The Day After The Sabbath 47: Turn On The Sun (Africa)

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TDATS 47: Turn On The Sun [African Psych, Hard Rock, Prog and Zam-Rock] by Rich Aftersabbath on Mixcloud

Volume 47 is a motley crew of tracks from various locations in The Great Continent of Africa. This was sparked by a LastFM comment I got from someone who gave me a couple of suggestions. We have a wide range of great sounds, varying between white-african bands' typically western rock leanings like Rabbitt, to the tribal percussion of the Zam-rockers like Amanaz. One of the stand-out aspects of this comp is the rhythm and funk running through most of it!

Cape Town's Invaders open up with some groovy psych and we go straight into Ofo The Black Company. They were formed in Lagos, Nigeria and were quickly picked up by London Records, so their debut album was actually recorded in the UK. Their standout track here 'Allah Wakbarr' is an irresistibly catchy slice of funky rock. Nigeria's 'The Funkees' main reason for being on here is their intriguing cover of an Atomic Rooster track that works well and sounds unique. Amanaz, Witch, Ngozi Family, The Peace and Chissy Zebby all share the fuzzy, hazy sound that has become known as Zam-rock, coming from various regions of Zambia in West Africa. There is an interview with Witch vocalist Emmanuel "Jagari" Chanda, which also mentions The Peace, here at Pshychedelic Baby webzine. Of the three Johannesburg bands here, Suck demonstrate their love of downer rock and hard rock with their Sabbathy original 'The Whip' and a Deep Purple cover, Freedom's Children play a very accomplished brand of progressive heavy psych and Rabbitt go for the big stadium sound. There is a great Freedom's children-related interview here at Psychedelic Baby webzine. Rabbit includes Trevor Rabin, who soon moved to Europe and went on to further acclaim with solo works and vocal duties in the 80's incarnation of Yes.

Otis Waygood has a couple of great tunes here, varying from blues rock to reggae. We also have a couple of Ghanaian rarities; a compilation of The Psychedelic Aliens was put out recently. It took Frank Gossner (of Voodoofunk.com) 4 years, 9 visits to Ghana, and dozens of newspaper ads and radio announcements to track down the band for a hand in creating it! A final mention goes to Ghana's enigmatic Mack Sigis Porter, who recorded his great amusingly-titled album 'Peace on You' with an Italian backing group, and the immersive doomy atmosphere of 'Sunday In Neon Lights' really is something to behold.

01. Invaders (Cape Town) - Turn on the Sun (1970)
02. Ofo The Black Company (Lagos) - Allah Wakbarr (1972)
03. The Funkees (Nigeria) - Breakthrough (1971)
04. Amanaz (Zambia) - History of Man (1975)
05. Otis Waygood Blues Band (Zimbabwe) - Devil Bones / Straight Ahead (1970)
06. Ngozi Family (Zambia) - Night of Fear (1977)
07. Suck (Johannesburg) - The Whip / Into The Fire (1970)
08. The Psychedelic Aliens (Ghana) - Okponmo Ni Tsitsi Emo Le (1971)
09. Freedom's Children (Johannesburg) - Sea Horse (1972)
10. Mack Sigis Porter (Ghana) - Sunday In Neon Lights (1972)
11. The Peace (Zambia) - Black Power (1971)
12. Witch (Zambia) - Havoc (1975)
13. The Attraction (South Africa) - Go Away (1969)
14. Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family (Zambia) - Fisherman (1974)
15. Rabbitt (Johannesburg) - Savage (1976)

Cheers, Rich

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The Day After The Sabbath 46: Bluesy Death

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Volume 46 is a general collection of great tunes. We kick off with LA's Lyd who made a cracking demo album in 1970 with some catchy psych, see any similarities to Nirvana in that 'Need You' riff? Mythos were a Krautrock band who delved into long trips so I've edited down a track here. There is an interview with Mythos guitar/flute player Stephan Kaske here at Pychedelic Baby webzine.  Fun Of It were little known Dutch band who made one album including this monster trip which I used to name the compilation. Doctor Downtrip from Belgium chugs away the cobwebs and the beginning always reminds of the original Doctor Who theme tune.

Frost were a band that grew in the same Detroit scene as MC5 and by the time of their third album in 1970, 'Through the Eyes of Love', they had developed into more radio-friendly hard rockers. Raven bring along some swaggering southern blues to drink away your sorrows to. Three Man Army were a UK super group who recorded a number of solid albums. Three members; Adrian Gurvitz (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Paul Gurvitz (bass, vocals) and Tony Newman (drums), played in a who's who of bands including Baker Gurvitz Army, Gun, The Knack, Jeff Beck Group, May Blitz and T. Rex.

Larry & The Blue Notes are one of the oldest inclusions I have made, a solid bit of driving hammond heavy psych, and Stack Waddy will probably be familiar to some of you as an infamous Mancunian sleazy blues band which was an early signing to UK radio DJ John Peel's (RIP) record Label 'Dandelion'. Similarly to Red Dirt (see vol. 40) they play heavy blues riffs that draw the attention of proto doom/metal fans due to their aggressive edge.  Bunalim are a rare inclusion of some Turkish heavy psych and Morly Grey had one album in 1972, they are usually described as heavy psych but their relatively clean guitar sound is more like hard rock to me and this nimble riffing kills! The comp ends on Ohio's Dragonwyck, who's track is a great slice of psych, the guitar lines have an eastern sound to me and the song has a great oppressive doomy feeling to it. There is a Dragonwyck related interview here at the It's Psychedelic Baby blog.

01. Lyd - Need You / Double Dare (1970)
02. Mythos - Hero's Death [edit] (1971)
03. Fun Of It - Bluesy Death (1970)
04. Doctor Downtrip - Wanted (1973)
05. Frost - Big Time Spender (1970)
06. Raven - Can't You See (1975)
07. Three Man Army - Polecat Woman (1974)
08. Larry & The Blue Notes - In And Out (1966)
09. Stack Waddy - Hoochie Coochie Man (1972)
10. Bunalım - Tas Ver Köpek Yok (1971)
11. Morly Grey - Peace Officer (1972)
12. Dragonwyck - Ancient Child (1970)


Cheers, Rich