Fela Kuti's Afrobeat to the Psychedelic WorldFunk of Eno/Byrne (1 Viewer)

[Bob Magaw]

An African Musical Diaspora

A bio of Fela Kuti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti

Musical descriptive excerpt - "The musical style of Felá is called afrobeat, a style he largely created, which is a complex fusion of Jazz, Funk, Ghanaian/Nigerian High-life, psychedelic rock, and traditional West African chants and rhythms. Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native "tinker pan" African-style percussion that Kuti acquired while studying in Ghana with Hugh Masekela, under the uncanny Hedzoleh Soundz.[16] The importance of the input of Tony Allen (Fela's drummer of twenty years) in the creation of Afrobeat cannot be overstated. Fela once famously stated that "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat".

Afrobeat is characterized by a fairly large band with many instruments, vocals, and a musical structure featuring jazzy, funky horn sections. A riff-based "endless groove" is used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted West African-style guitar, and melodic bass guitar riffs are repeated throughout the song. Commonly, interlocking melodic riffs and rhythms are introduced one by one, building the groove bit-by-bit and layer-by-layer. The horn section then becomes prominent, introducing other riffs and main melodic themes."

The third and most recent vinyl box set of Fela, in this case "curated" by Eno, including some of his greatest albums from the '70s [[includes London Scene (1971), Shakara (1972), Gentleman (1973), Afrodisiac (1973), Zombie (1976), Upside Down (1976), and I.T.T. (1980)]]. Below is a brief, three minute embedded video of Eno describing what a profound influence Fela Kuti was on his music (and therefore Byrne, circa their collaborative project My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, and Remain In Light by the Talking Heads). These titles are all available separately (usually in combination with another album) on CD by the Knitting Factory label.

http://pitchfork.com/news/56268-fela-kuti-box-set-of-vinyl-reissues-curated-by-brian-eno-announced/

The album Zombie, about the Nigerian military (AUDIO 50+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrL0yXQINVc​

The album Afrodisiac (AUDIO 40 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYlNd9F1Nn0​

Fela Live Berlin '78 (VIDEO nearly 90 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MUqZQSQzZc​

Brian Eno & David Byrne's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, a visionary, pioneering, seminal album in the history of sampling, great headphone music for appreciating the myriad, countless layers stretching out to an infinite sonic event horizon, this was actually "composed" and recorded before Remain In Light, but released after, while they awaited legal permission for the samples (AUDIO 1 hr)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KgSQBeN-hM

On the recording, engineering and production of MLITBOG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Life_in_the_Bush_of_Ghosts_(album)​

​

Talking Heads Remain In Light, Adrian Belew of Zappa and Discipline-era King Crimson on guitar (AUDIO 40+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHVBaF0HopQ

On the recording, engineering and production of RIL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remain_in_Light

The Talking Heads live concert film, Stop Making Sense (VIDEO nearly 90 minutes), Once In A Lifetime is a highlight at 53:30 mark, no Belew, but featuring the swirling, hypnotic synths and keys of P-Funk genius Bernie Worrell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pICad2mOfMo

* Brian Eno & Jon Hassell Fourth World Vol. 1 Possible Musics (Hassell contributed some horn work to RIL or MLITBOG?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFig-OiIwDo

​

 

[saintfool]

Fela was a helluva musician and performer but he was also a huge jerk as neat as I can tell. The man thrived on drama.

Love his music though.

 

[Bob Magaw]

Zombie was a direct attack on the Nigerian miltary and power structure, for which I think they stormed his compound, threw his elderly mother out of a window and murdered her, and at some point imprisoning (and allegedly torturing) him for several years, not sure if some of the drama was pre or post those incidents.

I had some King Sunny Ade back in the day (an amazing big band and sound with African percussion, multiple interwoven electric guitars and hypnotic, repetitive, chanted vocals), a little Hugh Maskela, who I guess was a Fela mentor for a time and had some exposure in America, but not much or any Fela. Just became a big fan, somewhat indirectly from not realizing his influence on Eno/Byrne's MLITBOG and the Talking Heads RIL (which I have been a fan of since they came out).

Interestingly, to me at least (maybe you can appreciate the antecedents and precursor part, as a student of musical history and the roots of rock, jazz and blues), Fela was himself heavily influenced from across the pond by James Brown. As was Miles Davis (Hendrix and Sly Stone were also massive influences on Miles from the late-'60s to mid-'70s, not sure about on Fela?). An Eno and looping connection is in the liner notes to Eno's imo outstanding ambient work On Land, he notes how He Loved Him Madly from Miles Get Up With It (a tribute to the late Duke Ellington, who Miles greatly admired and respected), particularly in the studio wizardry and spliced loops (albeit LONG loops) of long time Miles producer/engineer and collaborator Teo Macero, was a big influence on the album. Miles may have been influenced by Fela in his African/Indian period of On The Corner (ya think ), but he was definitely aware of him, and I think characterized him in some way as representing the future of music. MLITBOG and RIL have certainly been referred to as variously pioneering, in the sense of influencing, or prescient, in the sense of predicting, future confluences of electronic, funk, rock, pop, world (third stream fusions of jazz and classical by composer and historian Gunther Schuller and John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet dating back to the '50s also relevant in a historical context) and sampled hybrid trends.

Anyways, it would seem that the whole diaspora thing has been cyclical, washing back and forth from continent to continent multiple times (like a sloshing musical tsunami):

Eno/Byrne & Talking Heads < Fela < James Brown < American blues influenced by African music brought by slaves. And so on.

 

[Tick]

I saw the thread title and assumed this was a Bob Magaw thread.

 

[saintfool]

i don't - or can't, more rightly - think there is any denying his political edge. he was a product of his time in that regard for sure. he liked women, recreational drugs and music in no particular order as well.

 

[Eephus]

Fela's great drummer Tony Allen has probably done more than anyone to keep the beat going in the years since Fela's death. Fela's son Femi puts on a sizzling live show but suffers a bit from Ziggy Marley syndrome. Allen has released lots of records under his own name and while I haven't listened to all of them, the ones I've heard are uneven and lacking in songcraft. Allen's drum work is always the constant; a unique style that skitters around the beat while never letting go of the pulse of the music. Allen's contributions to his collaboration with Western musicians have mostly been disappointments. The Damon Albarn led supergroups The Good, the Bad and the Queen and Rocket Juice and the Moon were far less than the sum of their parts and Allen's contributions were mostly wasted.

So I approached Allen's 2009 release Inspiration Information 4 with Finnish hipster sax player and DJ Jimi Tenor with some trepidation. I mean Jimi Tenor, seriously? But file sharing was a wonderful thing and a download cost nothing so what the hey. It turned out to actually be pretty good. It's stylistically all over the map with lame Euro rappers and Tenor's neo-skronk solos. But Tenor the producer had the good sense to mix Allen's drums way up front and leave enough space for his groove which makes all the difference in the world.

Tony Allen & Jimi Tenor - Got My Egusi

Three Continents

Sinuhue

 

[Bob Magaw]

I saw the thread title and assumed this was a Bob Magaw thread.

You are correct, sir!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwcfDa0gEPQ

​

 

[Bob Magaw]

i don't - or can't, more rightly - think there is any denying his political edge. he was a product of his time in that regard for sure. he liked women, recreational drugs and music in no particular order as well.

He even tried to found his own sovereign nation state, partially on the principle of polygamy (have to admire a man with conviction in his principles), but sadly died of AIDS. He was definitely characterized as a misogynist and anachronism in the West for trying to turn the clock back decades/centuries on sex relations, but perhaps he was viewed as more of a national and regional hero in Nigeria and Africa (though even polarizing and divisive there - at least politically and socially, he clearly seemed to be a unifying force musically).

* Great avatar, BTW.

 

[Bob Magaw]

Fela's great drummer Tony Allen has probably done more than anyone to keep the beat going in the years since Fela's death. Fela's son Femi puts on a sizzling live show but suffers a bit from Ziggy Marley syndrome. Allen has released lots of records under his own name and while I haven't listened to all of them, the ones I've heard are uneven and lacking in songcraft. Allen's drum work is always the constant; a unique style that skitters around the beat while never letting go of the pulse of the music. Allen's contributions to his collaboration with Western musicians have mostly been disappointments. The Damon Albarn led supergroups The Good, the Bad and the Queen and Rocket Juice and the Moon were far less than the sum of their parts and Allen's contributions were mostly wasted.

