Customer Reviews

Scatterlings

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

 

 

Pioneering a unique movement in music, blending zulu and white South African sound, at the height of a system which attempted to keep all the various sub-cultures seperated, this album helped Johnny Clegg and band break through to some degree in the states. Clegg is a household name in many parts of Europe, and of course SA, where he did much more than has yet been fully appreciated, to break down cultural barriers.

CD contains some really great songs like: " Scatterlings"; "Digging For Some Words" & "Kwela Man".
"Digging For Some Words" and "Umbaquanga Music" although worthy of it have not yet been included in any Best of's, or Compilations, and as such are only found on this album...well...

Anyway I'm horrified to see that this album is considered so rare in the USA, when you can purchase the South African version really cheaply.
There, "Scatterlings" has one track diffence with the American version, it does not contain "Umbaqunga Music" (an all-Zulu version was released in SA), instead it contains a different track called "Mad Dog"(not on the US vesion). Another cd : " International Tracks" does contain "Umbaqunga" plus others like "Kilamanjaro" and "Fever" some of Juluka's best upbeat stuff. Both cd's can be purchased very, very cheaply. So do a little searching dude...
Don't buy DVD's from SA,different TV system(PAL).

This is a great CD but, be warned that the songs listed above ARE NOT the ones on this CD. The tracks listed above are from the Juluka CD "Scatterlings"(Johnny Clegg was a member of Juluka).

I was very surprised when I received this as I was looking a replacement for my album. I informed Amazon, they offered a refund (I refused as I do like the tracks), but they have not yet updated their site.

The actual tracks on this CD:
Scatterlings of Africa
African Shadow Man
Third World Child
Giyana
Berlin Wall
Are You Ready?
Dance Across the Centuries
Asimbonanga (Mandela)
Human Rainbow
Don't Walk Away
I Call Your Name
Great Heart
Ring on Her Finger
Talk to the People

Update: It looks like Amazon has corrected the song titles for this CD. Good job (again) Amazon!

Again, still a great CD...it's just so...how do I describe it...it just makes me happy when I hear it. If you haven't yet, try it!

The first reviewer is correct; the songs on this CD are not those listed by Amazon. But I kept the CD anyway, because there are some very good songs on it.

I picked this album up (in vinyl) about 1990, in a remainders bin, on a whim. A buck isn't much to risk. A few years later I nabbed the album on CD, also in a remainders bin. I wish you could ALL hear this music. It is still in my top 3 listened-to albums, along with Marillion's "Childhood's End", and English Beat's "Special Beat Service". "Scatterlings" is-like most of Johnny Clegg's productions-music that defies categorization.
I am a white American female...the only "African" recorded music I had ever heard before this album was on Paul Simon's "Graceland". If you liked the African music in that, try this, you'll like it! The melodies on "Scatterlings" are uniformly addictive; you will be humming them for days after a listen. They are timeless, combining what Johnny Clegg's fans know to be his diverse African, jazz, rock (etc.) influences.
Johnny Clegg is (I've heard) a Brit-born white guy; but his commitment to protesting aparteid (still in place, when Juluka was formed, with South African band members) was very real. The theme of the lyrics is African, often tragic; but the music is oddly uplifting. (In 20 years, only the specific countries have changed, in terms of the strife sung about in this album.)
Its going to be hard to find, but if you ever run across it in a remainders bin, snag this album!