Currency Folk - Still a Rich Man's Land ~ Songs of Kevin Baker - Cass mid-1980s

We met The Currency Folk (Kevin and Beth Baker) in January. They were responsible for putting together, and appearing on, "Beneath the Smoke - a Gathering of Nations".  This album, which may have been issued at about the same time, featured only songs written by Kevin Baker, a political activist, of many years standing.  There are some great tracks on here backed by some very good musicians. Beth Muntz,a good singer, appears as a solist on four of the tracks and provides some vocal backing to Kevin Baker on the others.  Kevin is distinctly a better song writer than a singer but his vocal qualities are fitting for the songs he writes.  Overall an entertaining album.

This cassette rip was provided by one of our visitors along which some others soon to appear.  Many thanks for your kind assistance.  The tracks are all MP3 at CBR 192.

The tracks are:-
Smoky Steel City, Windows of our World, Security, To Absent Friends, Executive Man, Mt. Kembla Mining Disaster, Streets of our Town, Children, Men of Kamira, Seeds of Tomorrow, Let's be constructive Australia, and Come now my Companions.

Download from MediaFire

Link failed? Then please leave a comment or contact mr.stockman@gmail.com

"Beneath the Smoke - A Gathering of Nations" c1984 LP

Beth and Kevin Baker (Currency Folk) of the Australian industrial city of Wollongong (hence "Beneath the Smoke") put together this LP with a view to featuring the songs of different ethnicities within the area.  The result includes Australian artists singing traditional and modern folk songs (The Billabongers and the Bakers); Chileans Fernando and Sonia Aranciba with friends performing songs and instrumentals of rebellion; An Italian immigrant, Gerardo De Liseo, performing traditional songs of his original homeland; Vince Brophy, an Irish immigrant, singing two British Isles traditionals and also one of his compositions "Tug Boat"; and an English immigrant, Val Whittaker, also performing British Isles traditionals.

Track List
1. The Sandy Maranoa (Billabongers)
2. Seeds of Tomorrow (Beth Baker)
3. Amici, Amici (De Liseo)
4. Tug Boat (Brophy)
5. Goriza (De Liseo)
6. Elegia a los Caidos (Elegy for Freedom Fighters) (Fernando Arancibia)
7. La Palummeddha Janca (De Liseo)
8. The Rabbiters (Billabongers)
9. El Calameno (Arancibia's)
10. If I was a Blackbird (Whittaker)
11. Bogies Bonnie Bell (Brophy)
12. Will You go Laddie go (Whittaker)
13. Men of Kemira (Kevin Baker)
14. Geordie (Brophy)
15. Black is the Colour (Whittaker)
16. Gracias a la Vida (Arancibia's).

It was a well-packed LP with almost an hour's music.  The recording quality is variable but I found myself really enjoying the Italian and Latin American tracks.  Other than for  El Calameno, the download includes the lyrics of the Italian and Chilean songs with English translations.

Download with Graphics and Lyrics  MP3 192-224 VBR
Download from MediaFire

Link failed? Then please leave a comment or contact mr.stockman@gmail.com