So I approached Allen's 2009 release Inspiration Information 4 with Finnish hipster sax player and DJ Jimi Tenor with some trepidation. I mean Jimi Tenor, seriously? But file sharing was a wonderful thing and a download cost nothing so what the hey. It turned out to actually be pretty good. It's stylistically all over the map with lame Euro rappers and Tenor's neo-skronk solos. But Tenor the producer had the good sense to mix Allen's drums way up front and leave enough space for his groove which makes all the difference in the world.

Tony Allen & Jimi Tenor - Got My Egusi

Three Continents

Sinuhue

Eno singled out Allen specifically for his massive contribution to Fela's soundscape specifically and Afrobeat in general, giving him big props. I'll check that out, thanks.

Haven't heard a lot of skronk lately, maybe some John Zorn, as well as Bill Pullman's character in David Lynch's Lost Highway (which has to be seen to be believed if only for the hilarious/creepy party scene with Robert "Blakes" - high up in my personal pantheon of top 10 weirdest scenes EVER). Back in the day, if you wanted to clear a party, putting on some late hour Archie Shepp was reportedly as effective as firing a double barreled shot gun into the ceiling (maybe more so?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZowK0NAvig

 

[Bob Magaw]

Great interview (long) of Byrne on MLITBOG from Pitchfork

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/6382-david-byrne/

Pitchfork's review of MLITBOG

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1064-my-life-in-the-bush-of-ghosts/

MLITBOG review by Stylus

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/brian-enodavid-byrne/my-life-in-the-bush-of-ghosts.htm

 

[saintfool]

i don't - or can't, more rightly - think there is any denying his political edge. he was a product of his time in that regard for sure. he liked women, recreational drugs and music in no particular order as well.

He even tried to found his own sovereign nation state, partially on the principle of polygamy (have to admire a man with conviction in his principles), but sadly died of AIDS. He was definitely characterized as a misogynist and anachronism in the West for trying to turn the clock back decades/centuries on sex relations, but perhaps he was viewed as more of a national and regional hero in Nigeria and Africa (though even polarizing and divisive there - at least politically and socially, he clearly seemed to be a unifying force musically).

* Great avatar, BTW.

yeah, yeah, yeah. i've seen the BBC "music is the weapon" or whatever it's called. i love his music but he's a sticky widget.he's a deeply flawed artist and individual. personally, the easy analog for Fela has been the one with Miles. they're kindred spirits in many ways. i always felt that Fela should have spent some time with his contemporary, Bob Marley. Different musical styles, for sure, but the ideologies are aligned.

 

[Bob Magaw]

In the Pitchfork interview linked above, Byrne notes some similarities between MLITBOG and On The Corner by Miles, which he didn't realize at the time but was made aware of later. He also mentions in passing the below Brazilian psychedelic band, Os Mutantes, who I had never even heard of, let alone their music, some interesting material.

Tudo Foi Feito Pelo Sol '73 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DjDC19QeY0

A Divina Comedia Ou Ando Meio Desligado '70 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5dsSMs2rR8

Like the latin, rock, funk, jazz fusion of Santana, as far as a world music, like twisting the global kaleidoscope

Caravanserai '72 (AUDIO), this would be filed in rock, whereas a collaborative work like Love, Devotion, Surrender with John McLaughlin and Larry Young could easily go in the jazz section

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjc_pSD8ZSs&list=PL-UWPlRIl68pb_Hpb2SwFAb_RvH5M2jXd

Lotus live double album '73 (AUDIO 2 hrs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2-EeDRV_VA​

Lotus Tour Japan '73 (VIDEO 1+ hr)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2-EeDRV_VA

Lotus Tour South America '73 (VIDEO 90+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTzEKCgI2V8

​

At the Hammersmith Odeon '76 (VIDEO nearly 1 hr)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNl_fiqdgbE

​

​

 

[CletiusMaximus]

I'm a huge Fela fan but never associated him with Byrne/Eno. Unfortunately never saw him play, but have seen Femi several times and his other son, who tours with a band that calls itself "Egypt 80" after Fela's band. Femi is always worth the time, but I always have the feeling he couldn't hold a candle to his old man.

 

[Eephus]

This probably isn't going to be a 20 page thread because Fela is such a genre defining artist. There are other famous Nigerian musicians such as King Sunny Ade and Manu Djbango but their music is very different from Afrobeat. The economics of music also makes it difficult for African artists to follow in Fela's footsteps. It's prohibitively expensive to tour with an band as large as Fela did. Most music that's broken from Africa recently have been small vocal or guitar based ensembles or African rap.

I hear more Brazilian influences than African in Talking Head's music anyway.

 

[Bob Magaw]

i don't - or can't, more rightly - think there is any denying his political edge. he was a product of his time in that regard for sure. he liked women, recreational drugs and music in no particular order as well.

He even tried to found his own sovereign nation state, partially on the principle of polygamy (have to admire a man with conviction in his principles), but sadly died of AIDS. He was definitely characterized as a misogynist and anachronism in the West for trying to turn the clock back decades/centuries on sex relations, but perhaps he was viewed as more of a national and regional hero in Nigeria and Africa (though even polarizing and divisive there - at least politically and socially, he clearly seemed to be a unifying force musically).

* Great avatar, BTW.

yeah, yeah, yeah. i've seen the BBC "music is the weapon" or whatever it's called. i love his music but he's a sticky widget.he's a deeply flawed artist and individual. personally, the easy analog for Fela has been the one with Miles. they're kindred spirits in many ways. i always felt that Fela should have spent some time with his contemporary, Bob Marley. Different musical styles, for sure, but the ideologies are aligned.

Curious how to reconcile the first post about Fela being a heckuva musician, with this as a deeply flawed artist. Not a gotcha inquiry, I respect your opinion a lot. Again, just wondering, sure there is a simple explanation I'm not accounting for, or being dense about.

Fela did sound like a heckuva musician, among other things, he was a multi-instrumentalist that could play horns, guitar, keyboards, drums, the whole shebang.

Does anybody know him or his music well enough to shed light on his working methods? Did he write music and compose songs in advance, tell the band what to play, let them emerge during ensemble improvisations during rehearsals and live performances, some combination?

In the case of Miles, there was a mix. Much of his classic Kind Of Blue was modal improvisation (though in actuality, they had played some material previously, contrary to popular belief). The nearly equally famous Sketches Of Spain collaboration with Gil Evans was scored and arranged (part of Evans innovation was in the instrumental orchestration, which he used in the seminal, earlier Birth Of The Cool sessions written by the likes of bari sax player Gerry Mulligan and MJQ pianist John Lewis, which almost singlehandedly launched the anti-bebop reaction, West Coast Jazz movement - Evans had even earlier worked out his optimal minimal small orchestra configuration that could still express his preferred range of colorings and shadings which were non-traditional, dark, dense, atmospheric and moody, as an arranger for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra), though with built in space and room designed for primary, featured soloist Miles to weave in his improvisations into the overall fabric and tapestry.

By the time of the second great quintet in the '60s (Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams) and the dawn of fusion in the early '70s, not only was he NOT telling his musicians what to play (some of this stuff at that time was extremely avant garde), but he actually told them, in an oft-quoted, inscrutable zen master-like koan, to play like they don't know how to play. On the surface a bizarre and seemingly counterproductive instruction, I always interpreted it and took it to mean that by getting outside of a musical "comfort zone", they could transcend deeply ingrained, rote playing habits and boringly stultifying phrasing cliches, and tap into deeper well springs of creativity. For one example, Herbie had never played the electric keyboard on the Tribute To Jack Johnson sessions, and had no warning prior to showing up to Columbia Studios for the gig. Yet he played expertly and brilliantly, like he had played the instrument his whole life (Miles could and did get the finest musicians in the world, previously he worked with Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, etc. - so he had whole bands filled with geniuses in their own rights).

As to being flawed persons, sometimes geniuses and great artists are judged by different standards. I don't know if Beethoven had a flawed character or personality, but even if reading a bio or history caused me to conclude that he did, not sure it would cause me to appreciate Schiller's Ode To Joy movement of the Ninth Symphony any less (of course, in an extreme case, if Hitler had been a genius classical or jazz musician, it might be hard for me to separate the person from the music?). Van Gogh sounded like a deeply disturbed and troubled individual (it is a cliche that sometimes not much separates artistic genius from madness). Maybe it was something in his heightened sensitivity that caused the night sky to look like it did and enabled him to paint Starry Night in his inimitable style (or sunflowers or self portraits with radiant fields of force), that was inextricably part of his fragile psyche and made him a profound outsider to the normal human social sphere. Almost as if he felt the world and sensory impressions too intensely, at the expense of everything else, and normal development. Perhaps if he had a more well adjusted personality, his art would have been common, trite and banal (in which case we almost certainly never would have heard of him?), and it's greatness drew from his very otherness, unusual and rare outlook, and literally hardwired sensibility?

