Encyclopaedia Eclectica Vol IV

This is the fourth of four volumes of a mixtape I created called Encylopaedia Eclectica. No, the files are not available on this site; this is just a reference page.

Track	Artist	Country	Title	Year	Album
01	Lauren Smoken	USA	Gonna Give Love One More Try	1988	Lauren Smoken
02	Noir Desir	France	Le Vent Nous Portera	2001	Des Visages des FIgures
03	Buffy Sainte-Marie	Canada	The Vampire	1970	Illuminations
04	Jolie Holland	USA	The Littlest Birds	2003	Catalpa
05	Cathedral	England	Voodoo Fire	1998	Caravan of Redemption
06	Bad Brains	USA	Pay to Cum	1996	Black Dots
07	Tracy Chapman	USA	All That You Have is Your Soul	1989	Crossroads
08	Cheb Mami	Algeria	H'Rabti	1999	Meli Meli
09	Chateau Neuf Spelemannslag	Norway	Vals Etter Vidar Lande	2001	Curing Norwegian Stiffness
10	Le Quintette du Hot Club de France	France	Minor Swing	193?	The Quintessential
11	Crimson Glory	USA	Lost Reflection	1986	Crimson Glory
12	Patty Scialfa	USA	Rumble Doll	1993	Rumble Doll
13	Chris Isaak	USA	Blue Spanish Sky	1998	Wicked Game
14	Tom Waits	USA	Fumblin' with the Blues	1974	The Heart of Saturday Night
15	The Ventures	USA	Diamond Head	1964	Walk Don't Run, Vol 2
16	The Dogs d'Amour	England	How Come It Never Rains	1988	In the Dynamite Jet Saloon
17	Jewel	USA	Absence of Fear/This Little Bird	1998	Spirit

Gonna Give Love One More Try

Of all the female voices that have dared to nip at Janis Joplin's coat tails, Lauren Smoken's is the most powerful. Almost unheard of outside her native Florida, she did at least pop up to New York for a spell in the late eighties to record a stunner of a debut album. It dropped out of sight in no time flat, which is criminal, and it took me nigh on sixteen years to get hold of a copy on CD, ending up with a promo copy from eBay. It ignores genres and cares only about Lauren's gorgeous voice, George Mazzola's accomplished guitar work and hooks to die for. One day I'll get to hear this voice live but until then I'll just have to make do with playing this album to death.

Le Vent Nous Portera

Noir Desir are sadly finally reaching international fame only on the back of lead vocalist Bertrand Cantat's trial for the murder of his girlfriend, famous French actress Marie Trintignant. The French have loved the band for years and it's easy to see why. I originally heard this on Charlie Gillett's world music show on Radio London and he thought enough of it to include it on one of his 'World' compilations too.

The Vampire

I first heard about Buffy Sainte-Marie through strange sources too. I still believe Eva Cassidy's 'Live at Blues Alley' to be one of the finest albums ever, even though it is entirely comprised of cover versions. In the middle of the album are three true breathtakers: Buffy Sainte-Marie's 'Tall Trees in Georgia', Sting's 'Fields of Gold' and Johnny Mercer's 'Autumn Leaves'. When I first heard 'Blues Alley', my jaw dropped on 'Tall Trees' and just kept sinking. I ended up playing these three songs over and over and over again for a few hours, still stunned at what she'd done with them. After that, I ordered her entire back catalogue from Amazon and decided to find out about Buffy and Johnny. Explorations proved 'Illuminations' to be the strange Buffy Sainte-Marie album and it's a haunting little number that just grew on me.

The Littlest Birds

Another album that grows and grows is Jolie Holland's 'Catalpa'. She was a founder member of The Be Good Tanyas, Canada's quirkiest folk export, even though she's Texan through and through. Surprisingly for such a stunning album, 'Catalpa' was never actually intended for release. It was circulated at gigs and to friends, but when it was put up for sale at CDBaby and Jolie's own website, it sold like hot cakes. My favourite song changes every time I listen to it, but I've got a soft spot for this little number that dances around the blues and incorporates some old Syd Barrett.

Voodoo Fire

Also unashamedly unfashionable but in an entirely different direction are Cathedral, Lee Dorrian's over the top interpretation of the legacy Black Sabbath. As far removed from his groundbreaking vocal antics for the early Napalm Death as Jolie Holland, Cathedral have lasted well. I have a passion for this number which to me is everything that White Zombie try but fail to be.

