Blo
Afro Strut Blo : Phases 1972-1982 (NIG,re.2001)***°°
tracks I airplayed before : Tr.6, "Don't take her away from me" 5 min, Tr.3, "Chant to Mother Earth" 7 min,Tr.2, "Miss Sagit" 5 min 17
Only after having listened to Blo’s first album did I realize how much Blo’s previous compilation deals with the later, rather than his prime creative time, globaly received “Afro-sound” interest (which in Nigeria meant highlife, juju and afro-funk), an interest which especially still picked up this group for a reissue only, because Blo was forced into this popularity to survive, and that the Afrostrut label was willing to have some rock element in it, to show where they came from, without really fully showing yet how good they really were with these origins. Blo’s original album showed heavy rock with a very progressive origin. The groups own creative ideas were, at this stage, I would say “luckily”, independent from these later generalizations of creativity ; they still had no need to find a common "black" sound, and were not influenced yet by their management and label who wanted to force them into soul, funk or some kind of more hit friendly genre. This was still the fundamental “real” thing in its creative wildness, comparable a bit to how the group Witch sounded, but trippier and with many more electric solos.
A great thing about the Afrostrut compilation is that it contained an interview with the former bassplayer of the band who explained thoroughly the history of the band. It seems that as musicians they first played highlife, tried to be like The Beatles, Rolling Stones and then James Brown for a while. They had started as a schoolband called The Clusters. There was a brief encounter with Fela Kuti but not too much. A first change in style came after having seen Geraldo Pino with his blend of Elvis, UK beat, rumba, cha-chas and soul. So then they generally played Afrorock which was mostly with a highlife direction. They often cooperated with the Lijadu Sisters. There were plans for a European tour, but they soon realized it needed something far more original to get heard, within that African origin of originality, than what was commonly heard in afro-soul, rock or dance. Ginger Baker (Vream, G.B.Airforce) had come three times to Lagos. And from the beginning he showed interest in the drummer, The Clusters and the Lijadu Sisters. He even briefly jammed with The Clusters, and it was filmed by a BBC crew. He took two musicians with him to UK to play as Airforce II. When he came back for a third time he planned to form a much more African sounding group, that was going to be called Salt. The Clusters as well as the Lijadu Sisters were involved. Laolu explains it was at a time when Fela wasn’t considered highlife enough by the public, so Fela tried to look for covers, and directions in soul and disco until he was so tired of this he just did his own thing which soon was going to develop into the ‘afrobeat’ sound, with the guitars in the background, and brass more to the front (Fela was a trumpetist). The Clusters on the other hand hoped the importance of guitars wouldn’t be forgotton. In the meanwhile they toured with Ginger Baker, played with some jazz musicians, in German cities, the States, Canada, in Europe before returning to Nigeria. Laolu considers Ginger to be a great connection between Mahivishnu Orchestra and Salt with his own kind of unique rhythm feeling, but he thinks this African element was still a bit too different for him so that Salt could become important. No tapes were saved from this period. Having returned to Nigeria, late 1972, the trio changed their name to Blo, (with B for Berkely “Ike” Jones –guitar-, L for Laolu “Akins” Akintobu -drums- and O for Mike “Gbenga” Odumosu –bass-) and wanted to do something completely different now, separated from the Lijadu Sisters and focused more on the rocking guitars, while keeping especially in the bass the African element alive. After their first LP, in December 1973 they blew Osibisa from the stage, who were more African styled mixed with Caribbean, while Blo showed a more rock drive mixed with absorbed traces of Afro, blowing their own songs approach away with its instrumental trippiness.
Shadows Blo : Chapter One (NIG,1972)*****
The album gives a real perfect listen and also blows you into a trippy character, while balancing a bit between rock, funk and psychedelia tendencies, but with mostly a dominating talent on electric guitars, while showing also great skills on drums and bass. Any of the “African” elements were reduced to traces because they were in fact completely absorbed into the heavy rock drive. The third track, “beware” sounds like as if a more soulful version of Dr.John’s Night Tripper with wahwah and such with very funky vibes added to the heavy rock sound, while a track like “Miss Sagit” can’t go much more psychedelic than this. Even when the album sounds like a real masterpiece to me, EMI dropped them (not sure how many were sold, I guess a 1000).