Miles could be a virulent racist, but he was also struck with a billy club by a white cop while minding his own business and having a smoke during intermission at a Manhattan club gig, so that no doubt partly informed, colored and imprinted his outlook. Yet he was a complex individual full of contradictions, and despite criticism from African American musicians and fans, he hired white musicians like Evans, Dave Holland, Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, Steve Grossman, Dave Liebman, Mike Stern, John Scofield, Robben Ford, Adam Holzman, etc. Of course Gil Evans was white (he named his son Miles). His second wife alleged (convincingly, imo) spousal abuse, and that is harder for me to overlook. It doesn't diminish my appreciation of his music, but it does my admiration for him as a person.

 

[Quez]

I had no idea who this guy was until Bloom made mention of him in another thread. It may have been the MMJ thread concerning the cover they did. Hopefully this thread will make some other people who have never heard of him Google his name.

 

[Bob Magaw]

What are some other favorite Fela albums?

So far, I've just heard Zombie and Afrodisiac, and thought they were great. Looking forward to listening to the other titles from the Eno curated vinyl set by the Knitting Factory (albeit in CD form).

 

[Quez]

I like Beast of No Nation. It's pretty crazy to see a single track that long, but it changes so much that it's not like the same song.

 

[JerseyToughGuys]

An African Musical Diaspora

A bio of Fela Kuti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti

Musical descriptive excerpt - "The musical style of Felá is called afrobeat, a style he largely created, which is a complex fusion of Jazz, Funk, Ghanaian/Nigerian High-life, psychedelic rock, and traditional West African chants and rhythms. Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native "tinker pan" African-style percussion that Kuti acquired while studying in Ghana with Hugh Masekela, under the uncanny Hedzoleh Soundz.[16] The importance of the input of Tony Allen (Fela's drummer of twenty years) in the creation of Afrobeat cannot be overstated. Fela once famously stated that "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat".

Afrobeat is characterized by a fairly large band with many instruments, vocals, and a musical structure featuring jazzy, funky horn sections. A riff-based "endless groove" is used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted West African-style guitar, and melodic bass guitar riffs are repeated throughout the song. Commonly, interlocking melodic riffs and rhythms are introduced one by one, building the groove bit-by-bit and layer-by-layer. The horn section then becomes prominent, introducing other riffs and main melodic themes."

The third and most recent vinyl box set of Fela, in this case "curated" by Eno, including some of his greatest albums from the '70s [[includes London Scene (1971), Shakara (1972), Gentleman (1973), Afrodisiac (1973), Zombie (1976), Upside Down (1976), and I.T.T. (1980)]]. Below is a brief, three minute embedded video of Eno describing what a profound influence Fela Kuti was on his music (and therefore Byrne, circa their collaborative project My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, and Remain In Light by the Talking Heads). These titles are all available separately (usually in combination with another album) on CD by the Knitting Factory label.

http://pitchfork.com/news/56268-fela-kuti-box-set-of-vinyl-reissues-curated-by-brian-eno-announced/

The album Zombie, about the Nigerian military (AUDIO 50+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrL0yXQINVc​

The album Afrodisiac (AUDIO 40 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYlNd9F1Nn0​

Fela Live Berlin '78 (VIDEO nearly 90 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MUqZQSQzZc​

Brian Eno & David Byrne's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, a visionary, pioneering, seminal album in the history of sampling, great headphone music for appreciating the myriad, countless layers stretching out to an infinite sonic event horizon, this was actually "composed" and recorded before Remain In Light, but released after, while they awaited legal permission for the samples (AUDIO 1 hr)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KgSQBeN-hM

On the recording, engineering and production of MLITBOG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Life_in_the_Bush_of_Ghosts_(album)​

​

Talking Heads Remain In Light, Adrian Belew of Zappa and Discipline-era King Crimson on guitar (AUDIO 40+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHVBaF0HopQ

On the recording, engineering and production of RIL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remain_in_Light

The Talking Heads live concert film, Stop Making Sense (VIDEO nearly 90 minutes), Once In A Lifetime is a highlight at 53:30 mark, no Belew, but featuring the swirling, hypnotic synths and keys of P-Funk genius Bernie Worrell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pICad2mOfMo

* Brian Eno & Jon Hassell Fourth World Vol. 1 Possible Musics (Hassell contributed some horn work to RIL or MLITBOG?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFig-OiIwDo

​

recently started digging this stuff

 

[El Floppo]

nothing to add, just another fan.

probably came into his music the same way most of you did... tangentially through some other artist (King Sunny Ade, in my case). Not sure how I stumbled onto KSA though. I used to love finding and following tangents in record stores- see a common musician, producer,r label... whatever... and just jump in, often unheard. a lot of duds, but enough wins to make it worthwhile.

the only albums that migrated eventually to my ipod/digital collection were Mr Follow Follow and a live album, Fela Ransome.

 

[Bob Magaw]

King Sunny Ade bio (since he has come up several times already, another Nigerian legend and international star)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Sunny_Ad%C3%A9

King Sunny Ade And His African Beats at Montreux circa '83 (VIDEO nearly 1 hr)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX1-IRuIdx0

Synchro System '83, album garnered his first Grammy nomination (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6zcXwvmDBc&list=PLPusMGJBxQmWSi6_-hiuwC_nFP8O_WEI1​

​

Oremi, lead track from Aura '84 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95PCnsn5Kxo

I still have Aura (but haven't listened in a LONG time), and had Synchro System back in the day.

​

 

[Sigmund Bloom]

There's a ton of great Afrobeat funk from the seventies out there

Check out 10 year old Frances the Great - Look Up To The Sky

 

[Bob Magaw]

Talking Heads 11-4-80, Remain In Light material starts 29:25 mark, with Arian Belew and Bernie Worrell (VIDEO 80 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-_PC6TlIhs

Talking Heads 12-17-80, augmented by Belew (VIDEO 1+ hour)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wp2qhoop9U

​

The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (AUDIO), re-mastered and expanded live double album 33 tracks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KM5XNGJDqg&list=PL4_Fedo_oysQgltOyb0UnE_sGMCz814-A

Details

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_of_This_Band_Is_Talking_Heads

The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads is a double live album by Talking Heads, originally released in 1982. The first album featured the original quartet in recordings from 1977 and 1979, and the second album the expanded ten-piece lineup that toured in 1980 and 1981. The album contains live versions of songs that appear on Talking Heads: 77, More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, and Remain in Light. The cassette edition of the album included "Cities" as a bonus track not included on the vinyl edition this track has been included on the subsequent CD release.

The title of the album is a reference both to the group's preference for having no expressed definite article within the band name (as opposed to "The Talking Heads") and to David Byrne's minimalist introductions to songs. The album opens with one such introduction: "The name of this song is New Feeling. That's what it's about."

An expanded version of the record, on CD in the United States for the first time, was released in 2004 by Sire/Warner Bros./Rhino. It duplicated the pattern of the original with the first disc featuring the quartet alone, and the second disc a ten-member band. Additional tracks from 1978 are among the eight extra songs on the first disc, and correct running order for the set from the larger band on the second disc. The introduction to the song "Crosseyed And Painless" was edited out on the CD version, however.

The remastered & expanded edition of the album currently sits at number fifteen on the Metacritic list of all time best-reviewed albums.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Talking Heads 11-4-80, Remain In Light material starts 29:25 mark, with Arian Belew and Bernie Worrell (VIDEO 80 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-_PC6TlIhs

​

Remain In Light is one of my all time favorite albums.

 

[Eephus]

Talking Heads 11-4-80, Remain In Light material starts 29:25 mark, with Arian Belew and Bernie Worrell (VIDEO 80 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-_PC6TlIhs

​

Remain In Light is one of my all time favorite albums.

