Having favourably reviewed the lead single a while back I can summarise this album by saying this is more of the same and that is a good thing.
What I really like about this album is its afrocentrism. This album would not exist if cult 70’s Senegalese road movie ‘Touki Bouki’ had not been restored by Martin Scorsese. It fell to Red Snapper to tour with the film for a year, playing the soundtrack live to audiences across Europe. Themes from the score have been developed and extended to form ‘Hyena’ and 70’s afro-beat is coming through loud and clear.
There is a ‘clank’ in the place that seems to mirror the more ‘rugged’ sounds and production techniques of those times. Another reference point would have to be electric Miles Davis (not to be confused with electric Dave Davis who I once played football with and who wasn’t very electric at all). Miles copped some flak from the ‘jazzers’, and further afield, during this stage of his ‘musical journey’ (he was probably slightly more upset than he was bothered), but he left some brilliant music behind and tracks like ‘Card Trick’ on ‘Hyena’, strongly evoke them.
|
Underlying all these new influences are, of course, the Red Snapper we know and love, not to mention a healthy dose of blaxploitation e.g. Dock Running. Other tracks put Ali Friend’s vocals to use in a way which is neither ‘afro-beat’ nor ‘blaxploitation’ and throughout the course of the album there is a good mix of funk and chill and soundtrack. All in all it is a thoroughly engaging album and if this is the beginning of Red Snapper's twilight years, things could be about to get very interesting.
Red Snapper online
|
