Back in the 1980s there was a pioneering roots music label called Rogue Records, set up with the twin aims of providing a family home for the musicians involved in Hot Vultures, the English Country Blues Band and Tiger Moth, and to release albums in the field that eventually became known as World Music. Rogue stopped issuing new releases by the mid 1990s, and Weekend Beatnik was established as a mid-price re-issue label, first and foremost to re-package 'best of' CDs by the artists whose work had been issued mostly on vinyl by Rogue, though there has been the odd release from other sources.
All Weekend Beatnik CDs follow the same pattern: maxi-length (around 78 minutes), extensive sleeve notes with a good selection of memorabilia photos, decent re-mastering, but always at mid-price – the best possible music selection and value for money.
MAGGIE HOLLAND : Bones (WEBE 9044).
Beyond the bands from which she emerged, singer, guitarist, banjo and bass player Maggie Holland's solo career has spanned from the National Theatre's Mysteries in the '80s to BBC4TV/ The Barbican's Folk Britannia in 2006. Some of her supremely crafted original songs like A Place Called England, Perfumes Of Arabia and A Proper Sort Of Gardener have been recorded by folk luminaries like June Tabor and Martin Carthy but she's equally adept at hand-picking and re-interpreting works by others, from the well-known to the obscure. Bones – attractively Digi-packed with extensive notes by journalist/author Colin Irwin and Maggie herself – includes eight of her best-known original songs and two traditionals plus others by Billy Bragg, Bruce Cockburn, Tymon Dogg, Bob Dylan, Dave Evans, Robb Johnson, Peter Rowan, Chris Smither, John Tams, Richard Thompson and many more. It’s a maxi-length 'best of' selection from her albums made between 1983 and 1991, plus a few previously unreleased tracks and a new recording of her BBC Radio 2 Folk Award-winning song A Place Called England. The majority are on CD for the first time.
Hear tracks from Maggie Holland on her MySpace page
TIGER MOTH : Mothballs Plus (WEBE 9043).
In the 1980s, all-star roots dance band Tiger Moth – Rod Stradling, Jon Moore, Maggie Holland, Chris Coe, Ian Anderson, John Maxwell, Ian Carter – took playing for English country dancing on a rowdy expedition to places it had never been before. Venerable English hornpipes went on a world cruise, Italian tunes got played as Tex-Mex polkas with a Zairean lilt and schottisches filled up with Greek riffs. In the studio as Orchestre Super Moth they teamed up with world music stars of the day like Dembo Konte, Kausu Kuyateh, Flaco Jimenez, Hijaz Mustapha and Abdul Tee-Jay. Completely remastered, this expanded compilation includes the best of their two albums, singles, 12â€s and rare tracks, and a bonus special 2004 remix by Simon Emmerson & Mass.
Hear tracks from Tiger Moth on their MySpace page
ABDUL TEE-JAY : Rokoto Make Me Dance-Dance (WEBE 9042).
A dozen great tracks from the three albums to date by Abdul Tee-Jay's Rokoto: a timeless selection of uplifting Sierra-Leonian dance music, led by the long-reigning king of modern African guitar in the UK. In the sleeve notes to Abdul's 1992 second album Fire Dombolo, BBC DJ Charlie Gillett wrote: "… Rokoto's first album Kanka Kuru was probably the best record made by a British-based African artist since Osibisa's debut in 1971. Belatedly, Britain discovered the virtuoso in its midst… Refreshingly oblivious to all the fashions which flash across the skies of British pop music, this is a record which is likely to sound as good in the future as it does today." A decade and a third album later, Charlie was proved absolutely right. So here's a blazing set of exuberant West African classics, all still 100% guaranteed to set any party, club or dance floor alight, and ripe for rediscovery.
Hear an Abdul Tee-Jay track on the player on this page.
THE ENGLISH COUNTRY BLUES BAND : Unruly (WEBE 9040).
In recent years, interest has grown rapidly in the search for an English identity, and also in older pre-corporate forms of American roots musics. In the early 1980s, well ahead of their time, The English Country Blues Band combined both these themes. The ECBB brought together well-known musicians from opposite corners of the English folk scene in what was then considered an innovative, barrier-demolishing blend, naturally Anglicising blues and old-time country and finding new ways of looking at British traditional songs and tunes. These tracks from their two albums and one single, recorded between 1981 and 1983, feature the core trio of Maggie Holland, Rod Stradling and Ian Anderson, regular members Chris Coe, Sue Harris and John Maxwell, and guests including Nic Jones, John Kirkpatrick, Dave Peabody and Danny Stradling. Completely remastered, this special re-issue includes a brand new track with veteran English folk icon Bob Copper, closing the circle begun more than two decades earlier.
Hear a track from The English Country Blues on the player on this page, and more on Ian Anderson's MySpace page
DAVE EVANS : The Words In Between (WEBE 9039).
The late '60s and early '70s were a golden age for British folk guitar. In those days it wasn't enough to be just a singer/songwriter; you were expected to be a really good guitar picker too. Dave Evans was not simply good, he was that rarer thing, a real original. With tunings and chord sounds that nobody had produced before, an agile and bouncy picking style, a self-made guitar that rang like a bell, a nicely creaky and lived-in vocal style, and songs that told down-to-earth stories – well-observed little vignettes about real people – his 1971 debut The Words In Between was hailed as a classic. Head and shoulders above many other now-cult artefacts from that era, this long overdue re-issue on its 30th anniversary added 5 tracks from his 1972 album Elephantasia.
Hear a Dave Evans track on the player on this page.
DEMBO KONTE, KAUSU KUYATEH & THE JALI ROLL ORCHESTRA : Jali Roll (revisited +1) (WEBE 9039).
In late 1989, during one of their regular tours of the UK, kora kings Dembo Konte & Kausu Kuyayeh got together with members of the nigh-legendary 3 Mustaphas 3, English folk/rock accordeon maestro John Kirkpatrick, slide guitarist Ian Anderson and Sierra Leone guitar king Abdul Tee-Jay to produce Jali Roll. The album was not only a big hit on the African/ World Music scene at the time, its ripples have had significant and long-lasting effects on roots music making in West Africa. Now this hardkorabilly classic is back on CD with an extra track from the only live gig ever done together by the jalis and the Mustaphas.
Hear a Jali Roll track on the player on this page.
DEMBO KONTE & KAUSU KUYATEH: Kairaba Jabi (WEBE 9032).
Since 1987, Gambia's Dembo Konte and Senegal's Kausu Kuyateh have toured worldwide as the best international ambassadors of the kora, West Africa's multi-stringed harp-lute. Their duo albums have been acclaimed as the most accessible from this fabulous tradition: here’s a 76+ minute selection of the best, including lots on CD for the first time. "Nothing is ever quite the same after the first time you hear a kora played live in a West African setting. Dembo Konte was the musician who opened my ears, and he made these recordings with Kausu Kuyateh soon afterwards. They still sound powerful and raw, evocative and timeless." (Charlie Gillett)
HOT VULTURES: Vulturama (WEBE 9031).
Throughout most of the 1970s, Hot Vultures – Ian Anderson & Maggie Holland – were one of the hardest working duos on the UK and European folk circuits with their uniquely English approach to blues, old-time country and a few choice modern songs. For their three albums and whenever possible live, they also recruited many other excellent musicians of the day including Martin Simpson, Dave Peabody, Simon Mayor, Hilary James, Mike Cooper, Chris Coe, Pete Coe and Al Jones. Here's the very best of their recorded history.
Hear tracks from Hot Vultures on Ian Anderson's MySpace page
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