I saw Talking Heads during that tour (Milwaukee 10.27.80) and wasn't blown away to be honest. They had the large backing band but hadn't employed the stagecraft that would be prominent during the Stop Making Sense tour. Byrne wasn't a particularly engaging performer at the time and the work of Adrian Belew that was so awesome on the album was kind of distracting live.

 

[Brony]

He is a jolly good Fela

 

[Bob Magaw]

Talking Heads 11-4-80, Remain In Light material starts 29:25 mark, with Arian Belew and Bernie Worrell (VIDEO 80 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-_PC6TlIhs

​

Remain In Light is one of my all time favorite albums.

Definitely one of my favorites from that era (possibly at the top), and fairly high, period.

RIL #4 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the Eighties list (U2s Joshua Tree was #3, also produced/engineered by Eno, so he left some pretty big footprints and had a profound impact on the music of that decade - Peter Gabriel's So was #14, produced/engineered by frequent Eno collaborator Daniel Lanois, and Eno received an "Enossification" credit for treatments of Gabriel's vocals on one song of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, his last with Genesis)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-albums-of-the-eighties-20110418/talking-heads-remain-in-light-20110330

"A lot of people don't realize this, but Remain in Light was the worst-selling Talking Heads record ever," says drummer Chris Frantz.

"Financially, we took a beating on that one," says David Byrne. "At the time, it was a really hard sell. The reaction that we heard was that it sounded too black for white radio and too white for black radio."

Remain in Light may have been a commercial disappointment, but musically, the band's 1980 album which combines funk, disco and African rhythms was years ahead of its time. "It got great critical acclaim, and we felt that it kind of took popular music to the next phase," says Frantz, "which is what we always wanted to do."

But getting there wasn't easy. Depending on who you speak to, tensions in the studio often ran high between at least two parties. "Remain in Light was a difficult album to make," says Frantz. "We wanted to do something groundbreaking, but we didn't want to get into fights about it. And a couple of times we did get into fights musical fights because somebody wanted to go one way and another person thought it shouldn't sound like that."

Within the first week of recording with producer Brian Eno at the Compass Point studios, in the Bahamas, British engineer Rhett Davies quit in frustration. "He said, 'You guys could be making a great pop album,'" says Frantz. "The British, you know, have these ideas about 'great pop albums.' So he left." In his place, they hired David Jerden, who had worked with Eno and Byrne on their recent collaboration, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.

Bassist Tina Weymouth says recruiting Eno was difficult because he and Byrne had had a falling out. "Brian didn't even stay to finish Bush of Ghosts," she says. "Something happened between him and David. We asked him to work on Remain in Light, and at first he was reluctant. I really don't know what went down between them."

Byrne has slightly different memories of who was fighting whom. "That was between me and Tina," he says with a laugh. "I think she was understandably upset that Brian and I were pushing this whole direction so adamantly. It was almost like it was a train out of control or something. Maybe she felt that she wasn't a part of that. She was a part of it, but I can understand how she might have felt." Did that tension affect the album? "Nah," says Byrne, "it was all kind of extracurricular."

Even today, the band members disagree about what they'd set out to accomplish. "We were really intrigued and excited by the formal aspects of African music the way it was created and put together," says Byrne.

Weymouth, however, says, "David had such a completely different theory about it. His theory was far more intellectual and bookish. I never felt that there was any conscious, manipulative effort on our part to play African styles. To me and Chris, it seemed as if that importance was attached to the record after the fact."

While working on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Byrne and Eno studied voodoo and Afro-Atlantic cultures. "They were very keen on some literature they'd been reading," says Weymouth. "I suppose we all were quite aware of African music sometime before that. But no one discussed with us the fact we were going to be playing in an African style. To us, it was all very funny, putting this bibliography together with a record. It's so pseudo intellectual and everything we were trying to get away from."

While the music may or may not owe a formal, conscious debt to African styles, the words are definitely more playful than intellectual. Byrne says that Eno encouraged him to be a bit freer with his lyrics. "I really played around a lot more," he says.

"It was the beginning of David finding a way to improvise very quickly in the studio," says Weymouth. "Before, it had been a very private kind of struggle."

For "Crosseyed and Painless," Weymouth says, Byrne was struggling to come up with a vocal part. "Chris had just played drums on the new Kurtis Blow record, 'The Breaks,' which was a real front-runner hip-hop record," she says. Frantz played Blow's album for everyone, and after hearing it, Byrne came up with such lyrics as "Facts are late." "It was that whole rap thing," says Weymouth, "but in his own style."

Weymouth claims that most of the songs on Remain in Light came about from jams, yet only Byrne and Eno receive songwriting credits. "Eno called up David and said, 'I really think this is unfair,'" she says. "'I really think I did more work, and so I think you and I should get all of the credit.'"

That didn't go over well with the rest of the band. "Poor David got yelled at by a lot of people as a result," Weymouth says with a laugh. "But Brian and David were really into this credit thing, I guess."

The album cover, which features computer images over the faces of each band member, was conceived of by Frantz and Weymouth, who'd been experimenting on computers at MIT. "The masks could have been anything," says Weymouth. "They could have been African, they could have been tomatoes on our face. It wasn't really that important it was just kind of raising questions. Making people think, 'What are they trying to do?'

"We really didn't know. We don't always know what we're doing. We often just get excited, put something down and say, 'Oh, neat.'"

Buried at #129 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time List, though Joshua Tree, just one spot ahead of RIL in the above 100 Best Albums of the Eighties list, is #27, go figure (Beatles Sgt. Pepper, Revolver and Rubber Soul #1, #3 & #5, The White Album #10, Abbey Road #14 and John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band #23)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/talking-heads-remain-in-light-20120524

​

 

[Bob Magaw]

Rolling Stone's original Remain In Light review 12-11-80

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/remain-in-light-19801211

"Seldom in pop-music history has there been a larger gap between what black and white audiences are listening to than there is right now. While blacks are almost entirely uninterested in the clipped, rigid urgency of the New Wave, it's doubtful that more than a small percentage of Rolling Stone's predominantly white readership knows anything at all about the summer's only piece of culture-defining music, Kurtis Blow's huge hit, "The Breaks." Such a situation is both sad and ironic, because rarely have the radical edges of black and white music come closer to overlapping. On one hand, the Gang of Four utilize their bass guitar every bit as prominently and starkly as the curt bass figures that prod the spoken verses in "The Breaks." On the other, Chic producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards choose to make Diana Ross sound as sullen and alienated as Deborah Harry. None of this has escaped the notice of Talking Heads, however, and Remain in Light is their brave, absorbing attempt to locate a common ground in today's divergent, often hostile musical community.

From the first, Talking Heads' contribution to the avant-punk scene they helped create was their emphasis on rhythm over beat. While the Ramones' rockers banged and Blondie's blared, the Heads' early songs pulsed, winding their way past jitteriness to achieve the compelling tension that defined a particular moment in rock & roll history — a moment when white rock fans wanted to dance so badly, and yet were so intimidated by the idea, that they started hopping straight up and down for instant relief. By 1978, punk and disco had divided the pop audience. What did Talking Heads do? They recorded Al Green's "Take Me to the River." The gesture was a heroic one.

Despite David Byrne's vocal restraint and certain puritanical tendencies in his lyrics to value work over pleasure ("Artists Only," "Don't Worry about the Government"), Talking Heads never stopped learning from the sensuous music that existed in a world parallel to theirs. On 1979's Fear of Music, they made a defiant connection with funk and disco in "I Zimbra" and "Life during Wartime," both of which aid in preparing us for Remain in Light's startling avant-primitivism.

On Remain in Light, rhythm takes over. Each of the eight compositions adheres to a single guitar-drum riff repeated endlessly, creating what funk musicians commonly refer to as a groove. A series of thin, shifting layers is then added: more jiggly percussion, glancing and contrasting guitar figures, singing by Byrne that represents a sharp and exhilarating break with the neurotic and intentionally wooden vocals that had previously characterized all Talking Heads albums.

Though the tunes take their time (side one has just three cuts), nobody steps out to solo here. There isn't any elaboration of the initial unifying riff either. Because of this, these songs resemble the African music that the band has taken great pains to acknowledge as Remain in Light's guiding structure. (An even bolder example of the African influence is My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, an LP recorded by David Byrne and Brian Eno that may never be issued in its ideal form. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts uses fixed staccato rhythm patterns in much the same way that Eno's early solo work built whole compositions around simple synthesizer clusters. In place of formal singing, the album substitutes "found" vocals: e.g., random voices taped off the radio. Indeed, one of these voices, that of evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman, threw the entire project into legal limbo with a threat to sue unless it was removed. Sire has indicated that the disc will probably be remixed, but no release date has been set. Which is too bad, because My Life in the Bush of Ghosts enhances the aesthetic of Remain in Light, and at least one of its sections, "Shaking with My Voice," is as strange and thrilling a piece of music as either Byrne or Eno has ever made.)

