Los Jaivas – Tarka y Ocarina
Los Jaivas – Guajira Cosmica
Los Jaivas – Pregon Para Iluminarse

Picked this up during my trip to Spain and the lovely city of Granada. I originally just planned on staying there for one day, all of it spent at the Alhambra, but after my plans for the next day completely fell through I was able to explore the city a bit more, particularly several of its record stores. My favorite, hands down, was Discos Bora Bora (I’ll be sharing pictures from my trip tomorrow). Aside from that Modulos record I previously shared, the best thing I dug up there was this album from the Chilean group Los Jaivas.

I haven’t been able to find out too much info about the group, as they never made much of a splash here in the US. I’d originally though they were from Argentina (and even mentioned so in the first episode of the Melting Pot Radio Hour), but in fact they were formed in Chile. It was after the US Backed 1973 Coup, that the band left the country and settled in Argentina.

This album, their third, was the first recorded during that “exile” period. “Tarka y Ocarina” and “Pregon Para Iluminarse” feature their mix of Andean indigenous music and rather heavy Prog Rock. “Guajira Cosmica” also blends together a variety of styles before ending with some sonic flourishes that would be right at home in a 1970s Giallo film. And to think, if things had gone as planned, I would have never even known about this music, let alone the other records that I got in a place that now I rank as one of my favorite cities I’ve ever visited…life is funny.

Becky & Sandy – I Wish We’d All Been Ready

{Over the next several weeks, I’ll be taking a look back at my seven favorite tracks from the first seven years of Melting Pot in what I’m calling “7 for 7!”}

It was hard enough to choose just seven songs from each year of Melting Pot, trying to choose just seven total, my seven favorite songs from the past seven years, has been near impossible. This song actually didn’t end up on our 7-Year Anniversary mix from DJ Frane because the “Super President of The World” track was just begging to be cut up (and Frane did, to great effect!), but without a doubt “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” is one of the most distinctive songs I’ve ever shared on the website. Finding this private press “Doom Gospel” record at Record Jungle is one of my all-time favorite finds.  The music isn’t very funky, but it is sung with conviction and with no doubt, complete and total faith.  Hopefully one day we’ll get the full story on these two and David Lewis, apparently at least Sandy is still around (according to comments on the old page), but if this is all we have, the story of Becky & Sandy is definitely told through it’s apocalyptic and sincere music.

Becky & Sandy – “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”

Life was filled with guns and wars and everyone got trampled on the floor,
I wish we’d all been ready,
Children died the days grew cold a piece of bread would buy a bag of gold,
I wish we’d all been ready,
There’s no time to change your mind the sun is coming you’ve been left behind

A man and wife asleep in bed she hears a noise and turns her head he’s gone,
I wish we’d all been ready,
Two men walking up a hill one disappears and one’s left standing still,
I wish we’d all been ready,
There’s no time to change your mind the sun is coming you’ve been left behind

The Anti-christ is now in power, mark of the beast speaks of the final hour,
I wish we’d all been ready
Now ride forth the horsemen four, famine, pestilence, death and bloody war,
I wish we’d all been ready
There’s no time to change your mind the sun is coming you’ve been left behind

Life was filled with guns and wars and everyone got trampled on the floor,
I wish we’d all been ready
Children died the days grew cold a piece of bread would buy a bag of gold,
I wish we’d all been ready
There’s no time to change your mind the sun is coming you’ve been left behind

There’s no time to change your mind,
How could you have been so blind?
The father’s spoke, the demons dined, the sun is coming you’ve been left behind,
you’ve been left behind, you’ve been left behind…

Funkadelic – You Hit The Nail On The Head/If You Don’t Like The Effects/Everybody’s Gonna Make It
Funkadelic – Balance
Funkadelic – Wake Up

Over this past week, there’s been a lot on my mind, as has been the case for most Americans. As a sociologist, I teach issues of race, racism and privilege in the US context, and so I’m well versed with our history and the current issues connected to racial oppression and police violence. But even with all of that background, the events of the past week have been tough to deal with. Like so many, I often find solace in music. But I don’t like for the music I listen to, or other forms of art, to be divorced from the trying times I experience. Instead I tend to go for music that speaks to those times and helps me to reflect on them. While a lot of tracks have made their way to my turntables (or more often the turntable of my mind), few albums have be there as much as this album from Funkadelic.

