New African November 2010

Bow Wow Wow - See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang (1981) {2CD Set, Cherry Red Remaster CDBRED452 rel 2010}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 464 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 171 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 294 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1981, 2010 Cherry Red Records / Sony Music | CDBRED452
Rock / New Wave / Dance Rock

Malcolm McLaren, of Sex Pistols fame, made teenager Annabella Lwin the centerpiece of his next creation. Backing her with members of Adam & the Ants, they were dubbed Bow Wow Wow and released See Jungle! See Jungle! in 1981. The focus was on style and the music was a mix of dance and new wave always with a heavy nod toward percussion. The results are mixed and you sometimes have the feeling that you are hearing the same song repeated. However, it's difficult not to find yourself drumming your fingers to the frantic beats. Lwin makes sure that you never forget that she's only 15, either through her vocal delivery or her outright declarations (as on "Chihuahua"). The band also serves up an interesting spaghetti Western instrumental on "Orang-outang" and everything falls into place on "Go Wild in the Country," with Lwin's uninhibited shrieks touting the merits of getting away from it all.

Blue Mitchell - African Violet / Summer Soft (1977-1978) {2CD Impulse! 2-on-1 Series Remaster rel 2011}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 559 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 201 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1977, 1978, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / Universal Music | 06025 2780952
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Trumpet

This two-fer combines a pair of trumpeter Blue Mitchell's late-career albums for the Impulse! label: 1977's African Violet and Summer Soft. A consummate hard bopper, Mitchell experimented with soul- and funk-jazz as the '70s wore on and these albums are no exception. Funky but lyrical, muscular yet still swinging with a modern jazz intensity, these albums feature Mitchell playing against small as well as large ensembles, including orchestral strings on African Violet. Reflecting the somewhat commercial approach to many jazz productions of the time with electric guitars and synthesizers in the mix, they are nonetheless worthy, hard to find recordings and it's great to have them together on one disc.

Ebo Taylor - Love And Death (2010) {Strut STRUT073CD}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 302 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 106 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 15 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Strut | STRUT073CD
Afro-beat / Afro-Pop / African Traditions / Highlife / West African

While Ebo Taylor's name is not familiar to most as one of the pioneers of Afro-beat, it should be. Taylor, the Ghanian composer, arranger, guitarist, and vocalist has been making music since the 1950s, and studied with Fela Kuti at the Eric Guilder School of Music in London from 1962 until 1965. Rather than go the solo path, he opted instead for Accra's studio scene, where he appeared on dozens of singles and albums . He cut a self-titled solo album in 1977 on the local label Essiebons. Tracks from it, another album entitled Conflict, and various singles have appeared in recent years on various European compilations. The Strut imprint, not content to let Taylor's name languish in obscurity, put its money where its mouth was, and paired him with the Afrobeat Academy of Berlin, which includes guitarist J. Whitefield of the Whitefield Brothers and various guests from Europe and Africa.

King Sunny Adé - Synchro System & Aura (1983-84) {T-Bird TBIRD 0034 CD rel 2010}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 494 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 180 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1983-84, 2010 Island Records / T-Bird Records | TBIRD 0034 CD
International / Afro-Beat / West African / Afro-Pop / Juju / Worldbeat

King Sunny Adé had been making his own music since 1974 with his group the Green Spots before creating his large African Beats group. This band, despite making literally over 100 records in Nigeria, failed to stir much Western interest until Mango Records, a subsidiary of Island, took a chance and issued the breakthrough album Juju Music in 1982. With its seven extended cuts, it introduced King Sunny Adé & His African Beats to the U.S. as well as England and most of the rest of Europe – save for France, where the band had previously been able to tour. This U.K. two-fer reissue of 1983's Synchro System and Aura (on Cherry Red's T-Bird imprint) is comprised of the other two recordings in the band's Mango catalog (the band was dropped after sales of these two recordings proved disappointing to label bosses who tried to market Adé as "the new Bob Marley").

The key components to every great prog-rock album comprise memorable guitar riffs, punchy immediacy that draws you into the song, ample rhythmic kick, and the imaginative capacity to transport the listener to a place well beyond the confines of reality. Yes’ The Yes Album features all of these rare qualities and more, the 1971 record as significant for saving the band’s career as well as for establishing new parameters in virtuosic technicality and skilled composition. The first set recorded with guitarist Steve Howe, it remains Yes’ grandest achievement and claims a musical vision the British quintet’s contemporaries struggled to match…

Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music. During the late '60s and early '70s, Sly Stone and his family of funkateers were one of the most popular outfits in the U.S. and beyond. Their blend of classic Soul and future Funk created the blueprint that many other bands still follow over four decades later. This box includes great albums like A Whole New Thing (1967), Dance To The Music (1968), Life (1968), Stand! (1969) and There's A Riot Goin' On (1971).

Boasting twenty one pulsating tracks drawn from the northern coasts of Colombia, ‘Palenque Palenque!’ reveals a unique and fascinating story of how Afro Colombian music developed from the 1970s onwards and how the local sound-systems in Cartagena and Barranquilla played such an important role in shaping the sound of the Colombian champeta.