Nigeria’s famous for being the birthplace of the Afrobeat genre, pioneered by Fela Kuti and Tony Allen. But in the ’70s, that African nation also incubated some fantastic psychedelic-rock bands, including Blo. Guitarist Berkley Jones, drummer Laolu Akintobi, and bassist Mike Odumasu released five strong albums in the 1970s, of which their debut, Chapter One, is the best known in the US. It’s a great introduction to the trio’s sly psych-rock and funky Afrobeat fusions.
There’s a humid, low-end undertow to their generally celebratory, jammy songs that’s hugely appealing. Not to slight the other players, but Odumasu reigns as the group’s MVP with his atypical and athletic bass lines. That being said, Jones works his wah-wah and fuzz-tone effects pedals with wonderful subtlety and Akintobi is a font of lithe, unpredictable rhythms. You can hear these delights on opener “Preacherman.” It’s tensile, cyclical rock with a joyous melody and an inspirational bass line, while the guitar somehow sounds like a flute in places. The song gets freakier as it goes, a common pattern on Chapter One. While these songs have vocals and relatively conventional rock structures, at a certain point the voice drops out and the instrumentalists go off on controlled freakouts.
“We Gonna Have A Party” is a fragrant, chugging jam that stays true to its title while “Don’t” follows in the same vein, but with more funk in its trunk. The album’s most anomalous track, “Chant To Mother Earth,” sprawls into a dank, ritualistic trance-out, until Jones’ long, circuitous guitar solo torches the subterranean vibe. Finally, “Miss ‘Sagitt’” ranks as one of the most transcendental tracks to come out of Africa; it’s a world-class psychedelic pinnacle on the level of the most sublime krautrock (Agitation Free, Et Cetera, Popol Vuh). What a fantastic finale!
Overshadowed by Lagos’ booming Afrobeat movement, Blo proved that the city could produce psych-rockers of distinction, too, as exemplified by Chapter One. -Buckley Mayfield
Located in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, Jive Time is always looking to buy your unwanted records (provided they are in good condition) or offer credit for trade. We also buy record collections.