In addition to its African influences, Remain in Light also flashes the ecstatic freedom of current American funk, across which any number of complex emotions and topics can roam. In both "Born under Punches (the Heat Goes On)" and "Crosseyed and Painless," the rhythm lurches about while always moving forward, thrust ahead by the tough, serene beat of the bass and percussion. Throughout, instruments are so tightly meshed that it's often difficult to pick out what you're hearing---or even who's playing. As part of their let's-rethink-this-music attitude, Talking Heads occasionally play one another's instruments, and guests as disparate as Robert Palmer and Nona Hendryx are enlisted. (By now, of course, producer Brian Eno can be considered a fifth Head.) Far from being confusing, however, such density contributes greatly to the mesmerizing power exerted by these elaborate dance tunes.

Though you can follow, to some extent, the story lines of, say, "Listening Wind" (in which an Indian stores up weaponry to launch an assault on plundering Americans) and the spoken fable, "Seen and Not Seen," Remain in Light's lyrics are more frequently utilized to describe or embody abstract concepts. Thus, beneath the wild dance patterns of "Crosseyed and Painless," there lurks a dementedly sober disquisition on the nature of facts that culminates in a hilarious, rapidly recited list of characteristics ("Facts are simple and facts are straight/Facts are lazy and facts are late... ") that could go on forever ---and probably does, since the song fades out before the singer can finish reading what's on the lyric sheet. Elsewhere, strings of words convey meaning only through Byrne's intonation and emphasis: his throaty, conspiratorial murmur in "Houses in Motion" adds implications you can't extract from lines as flyaway as "I'm walking a line--- I'm thinking about empty motion."

In all of this lies a solution to a problem that was clearly bothering David Byrne on Fear of Music: how to write rock lyrics that don't yield to easy analysis and yet aren't pretentious. Talking Heads' most radical attempt at an answer was the use of da-daist Hugo Ball's nonsense words as a mock-African chant in "I Zimbra." The strategy on Remain in Light is much more complicated and risky. In compositions like "Born under Punches" and "Crosseyed and Painless," phrases are suggested and measured, repeated and turned inside out, in reaction to the spins and spirals of their organizing riff-melodies. At no time does the music change to accommodate the completion of a conventional pop-song sentiment or clever line.

Once in a while, the experiments backfire on the experimenters. Both "The Great Curve" and "The Overload" are droning drags, full of screeching guitar noise that's more freaked-out than felt. Usually, however, the gambler's aesthetic operating within Remain in Light yields scary, funny music to which you can dance and think, think and dance, dance and think, ad infinitum."

​

 

[Bob Magaw]

Eno's CV, collaborated with Byrne on MLITBOG and was a fifth Talking Head on RIL (also famously associated with U2, he produced/engineered about seven albums for them, including Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno

Another frequent Eno collaborator (with Byrne/Talking Heads, U2 and Bowie's Berlin Trilogy) was Robert Fripp of King Crimson, some of the early work they did with loops heard on No #####footing and Evening Star would later bear fruit and surface on RIL. Belew, RIL lead guitarist, would move directly from Talking Heads to King Crimson in the early '80s. Also making his King Crimson debut on Discipline was fellow American, bassist Tony Levin, one of the greatest bass players on the planet. He has been Peter Gabriel's primary studio/live bassist since his first solo album (an in demand session musician at this time like Marcus Miller and Will Lee, he also was on Lennon's Double Fantasy and Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse Of Reason, and about 500+ other albums from Paul Simon to Alice Cooper), and as noted, Eno has intersected with Gabriel, chiefly through fellow "studio as instrument" producer/engineer and frequent Eno collaborator, Daniel Lanois.

Live Paris Olympia 5-28-75

Even Spaces excerpt, part 3 (AUDIO 10 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec9A-GIgzYk

Air Structures (AUDIO 20 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cFL7Nb4wiw

Baby's On Fire, an iconic and killer guitar solo by Fripp on Eno's first solo album, Here Come The Warm Jets '73 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nItuhuY1U04

Heroes by David Bowie, Eno and Fripp collaborated '77 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3SjCzA71eM

Heroes live, version with Belew on guitar '78 (VIDEO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_spMJawxvM

Fame live, version with Belew '78, original studio version from '75 had John Lennon on guitar, backing vocals and Eno-esque production and tape loop credits, Luther Vandross contributed congas (!!) as well as backing vocals, (VIDEO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t391EAR6rU

Warszawa live​ conducted by rhythm guitarist Carlos Alomar, a glacial, brooding, synth-driven near instrumental unlike anything he had previously recorded, from Bowie's first Berlin Trilogy collaboration with Eno, Low from '77 (VIDEO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6omx8MUNspI

​

 

[Bob Magaw]

Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ, the score/soundtrack by Peter Gabriel, was another landmark in "world music", but with the emphasis on Middle Eastern and North African music '89 (AUDIO 1+ hr)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCN9izuZLDk

So, another one of the most iconic albums from the '80s, Gabriel's first post-Genesis smash hit [sledgehammer is the most played video in MTV history and no doubt played a massive role in elevating So into the chart stratosphere] which launched his solo career from cult status to stardom, noted here because of the exemplary production/engineering by frequent Eno collaborator Daniel Lanois AND King Crimson bassist Tony Levin '86 (AUDIO 45 minutes). Another great headphone album, with lots of layers and sonic bitties, instrumentally and production/engineering-wise, more world music inspiration (one song played over Brazilian drum patterns, etc.). Police drummer Stewart Copeland is on two songs. As insightfully alluded to by high profile Rolling Stone writer David Fricke, though use of time-stamped and period carbon dated synthesizer textural elements like the ubiquitous Prophet 5 could have made it sound dated, the overall strength of the writing, arranging, singing, playing and production has contributed to its timeless sound and enduring classic status. Drummer/percussionist Manu Katche and guitarist David Rhodes are underrated. Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns makes a great contribution on Sledgehammer and Big Time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqYxNrzOKOA

Sledgehammer from Gabriel's Live In Athens '87, Levin's insanely monstrous, crunching bass riffs are the backbone of the song, best appreciated LOUD (VIDEO). I also like the signature, brilliantly placed Japanese bamboo flute sample.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9oYSawDEkA

The Police is another band I associated with, if not necessarily pioneering world music, certainly popularizing it (strongly reggae inflected variant).

Live at Beat Club '78, Copland is a phenomenal drummer, and Andy Summers a highly underrated guitarist (VIDEO 30+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ebqs8U7V4​

Regatta De Blanc, title track of their second album, won a Grammy for best rock instrumental '79 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFkUS1sSoPA&list=PL94260A608E38ECD8&index=2

Zenyatta Mondatta live, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert series LA '80 (VIDEO 30+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66DoEwAS8YA​

Same tour, Rockpalast, Hamburg '80 (VIDEO 80 minutes) ​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvDoq0mJ-nk

Ghost In The Machine live, Gateshead England '82 (VIDEO 90 minutes), album title from an Arthur Koestler non-fiction work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgE6F-Aj1PY

Synchronicity live, Omni Atlanta '83 (VIDEO 75 minutes), title from Carl Jung

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbVaDhZV7rQ

Andy Summers solo/collaboration material

I Advance Masked, a collaboration with Robert Fripp '82 (AUDIO nearly 40 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKiUwQRtHQI

Red Balloon from Mysterious Barricades '88 (AUDIO), I saw him solo open for Tangerine Dream on their Optical Race tour at the Wiltern, he did this evocative and wistful song ala Frippertronic loops with a massive wall of reverb, I liked it almost as much as the headliner, also saw him in a much smaller venue at the Baked Potato restaurant and jazz club, in a group setting like the Montreal video below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCQETOkUUbs​

A Piece Of Time from The Golden Wire '89 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0CyJtt5jME

Andy Summers live Montreal '91 (VIDEO nearly 1 hr), stellar musicians and emphasis on jazz with ex-Miles Davis and Stones live bassist Darryl Jones, Miles sax player Bill Evans, Mitchell Forman on keys and Chad Wackerman on drums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEXf_kFmuhQ

King Crimson Sheltering Sky live '82 (VIDEO), with Fripp, Belew, Levin and former Yes/'76 live Genesis member Bill Bruford with a simple but beautiful African slit drum intro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c2H5TkR5Vk​

​

 

[Bob Magaw]

Talking Heads 11-4-80, Remain In Light material starts 29:25 mark, with Arian Belew and Bernie Worrell (VIDEO 80 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-_PC6TlIhs

​

Remain In Light is one of my all time favorite albums.

