Sep 3, 2008

Episode Four

Asha Bhosle - Tum Kitne Din Baad featured in the movie The Great Gambler

The Great Gambler is a fast paced action thriller. The movie starts with Jai (Amitabh) a small time gambler getting engaged in a brawl. As the movie progresses we come to know that he is a great gambler and he always wins the game of cards. Enter bad guy Ratan Das (Madan Puri) who hires Jai to play in is casino so that he can rob some influetial people and later use their services to his own benefit. One such person person is Nath (Jagdish Raj) who works for the government. After losing large amounts of money, Jai doesn't know that Ratan Das is engineering a scheme to steal the plans for the government's powerful new defense military weapon which is actualy wanted by Saxena (Utpal Dutt as a humming villain). When the Indian police come to know of this, they assign the case to Inspector Vijay (also Amitabh Bachchan), who is asked to apprehend Jai at any cost. The only problem is that Inspector Vijay is Jai's look-alike, and is not a good gambler. After a series of action sequence and great locations viewing we come to know that Jai and Vijay are twins who got separated in thier childhood. They Join hands to destroy the evil men and eventually get their respected ladies and their sister (who appears only for 2 and a half scenes).

Here is a movie clip:






GAA - Uranus

Named after the Greek Earth goddess, GAA was an obscure band from Sarrland, Germany where they formed in 1973. While gigging in mid-1973 they were asked to record an album by Alfred Kerston, owner of Kerston Records. The recording session was quite hurried due to the lack of funds, which becomes evident in the mix which sounds rather tinny. The ablum recived an extremely limited release of only 300 copies in 1974. The opener Uranus gradually commences with acoustic guitar and organ that contains a middle section with celestial vocals like a interplanetary public service announcement or some kind of religious sermon. As well as a powerful chorus with haunting lyrics:

"Hate is the power that rules the world and it is fear that will bring it to death; violence which threatens all life, in the end there's always destruction and death"


Paternoster - Realization

Amongst the most legendary of Austrian underground bands, aside from Eela Craig and Kyrie Eleison, but with a virtually undocumneted history, Paternoster originated from Vienna, and existed for only two years in the early 70's disbanding after the release of just one album on CBS in 1972. Most of the tracks here are rather slow and heavy, fronted by a most unusual vocalist/organist Franz Wippel, with an equally bizarre use of songs. What comes to mind is a depressed vampire starting a Kraut/Prog rock band but that is just my opinion.




Bollywood
Set 1
Bollywood Breaks - In The Garden
Asha Bhosle - Tum Kitne Din Baad featured in the movie The Great Gambler
Kishore Kumar - Tere Chehre Mein Woh Jaadu Hai featured in the movie Dharmatma
Dharmatma - Theme Song
?
Manhar & Anand - Hum Tuhme Chahte Hain featured in the movie Garam Masala

Kraut/Psych
Set 3
GAA - Uranus
Aguaturbia - Heartbreaker
Blue Phantom - Distillation
Aggregation - The Lady At The Gate (intro)
Paternoster - Realization
Jam - Friends



'Un Poco Soul y Latino Lounge'

Latin Jazz is the order of the day here. With that said, no recording artist has more impeccable street cred than Joe Bataan. He's an undersung but pivotal innovator in music since the mid-1960s. He was part of a wave of Latin bugaloo artists. In this set I included his hit 'Gypsy Woman'-one that's even more heartbreaking than the Curtis Mayfield original. A lot of the music I find are on different complilations. I found the song 'Pata Pata' on El Soul es un Droga compliation. If you're interested, I'd recommend picking up Volume 3, and scaling your expectations back from there. There are a few gloriously wild performances, full of wailing, fuzzed-out, wah-wah pedal action. As is often the case with foreign rockers, several cover tunes are disappointing simply because they are sung in English. (when it would have been so much more fun in proper Spanish). But whatever. Finishing this set off is 'Tighten Up' by Al Escobar & His Orchestra and Mongo Santamaria serves up some "Green Onions" from his album "Soul Bag".





Set 4 is a collection of songs for lovers of that 60's British mod rock. This set includes renditions of Spencer Davis Group's song "Gimmie Some Lovin" and Otis Blackwell's hit "Daddy Rolling Stone. Shocking Blue's, "Send me a Postcard" is a song I never get sick because it's just a pulsating, psychedelic-ish, scorcher of a song. "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" was the debut single released by the English R&B, mod group Small Faces. The last song "High Heel Sneakers" was a party favorite in the movie Quadrophenia preformed by Cross Section.




check it out!

Latin Lounge
Set 2

Timebox - Soul Sauce
Los Stop - Pata Pata
Joe Bataan - Gypsy Woman
Al Escobar and his Orchestra - Tighten Up
Mongo Santamaria - Green Onions

Mod Rock
Set 4
The Who - Daddy Rolling Stone
Spencer Davis Group - I'm a Man
Los Bohemios - Dame Tu Carino
Small Faces - Whatcha Gonna Do About It
Shocking Blue - Send Me a Postcard
Cross Section - High Heel Sneakers