Juju is a great one no matter what, I mean
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 5 February 2020 21:22 (four years ago) link
Completely agree about the Island records. I love Juju Music the most, the dubby production is super sweet. Aura kind of shades into 80s Miles territory for me -- not a bad thing, but not as smooth as Juju Music or Synchro System. Glad to have the recommendations for the compilations -- I've never heard em.
― stop torturing me ethel (broom air), Thursday, 6 February 2020 01:44 (four years ago) link
ok, so I'll get Juju music, but if I wanna get one comp that covers the pre Island shit, which should I get?
― veronica moser, Thursday, 6 February 2020 14:05 (four years ago) link
Start with Best of the Classic Years; Gems From the Classic Years is a sequel that covers the same era.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 6 February 2020 14:18 (four years ago) link
If you find a used vinyl copy of Aura, buy it.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 6 February 2020 14:30 (four years ago) link
A lot of the non-Island albums from the very late 70s and early to mid 80s are fantastic and, while not too dissimilar from Juju Music in basic sound, in a lot of ways are more enveloping listens than the Island albums: The Golden Mercury of Africa, The Message, Check ‘E’, Iyinle Odu, Bobby, Ajoo, Explosion, Togetherness, Sweet Banana.And that’s not even all of them.
I mean at some level they’re somewhat indistinguishable but that also means you can’t really go wrong. My favourite is Bobby for what it’s worth.
― Tim F, Thursday, 6 February 2020 16:10 (four years ago) link
Agreed, Bobby is great. Also a big recommnedation for Searching For My Love.
Having never heard of King Sunny Ade and having no context or knowledge of these kind of sounds, hearing him appear on UK TV around 1982 or 83 (on The Tube) was a genuinely mind blowing musical experiences that left me totally gobsmacked and altered my musical taste forever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGmbyRaauog
― stirmonster, Thursday, 6 February 2020 17:21 (four years ago) link
Revisiting his discography, I find Aura to be his best album. It's not on spotify but the full thing is on youtube. If you haven't heard it please do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_5DDEqghhA
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 15 February 2020 20:04 (four years ago) link
Stevie Wonder plays on the first track too!
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 15 February 2020 20:05 (four years ago) link
It's on Spotify as a twofer with Synchro System: https://open.spotify.com/album/7lGreFI4eAftRKMnXKKjLD?si=kKmnMAhSS9mwpc0Iezy5xA
― Ngolo Cantwell (Chinaski), Sunday, 16 February 2020 11:25 (four years ago) link
Aura is so good, in my slsk folder I split it from the Synchro System twofer - which although the latter is good enough, Aura is a standalone classic that shouldn't be twofered!
― calzino, Sunday, 16 February 2020 11:44 (four years ago) link
i agree aura > synchro system, tho it was received poorly at the time in the uk and sold poorly, hence island's quitting the project iirc
the uk constituency for "world pop" in the mid-80s (not that it was called this yet) was often shamingly authenticist and often actually quite patronising in its attitudes -- and i think KSA's filt-tilt exploration of the potential of the most up-to-date new-pop studio tech distressed this crowd w/o finding crossover support elsewhere. it's a pity bcz i think there was a fruitful tension between the collective rhythm-base of juju and the digital clocktime precision of how the studio tech tended to understand its cuts and edits -- i wish he'd been able to explore it more deeply
― mark s, Sunday, 16 February 2020 12:13 (four years ago) link
have been trying to fill out my KSA collection and ordered one of the earlier LPs on discogs. seller sent the wrong disc by accident. so i got this instead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt5aKIhzgfo&feature=emb_title
it's ... so fucking awesome.
― budo jeru, Monday, 27 April 2020 04:04 (three years ago) link
sry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt5aKIhzgfo
― budo jeru, Monday, 27 April 2020 04:33 (three years ago) link
uncle toye ajagun "vol. 3" 1976
a lot more low end on the LP than here btw
― budo jeru, Monday, 27 April 2020 04:35 (three years ago) link
Don't know that name but like his juju in the video
― curmudgeon, Monday, 27 April 2020 05:24 (three years ago) link
Total newbie here. Picked up "Bobby" on a chance and it's really hitting the spot for a mellow yet uplifting listen. Feel like I could leave it on loop forever and not get tired of it. Where should I go next?
― cooldix, Saturday, 21 November 2020 05:38 (three years ago) link
Perhaps try some of the other albums from around that era. I’m particularly partial to ‘Explosion’ (that and ‘Bobby’ are my go-to picks) but ‘Iyinle Odu’, ‘Ajoo’ and ‘Togetherness’ are also great albums from that time. The only issue is that it can be difficult to keep them separate in yr head.
― Tim F, Saturday, 21 November 2020 06:04 (three years ago) link
Thanks Tim F - I'll seek out "Explosion" once "Bobby" runs its course (that could be a while yet!).