I saw Talking Heads during that tour (Milwaukee 10.27.80) and wasn't blown away to be honest. They had the large backing band but hadn't employed the stagecraft that would be prominent during the Stop Making Sense tour. Byrne wasn't a particularly engaging performer at the time and the work of Adrian Belew that was so awesome on the album was kind of distracting live.

I kind of see what you mean. The RIL studio album was almost sololess, with sort of a Weather Report, everybody solos, nobody solos ethos. Nobody was playing anything especially complex, and some of the rhythmic scaffolding was actually very repetitive, but the way the countless interlocking parts fit together was highly complex, and created an emergent whole that was much greater than the sum of its parts (similar to MLITBOG). I never personally attended one of their concerts, and maybe in some ways, Belew's frequent solos detract from that earlier studio, diffuse and dissembled overall rhythmic sensibility and vibe. Than again, Belew, along with the late Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic, was one of the greatest masters of controlling feedback I've ever heard since Hendrix, had maybe the most astonishing, jaw dropping range and tonal palette of manipulated, treated sounds of any guitarist on the planet at the time (while remaining musical - on some of fellow Zappa guitarist alumni Steve Vai's later solo work, I felt his admittedly world class technical prowess and use of FX was at times flashy and showy, detracting from his musicality) and I'm a huge fan. So for myself, it didn't impede my enjoyment of the show. I recommend it in general (and even more the '80 Rome show from the same post), just because there doesn't seem to be a lot of pro shot video from this era. While not as slick or polished as the later Stop Making Sense concert film, I found Byrne's quirkiness here part of his charm, and the greater rawness and closer proximity to when the songs were composed, while rougher, is compensated for me by lending them a greater freshness, energy, excitement and power.

 

[El Floppo]

in before Graceland...

 

[CletiusMaximus]

What are some other favorite Fela albums?

So far, I've just heard Zombie and Afrodisiac, and thought they were great. Looking forward to listening to the other titles from the Eno curated vinyl set by the Knitting Factory (albeit in CD form).

I did some digging through my storage and found the only Fela I have (showing my age) is a Greatest Hits cassette tape with Africa 70. I also found an old mix tape - one side soukous and the other juju. Fortunately, my 2003 Acura has a tape player, so I'll be revisiting these today.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

Another cool thing about Fela was his awesome album cover art. Mostly lost on the digital generation (and those of us who bought cassette tapes.)

https://www.google.com/search?q=fela+kuti+album+covers&safe=off&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=isvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMI5-aMnZ-dyQIViW4mCh3SYgfr

 

[Bob Magaw]

Fela Kuti

Afrodisiac '73

Zombie '76

After Talking Heads '77 debut album, the following string of three albums (plus the Byrne collaboration) were co-produced/engineered by Brian Eno.

MSABAF (More Songs About Buildings And Food) '78

FOM (Fear Of Music) '79

RIL (Remain In Light) '80

MLITBOG (My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts) '81

Eno/Byrne and the Talking Heads were influenced by Fela, and Fela (along with just about everybody) was in turn heavily influenced by James Brown - the Godfather of funk as well as soul. If the below doesn't make you move, call the morgue. You're dead.

Observation Is No Crime from Zombie by Fela (AUDIO 13+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWpeeRarwnY

I Zimbra from FOM by Talking Heads, the album before RIL, this song most foreshadows what is to come (AUDIO), I was thinking the guitar sounds a lot like Discipline era King Crimson circa '81, as Belew played on that as well as RIL, and in fact it is Fripp on guitar. For me, this has in part been an exercise in realizing how much some of these artists ran in the same circles and how much musical cross-pollination was going on - Eno, Fripp/King Crimson, Bowie, Talking Heads, Belew, Gabriel, Levin, Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-RDJ4Z4XrQ

Take Me To The River by Talking Heads from MSABAF, the album before FOM, more going on in the background than I remembered, the Eno influence on their sound obvious when compared to the stripped down and sparesly mixed Psycho Killer from their debut, for instance (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ar2VHW1i2w

Gimme Some More by The JBs '71 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut9OswF2sbw

Gimme Some More Live by The JBs '72 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORxeUtl7Z7M

​

Pass The Peas by The JBs '72 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUkfiLjooxs

Givin' Up Food For Funk by The JBs '72 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JZV9VjBvKc

Same Beat by The JBs '73 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyJf0PbGY2c

Damn Right I Am Somebody by The JBs '74 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2wFoX5OmEI

Soul Power '74 by The JBs (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V1Pg8JfZs8

Rockin' Funky Watergate by The JBs '74 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CRxCSlMkmc

All Aboard The Soul Funky Train by the JBs '76 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgvNWcq-xJI

 

[Bob Magaw]

in before Graceland...

Speaking of world music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graceland_(album)

Graceland '86, so later than the Fela and Talking Heads material, another one of the most important album of the '80s, with RIL and So, it was #5 on Rolling Stone's Top 100 Albums of the Eighties list, Synchronicity was #17 (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy5T6s25XK4&list=PLmFi7GFf93irjG2VAYLpN0LHqxNB61UjC

 

[Eephus]

This is a good Fela Spotify playlist from Questlove.

 

[Bob Magaw]

This is a good Fela Spotify playlist from Questlove.

He curated the first of the most recent three vinyl box sets by the Knitting Factory label, Ginger Baker (who played with Fela, and at one time had a studio in Lagos, Nigeria that Paul McCartney originally intended to record Band On The Run at, I think he was robbed at gun point with his wife Linda outside the studio, and they quickly aborted the plan) was second and Eno third and latest.

 

[siffoin]

An African Musical Diaspora

A bio of Fela Kuti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti

Musical descriptive excerpt - "The musical style of Felá is called afrobeat, a style he largely created, which is a complex fusion of Jazz, Funk, Ghanaian/Nigerian High-life, psychedelic rock, and traditional West African chants and rhythms. Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native "tinker pan" African-style percussion that Kuti acquired while studying in Ghana with Hugh Masekela, under the uncanny Hedzoleh Soundz.[16] The importance of the input of Tony Allen (Fela's drummer of twenty years) in the creation of Afrobeat cannot be overstated. Fela once famously stated that "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat".

Afrobeat is characterized by a fairly large band with many instruments, vocals, and a musical structure featuring jazzy, funky horn sections. A riff-based "endless groove" is used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted West African-style guitar, and melodic bass guitar riffs are repeated throughout the song. Commonly, interlocking melodic riffs and rhythms are introduced one by one, building the groove bit-by-bit and layer-by-layer. The horn section then becomes prominent, introducing other riffs and main melodic themes."

The third and most recent vinyl box set of Fela, in this case "curated" by Eno, including some of his greatest albums from the '70s [[includes London Scene (1971), Shakara (1972), Gentleman (1973), Afrodisiac (1973), Zombie (1976), Upside Down (1976), and I.T.T. (1980)]]. Below is a brief, three minute embedded video of Eno describing what a profound influence Fela Kuti was on his music (and therefore Byrne, circa their collaborative project My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, and Remain In Light by the Talking Heads). These titles are all available separately (usually in combination with another album) on CD by the Knitting Factory label.

http://pitchfork.com/news/56268-fela-kuti-box-set-of-vinyl-reissues-curated-by-brian-eno-announced/

The album Zombie, about the Nigerian military (AUDIO 50+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrL0yXQINVc​

The album Afrodisiac (AUDIO 40 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYlNd9F1Nn0​

Fela Live Berlin '78 (VIDEO nearly 90 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MUqZQSQzZc​

Brian Eno & David Byrne's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, a visionary, pioneering, seminal album in the history of sampling, great headphone music for appreciating the myriad, countless layers stretching out to an infinite sonic event horizon, this was actually "composed" and recorded before Remain In Light, but released after, while they awaited legal permission for the samples (AUDIO 1 hr)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KgSQBeN-hM

On the recording, engineering and production of MLITBOG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Life_in_the_Bush_of_Ghosts_(album)​

​

Talking Heads Remain In Light, Adrian Belew of Zappa and Discipline-era King Crimson on guitar (AUDIO 40+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHVBaF0HopQ

On the recording, engineering and production of RIL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remain_in_Light

The Talking Heads live concert film, Stop Making Sense (VIDEO nearly 90 minutes), Once In A Lifetime is a highlight at 53:30 mark, no Belew, but featuring the swirling, hypnotic synths and keys of P-Funk genius Bernie Worrell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pICad2mOfMo

* Brian Eno & Jon Hassell Fourth World Vol. 1 Possible Musics (Hassell contributed some horn work to RIL or MLITBOG?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFig-OiIwDo

​

Thank you for posting this. Learned a lot - and introduced to some music that is of the "family tree" of music I enjoy and appreciate.

