AFREAKA!

A big thankyou to Guldbamsen who recommended this album to me. He said it's similar to OSIBISA but that it smokes anything they did. Bold words but they proved to be true. Like OSIBISA this band was made up of a group of young blacks who had immigrated to London. After WWII the British government was encouraging young men from the Commenwealth to come to England to work as the work-force was obviously depleted after the war. This was a seven piece band with the usual Rock instruments plus trombone, sax, organ, congas and flute. There was an additional player added for this record who also played congas. According to Paddy Corea the sax / flute player (who by the way had been playing in London clubs since the early sixties) the turning point for the band came in 1968 when the visited Morocco and heard those North African rhythms which they of course implimented into their music. Paddy described their music as "a combination of Arabic and Indian music together with soft Avant Garde Jazz". After a series of well received club shows at venues such as Ronnie Scotts and more they ended up getting signed by the Red Bus Agency the same agency who had also signed COMUS. We get five long tracks and two are instrumentals.

"Past Present And Future" opens with this distorted guitar that sounds nasty. Love it ! Cymbals help out then we get drums before 1 1/2 minutes as the song settles in. Horns follow then the guitar returns but not distorted this time.The organ replaces the guitar then the horns return 4 1/2 minutes in. The guitar is back after 6 minutes trading off with the horns. A great opening instrumental. "Disillusioned Man" opens with percussion and strummed guitar but the drums, horns and organ kick in quickly. Vocals before a minute for the first time. Love the drumming and vocals on this one. Horns, organ and drums lead as we get an instrumental section that comes in before 2 1/2 minutes. Vocals are back 4 1/2 minutes in to end it.

"Another Country" is drum, horn and vocal led. This is catchy and so well played. It does settle back before 2 1/2 minutes with relaxed horns and a beat. Nice. Organ 6 minutes in as it kicks back in. Vocals are back before 8 minutes. "Hymn To Mother Earth" reminds me of TRAFFIC a little bit. Floating organ and bass to start. Drums and vocals at 1 1/2 minutes with flute as the floating organ continues.The bass returns as the tempo picks up and horns follow. A change before 5 minutes as it gets kind of funky with horns. Vocals and that earlier soundscape return around 6 1/2 minutes. "Mercy (Variation No. One)" is the closing instrumental. This is catchy with drums,percussion, organ and more. The horns become prominant as they continue to jam.

This band didn't get much support from their label unfortunately and this became their one and only release. I think every track on here is incredible and nothing but five stars will do. Afreaka !