― cooldix, Saturday, 21 November 2020 08:11 (three years ago) link
Fela documentary on BBC2 today:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000pr2n
― Ward Fowler, Saturday, 21 November 2020 09:04 (three years ago) link
folks: vols. 9 & 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7vZ5yzYboA&
― budo jeru, Monday, 23 November 2020 03:52 (three years ago) link
meant to post here the other day and forgot. haven't read the thread (will do so eventually) but wanted to chime in with my preference for the "african beats" records, vols. 7 and 9 & 10 (released i think as a 2xLP). those and the green spot band "master guitarist" series 1-6 are my favorite KSA. reverb-drenched guitars, hypnotic unison vocal lines, and dense percussion grooves that link multiple tunes over a side-long track: that to me is the essential king sunny. i do like the stuff on island / mango, of course
― budo jeru, Monday, 23 November 2020 03:57 (three years ago) link
these sides just seem to go on forever. and the chiming, cascading guitar lines ... just straight into my veins please, yes, don't care if the guitars are out of tune tbh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLDSHSjfTas
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 24 November 2020 02:12 (three years ago) link
I feel like the sunny ade thread should have a “NO FELA” sign like the “no stairway” sign in Wayne’s World.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 24 November 2020 03:49 (three years ago) link
I for one I’m happy I was alerted to this doc this way - in which KSA was namechecked btw, so full circle
― Running up that hill but fleeting (a deal with Gop) (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 24 November 2020 18:50 (three years ago) link
fwiw, I never heard the guitars as "out of tune," I just kinda assumed they were not in just temperament and probably tuned by ear closer to the way the instruments in the precursors of juju music were
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 24 November 2020 19:01 (three years ago) link
I'll forever praise the wonderful bout of enthusiast record collectors' Blogspot-site vinyl rips in '08 or so - I discovered Adé's African-made records that way. I was not bowled over by 'Juju Music' but these side-long jams I totally got down with it. 'Bobby' is my go-to album too, closely followed by this one: https://groovemonzter.blogspot.com/2009/01/king-sunny-ade-private-line-side-one.html
One of these days I'm finally going to check out 'Aura'. I've heard good things about that one.
― Max Florian, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 00:29 (three years ago) link
xp to man alive, i'm talking specifically about the guitars on vol. 7 and in a few other select spots. to my ears there's definitely something going on that isn't sitting right, but that's not something i hear in all of KSA by any means
otm re: blogspot era
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 01:16 (three years ago) link
I was at the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix (highly recommended) a couple years ago with my parents and it has a display of one of KSA's outfits and a blurb about him. My mom is a total square and not into music more than the average person so I was pretty surprised she knew who he was. I guess then he did have a brief moment in the international spotlight before my time.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 01:39 (three years ago) link
another favorite that i first came across in the blogspot years:
Vol 4 Late General Ramat Muritala Mohammedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iON5zP-wnAY
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 15:53 (three years ago) link
great fuzz @ 22:47 !
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 16:01 (three years ago) link
whoa yeah! and the wah-wah before that likewise!
― Max Florian, Thursday, 26 November 2020 13:05 (three years ago) link
i'm here to ask ilxors if they would be interested in / post in a thread devoted to juju / yoruba music.
or whether there's already a suitable thread for the purpose of posting youtube rips of uncle toye ajagun, admiral dele abiodun, prince adekunle, choice KSA deep cuts, etc
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 15 December 2020 02:19 (three years ago) link
Um yeah, I totally would
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 15 December 2020 02:51 (three years ago) link
Chief Ebeneezer Obey, chief stephen osita osadebe etc.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 15 December 2020 02:59 (three years ago) link
One of the stupidest things among many stupid things I did in college was to take an Africa in WWII class, do badly in it, and then, for my final paper, try to write about juju roots and palmwine music in wwii, a subject for which there were almost no sources available whatsoever, even from ILL. I think I walked away with a D in that class. I was really not in my right mind at times.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 15 December 2020 03:01 (three years ago) link
Sorry about the grade, and you not thinking about how hard it would be, but I like the idea.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 15 December 2020 15:41 (three years ago) link
But yeah a juju thread would be ok
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 15 December 2020 16:30 (three years ago) link
Did the juju/yoruba thread ever get off the ground? No results from my searches. I'd be very happy to get some 'if you like KSA you'll like this' recommendations.
― giraffe, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 13:51 (one year ago) link
no idea. the highlife/igbo (but not just that) thread has seen a significant revival in the past 24 hours however!
― I did see Xhaka crotchgrab (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 13 December 2022 14:43 (one year ago) link
https://www.elderscornermovie.com/
I liked this Elders Corner film doc on old school Nigerian musicians (which I have touted on other threads)
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 15:13 (one year ago) link
It has juju and afrobeat and highlife
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 15:21 (one year ago) link
Thanks. Will dig in. How would you define Sunny Ade's sound (and Chief Ebeneezer...)?
― giraffe, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 15:32 (one year ago) link
Is it juju?
― giraffe, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 15:34 (one year ago) link
both juju, yes, though I find distinguishing between juju, highlife, and palm-wine fairly difficult, even more so once western/afrobeat influences start showing up. people with a better ear for rhythm & percussion patterns might be better at it than I am
― rob, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 15:41 (one year ago) link
Thanks. I feel the same - I don't really have the vocabulary, which is why I asked. I associate highlife with The Bhundu Boys. Back in the 80s I found much more to enjoy in the complex rhythms of Sunny Ade. I didn't know that palm-wine was a genre.
― giraffe, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 15:53 (one year ago) link
never started it, will think about doing that this week, or go ahead and make one yourself!
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 18:16 (one year ago) link
The Bhundu Boys ? That's an interesting confusion. The rhythms are very different. I guess it shows how unknown the Zimbabwean body of music remains.Palm wine music is more traditional. Juju is more hypnotic and celebratory. Highlife is more funky and melancholic and has rumba-style guitar.
― Nabozo, Wednesday, 14 December 2022 10:01 (one year ago) link
I mentioned the Bhundu Boys only because we were talking about different threads on ILM and how some juju had somehow made it onto the highlife thread. I then noticed there was some discussion above about having a devoted thread, which I've since started.
― giraffe, Wednesday, 14 December 2022 10:05 (one year ago) link