This is a site where I post reviews of CDs, DVDs, LPs, and concerts. I have been writing music reviews on and off since 1984. I ran a heavy metal fanzine from 1984-1988 called Metal Madness and have been a staff writer for Aural Innovations for many years. I have also contributed to Chrohinga Well (RIP), Bad Acid (RIP), Lowcut (RIP), Roadburn and a number of other zines as well. I recently moved to Portugal so please request the new address and do not send any music to Denmark anymore. Tak..
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Friday, August 31, 2018
Seun Kuti and Egypt 80- Black Times (Strut Records STRUT163LP)
It has been 4 years since the last Seun
Kuti record and he has continued to play all over the world bring the Afrobeat
sound and message of change. This album features 8 songs over 4 LP sides and
some very potent lyrics (although they are a lot shorter and more to the point)
and themes of change. Last Revolutionary starts things off with a great groove
and high energy. Seun plays a lot more keyboards on this album than previously.
This very much a vocal oriented track as there is singing almost throughout the
entire track. Black Times is about passing on the heritage of black people’s
culture to the next generation and pretty unusual for Afrobeat, it features
several guitar solos by none other than Carlos Santana. What a great track. Corporate
Public Control Department (CPCD) about how he new government is always the same
as the old and nothing ever happens to better the life of the people. It starts
as a slower piece but then the groove kicks in and the horn section creates the
main motif for the song. Again, not a lot of lyrics but a lot of singing,
repeated over and over. Kuku Kee Me (not sure what that means in Nigerian) but
it is an angry one. This has a great intense groove and the mid-section break
has some great horn playing.
Black Man Lighter (BML) is about smoking in
public! Weed, maybe? The groove is a bit “stoned” and slower and the horns take
the lead at first with several sections of the same repeated theme before the
arrangement changes and vocals kick in and sing nearly the entire song and then
the theme comes back again. African Dreams, one of the longest tracks
on the record, is about how the youth in Africa have bought into the corporate
capitalism and are not thinking about the fate of Africa. The guitar line is
classic Fela afrobeat on this slower track and contains a lot more lyrics than
are printed in the album sleeve! Struggle Sounds starts the last side of the
album and has a footstomping beat and then the bass kicks in and off we go. The
final track, Theory of Goat and Yam is one of my faves on the record. Great
track and another classic afrobeat record. I would like to see the band make
longer tracks but they extend these tracks a lot when they play live. Enjoy.
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