Selda - Türkülerimiz 1 (1995)

I'm sure you're familiar with Selda; you've probably heard Oh No sampling "Ince Ince" on those Skate 2 commercials, or, more recently, Mos Def rapping over this same beat on his latest album The Ecstatic (first track). I may get around to posting Selda later, but for now Türkülerimiz 1 will do.


"What a voice this girl has! Very well played fusion/mix of turk-arabic roots and folk-european pop...
I have no idea if this is mainstream or not, but it sure is news and fresh to me, and with lovely strange words like; Bülbül :)" - Lilleboll (4/5)

"I usually compare Selda Bağcan to Violeta Parra and sometimes Mercedes Sosa because they arranged folk songs with modern style.This is the characteristics of the genre of their music. Nuevo Cansion and Anadolu Pop (or Rock) did the same thing (I guess Anadolu Pop were a bit late as 5-10 years late This is maybe they (Turkish counterparts) followed this kinda intenational cultural movements or just it was re-produced in the conditions of that era .I don't have the album right beside me so i can't write which songs belongs originally to whom, but Bağcan mostly covered folk artist Neşet Ertaş and Mahsuni Şerif.Some songs are anonymous such as "Kalenin Dibinde Taş Ben Olaydım" and "Gesi Bağları".There are some that written and/or composed by Selda Bağcan such as "Çemberimde gül oya".But i should note that the songs which covered are played with the guitar(and/or other pop/rock instruments) which is not local musical instruments and therefore hadn't been used in the original versions.Thus one can never ignore The Selda factor which made the songs into a brand new form and made the songs known by broader audience particullarly the youth which is familiar with the westerner popular pop/rock music." - Moremun (4/5)

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Chris Harwood - Nice to Meet Miss Christine (1970)

From allmusic (3.5/5; don't let the rating dissuade you from this one):

" Nowadays Chris Harwood is being touted as Britain's great lost female folksinger. That's understandable -- her sole record, Nice to Meet Miss Christine, launched the tiny indie Birth label in 1970. The album disappeared soon after, probably because most listeners were unable to get beyond the first track, the exceedingly self-righteous, anti-racist "Mama," whose justified anger doesn't exonerate the song's lack of melody. Or maybe it was due to the fact that Nice wasn't really a folk album at all, as the guest musician roster makes clear. Guitarist Peter Banks was a founding member of Yes, pianist/organist Tommy Eyre would soon be joining Rainbow, brass and woodwind player Ian McDonald hailed from King Crimson, drummer Pete York came from the Spencer Davis Group, and guitarist Mike Maran would eventually become Britain's top musical arranger. Not a folkie in sight, but one hell of a lineup, expanding the sound of what one assumes was Harwood's own group -- guitarist Dave Lambert, bassist Roger Sutton, and drummer J. Kay Boots. Thus the songs sound phenomenal (even if the transfer to CD creates a hollowness at the center), the musicianship is flawless, and the set is as eclectic as one would imagine with these players on board. Jazzy fusion, jammy prog rock, pomp rock, revved-up R&B, and combinations of all of the above swirl across the set. The musicians are so busy showboating that melodies are mostly ignored, most spectacularly on the covers of Dave Mason's "Crying to Be Heard" and Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Wooden Ships," a situation Harwood does little to resolve. She's best showcased on the sultry blues of "Flies Like a Bird," but elsewhere too often slides into waspishness or worse -- harangues. A musical Margaret Thatcher is no good thing, but that's how Harwood comes across, all hectoring tones and wagging finger, even on the love songs. It's no surprise, then, that the iron chanteuse never made another record, but if you can ignore her, the backing is sensational."

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Serge Gainsbourg - L'Homme à Tête de Chou (1976)

From allmusic (4/5):

"Even tolerant music fans shudder inwardly at the mention of the concept album, a largely prog rock genre that spawned many of the greatest aesthetic indiscretions of the '70s. L'Homme à Tête de Chou (The Man with the Cabbage Head) is a concept album and shares some of prog's general characteristics, but it's unlike anything emanating from rock's beardy depths. In the spirit of his 1971 masterpiece Histoire de Melody Nelson, Gainsbourg sets this album's brief tale amid a widescreen musical canvas. Whereas Melody Nelson was provocative without being explicit, the gravel-voiced Gallic lecher goes X-rated here -- albeit without sacrificing his poetic élan. In this morbidly comic song cycle the narrator's muse is Marilou, a black shampoo girl: during their ill-fated fling, he descends into unhinged obsession, beats her to death with a fire extinguisher and ends up in a psychiatric hospital (convinced his head has turned into a cabbage). Although the title track retains something of Melody Nelson's cool Baroque pop gravitas, Chou doesn't replicate that earlier record's alternately brooding and soaring melodic grandeur. Instead, it draws on an adventurously varied palette, spanning rock, country, disco, jazz, reggae, and funk. In places, the shifting styles match the different images or situations that Gainsbourg presents, sometimes without concern for subtlety: "Marilou Reggae" finds Marilou grooving to Caribbean sounds, while tribal rhythms on "Transit à Marilou" heavy-handedly signify her exotic sexuality. The songs are most satisfying when the relationship between lyrics and music is less literal, more evocative -- especially "Lunatic Asylum," where tympani, didgeridoo-like drones, dramatic organ, and insistent percussion soundtrack the protagonist's insanity. Elsewhere, subject matter and sound are divorced completely, the cheery funk of "Ma Lou Marilou" contrasting with the narrator's murderous thoughts. L'Homme à Tête de Chou is an underrated Gainsbourg album. Notwithstanding some dubious synth coloring, it's his second-best '70s release, ranking among his finest recordings."

Get it here.

Also:
Serge Gainsbourg - No 2 (1959)