World Psychedelic Classics 3:Love’s a Real Thing, the Funky Fuzzy Sounds of West Africa:Luaka Bop

Title: World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love’s a Real Thing, the Funky Fuzzy Sounds of West Africa

Label: Luaka Bop/V2

Genre: psychedelic funk

Rating: 6.7 of 7

While I have a definite interest in all sorts of world music, there has always been a special place in my heart for specifically African music. I am not sure exactly why I chose this part of the world to be obsessed about, but it’s probably because of fantastic compilations like this one. In the third installment of the successful World Psychedelic Classics, they have decided to concentrate on African music from the 70s when bands started to stray away from the traditional style of music thanks to their exposure the heavily electric sounds of Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Cream. The result is an upbeat and tantalizing blend of African rhythms and funk/soul inflections of guitars, horns and vocals that gave birth to subgenres like soukous, mbalax and my personal favorite, afrobeat. This is an eclectic compilation of West African bands heavily influenced by everyone from the Doors (#2) to impersonations of James Brown (#3). Most people toss music like this away because they think it is hand-me-down, 2nd rate attempts at the style, but in fact it is a genre all to it’s own and is definitely worth your undivided attention even if it is 30 years later.

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