in a period of eight years. 1985's No Rest for the Wicked and associated single "No Rest" both made the mainstream Top 30 in the UK, the latter leading to some controversy when the band sported T-shirts with the phrase "Only Stupid Bastards Use Heroin" during an appearance on Top of the Pops. During the "No Rest" tour, Morrow left the band, and after some delay was replaced by 17-year-old Jason "Moose" Harris. However the band were refused work permits to enter the United States, as the US Immigration Department had said the band's work was of "no artistic merit". In December 1986 the band finally got permission to tour in the US. By this time The Ghost of Cain, produced by Glyn Johns, had been released, and was named best album of the year for 1986 in The Times by David Sinclair, who said that it "was the best thing to happen to English rock music since the first Clash album". Concerts included Reading Festival and a gig with David Bowie in front of the Reichstag in Berlin, and the band for the first time expanded their touring line-up to include a second guitarist in the shape of Ricky Warwick, as well as harmonica player Mark Feltham from Nine Below Zero.

Thunder and Consolation was released in February 1989, and saw the band moving towards a more folk-rock sound, especially on the tracks including violinist Ed Alleyne-Johnson. Described as the band's "landmark" album, it reached No.20 in the UK charts, the singles "Stupid Questions" and "Vagabonds" made an impression in America and the band was able to tour the album there with Alleyne-Johnson also providing additional guitar and keyboards. At the end of the year however, Harris left the band, to be replaced by Peter "Nelson" Nice, who would play with the band for more than 20 years. 1990's Impurity, continued the folk-driven theme with Alleyne-Johnson still to the fore, and Adrian Portas joining the band on guitar. The next album was to be a musical change of direction; as Sullivan later said, "just as this folk-cum-rave-cum-crusty-cum-new-age thing broke and became big in the early 1990s, we went – whoosh – done that – and went and made a very angry hard rock album". The Love of Hopeless Causes, New Model Army's only release on Epic Records, appeared in 1993 and led with the single "Here Comes the War", which spawned controversy when it came packaged with instructions on how to construct a nuclear device.

The band had previously decided to take a year out to concentrate on personal and other musical issues, and reconvened in late 1994 with Dean White, playing keyboards and guitar, replacing Alleyne-Johnson. It became clear, that all was not well between Sullivan and Heaton; Sullivan later said "We wrote Thunder and Consolation and it was brilliant, but very shortly after that, we started falling out, which went on during the making of that album. His life went in one direction and mine went in another". It was agreed that they would go their separate ways after the forthcoming album and tour. Strange Brotherhood was released in May 1998 to unsurprisingly mixed reviews, but then Heaton was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He suggested that his drum technician Michael Dean take over from him to tour the album. By this time the band had formed their own independent label, Attack Attack, and former tour manager Tommy Tee had returned to manage the band. A live album "...& Nobody Else" followed in 1999, and eighth studio album Eight in 2000.

After touring Eight, the band again took time out, most notably so that Sullivan could concentrate on his solo album Navigating by the Stars which was eventually released in 2003, and toured by Sullivan, Dean and White. As the band got together to record their ninth album, Robert Heaton died from pancreatic cancer on 4 November 2004. Carnival was finally released in September 2005, and includes Sullivan's reaction to Heaton's death, "Fireworks Night". Dave Blomberg was unable to take part in touring the album, and was replaced by current guitarist Marshall Gill. The band's tenth studio album, High, was produced relatively quickly and was released in August 2007. The tour suffered a slight setback when the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services again denied the band visas; this time the issue was relatively quickly resolved and the dates rescheduled for early 2008. Soon afterwards, the band was again shaken as manager Tommy Tee died unexpectedly at the age of 46. By 2009, though, the band were again back in the studio. Today Is a Good Day was a far more uncompromising album, the heavy rock title track and others directly referencing the stock market crash of 2008. As the tour to promote the album came to an end, it was drawing close to 30 years since the band had started.
30th anniversary to present (2010 on)


Towards the end of 2010, the band's 30th anniversary was celebrated with special shows across four continents every weekend from September until early December; in most cities, the shows were across two nights with completely different sets, the band having promised to play at least four songs from each of their eleven studio albums plus Lost Songs and B-Sides and Abandoned Tracks, their rarities and B-sides collections. The final shows at the Kentish Town Forum in London were collected on a double CD and DVD release containing all 58 songs played over the nights of 3 and 4 December. After the band had played their traditional Christmas shows the following year, the news was released that Nelson had decided to leave the band for personal reasons, a decision that had been taken some time before. a few days later, on Christmas Eve, a fire destroyed the band's studio and rehearsal space in Bradford. Numerous guitars and other instruments were lost along with recording equipment and memorabilia. However, the studio was back in operation within three months, and after a number of auditions, Ceri Monger was announced as the band's new bassist and multi-instrumentalist.

