Customer Reviews

Pirate's Choice

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the essential records of all time. I have recommened this record to all my friends and everyone who hears it loves it. You should have it too! It contains brilliant solo guitar, sax, and vocal performances that float and soar in and out of a mesmerising rhythmic fusion of the players.

This is a bluesy collection of songs played (guitars, bass, sax, congas) and sung (in French, Spanish, and Wolof) by one of the most important West African bands of the late 20th century. The African-American influence is clear, but the music is "pure" Caribbean-influenced West-African blues/pop. Slide this CD into your player, and you'll be in touch with the Dakar music scene of the late '70s and early '80s, played by musicians you've probably never even heard of, but who should rank right up there--at least in the case of the lead guitarist, Barthelemy Attisso--with BB King, Eric Clapton, or Jeff Beck. I rank this CD as probably the best of the 100 or so I bought last year. Timeless stuff. Even if you can't understand a word of it, you'll love it (but the great liner-notes will help you figure out what the songs are about). Last time I checked, this CD was NOT available in major record stores in the US. I live in Asia, and have purchased all the copies I can find here; I ship them to my friends in the US (boomers like you and me) who thank me profusely for the introduction. When this item goes out of print, there won't be any more; the liner notes state that Attisso "is living in Togo but it is not known whether he is involved in music." Let's hope that he and the others collect something in royalties on this substantial collection; they certainly deserve--as much as anyone does--to be rich and famous. The only reservation I have about this CD is that there are only six different cuts, with two alternate takes of two great songs, "Utru Horas" and "Coumba." By the time the songs are repeated, though, you'll probably be yearning to hear them again anyway, so it's not such a bad thing. Even other Orchestra Baobab CDs--"Bamba," for example--don't match this one. Buy it; before long, you'll be humming the tunes; you'll have memorized the guitar solos; and you'll be wondering where you can learn a bit of Wolof.

I was born in the Cape Verde Islands which is close to Senegal, I am on my late thirties, I am a music afficionado and I was surprise to never had heard about this band before. I found out about this band while researching the best genres of music on on BMG music club.In fact the lirics on some the music on Pirates Choice sounds like the dialect I speak. I agree with the other reviewers... Why this guys are not world famous? It is hard to explain how good these guys are...just buy the album. I have around 600 cds, all kind of music and Orchestra Baobab CD's are the ones I would not let anybody borrow. It is like a treasure to me.

This cd has been reissued as a double cd (and unfortunately with new cover art - I really liked the old picture of a baobab tree). Other songs from about the same time (1982, I think) have been added. This recording sounds its age, but the music is definitely world-class.

The other reviewers have covered the bases -- and they are not exaggerating, that's why I'm writing, to re-affirm how pure, beautiful, but also invigorating, romantic, and powerful this album is. It's ideal for summertime, or when you want to feel that warmth in wintertime. It's the kind of CD you put on for someone you have over to your house and they stop talking after about 10 seconds and ask "what is this?" It's the perfect mixture of sweet and strong, upbeat and mellow. And any day now people are going to start sampling Pirate's Choice into their DJ mixes, I only hope I beat them to it. Long live the best album of all time (after Paul's Boutique, that is).

This recording is the ultimate proof that Africa and Africans invented rhythm. Eight songs (six different ones and two alternate takes) swing right into your heart, and into your head. I am lucky enough to understand both French and Spanish, so I got a fair idea of what these songs are about, but lyrics are hardly the point. It's the music that wraps its' arms around you and never lets go. The guitar player on this CD, Bartholomée Atisso, is really one of the great and deserves to be world famous. I hope he comes across these humble lines sometime. You're my hero, Mr. Atisso! I have never heard anyone play as intense, note for note just pouring from his heart and his guitar. Songs, vocals, saxophone, guitar, rhythm... it all fully interlocks on this legendary recording. Everyone reading this, already in posession of this CD... see if you can find the title 'On verra ça', also by Orchestra Baobab. Maybe even better...

Provided that I was equiped with electricity and a disc player, this Orchestra Baobab album is the one item that I would demand to bring in my exile onto an uninhabited desert island. Without a doubt, it has radically changed my outlook on music, and made me reconsider current trends in jazz. It made me wonder why I've been listening to such trash since 1982, and why these guys' names aren't as household as Herbie Hancock and Stan Getz. I first heard the album in 1995, and spent the better part of the following three years searching for it. It really is a treasure. There is a reason they called it a "LEGENDARY Session".