R. Crumb- Hot Women: Women Singers from the Torrid Regions of the World (2003)

http://www.mediafire.com/?b54hzi52x8dshtr
or
http://www.mediafire.com/?nj3r6d9neneeq49

There have been a few times that I have purchased an album based on the sheer promise of the artwork and song names on the back cover. HOT WOMEN was a very memorable one.


It was compiled by illustrator R. Crumb (and his under-credited wife Aline Kominsky-Crumb) from an impressive group of 78s.


The music is all "traditional," as iTunes calls it. Women, sometimes with their children, all singing around the mic, hisses and all. After being bombarded by Rebecca Blacks and Lady Gagas, i love to hear the flawed crackle of outdated recording technology and the additional talent that performers had in order to adapte to the medium. As a result, the album is beautiful and diverse.


The main reason to purchase the cd is to hold the fantastic artwork in your hand. But the music is good, too.

Complaint: A few of the titles are listed as "Title in Hindustanese" or something similarly lazy. If you're going to put out a compilation, why not bother to ask someone who reads a language to translate it for you??
Big pet peeve. Crumb probably thinks it's part of the charm, but i call it lazy at best (and culturally arrogant at worst). Your call. 

Langley Schools Music Project- Innocence and Despair (1976, 2001)

http://www.mediafire.com/?3qecz24bk6p63ya

Imagine a gymnasium full of elementary school kids singing and playing songs by The Eagles, Beach Boys, David Bowie, the Carpenters, Paul McCartney, Neil Diamond, etc in the 1970s. It'd be off-key and peppy. But you might not guess at the level of pathos that they'd also strike, by singing words and melodies written by adults who think they have experienced heartache.

That's what this album is: an inexperienced music teacher who taught his elementary school classes a bunch of contemporary pop songs and recorded them in a giant gymnasium. There has been much mythologizing around this double-LP-turned-cd compilation, but I can honestly say that there's a good reason for it. The Langley Schools Music Project still hovers in my top five albums of all time. One of the saltiest men i have ever known told me that when he listened to this version of "Desparado," it was so devastating that all he could do was lay on the floor. That's how the album is.

The best review I have read of this record comes from Frieze Magazine:

http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/the_kids_are_alright/

Ho Lan- Echo From Deep Valley

http://www.mediafire.com/?yp3mr2ox4oi3n21

Okay, so picture this: a female singer-songwriter from Taiwan in the 1970s who has a penchant to classic Spanish and Mariachi songs, a "thing" for yodeling, and a super-husky voice (one that she strengthened by learning to sing over the roar of a waterfall in her native hometown).

Meet Ho Lan:
part Zhou Xuan, part Nina Simone, and part Lucha Reyes.

The songs are split into solo guitar accompaniment (with multi-tracked vocal harmonies) and big band orchestrations, but Lan's voice always stands out. In addition to some really striking tunes, she sings some songs that could normally strike a very cheesy note with many listeners-- "Palmoa," "Hawaiian Wedding Song," and even {ick} "Home On the Range"-- but I can nearly guarantee that you won't mind.

This is my idea of folk music at its most bare and most satisfying: pure talent, no pretense, engaging voice, wonderful simplicity, versatility of styles, and MASSIVE TALENT. My friend Eric, who has immaculate taste in music, said that this is his favorite recording I have shared with him. That might mean something?


Here is Ms. Lan yodeling on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap6MKABAKoA

Bob Marley, Pete Tosh, and Bunny Wailer- Trenchtown Days: Birth of a Legend

http://www.mediafire.com/?ajj1sy790kq20d9

Okay, now before you go lighting that 7am "cigarette," I am going to cut you off and say that Bob Marley, Tosh, and Bunny started their career as a vocal trio singing what was between ska and doo wop. And for all the haters--You might think you hate reggae, but I still invite you to give this a listen.

And also-- 7am "cigarette"? Shame on you.

The sound here is closer to the American 45, and Bob is one of three voices. I prefer that. The songs are about breakups, partying, dancing, and of course the classic "One Heart." Though here, it sounds more like a song the Flamingos would sing. Here, Marley sounds more like Sam Cooke than the he did on Exodus or Burnin'. All the songs are also really solid-- sweet and a little bit pungent.

You'll notice that I give album credit to all three boys and not just megalomaniac Marley. Tosh and Wailer should get some credit for making this sound so nice, before they were sidelined by Bob's ego.