In 2013, the band's twelfth studio album, Between Dog and Wolf, mixed by Joe Barresi, was released and became the band's most successful since The Love of Hopeless Causes 20 years earlier. The album showed a marked shift away from the band's traditional sounds, including rhythms that were described as "tribal", though Sullivan claimed they were merely different ways of using drums – "We really like complex tom-tom rhythms, we really like that pounding (beat)". A year later, Between Wine and Blood was released, including six previously unreleased studio tracks from the Between Dog and Wolf sessions, along with eleven live tracks from that album. In October 2014, a documentary feature film about the band's career, Between Dog and Wolf: The New Model Army Story by director Matt Reid premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in London and the Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montreal. The band's 14th studio album, Winter, was released on 26 August 2016. Winter was named the #1 album of 2016 by The Big Takeover.

Over the years, New Model Army have gathered a wide selection of fans, many of whom dedicatedly follow the band. Originally calling themselves "The Militia", after the song "Christian Militia", the term "The Family" was later universally adopted for what is a multi-generational and gendered group. Joolz Denby, long-time collaborator of Sullivan and the band's main artist has referred to The Family as "not a formal, contrived organisation, but a spontaneous sense of fellowship that has developed over the years", whilst elsewhere it has been described as "sanctuary ... and acceptance".

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This Bradford trio really came out sporting for a fight on this eight-song 1984 debut, Vengeance, after four years of constant gigging and a couple of singles ("Bittersweet" and the classic "Great Expectations"). (The five songs from these singles were in turn added to the front of the CD reissue, along with three more from the post-LP third single, "The Price," inserted at the end.) Singer/guitarist Justin Sullivan's (aka Slade the Leveller) call-it-like-it-is-historically "Christian Militia" wasn't going to make him any friends down at the local vicar; the scathing anti-Falklands War sneer "Spirit of the Falklands" peed all over their country's brand new military triumph; the vigilante-flirting title track trod on both dangerous and controversial ground. But this sort of "you're going to have to confront this stuff" unyielding conviction remains all the more refreshing in an era where young bands try their hardest to say nothing about social issues (it isn't cool). And the anti-narcotics, anti small-town myopia, anti-empty-celebrityhood, and anti-self-indulgence words are riddled with a contrasting caring humanity. In short, it's one thing to protest, it's another to also want something better for others. That human touch is suffused through "Betcha," which is about frustrating miscommunication between lovers, and the well-stated disquiet of those whose lives seem suffocated in ordinariness on "Notice Me" and "Small Town England." Besides the words, Sullivan was already a supreme tunesmith and compelling singer to match the oratory, and original bassist Stuart Morrow is truly an acrobat. His fingers work overtime on what could only be described as lead playing, teamed with that bull of a drummer, gentle-giant sledgehammer Rob Heaton, as Sullivan keeps his own guitar minimal to give space to his outrageously busy rhythm section. It makes for outstanding post-punk, some of the best the genre ever produced, a style continued through the next two LPs after signing to major EMI.

New Model Army - Vengeance (flac  371mb)

01 Bittersweet (Ep Release) 3:09
02 Betcha (Ep Release) 2:33
03 Tension (Ep Release) 2:14
04 Great Expectations (Ep Release) 3:16
05 Waiting (Ep Release) 3:31
06 Christian Militia 3:25
07 Notice Me 2:35
08 Smalltown England 3:18
09 A Liberal Education 5:27
10 Vengeance 4:07
11 Sex (The Black Angel) 3:26
12 Running 3:55
13 Spirit Of The Falklands 3:47
14 The Price (Ep Release) 3:26
15 Nineteen Eighty-Four (Ep Release) 3:18
16 No Mans Land (Ep Release) 3:33
17 Great Expectations (Peel Session) 3:04
18 Notice Me (Peel Session) 2:39

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Sacrificing the experimental post-punk doodling that worked so well within defined songs on the first LP Vengeance strangely enough works here for this incredible band that won't hear any malarkey about how bad second LPs are supposed to be. A more direct approach works wonders, rendering every song a possible single, every one a flaming, emotion-wracked foray into human thoughts, customs, and politics. And Slade the Leveler's got some unparalleled British lyrics for this kind of statement-oriented music and tremendous songwriting on side one. "There is no rest for the wicked ones," he sings, like a saddened preacher, a sentiment you see again on the terrific "Drag It Down," like a guy standing at the edge of a pointless fray wondering why human beings are always so stupid. But he's also capable of great empathy for the times in England as they are in the 2010s, when so many young people are struggling economically, as "Young, Gifted and Skint" makes clear. Don't miss "Grandmother's Footsteps" and "Ambition," too; you won't hear busier bass playing on a hotfoot U.K. post-punk rock record this year. The evidence here is that New Model Army are getting even better when you might have expected the usual decline, suggesting that Slade is an artist with great ideas you can't exhaust, and all three members have the talent to make it something other than regurgitation.

