Various Artists, Golden Afrique, Vol. 2. Highlights and Rarities from the Golden Era of African Pop Music (1956-1982): The Great Days of Rumba Congolaise and Early Soukous. 2 CD box set.
This set is KILLER. Well, ok, I'm only on track 3 of the second CD so far, so I really have only listened to the whole of CD #1, which was dominated by Franco's O.K. Jazz and Sam Mangwana. I already knew I liked Sam Mangwana from a couple of recent albums of his, and I did already have a Franco compilation and it was OK, but my God, the track selection here is killer.
What is it? Early post-independence Congolese pop music. Very Cuban-influenced, but not the same, and Cubans don't play killer electric guitar.
I've also got Vol. 1 of this series, which is West African pop (mainly Senegal, Mali, Guinea). Not as nice as this set, though they have a very nicely remastered version of Super Mama Djombo's "Dissan Na M'bera," which, of course, I'm professionally curious about (the song is in Guinea-Bissau Creole).
Cesaria Evora, Rogamar.
Not bad at all. I overall like it a bit better than her previous album, but on the other hand, that one had a few songs that I found far more memorable than this album ("Isolada," "Velocidade," "Ramboia," "Jardim Prometido"). I think the previous album sounds overengineered (AAARGH YOU DAMN MASTERING ENGINEER, LAY OFF THE FUCKING COMPRESSOR), which I hate (can you tell?); this one, on the other hand, sounds underengineered (where are the dynamics?) but overproduced (aaargh, too many damn instruments). Neither is anywhere as good as Miss Perfumado, which is neither overproduced nor over/underengineered. (And the songs are better, too.)
Fela Kuti, Expensive Shit/He Miss Road (2 albums in one CD).
Haven't really listened to this yet. Track #1 sounded alright when I heard it, but I was really tired and kind of dozing off. This is the fourth Fela CD I buy this year. The first I got was Open and Close/Afrodisiac, which I find absolutely amazing. None of the ones I've gotten since have I liked nearly as much as that one.