Thanks in part to an anonymous comment on the Lost Letta posting in February 2010 we were able to secure a copy of the rare South Africa only issue of the Letta Mbulu Mosadi album. The South African release was issued on the Tamla Motown label in 1973 and entitled I'll Never Be the Same. The US-based Chisa label lost its independence in 1971 and as a result the LP never appeared on the Chisa imprint despite being allocated a release number (CS809).
Half of the LP was recorded in 1968 and appeared on the Chisa sampler Africa 68 whilst the remainder of the tracks were recroded in 1971. Full details on the LP are available at Doug Payne's site.
Letta Mbulu - I'll Never Be the Same (1973, TamlaMotown South Africa, TMC5242)
I'll Never Be The Same
Kedumetse
Now We May Begin
Moya
I Won't Weep No More
Because of You
Uyaz Gabisa
You Touched Me
Aredze
We've Got To Learn To Love
MF / RS
The TV recording below features Letta on a Harry Belafonte Canada special from 1974.
For more Letta check out the blog Guitar and the Wing
i've wanted to hear this for so long! i am so excited!
ReplyDeletethank you so much for your efforts and your fantastic blogginess.
Seeing this here is like someone told me Unicorns or Dwarfs are real. All the time you think it's a myth and suddenly...it pops up on electricjive!
ReplyDeleteCan't say how much i appreciate this!
A nice one, thanks a lot.
ReplyDeleteJust back from vacation to find this welcome home present. Not much could make me happy to have left my pacific perch on the Atlantic coast—but this did the trick. Thank you Electric Jive!
ReplyDeleteHello. It is almost unreal this LP finally surfaces, I still can not believe it. I am asking for a huge favour even if you send it to me personally. Can you PLEASE copy this in WAV, FLAC, APE or any lossless format of your choosing? I am blind and can definitely hear the difference between the most high quality transparent lossy codec and any lossless codec. You need not split up the sides, just copy both sides and I will do the rest of the work. I have Letta in lossless already and do not utilise the MP3 format.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are able to grant my request. Thanks in advance.
PS. If you are wondering, I had to acquire sighted assistance to enter the word verification. If possible I suggest an audio accompaniment.
Tha Jsta - just to let you know that Matt is out of circulation at present and will not be able to respond to your request anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteOK, thanks for saying something. Do you mind telling him to send me an e-mail whenever he can respond? It will be easier than monitoring this comments page. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteThis is an incredible find, I never thought I would be able to hear this! But the links no longer work. Is there any way you could re-up this? It would be MUCH appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI have a treasured copy of I'll Never Be The Same - a leaving gift gift given to me in 1974, Johannesburg. Never tire is playing this awesome album.
ReplyDelete