Various Artists / Rough Guide African Disco
| Album: | Rough Guide African Disco | Collection: | World | |
| Artist: | Various Artists | Added: | Feb 2013 | |
| Label: | World Music Network | |||
A-File Activity
| Add Date: | 2013-03-02 | Pull Date: | 2013-05-05 | Charts: | Reggae/World |
|---|
| Week Ending: | May 5 | Apr 21 | Apr 14 | Apr 7 | Mar 31 | Mar 24 | Mar 17 | Mar 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airplays: | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Recent Airplay
| 1. | Apr 26, 2017: | At the Cafe Bohemian
Ohue, A Brand New Wayo |
4. | Apr 20, 2013: | Uncle Steve's Dance Party
Oh Yeh Soweto, Kwedini |
|
| 2. | Jun 09, 2013: | The Doldrummer
Kazet |
5. | Apr 13, 2013: | Noisejazz Catharsis
Yekey Tenge |
|
| 3. | May 02, 2013: | The Sunset Life
Be Africa |
6. | Apr 13, 2013: | Music Casserole
Tsa-Oo |
Album Review
Sadie O.
Reviewed 2013-02-28
Reviewed 2013-02-28
Rough Guide to African Disco
Reviewed by Sadie O., 2/28/13
Some seriously funky stuff in here, quite a wide variety of “Disco” in quite a few African styles. Quite a few very well known artists, too. The bonus CD is a reissue of a fun project from the 80’s interpreting soul standards in Soukous form with a 4/4 beat. Originally a long medley, it’s been chopped up rather poorly by the digital download process. Still some nice stuff, fine vocals. Good comp!
CD 1:
1. 5:02 ***spoken word intro, then nice rubbery rather uptempo Electric Slide. Fun-Kay! Vocals in English
2. 3:51 **rather pretty and a bit commercial – but great grunty percusson. Pretty tenor vocals in some Ghanan language.
3. 5:17 ****excellent (and very wet sounding) talking drum intro, then downtempo disco soul, vocals in a Nigerian language. Nice bass work, too.
4. 3:46 ****delicious midtempo chugging township jive, wonderful vocal interplay.
5. 4:37 ***midtempo pounding club beat – after an initial bit of vocoder, it sounds like Angelique Kidjo singing with Howard Jones backing…
6. 5:37 ****goofiest damn electronic booples since Ursula 1000… Fun upbeat disco funk, building elements as it goes. Definitely a Latin tinge as well.
7. 4:15 ***lots of rapid percussion intro, nice pop bass, cool vocal chorus, rather cool and restrained sound.
8. 5:57 ****very pretty a cappella intro, then funky percussion, cool swingy funk. Manu brings the Makossa, as always! Super cool.
9. 3:48 ***classic Disco, vocals in English – if they didn’t perform this on Soul Train, they certainly should have!
10. 4:16 ***chugging groove, Prince-inflected keyboards, and a rather bewildering variety of other styles. Uptempo, with female chorus, very dramatic in bits.
11. 4:14 ****big piano intro, upbeat dance groove with chorus and horn section.
12. 9:09 **very groovy chugging drums, smooth guitar, overall relaxed feel.
13. 3:39 **squeebly keyboards, nice vocals and chorus, very “African” rootsy, which is interesting next to rather prosaic, relaxed Disco music.
CD 2 (sweat to the soul classics, Soukous style!):
1. 4:02 ****uptempo cover with significant soukous tinge, fine vocals.
2. 3:22 ***nice uptempo groove, really nice vocals. Gets seriously highlife-y in second half.
3. 4:29 ****whistling intro, tinkling guitars, sweet cover of a great song. Ends a bit too abruptly.
4. 2:39 ***female chorus vocals, hand percussion. Unfortunately although it should flow right into next track, the digital download screws that up…
5. 4:24 ****oddly (ha) similar to track 1.
6. 5:51 ****I’m actually not familiar with this song! But definitely fine vocals
7. 3:45 ****great song, not at all hurt by the Soukous treatment.
8. 5:02 ***maybe I’m just getting used to the Soukous treatment, but this sounds pretty similar to the original, apart from vocals…
Reviewed by Sadie O., 2/28/13
Some seriously funky stuff in here, quite a wide variety of “Disco” in quite a few African styles. Quite a few very well known artists, too. The bonus CD is a reissue of a fun project from the 80’s interpreting soul standards in Soukous form with a 4/4 beat. Originally a long medley, it’s been chopped up rather poorly by the digital download process. Still some nice stuff, fine vocals. Good comp!
CD 1:
1. 5:02 ***spoken word intro, then nice rubbery rather uptempo Electric Slide. Fun-Kay! Vocals in English
2. 3:51 **rather pretty and a bit commercial – but great grunty percusson. Pretty tenor vocals in some Ghanan language.
3. 5:17 ****excellent (and very wet sounding) talking drum intro, then downtempo disco soul, vocals in a Nigerian language. Nice bass work, too.
4. 3:46 ****delicious midtempo chugging township jive, wonderful vocal interplay.
5. 4:37 ***midtempo pounding club beat – after an initial bit of vocoder, it sounds like Angelique Kidjo singing with Howard Jones backing…
6. 5:37 ****goofiest damn electronic booples since Ursula 1000… Fun upbeat disco funk, building elements as it goes. Definitely a Latin tinge as well.
7. 4:15 ***lots of rapid percussion intro, nice pop bass, cool vocal chorus, rather cool and restrained sound.
8. 5:57 ****very pretty a cappella intro, then funky percussion, cool swingy funk. Manu brings the Makossa, as always! Super cool.
9. 3:48 ***classic Disco, vocals in English – if they didn’t perform this on Soul Train, they certainly should have!
10. 4:16 ***chugging groove, Prince-inflected keyboards, and a rather bewildering variety of other styles. Uptempo, with female chorus, very dramatic in bits.
11. 4:14 ****big piano intro, upbeat dance groove with chorus and horn section.
12. 9:09 **very groovy chugging drums, smooth guitar, overall relaxed feel.
13. 3:39 **squeebly keyboards, nice vocals and chorus, very “African” rootsy, which is interesting next to rather prosaic, relaxed Disco music.
CD 2 (sweat to the soul classics, Soukous style!):
1. 4:02 ****uptempo cover with significant soukous tinge, fine vocals.
2. 3:22 ***nice uptempo groove, really nice vocals. Gets seriously highlife-y in second half.
3. 4:29 ****whistling intro, tinkling guitars, sweet cover of a great song. Ends a bit too abruptly.
4. 2:39 ***female chorus vocals, hand percussion. Unfortunately although it should flow right into next track, the digital download screws that up…
5. 4:24 ****oddly (ha) similar to track 1.
6. 5:51 ****I’m actually not familiar with this song! But definitely fine vocals
7. 3:45 ****great song, not at all hurt by the Soukous treatment.
8. 5:02 ***maybe I’m just getting used to the Soukous treatment, but this sounds pretty similar to the original, apart from vocals…
Track Listing