I must admit, over the years my feverish passion for locating new music for my library, as well as other hobbies, has somewhat begun to crumble downhill. Peut-etre this is something that happens as we grow older...no matter how 'hip' you once were, it seems age takes a toll on the gusto of youth. The urge to discover falls 2nd place to, well I don't quite know...comfort, perhaps?
Sad, yes. But pleasing when one can recognize this and make the appropriate changes to derail such a dilemma.
I am making a conscious effort to rekindle these desires for exploration, starting first with my music collection. I figure I cannot go wrong with any LuakaBop record. It's not a new recording by any means, but any new introduction deserves mention. The 3rd part of the World Psychedelic Classics series, 'Love's a Real Thing: The Funky Fuzzy Sounds of West Africa' ignites a part of you unaware of its own kindle. The album features 12 tracks recorded by various artists between the late 60s and throughout the 70s, scattering melodies among percussions, chants between blasting guitar riffs, and bells among distortion. Plus you just want to get up and dance.
When I used to travel as a youth, when technology consisted of tape recordings and the radio was your window to the locale, I used to hit the 'record' button on my jambox and take home cassette recordings of the local radio station djs, commercial interruptions and all. For me, these cassettes were better than any photograph I could have taken. I still pop them in from time to time and revisit the places I once ventured. This album, had I visited West Africa as a youth, would have been my audio souvenir, serving as an introduction to a land once invisible to me.
And for me, that's what good music should do: allow you to get acquainted with a land you've never seen before. Lands that seem oh-so-strange yet so vaguely familiar.