The music of Funkadelic was already on heavy rotation, because of the recent passing of master keyboardist Bernie Worrell, but the past week has also caused me to reflect on this particular album more than any other. America Eats Its Young was a landmark album for George Clinton’s band of merry funksters. Aside from being the band’s first double album, it also marked the moment Bootsy Collins and the House Guests (all those former JBs) made their way into the Parliment/Funkadelic fold, as well as Gary Shider’s United Soul. “America” was also a real showcase for Worrell, who arranged all the strings on the album and whose keyboards are front and center right from the start on “You Hit The Nail On The Head.” Perhaps most notably, America Eats Its Young was released roughly 6 months after Sly Stone’s epic There’s A Riot Going On, and the influence of Sly is certainly all over this album, which might be part of why this album doesn’t get quite the level of acclaim that it deserves. While “Riot” is a truly legendary release, I think you could make a case, that as a political statement, America Eats Its Young is superior.

While there are a number of straight funky (“Loose Booty” and “Philmore” come to mind) and irreverent (“Pussy” and “Lucifer” for sure) tunes, what really sets this album apart from the Funkadelic albums to preceded it and followed isn’t just its sound, but the clarity of message on the more socially conscious tunes. Listening to the album almost 45 years after its release, these songs remain as timely as ever. For instance, the critique posed in “If You Don’t Like The Effects, Don’t Produce The Cause:”

You say you don’t like what your country’s about,
Ain’t you deep, in your semi-first class seat,
You picket this and protest that, and eat yourself fat,
Ain’t you deep, in your semi-first class seat.

It’s hard not to feel that way about a lot of the things that Americans are normally up in arms about, even as they continue to support a political and economic system that exacerbates many of the “problems.” That is as true in 2016 as it was in 1971, perhaps more so.

One of the current phrases that is popular with a certain subset is “Stay Woke.” The phrase is often attached to a criticism of the current society or a critique of the “real” motivations behind certain actions. But, the thing that I find most interesting about the phrase is that it assumes that the individual has already been awakened. It’s not possible to “Stay Woke” if you are not already awake. But I don’t think even many of the people who use the phrase recognize the ways living in this culture shapes so much of our reality and in particular our perception and reception of that reality. “Wake Up” remains as important in 2016 as it was in 1971.

You got to wake up,
You’re in the presence of your future,
Wake up, see what you’re doing in our sleep,
You got to wake up,
You’re in the presence of your future,
Wake up, from the mistakes of the past.

I find it especially striking that the people raised on this music in the 1970s, are the people who raised the BlackLivesMatter generation. While you can make the argument that our current society has never been more distracted and unfocused when it comes to necessary social change, you could also make the argument that this moment creates the possibilities of greater social awareness and consciousness than any other. That is one of the more hopeful aspects of these moments of crisis. People who were content to not only live their lives, but admonish others for not living as they did, have come to realize that the world they live in is not the same as it for other people. That their experiences are not universal, that the privileges they enjoy are not shared by all of humanity and they’re asking the right questions. But I’m sure that same sense of hope was felt in the 1960s, but the US went in a very different direction with Nixon in 1968, setting the stage for the Reagan “revolution” of the 1980s. While I’d like to remain hopeful about the chances of America waking up, I worry that America will eat its young once again come November.

That “Balance” between being critical and hopeful of the state of things is best realized in the track “Everybody’s Gonna Make It This Time.” The song takes past generations to task for not fixing the problems we have to deal with, but it also doesn’t let the current generation off the hook.

We got to learn from the mistakes that were made in the past,
We got to clean so that we can clean our minds,
Cause in order to get it together,
We got to get our heads together,
Everybody is going to make it this time.

Our country and our cities, they have been betrayed for money,
Ooooh, and somehow, the people, they will make a change, yeah,
There’s not a doubt in my mind,
If hunger and anger place the blame,
There won’t be a country left to change.

We got to see what we’re doing in the name of comfort,
We’ve got to see, we’ve got to feel the warning signs,
But in order to get it together,
We’ve got to get our heads together,
Everybody is going to make it this time.

As described in “Wake Up,” we are always in the presence of our future, but the kind of future we create depends on the choices we make or, just as importantly, the choices we do not. Learning from the mistakes of the past, moving forward and creating something better is not easy work. If it were, we’d already be living in a blissful utopia. But that hard work is necessary to effect change. And while in moments like this it can be hard to see any hopeful signs, it’s these moments that push us towards the greatest changes, as individuals and as a nation. As the saying goes, it’s always darkest just before the dawn. But it is just as important to kind in mind that what kind of day we will have depends on what we see and what we do with our time in the Sun.

Our final post, as this seventh year draws to a close, highlights a few 45s picked up in the last year, from a variety of places around the world for a bit of Summer soul travelin’!

