Customer Reviews

Crocodile Love With Johnny Clegg

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album was released in Europe and Africa in 1997 and I only knew about it because I happened to be in Germany in June of 1997 and was able to buy it. Its a shame that it still hasn't been released in North America, because it represented Johnny's return to his roots, with a fresher sound and more zulu phrases in his lyrics. His Savuka band released four albums: "Third World Child" in 1987, "Shadow Man" in 1988, "Cruel Crazy Beautiful World" in 1990, and the final "Heat Dust and Dreams" in 1993. A Best of music compilation of his Savuka days was released in 1994 and by then the band had officially disbanded. After the death of Dudu Zulu, along with the demise of apartheid, the politics of Savuka songs seemed to be pretty much overwith, so Johnny returned to his old partnership with Sipho Mchunu, who made several albums under the name Juluka in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Even though I first heard about Johnny Clegg in 1988 with his Savuka band, when I started acquiring all of his albums, I preferred the sound of his Juluka albums. They had more African traditional music, beats and rhythm to it, and less westernized pop that made up Savuka. After the heavier rock sound of "Heat Dust and Dreams" (which I do love for the most part, except for a couple songs), I was eager to hear a return to the exotic beats and zulu chants of Juluka. "Crocodile Love" fills that role quite nicely.

"Studla Sami" is a catchy song with clever lyrics that seem to pay tribute to a heavyset woman, but if you listen closely, it sounds more like a tribute to mother earth. It works well both ways, but its definitely a clever, infective song. The other two songs that I really love are sung in zulu, which are "Ubaba Akalele" and "Makhelwane". These two songs represent what was missing from Johnny's Savuka albums...catchy, danceable African rhythms with zulu lyrics, thus probably the reason this album has failed to be released in the U.S. (a fault of narrow-minded Americans who want everything in English, even if it sounds better in the original language).

The title track, "Crocodile Love" is pretty catchy, and "Journey's End" is yet another standout on this album. As a whole, there is not one song on here that I don't like. That makes it a very strong album, and I'd rank it as my third favorite Johnny Clegg album (behind "Cruel Crazy Beautiful World" and "Scatterlings") out of the 12 or so that he has released.

For those who aren't aware, Johnny released another album in 2002 called "New World Survivor" that still hasn't been officially released in the U.S. and he changes musical directions again, this time in a very current style that's quite effective. He's due to release another album this year, but who knows if this one will also make it to our shores. It pays to know people in other countries, because American radio doesn't know what they are missing. Johnny Clegg is the best kept secret in the music industry, but I hope you will discover for yourself what his fans have known for years...this man is pure musical genius, underappreciated by the conformist music corporations and bland radio stations, but its their loss and the fans gain. You won't be disappointed.

My husband chose this CD while on safari in South Africa and what a great choice. We absolutely love this CD. While neither of us are very familiar with music there, we have enjoyed Johnny Clegg and Juluka and have come to acquire more CD's that are available over here. I think that their music depicts so many diverse things that actually pertain to their country. We recently had our CD changer worked on and when it was returned, our "The Bull Has Risen" CD came up missing. I am now on a mission to purchase another one as soon as possible. We miss it. It makes us feel like we still have a little bit of South Africa with us.

Great album, and a long time coming. Even longer in my case, 7 years to get my hands on the import version, thanks to a mate of mine visiting South Africa. Well worth the wait though, if you bought the original Juluka classics, and know what Johnny and Sipho sounded like together.

This is right on the mark, and extraordinarily so after the years have passed, and their different circumstances. Get your old copies of "Ubuhle Bemvelo" out and be amazed they can still capture the same spirit.

OK, the CD remixed disco version extras don't really work for me, but tracks 3-11 more than make up for anything else.

Hope we hear more acoustic versions of this unique Johnny/Sipho roots, folk, rock, well you name it, combination. Don't give it up please, gentlemen. It sounds as fresh, if not fresher, than the first time you two rocked out against prejudice.

Hey this is not an anthology. This is all new, original material. This album is an absolute treasure. At least 6 of the 14, yes 14 cuts are awesome and the balance are very good. After the commercial sucess of his 4 albums with Savuka, why hasn't this one been distributed in the US. This album builds on the previous work. The production quality is better than the juluka albums and more african in sound than some of the savuka albums. For that matter why hasn't the extensive juluka repetoir which has recently been rereleased been maketted either. This album is probably Clegg and Mchunu's best effort to date.

This is another Johnny Clegg Juluka Classic cd. I would mainly like to say that I bought the Compleat cd, not the cd single over at Amazon U.K site. Just type in Juluka over on there site and look for the seller.Para-Dise they have a Good price on it, and I recieved it from overseas to the U.S.A in less than one week. So if any of You are still looking for this cd go get it while You can. Good luck.

The music is great but....I was fooled by the other reviews, being imported, and lack of track listing into buying it. And while it's good; the CD which goes with this "light green" cover art is a 3 track single, not the album by the same name! So I'm still looking for the album by this name having only gotten a 3 song taste of it, dang!

I am a passionate fan of Johnny Clegg and Savuka Music and I had great expectations about this cd that I bought about 3 years ago. Yet...listening to it turned into a bitter disillusion. Only the song "Love is just a Dream" and, maybe, "Circle of Light" too are worth 15 minutes of listening. Where is the powerful, mystic, capturing music created by Johnny Clegg and Savuka in the past years that made us dream when we listened and still listen to it in the albums "Third World Child", "Shadowman", "Cruel Crazy Beautiful World", "Heat Dust and Dreams"? Those were the albums produced by Johnny Clegg and Savuka from 1988 to 1998 that made me fall in love with Johhny! Compared to that music, songs in the album "Crocodile Love" are but a pale shadow, a sort of decadence, in the music quality of such a superb Artist, towards "banal" and sometimes not even enjoyable rhythms. I hope that next Johny's albums will make us dream and dance as they did before.