Pay to Cum

Bad Brains were one of those artists who weren't just unfashionable but uncategorisable. They may have been Washington, DC's most blistering hardcore punk outfit but they kept on lapsing into reggae, which must have confused the heck out of everyone. What confused us even more is that it worked so damn well! 'Pay to Cum' was their debut single but this version is taken from my favourite of their albums, 'Black Dots' which is some sort of rehearsal tape or live studio performance. It's as unpolished as anything can ever be but somehow that's how it should be!

All That You Have is Your Soul

Tracy Chapman has always been unpolished but that's her charm. There's not a lot of polish on 'All That You Have is Your Soul' but Emmylou Harris nearly drove off the road when she first heard it and it hit me the same way. It has a power to it that probably comes from its stunning honesty. Take away enough polish and rehearsal and studio gloss and you get to honesty. For most artists that equates to garbage but for those with true talent it amounts to a true glimpse inside what makes them tick. Jolie Holland has it and Tracy Chapman has it too.

H'Rabti

Cheb Mami is Algeria's biggest name. Quite a distance removed from the Idir track I included in volume three, it's nonetheless solidly Algerian, just with a modern dance touch that gives it a unique sound. I can't stomach western pop music which to me is almost entirely manufactured homogenised slop. There's just no soul to it any more. I have nothing against making money but when there is nothing left but making money then the music ceases to be music and becomes mere product. Outside of the west, it's rare to find product, just music, and that's what makes modern world music so fascinating. There's a different sound to each country and each region in each country and each artist in each region in each country. Nobody sounds like anybody else and that's so refreshing!

Vals Etter Vidar Lande

Nobody sounds like Chateau Neuf Spelemannslag at all. Half the time CNS don't sound like CNS! This is a strange little number to work as a half of a quirky etude leading into Crimson Glory, but their albums are well worth exploring for the serious as much as the fun.

Minor Swing

Part two of the etude is Django and Stephane and the rest of the Hot Club Quintet. I can't resist old time swing and nobody, but nobody, could outplay these guys. Sometimes I throw 'The Quintessential' on and let it dance around at random for hours.

Lost Reflection

Crimson Glory had a gimmick. They were a late eighties metal band who wore masks to disguise their identities, gradually reducing and eventually removing them. The thing was that they shouldn't have needed the gimmick at all as their first album was one of the most consistent and innovative releases ever to come out of the melting pot between metal and thrash. Their subsequent albums are damn good too but I don't think they've ever outdone their debut, with every track a killer. This is the long explorative track that reminds me of the way Alice Cooper ends his 'Welcome to My Nightmare' album. It's mostly slow but hits peaks of power and never fails to show off vocalist Midnight's awesome voice.

Rumble Doll

Patty Scialfa is mostly known for being Bruce Springsteen's wife. Occasionally she's known for being his background singer too, but she wrote and recorded a superb singer songwriter album of her own back in 1993 that is unjustly neglected. 'Rumble Doll' is the title track and it has a rolling groove that still sounds unique to me.

Blue Spanish Sky

Keeping with the groove, Chris Isaak's 'Blue Spanish Sky' is from his 'Wicked Game' album and to my mind it outshines even the superb title track. Nobody croons nowadays like Chris Isaak and when he gets the song to go with the voice it's hard to resist it.

Fumblin' with the Blues

Tom Waits is hard to resist ever. He's gone through so many different genres and made them all his through his unique cultivated rasping vocals. 'Rain Dogs' is the album that rocks my world but I have a major soft spot for 'The Heart of Saturday Night' which is admittedly less innovative and more traditional. 'Fumblin' with the Blues' has a decadence to it that only Waits can bring. Everything about this song is so irresistable to me that it's what I used to sing when I was drunk. Tom would be proud of that fact, if not my singing!

Diamond Head

As nothing can ever follow Tom Waits, let's throw The Ventures in as an etude. For some bizarre reason I came across 'Diamond Head' on a rock box set that dealt more with artists like Motorhead, Girlschool, Robin George and Uriah Heep. Diamond Head the band would have been far more relevant than 'Diamond Head' the song!

How Come It Never Rains

Another attempt at a perfect pop song, but with a debauched twist from the Dogs D'Amour, 'How Come It Never Rains' is something that Tom Waits could sing, if only the backing music was closer to Marlene Dietrich than The Faces. It's yet another relic of my misspent youth in the metal scene and I still don't know how the Dogs got lumped with all the rest of that. Rock 'n' rollers through and through, they should have been born ten years earlier.

Absence of Fear/This Little Bird

And I feel like finishing off with a hidden track, so I'll go for the quietly beautiful Jewel with her quietly beautiful 'Absence of Fear'. It finishes off her 'Spirit' album and leaves a gap before 'This Little Bird' which always sends a shiver down my spine. How better to finish a mix than that?