Their management, and interest from a new label Afrodisia, forced them to change direction a bit, to have more funk or soul, or preferable go to make hits. They didn’t mind the funkier road, so they tried to take their own influences of Grand Funk Railroad and Isley Brothers to get launched into African territories. See "phase 2" :
not reissued yet Blo : Phase two (NIG,1973)***°
Their management, and interest from a new label Afrodisia, forced them to change direction a bit, to more funk or soul elements, or preferable try to make hits. They didn’t mind the funkier road, so they tried to take their own influences of Grand Funk Railroad and Isley Brothers to get launched into African territories. I assume that for them, in this new phase they didn’t have much choice in changing direction, which still made a good album, this time a much more pure Afro album, so which repeated African repetitive patterns and left less space for electric guitar explorations. Best track for psych lovers is the longest track, “Native Doctor” with fuzz and also some more organ. Their afro-funk direction still suited them well but wasn’t as strong as their completely free choice from before. "Atide" is Afro-funk, with an nice attempt of an organ solo, breaking a bit the mood with the funkiness, a a progressive but confusing break.
Notes on back of the album :
THE MAKING OF BLO.
Here comes 'BLO Phase Two', the follow-up album to 'BLO Chapter One' by the raving rock trio = Berkley, Laolu and Odumosu. Utilizing organ and electric piano for tighter effect, Africa's first trio are into a freshivating polyrhythmic funk that is richly embellished in sophistication - and bound to generate mass appeal. The introductory tune is the musical expression of BLO, written by bassist Mike Odumosu: B for 'funky guitar', L for 'thunder drumming' and O for 'smoothy bass' and the back-up music spells just that. Laolu comes up with 'Its gonna be a good day' where some of the funkiest guitar solos of the album are unleashed. "Native Doctor" is the lengthy masterpiece of mixed tempo by Berkley Jones which plodes on for more than seven minutes. The diversity of BLO music is expressed in full on side two and you sure are into a party time where you can dance yourself out (if you wish). "Do it you'll like it" by Berkley sets in pace, followed by Mike's emotional love song "Don't take her away from me" to the cool and bluesy "Whole lot of shit", then the finale - Laolu's thunderous native yoruba beat called "ATIDE" which means that BLO have arrived, musically of course. Phase Two was recorded in 9 sessions of 12 hours each from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. It was so strenous that on the 9th session Engineer Emma Akpabio decided to go on strike "because of too many worries by BLO" whose drive for perfection remain unmatched. Tony Amadi
not reissued yet Blo : Step Three (NIG,1975)***'
On part 3 the funky elements are often more worked out and improved further Blo’s sound in this new direction, with possibly a Funkadelic influence on "Don’t pull this from under me”. Completely new elements were added : funky trumpet and brass and funky electronic effects on this first track. Some brass and organ take over the guitars, and rhythms & bass are more dominating this time. It is good music, but for Blo it still sounds often much more as if they’re covering a style rather than being creative to their own wishes/talent. But I’m sure fans of the Afrofunk genre will still like this well. Also new are a few tracks with a kind of spoken word to danceable funk on "Rhythm Of Love". A strange track on my received cdr copy is “Strobe Life” with early electronic breakbeat rhythms, which for me it is pretty unsure if this really is Blo. This much more sounds like an early 90s electro track. Can anyone tell me if this is a correct track or not ?
Afro Strut Blo : 12" (NIG,1975/1979/2001)**°
PS. Afrostrut also released (now sold out) a 12” with 2 originals from Blo, with one track from “Phase 2” (1972) and one from “Bulky Backside” (1979) and two remixes, one by Akwaaba People (producers on the Idjut Boys' Discfunction label) and Ray Mang aka Raj Gupta. A fan of Afromusic told me around 2001 I surely should check this 12” before it was sold out, especially for one of both remixes. “Get that groove in” surely is one of the most funky, groovy and danceable tracks Blo made, and the remix for a large part sounds convincing, to suit that purpose for the dancefloor. Still it is a bit too long to make it also a listening track. The second track also suits the same purpose well, but I dn’t think this 12” will satisfy progressive/psychedelic music lovers much, besides the two original tracks were already on Afrostrut’s compilation.
