JR8 wrote:I always preferred a dose of Africa from an authentic source, King Sunny Ade, or at least via reggae.Brah wrote:At that time, African rhythms were the thing - Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Paul Simon, and many others. Level 42 was not the fretless sound, you may be referring to Paul Young The Thompson Twins, Japan, and a few others.
African rhythms and King Crimson? Haven't noticed. They always remind me of halcyon youth, lying in a meadow under the sun, more pastoral and melancholy, than downtown Kinshasa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgKz5pgARcg - King Crimson - I Talk To The Wind
Peter Gabriel. Wasn't he ex-Genesis or similar. Funny how tribal it gets. He's 98% off-radar. But I'd wager no one could even name a Genesis song these days; curious considering they were a '''supergroup''' of their day.
Paul Simon. NY Jewish old man went to Africa for a week, then redefined himself by it, and was thence yelling his self-appointed, and self-anointed African'ness in your face. A bit like Madonna finding some new calling. Yawn, well yer know some of us have been too, and this pastiche from someone who spent a weekend there. [Refer also the ghastly: Toto: 'Africa' - I understand none of the band have even yer know actually been lol].
Peter Gabriel is ex-Genesis. IMHO Genesis was as good or better without him, and I can name any number of their brilliant works up to the point they sold out to become the Phil Collins Pop Machine, at which point I switched off. Prog was pretty much dead by that point anyway.
His forays into African rhythms were more on the World Beat side than a lot of other acts doing the Afican thing at the time, but it's an unfair comparison to bring King Sunny Ade (I had the same album as you, and taped my brother's albums, he had a few others) as Gabriel, who I was never a huge fan of, was more intentionally derivative than striving for any kind of cultural authenticity. I'd say the same about Paul Simon.
SImon's Graceland was like much of his work and a very accomplished offering, but I much preferred the next album, The Rhythm of the Saints, which was a mix of Afro- and South American rhythms.
These are not great examples.
Kiss Of Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzPC7M6lQuE
Biko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ncVyxQRw70
King Crimson on the other hand, who I cut my teeth on in their Greg Lake and John Wetton eras, in their fourth of many incarnations, took it a few levels deeper musically, but as well were more derivative than authentic, and being some of the better musicians on the planet, brought their own thing to that evolving sub-genre into a series of three albums, the best being the first and very excellent Discipline.
Discipline - whole album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-dZNzXylVE
You won't find me commenting on Toto or Madonna, not my kind of thing.