Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The World Ends: Afro Rock and Psychedelia in Nigeria in the 70s Part 1 and Part 2 (Soundway Records)

I have to say that I was totally blown away when I received these amazing compilation records from Soundaway. I have been a big fan of Nigerian music for many many years and even saw Fela Kuti play in the early 90’s but this is not about Afro Beat, this is about the guys who were surrounded by Afro Beat, James Brown, HiLife music finding out about rock and trying to do make use of what they heard. What we have on these 12 albums sides (each Part is a triple vinyl record!) is a diverse range of bands mixing their local sounds with some rock influences, be it 4/4 tempo, cool guitar solos, or trying to sing like rock singers…. For me the bands on side 3 or both records are the real stand out artists but there is a lot of great material here. I don’t think it is that psychedelic compared to what you would normally call psychedelic rock but it sounds really cool, the mix they have come up with considering this stuff was mostly recorded in pretty primitive studios in Africa in the early 70s…. I highly recommend these records. You can hear all the songs streaming at the Soundway web site but owning the vinyl is great as there is a little story about every band. Amazing find...

No comments:

Post a Comment