 

[Bob Magaw]

 

[Bob Magaw]

Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin) by Sly And The Family Stone '69, and Larry Graham's thunderous bass line were hugely influential to funk (and beyond) in the late '60s and early-mid '70s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5BP2KlPD4U​

Riot by Sly And The Family Stone '71, almost a catalog of Sly's descent and downward spiral into coke-fuelled madness, he was missing a criminal number of shows, but he kept it together well enough in the studio to create a dark, brooding funk masterpiece (his last one, overall, though the next album Fresh had some great moments), playing almost every instrument on some tracks, to the beat of a crude, primitive, early drum synthesizer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwfmEl7Ljrw​

Headhunters by Herbie Hancock '73, we don't need to restrict ourselves to pop/rock/world music influenced by funk, Hancock cited not just Sly Stone in general, but the song Thank You specifically, as a key influence in the creation of the band's sound and intent, after leaving Miles he had been doing sort of cerebral, avant garde space jazz (his three Mwandishi albums began in '71, after Tony Williams Lifetime '69 and Weather Report '70, and around the same time as the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return To Forever). Once he changed and turned around his sound, this instantly became the funkiest among the influential circle of former Miles Davis chief band members and "disciples"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m3qOD-hhrQ​

On The Corner by Miles Davis '72, Byrne mentioned that after the fact, it was pointed out RIL had some similarities, and I think he agreed and thought that was cool. As noted above, he was himself heavily influenced at this time by Hendrix, James Brown and Sly, through his third wife Betty Mabry (described as a real handful, but a lot of fun, and very strong-minded, as much as Miles it sounded like, which is saying a lot). He may also have been influenced by Fela, he was aware of and commented on him positively, and had a lot of African/Indian percussion and in some cases droning instruments in his band and sound during the early-mid '70s. Another influence of this particular album through session collaborator and modern classical composer/orchestrator Paul Buckmaster was avant garde composer Stockhausen (several members of the Krautrock group Can formally studied with him), who in addition to adopting and integrating electronics and synthesizers well ahead of the curve, was ostensibly trying to create a universal, WORLD MUSIC, from the classical side and direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps0ka1tY5yg&list=PLA0077F372BB485C8​

Get Up With It by Miles Davis '74 (but tracks spanning '70-'74), Eno noted the opening track, especially the production/recording/engineering by long time Miles studio collaborator and splice wizard/early loop magician Teo Macero, was a key influence on his Ambient 4: On Land album '82

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvBLg6nvKW4&list=PLCX_SlmERpRM_XTHAceRfIJxcxHpc4tcG

Bernie Worrell was a member of the Talking Heads augmented RIL-era 10 piece band, with Adrian Belew (who previously played with Zappa and Bowie, and King Crimson after). I think he was a prodigy in a technical sense (like Herbie Hancock, who performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at 11), reportedly wrote a concerto at 8, and studied at Julliard and The New England Conservatory Of Music - who knew? Below was some of my favorite work of his with Funkadelic (he was also a chief architect of the more dance-oriented sound of George Clinton's related Parliament, which started when he had a contract dispute and just used the same band under a different name to skirt royalty playments, a creative, though not sure if entirely legal, lateral thinking solution to his contract problems at the time). Probably NSFW lyrics. Some seriously funky stuff, but with a heavy rock edge, and guitar-driven sound, courtesy of the troubled but immensely talented, late Eddie Hazel.

Maggot Brain, album title song by Funkadelic '71

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOKn33-q4Ao

Cosmic Slop, album tile song by Funkadelic '73

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6SS7JDVRo0

Red Hot Mama, from Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On by Funkadelic '74

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeNkRuYHy8k

Flashlight from Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome by Parliament '78

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ZGNGBNIL8

Stranger: Bernie Worrell On Earth, official biopic/doc trailer (VIDEO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmTzAnkP4o

Stranger - contd. (VIDEO 10+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J26P2Y11qyQ

 

[Bob Magaw]

What are some other favorite Fela albums?

So far, I've just heard Zombie and Afrodisiac, and thought they were great. Looking forward to listening to the other titles from the Eno curated vinyl set by the Knitting Factory (albeit in CD form).

I did some digging through my storage and found the only Fela I have (showing my age) is a Greatest Hits cassette tape with Africa 70. I also found an old mix tape - one side soukous and the other juju. Fortunately, my 2003 Acura has a tape player, so I'll be revisiting these today.

At least it isn't an eight track! The theft proof car stereo. Leave your window open, and thwarted thieves will toss in some of their eight tracks they were looking to dispose of.

Great point about the covers, thanks for the link. Seeing all those stylistically similar covers together is like a larger collage of collages that serendipitously seamlessly fits together like the three volumes of the Beatles Anthology.

 

[bakes]

There are enough links to interesting music in this thread to fill three work weeks of listening. Got into afrobeat peripherally in college, but pretty much have not thought about it in years. So cool - thanks for the reminder and education!

 

[glock]

I caught both "Adrian Belew era" Heads and Crimson. Belew is one of the most overlooked guitar talents. The way he wreaked havoc on top of the rythms laid down by Byrne and Co. and Fripp was just...well, sick.

 

[Bob Magaw]

RIL (Remain In Light) was the third Talking Heads album collaborating with Brian Eno as producer/engineer/musician. Their second and third albums (after the eponymous debut, Talking Heads '77) below, were the first two with Eno.

More Songs About Buildings And Food (AUDIO 40+ minutes), title reportedly suggested by XTCs Andy Partridge

 

[Eephus]

Go-go music took the polyrhythms from Afrobeat and the Worrellish synths from Remain in LIght, layered them on top of deep funk grooves, dropped the whole mess on the one and jammed all night y'all. It was a DC regional scene but had one short burst on the national scene in 86-88 when Trouble Funk got a major label deal and EU had a hit with Da Butt. I suppose you could make the case that Bustin' Loose by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers in 1978 is some kind of proto-go-go but to me it's just a great no-go song.

Da Butt was and is a fun song that has the desired effect on da butt. But the go-go groove is better when stretched out to the breaking point. This version of Trouble Funk's Drop the Bomb goes on for 25 minutes.and Go Go Swing by Chuck Brown rides the beat for almost 17.

I don't know if any of the musicians were fans of Fela but this full Trouble Funk concert from 1988 makes enough of a connection from Lagos to Washington DC to warrant a mention in this thread.

 

[Bob Magaw]

I caught both "Adrian Belew era" Heads and Crimson. Belew is one of the most overlooked guitar talents. The way he wreaked havoc on top of the rythms laid down by Byrne and Co. and Fripp was just...well, sick.

I saw the Belew/Levin-era, reconstituted King Crimson on their first tour, for Discipline in 1981 at the Greek Theater, in Griffith Park just below the observatory. The mix of new (Sheltering Sky example post #30) with older material such as LTIA - Lark's Tongues In Aspic was awesome and mind boggling. With Fripp and Bruford, they had world class musicianship and creativity. I saw Bruford twice, both times duos with Patrick Moraz of Relayer-era Yes on keys. The first time was acoustic at a small club in Hollywood I can't recall the name of, and an electric set at the Wiltern.

Never saw Talking Heads live, but did see the concert film Stop Making Sense in its initial theatrical run, and it was great seeing it on a big screen and hearing it with a nice surround system. It was directed by Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs), so first class production values. I like it on rare occasions when a music-related video is made by a first class film maker, like the concert film/documentary hybrid Gimme Shelter by the late Albert Mayles (Grey Gardens, Salesman and the Beatles First US Visit), and George Harrison: Living In The Material World by Scorcese (also did Last Waltz by The Band, and collaborated with Peter Gabriel, who created the brilliant world music score/soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ)

King Crimson Live in Frejus '82 (VIDEO 50+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64swVmq_XPk​

King Crimson Three of a Perfect Pair '84 (VIDEO 90+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvE3dYKHxwU​

Never saw the below Bruford shows live, but have them on DVD.