 New Model Army - No Rest For The Wicked (flac  260mb)

01 Frightened 3:42
02 Ambition 3:05
03 Grandmother's Footsteps 4:26
04 Better Than Then 3:13
05 My Country 3:40
06 No Greater Love 3:33
07 No Rest 5:22
08 Young, Gifted And Skint 3:09
09 Drag It Down 3:20
10 Shot 3:19
11 The Attack 3:30

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It was still the 1980s. It was still the era of Maggie Thatcher, Ronnie Reagan and the other clowns that would have starred in a Team America: World Police of that decade. NMA were still highly political and very, very angry. Ghost is a logical step forward and different from No Rest For The Wicked. While the skill of the rhythm section, led by the late Robert Heaton, is still the driving force, the vocals are more prominently produced and the sound is overall more clearer and hard-rockish. Of course the real power is in the lyrics. It's not about making a statement, it's about expressing gut reactions to the state of the individual and the world as a whole. This is what NMA always did best. Here they do it at their most intense. The best known tracks from this album are "The Hunt" and "51st State" (quite uncharacteristic of the band in its three-chord simplicity), which are not the album's highlights. Digging deeper you find songs like "Poison Street" and "Love Songs", which still deservedly figure on their live sets. This album contains some of the finest punk anthems ever written.

New Model Army - The Ghost Of Cain  (flac  234mb)
 
01 The Hunt 4:11
02 Lights Go Out 3:57
03 51st State 2:36
04 All Of This 3:34
05 Poison Street 3:07
06 Western Dream 3:54
07 Lovesongs 3:04
08 Heroes 4:06
09 Ballad 3:55
10 Master Race 3:00

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Perhaps 'Thunder And Consolation' will be remembered as the masterpiece album of New Model Army. Now over twenty years old, this album from the opening 'I Love The World' through to the classic 'Green and Grey', and on through a combination of fast tracks and heartfelt ballads remains completely timeless. Here we have a band and particularly the songwriting talents of Justin Sullivan and Robert Heaton (RIP) at their most prolific. The lyrics are bleak and offer the world a glimpse into the tough environment that was (is?) northern England in the harsh days of Conservative Britain. Tracks such as 'Vagabonds', '225', 'Stupid Questions', 'Ballad Of Bodmin Pill' well they are all brilliant. In fact there are too many tracks to mention individually, this is just the most intelligent form of rock music that you are ever likely to enjoy.
Thunder and Consolation begins grandly, keeping the keyboards from "White Coats" on "I Love the World," an anthem filled with bittersweet irony and sarcasm. Self-produced, the album never falters, and the single "Stupid Questions" made an impression on American college and modern-rock radio, especially when working visas were granted to the band and they were allowed to tour the U.S. Violin was added by Ed Elain Johnson to further fill out the sound and give it an "Irish Folk" quality on epic songs "Green and Grey," and "Vagabonds." The band uses samples on "225" and "Green and Grey" to further enhance the flavor of the album. The punk is still there, but expresses itself more in the speed of some songs, otherwise the music is mainly rock-oriented, often with acoustic guitar and some folk ballads.  But new are the fine, thoughtful arrangements - the songs remain simple and to the point, but win by small details of substance and depth.  Add to that a great production - unfussy, clear and punchy - that perfectly emphasizes the character of the songs.

New Model Army - Thunder And Consolation 1   (flac  307mb)

01 I Love The World 5:08
02 Stupid Questions 3:27
03 225 4:47
04 Inheritance 3:24
05 Green And Grey 5:48
06 Ballad Of Bodmin Pill 4:48
07 Family 4:01
08 Family Life 3:00
09 Vagabonds 5:24
10 Archway Towers 4:52

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New Model Army - Thunder And Consolation 2   (flac  391mb)

01 White Coats 4:17
02 The Charge 3:25
03 Chinese Whispers 3:31
04 Nothing Touches 4:11
05 The Mermaid Song 1:24
06 Adrenalin (Electric Version) 4:27
07 Deadeye 4:53
08 Higher Wall 4:23
09 125 M.P.H. 3:58
10 I Love The World (Live) 5:18
11 Green And Grey (Live) 5:35
12 Archway Towers (Live) 4:42
13 Vagabonds (Live) 4:56
14 225 (Live) 4:04


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RhoDeo 1924 Triffids 4

Hello,


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John Wyndham (from http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A5718486)
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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...
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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 10-12 ( 89min mp3     40mb).


The Day of the Triffids 10 of 17 29:37
The Day of the Triffids 11 of 17 30:18
The Day of the Triffids 12 of 17 28:31

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previously

John Wyndham - The Day of the Triffids 01-03 ( 90min mp3     40mb).
John Wyndham - The Day of the Triffids 04-06 ( 86min mp3     39mb).
John Wyndham - The Day of the Triffids 07-09 ( 89min mp3     41mb).


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