James Boker

Hamburg Demonstrations is an album from the enigmatic The Libertines front man Pete Doherty. Produced & mixed by Johann Scheerer (Faust/Bosnian Rainbows/The Killers) and recorded at his analogue-based studio, Clouds Hill Recordings in Hamburg. Hamburg Demonstrations includes the previously released singles ‘The Whole World Is Our Playground’ and a new recording of the Amy Winehouse tribute ‘Flags From The Old Regime’. The album also features ’Hell To Pay At The Gates Of Heaven’ written after the Paris attacks last November; ‘Kolly Kibber’ inspired by the newspaper man who meets a sticky end at the beginning of ‘Brighton Rock’ and ‘A Spy In The House Of Love’ a title borrowed from the Anaïs Nin novel.

American Sea Shanties and Songs is part of Rounder's extensive Library of Congress compact disc reissue series. Originally released as part of the Folk Music of the United States series in 1952, it features 21 unaccompanied tracks sung by Richard Maitland, "Sailor Dad" Hunt, Noble B. Brown, and Capt. Leighton Robinson. These are shanties for purists, sung slowly – a sailor's work was never done in haste – and surely by the men who incorporated them into their everyday nautical routines. The tracks themselves are typical of the Lomax era, recorded in the field to capture all of the atmosphere and emotion generated by the physical workplace. All of the original illustrations, extensive research notes, and in-depth discussions of the genre and its colorful terms and characters are intact, and these, more so than the fascinating – but poorly recorded – songs, are reason enough to pick up this invaluable maritime resource.