Bruford with Alan Holdsworth and Jeff Berlin '79 (VIDEO 40+ minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neAOgatpueA​

Kazumi Watanabe, Japanese fusion guitarist, with Bruford and Berlin, did a couple albums together, Spice of Life and Spice of Life, Too (VIDEO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mnipvcmVdE&list=PLRR76h8Q1UZ1iRIfkq5OjI3w6t_RwwRwq​

Bruford and Moraz, they also released two albums together as a duo, corresponding to the acoustic and electric tours (AUDIO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUKgDMi2CyQ&list=PLSe7U81BIL84HUGLQVy0G0yEI9qZa1OZI​

Listening to the circa RIL-era, augmented 10 piece band material on disc 2 from The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads​ (post #23), which I had at one time, and picked up a remaindered/cut out, discounted copy at Amoeba yesterday. Also, OOP hi res 96/24 5.1 surround sound mix/bonus video dual discs (CD one side, DVD other side), FOM - Fear Of Music used and SIT - Speaking In Tongues new and still sealed. I ordered the two disc Euro versions (separate CD and DVD for 5.1 surround and video content) for MSABAF - More Songs About Buildings And Food and RIL - Remain In Light from Amazon UK. Didn't realize you can log on to that site just like the domestic version, they seem to be readily available and reasonably priced there, and shipping wasn't extortionate. I've only heard the surround mix for FOM so far, but can't wait for RIL and SIT. FOM sounds great, but the Eno collaborations (MSABAF, FOM and RIL) got increasingly dense and layered, sonically, as did the first post-Eno album, SIT, can't say after. The surround mixes were created in collaboration with Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison, which supposedly took a year (they had eight albums before disbanding), and the consensus is they are outstanding. A new way to listen to this ground breaking (still ahead of their time, in some respects) material for those with home theater audio capability, you just need a DVD or Blu-ray player, not SACD. The surround, multi-channel re-mixes open up the densely layered recordings, enabling hearing previously buried or submerged sounds for the first time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (especially the trio of Eno produced/engineered collaborations).

 

[Bob Magaw]

Another Green World by Brian Eno, one of my favorite of his solo, non-ambient albums, mostly instrumentals but some some vocals (AUDIO 40+ minutes). Supposedly when Eno treated Peter Gabriel's vocals on a song from Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Genesis reciprocated by having drummer Phil Collins contribute on the album Eno was working on in the studio at the time (I think Before And After Science).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVCkmIwRrc0

Production, engineering and personnel details (with Phil Collins of Genesis and Percy Jones who played together in British world fusion outfit Brand X, as well as Robert Fripp)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Green_World

Ambient 4: On Land (AUDIO nearly 45 minutes), great background music, especially the last four tracks from "side two" starting at the 22:13 mark. This was the album in which he acknowledged in the liner notes the heavy influence (especially in the spaciousness created by the production/engineering by long time Miles Davis collaborator Teo Macero - who really deserved the title collaborator on many of the increasingly spliced and looped albums of the late-'60s to mid-'70s, from In A Silent Way onwards) of the track He Loved Him Madly, the glacial Duke Ellington elegy from Get Up With It. Conceptually, in so far as wanting to create an aural counterpart, Eno cited the Fellini film Amarcord was also a big influence at this time on the album (see below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rt6L9OCBcc

Ambient 1 - Music For Airports (AUDIO nearly 50 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KGMo9yOaSU​

Liner notes for the above two ambient works, describing Eno's musical philosophy and intent in composing and recording them, like Fripp, he is definitely a thinking man's musician (and in his case, producer/engineer)

http://www.indiana.edu/~audioweb/T369/eno-ambient.pdf​

ESSAYS

The Studio as Compositional Tool, essay that began as a '79 lecture, then printed in July and August of '83 by Down Beat Magazine

https://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/brian-eno-the-studio-as-compositional-tool-1983/

Scents and Sensibility (pun presumably intended) from Details Magazine

http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/detail92.html

​Excerpt - "When they failed to notice, or at least attach any importance to, was that their language, the language of classical written composition, simply didn't have any terms to describe Jimi Hendrix's guitar sound on "Voodoo Chile" or Phil Spector's production of "Da Doo Ron Ron" - arguably the most interesting features of those works. Rock music, I kept saying, was a music of timbre and texture, of the physical experience of sound, in a way that no other music had ever been or could have ever been. It dealt with a potentially infinite sonic pallette, a palette whose gradations and combinations would never adequately be described, and where the attempt at description must always lag behind the infinites of permutation."

Generating and Organizing Variety in the Arts

http://www.bussigel.com/systemsforplay/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Eno_Generating.pdf

* Non-musical, geopolitical Gaza editorial, more of interest to me was the history article in response about the events that have precipitated and led up to today

http://davidbyrne.com/gaza-and-the-loss-of-civilization

​

 

[Eephus]

Meanwhile back in the jungle...

Pax Nicholas (Nicholas Addo-Nettey) is Ghanaian singer and percussionist who played with Fela for most of the 1970s. He recorded an album called "Na Teef Know The Road of Teef" in 1973 using Ginger Baker's Lagos studio and a number of fellow members of Fela's Africa 70 band.

The legend is that Fela objected to a sideman recording with his band in his favorite studio. While he didn't boot Pax Nicholas from the group he did manage to bury the LP for over 30 years. A rare copy surfaced around the turn of the century and generated enough interest to get a release on Daptone. Nicholas continued playing with Fela until the political persecution at home got to be too much--he and Tony Allen quit the band following the same European tour. Allen moved to Paris while Nicholas settled in Berlin where he's still performing in his 60s.

Na Teef Know The Road of Teef - Pax Nicholas and the Netty Family

Mind Your Business - Saxon Lee and the Shadows International (supposedly with Pax Nicholas on vocals). This song has the solid yet liquid groove that makes Afrobeat so great to listen and dance to.

The latter track is off the Nigeria Afrobeat Special compilation released on Soundway in 2004. The whole thing is here.

 

[El Floppo]

Go-go music took the polyrhythms from Afrobeat and the Worrellish synths from Remain in LIght, layered them on top of deep funk grooves, dropped the whole mess on the one and jammed all night y'all. It was a DC regional scene but had one short burst on the national scene in 86-88 when Trouble Funk got a major label deal and EU had a hit with Da Butt. I suppose you could make the case that Bustin' Loose by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers in 1978 is some kind of proto-go-go but to me it's just a great no-go song.

Da Butt was and is a fun song that has the desired effect on da butt. But the go-go groove is better when stretched out to the breaking point. This version of Trouble Funk's Drop the Bomb goes on for 25 minutes.and Go Go Swing by Chuck Brown rides the beat for almost 17.

I don't know if any of the musicians were fans of Fela but this full Trouble Funk concert from 1988 makes enough of a connection from Lagos to Washington DC to warrant a mention in this thread.

Go-go music took the polyrhythms from Afrobeat and the Worrellish synths from Remain in LIght, layered them on top of deep funk grooves, dropped the whole mess on the one and jammed all night y'all. It was a DC regional scene but had one short burst on the national scene in 86-88 when Trouble Funk got a major label deal and EU had a hit with Da Butt. I suppose you could make the case that Bustin' Loose by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers in 1978 is some kind of proto-go-go but to me it's just a great no-go song.

Da Butt was and is a fun song that has the desired effect on da butt. But the go-go groove is better when stretched out to the breaking point. This version of Trouble Funk's Drop the Bomb goes on for 25 minutes.and Go Go Swing by Chuck Brown rides the beat for almost 17.

I don't know if any of the musicians were fans of Fela but this full Trouble Funk concert from 1988 makes enough of a connection from Lagos to Washington DC to warrant a mention in this thread.

trouble funk. saw them in 86' and flipped my lid- had never heard of them or go-go prior. unbelievable show (lots of call and response with the audience who knew what to respond). I remember a lot of higher register percussion alongside standard drum kit. and yeah- really, really long grooves that you hoped wouldn't end. IIRC, I happily drafted Da Butt in one of our recent 80s drafts.