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Album Reviews
This chapter in England's Wrasse Records' exhaustive and authoritative Fela Kuti reissue project contains two albums that were recorded five years apart. Why Black Man Dey Suffer was recorded in 1970, but went unreleased at the time -- EMI, Fela's label, felt it was too controversial given its political overtones. It was finally brought out in France in 1986 by Decca's Afrodesia imprint. The album Alagbon Close was recorded in 1974 and released in Nigeria the same year, and in the United States in 1975, marking Kuti's first official American release with Africa '70. Interestingly, the earlier album's production sound is superior to the latter one. Alagbon benefits from a solid sound separation where the keyboards are actually heard in their very natural place in the mix; they have no unnecessary highs or thin ends in the frequency, which is sadly not the case on the latter set, where Fela and his band were put on a budget, even though they recorded very quickly. Stylistically, these albums match well together, the long and loping hypnotic Afro-beat funk and rhythmic punch is detailed well in both pace and dynamic. There are rises and falls over these extra cuts with terrific work by drummer Tony Allen on both. Allen left the band after the first recording and was replaced-temporarily-by Ginger Baker-and returned in 1973. Why Black Man Dey Suffer has been reissued a number of times; thanks to Wrasse and its high production standards, it has finally been reissued definitively. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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Heartless KanYe West |
| When he announced that he would be putting rap to one side for his latest album and composing the whole thing using an 80's drum machine and singing in the style of Cher via the use of auto-tune software, many onlookers thought KanYe West had lost it. However, the results of KanYe's pop experiments, that on paper looked decidedly dodgy, have already produced one hit single and, if early reviews are anything to go by, one of KanYe's best albums. On his latest single, 'Heartless', KanYe continues the theme of the album '808's and Heartbreaks' by employing the use of the 808 drum machine and singing about, if you hadn't already guessed, Heartbreak. Although, as Kanye himself stated, the use of auto-tune is often associated with being 'wack', the application of the vocoder effect on 'Heartless' adds an extra depth to West's effective but limited speak singing. This proves to be a shrewd move as rapper's attempts to hit notes out of their range can often end in horrendous results; just ask Puff Daddy. Added to this the depth of lyrics, inspired by an emotionally turbulent year that saw the death of his mother and a break up with his fiancé, have more heartfelt punch than any of the predictable Hip Hop/R&B doing the rounds at the moment. Not many artists could pull it off but it seems '808's and Heartbreaks' has seamlessly moved KanYe West from Hip Hop King into the realm of pop pioneer without breaking a sweat. ©2008 Shazam Entertainment Limited. All rights reserved. | |
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