Azul y Negro – Fantasia De Piratas (45 RPM version)
Azul y Negro – Fantasia De Piratas (33 1/3 RPM version)

Picked this up during my Spring trip to Spain. Most of my knowledge of Spanish music revolves around Flamenco and 1960s garage/soul. During my trip to Discos Bora Bora in Granada I discovered a few selections from what amounts to Spanish new wave of the 1980s. I was drawn to this 45 because of the striking artwork. As best I can gather, Azul y Negro were one of the first techno-op groups in Spain and that sound certainly comes across here. I wasn’t as enamored with the sounds on this 7″ as I was the cover, until I thought to slow down “Fantasia De Piratas.” At 45 the song sounds too fast and a bit comical (though that might be the point), but at 33 1/3 the song takes on a kind of epic John Carpenter 80’s horror film soundtrack feel. What was once laughable becomes sinister, as you can hear above when you compare the two versions.

R.D. Burman – Dil Lena Khel Hai Dildar Ka

I haven’t made nearly enough journeys into India’s rich Bollywood sounds, but when I do, I often find a gem. This one features two of the songs from the 1981 film Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai, with a soundtrack created by R.D. Burman. The story itself seems to be a fairly regular Rich boy meets poor girl, family doesn’t approve kind of story, but it seems a fair amount of it occurs at a discotheque and that is clearly where “Dil Lena Khel Hai Dildar Ka” comes from. Real solid Morodor-esque sound on this cut, though with those trademark vocal elements that make these Bollywood records so much fun regardless where your dance floor is.

Gerson Combo – Mr. John It’s Pay Day

Our next stop Soul travelin’ is down to Brasil for a disco-fied number from Gerson “King” Combo. This track would have been cool enough if it just stuck with that opening disco groove. But it breaks down into a crazy little chant, “Sing the song, cause it’s my payday” from “King” Combo, a chorus of voices and a soul clap to boot. I can’t entirely tell what the song is about, but I got a feeling “Mr. John” is either his landlord or his boss. Either way, “King” Combo won’t be denied his fun on his payday, thankfully so for our ears.

Los Tios Queridos – Si Me Ves Volar

Los Tios Queridos come to us from Argentina and got up on my radar thanks to post from Sociologist Jooyoung Lee, who recently released a fascinating book, Blowin’ Up: Rap Dreams in South Central. Lee also was a popper back in the day and so he’s well versed with B-boy anthems and songs that are built for the cypher. “Si Me Ves Volar” has all the elements to make it a underground B-boy/B-girl favorite. I’ve gotten a chance to play this for the crowd at Funky Sole on a couple of occasions and I can attest to how dynamite it is for dancers.

Yukio Hashi – Shikaku Dou (Thug Road)

Last track to share comes to us from Japan and from the legendary Lone Wolf & Cub series. I’m not entirely sure if this was used in the TV series, or if it might have been released in conjuction with the original manga. I’m about 90% sure that it wasn’t from any of the Lone Wolf films, but it has been a while since I’ve seen some of the later ones. “刺客道” or “Shikaku Dou” (I originally had this phonetically translated as “Shikaku Michi” but that might not be correct) translates to either “Thug Road” (if you trust Google Translate) or “Assassin’s Road.” I prefer to call it “Thug Road” mostly just because I like the idea of a song being titled “Thug Road.” Of late I’ve been listening to this quite a bit driving around LA, and everytime it gets to “Ooooh oh oooh oh, Daigoro…” I belt it out in my best operatic voice. It’s the kind of thing you think RZA would have sampled liberally for Wu-Tang Clan already, though I don’t think it has been. It’s certainly deserving, especially the parts where the kids are singing.

Cheers,

Michael

The Silhouettes – Lunar Invastion
The Silhouettes – Question: Why?
The Silhouettes – Fonky First

I really don’t have too much to say about this supremely funky endeavor by The Silhouettes. I feel like I either heard this first from Matthew Africa or from one of the rare instances where youtube actually suggested something that I hadn’t heard, but actually wanted to hear. The album was released on Nathan Davis’ Segue record label and is real hard to track down in the original, but it’s definitely worth it. “Lunar Invasion” is one of the funkiest flute tunes I’ve ever heard, especially the way it closes, which almost actually sounds (to these Post Hip-Hop ears) as if a DJ keeps bringing the break back around. “Fonky First” is also heavy on the drums and just as dope. “Question: Why?” is one of the few vocal tracks on the album, and it’s lovely listen, with little pockets of funk, though mostly with a more pensive feel. I wish someone had had some conversations with the Silhouettes to put out more music, cause we definitely could have used more based on what the laid down here.

Cheers,

Michael