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Avg: 4.0 (17 ratings)
- Date Released: January 1, 2003
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Rock
- Label: ZE Records / The Orchard
African polyrhythms and chiming highlife guitars all filtered through a brainy transatlantic sensibility.
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We Say...
Lizzy Mercier Descloux upped her game on her second album by recording at the Bahamas' hip Compass Point recording studio with Wally Badarou, whose recognizable synths can be heard percolating behind Talking Heads, Grace Jones, Mick Jagger and other '80s globetrotters. Inspired by then-obscure Afrobeat musicians like King Sunny Adé, Descloux's 1981 record resembles Talking Heads' Remain in Light in that it filters tricky African polyrhythms and chiming highlife guitars through a brainy transatlantic sensibility. The result is slicker, thicker and considerably warmer than her self-consciously cool debut, and although her jerky rendition of Kool & the Gang's "Funky Stuff" is the sole memorable cut, all of it twists and pulls in a way that could please Tom Tom Club fans.
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They Say...
Out in some alternate universe, where old songs float around in space, there is a bridge that links Talking Heads' "I Zimbra" to the same band's "Born Under Punches." That bridge is formed by nine of the ten songs that make up Mambo Nassau, Lizzy Mercier Descloux's second solo album. Whether or not Descloux's severe yet foreseeable change in approach had anything to do with Talking Heads' own development is not (widely) known. It is known that she had become inspired by the traditional world music released on France's Ocora label, and in 1980 she took drummer Bill Perry down to Nassau to record at Compass Point, where she was aided by a number of people, including keyboard wiz, arranger, and -- ding ding! -- future Talking Heads associate Wally Badarou. The intent was to incorporate African elements into Descloux's existing vibrant mix of arty funk, disco, and film music, and the result was an album that nearly rivals just about any other rhythmically inventive release that came from the rock world at the time. Naturally, Mambo Nassau is even more adventurous than Press Color. The instrumental setup -- with the exception of some of the percussion -- is completely Western and rock-oriented, with Badarou's excitable synthesizer often figuring prominently, whether churning out squiggled melodies or affecting the mood of the song with sensitive accents. The interplay between all of the instruments is positively acrobatic, including off-kilter time-keeping, wriggling guitars, and plump basslines that seem to twist in place. And, of course, there's Descloux's voice at the center of it all, adding even more life to the material with infectious wide-eyed exuberance. Eight of the album's ten songs are originals. Once you hear the cover of Kool & the Gang's "Funky Stuff," you'll realize that no one has ever had as much fun as Descloux had playing that song.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
Lady O K'pele |
2:31 |  |
| 02. | |
Room Mate |
2:46 | |
| 03. | |
Sports Spootnicks |
4:23 | |
| 04. | |
Payola |
4:24 | |
| 05. | |
Milk Sheik |
0:50 | |
| 06. | |
Funky Stuff |
4:11 | |
| 07. | |
Slipped Disc |
3:42 | |
| 08. | |
It's You Sort Of |
2:18 | |
| 09. | |
Bim Bam Boum |
3:09 | |
| 10. | |
Five Troubles Mambo |
2:16 | |
| 11. | |
Les Baisers d'Amants |
3:56 | |
| 12. | |
Maita |
3:17 | |
| 13. | |
Mister Soweto |
2:54 | |
| 14. | |
Sun Is Shining |
2:24 | |
| 15. | |
Corpo Molli Pau Duro |
2:40 | |
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Credits
- Wally Badarou - Synthesizer // Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Main Performer // Arto Lindsay - Vocals // Bill Perry - Drums // Adam Kidron - Producer // Steve Stanley - Producer // Michel Esteban - Producer // Michel Esteban - Art Direction // Michel Esteban - Design // Michel Esteban - Photography // Grégori Czerkinsky - Percussion // Philippe Lemongne - Bass
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