Are the votes for Army Arrangement for the Laswell version ("Army Arrangement"/"Cross Examination"/"Government Chicken Boy"), the Nigerian version(s) ("Army Arrangement" on both sides), or the reissue (30-min "Army Arrangement" + 30-min "Government Chicken Boy")? Not that it matters since I'm going to combine all the votes for it anyway, just curious.
I will adapt Grandpa Simpson and say: "A little from Column B, and a little from Column C." I listen to the version from the Fela box set -- the reissue with the two 30-minute tracks -- but I also mentally excluded "Government Chicken Boy," since I figured it had not appeared on the original album.
Is there any difference between the versions of "Army Arrangement" on the Laswell and on the reissue? I have never heard the former, and I know Fela and others complain about it.
It's pretty clearly different—it feels *off* if you're used to unadulterated Fela, but if you get over that it has novelty value (which as we know is the highest of all values.)
3) Le Grand Maitre Franco & son T.P.O.K. Jazz – Mario (CHOC 004)/Mario (CHOC 005, aka “Mario part 2”) (both were LPs, and yes I recognize I’m cheating here) (25)
4) Mekons – Fear and Whiskey (20)
5) Pogues – Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash (15)
6) R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction (10)
7) Husker Du – New Day Rising (10)
8) Meat Puppets – Up on the Sun (10)
9) Waterboys – This is the Sea (5)
10) John Cougar Mellencamp – Scarecrow (5)
11) Kate Bush – Hounds of Love (5)
12) v/a – The Indestructible Beat of Soweto (5)
13) Lone Justice – Lone Justice (5)
14) Big Audio Dynamite – This is Big Audio Dynamite (5)
15) Talking Heads – Little Creatures (5)
16) Fela Kuti and Egypt 80 – Army Arrangement (the Nigerian LP release) (5)
17) Luther Vandross – The Night I fell in Love (5)
18) Green on Red – Food Gas Lodging (5)
19) Alpha Blondy - Apartheid is Nazism (5)
20) Dicks – These People (5)
A couple of observations...
-I was 5 in 1985 and I clearly benefitted from coming of age in a time when African music only became more and more accessible in the US. That said, can we admit that Omona Wapi is not one of Franco's better LPs of the mid-80s? I mean, there's not a single song of the four that I'd place in the top rank of his 80s recordings, and certainly not across the discography. Mario, however, is an all-timer, and the b-side cuts on both LPs are at least replacement-level TPOK Jazz. It's legacy owes entirely to being available at the right time in the right circles, and to the simple fact that some Franco is still better than none Franco.
-I had not heard that Vandross record all the way through before this, and it might climb further in my estimation. It's really good.
-1985 is a weaker year than I remembered. After my top 3, we're into really good records by second tier bands or non-best albums by great bands (and yes, I think Rain Dogs is the best post-Brennan Waits LP, although I could be talked into Mule Variations sometimes). 1984 is also (with the exception of Mario) notably stronger on the Congolese side. Youlou Mabiala and Empire Bakuba had better records in '84 than '85. That Mbilia Bell/Tabu Ley record "Kenya" was close to the top 20 for me, though, as was one of the Tshala Muana records from that year.
-I really don't like the Lasswell Army Arrangement, which I'm not sure I'd ever heard (my Fela interest happened just shortly before the first MCA reissues). Even in his version, it's not a top 10 record in his discography, or even close (which also seems to have been the consensus at the time), but still pretty good.
Yeah. The US release was '86 with Shanachie. And the album that eventually gets named Omona Wapi was actually released in Zaire and Europe in '83, although that wouldn't have been in my top 20 anyway. Another way that Pazz and Jop continues to shape our sense of the canon long after global music access democratized.
Might as well add here that Zani Diabaté & Le Super Djata (Xgau 1988) and Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument (Xgau 2013) are probably among the eligible
1. The Velvet Underground: VU
2. Franco & Rochereau: Omona Wapi
3. Mekons: Fear and Whiskey
4. The Pogues: Rum Sodomy & the Lash
5. Professor Longhair: Rock ‘n Roll Gumbo
6. Double Dee & Steinski: The Payoff Mix
7. Lost in the Stars
8. Replacements: Tim
9. Alex Chilton: Feudalist Tarts
10. Fela: Army Arrangement
11. Husker Du: New Day Rising
12. The Blasters: Hard Line
13. Aretha Franklin: Who’s Zoomin’ Who?
14. Willie Nelson & Hank Snow: Brand on My Heart
15. George Clinton: Some of My Best Friends Are Jokes
16. Talking Heads: Little Creatures
17. Minutemen: 3-Way Tie for Last
18. Marshall Crenshaw: Downtown
19. Willie Nelson: Me and Paul
20. The Descendents: Bonus Fat
1 - Kate Bush, Hounds of Love - 30
2 - The Smiths, Meat is Murder - 5
3 - Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair - 5
4 - Sade, Promise - 5
5 - Tom Waits, Rain Dogs - 5
With the usual caveat that I would have made a different list yesterday and would make a different one tomorrow.
ALBUMS
1. Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash -- The Pogues (20)
2. Omona Wapi -- Franco and Rochereau (20)
3. Rain Dogs -- Tom Waits (10)
4. The Wishing Chair -- 10,000 Maniacs (10)
5. Army Arrangement -- Fela Kuti (10)
7. The Restless Stranger -- American Music Club (10)
6. Around the World in a Day -- Prince (5)
8. Radio -- LL Cool J (5)
9. Fables of the Reconstruction -- R.E.M. (5)
10. Easy Pieces -- Lloyd Cole and the Commotions (5)
SINGLES
1. "A Pair of Brown Eyes" -- The Pogues
2. "Mario" -- Franco
3. "The Whole of the Moon" -- The Waterboys
4. "Pop Life" -- Prince
5. "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" -- The Ramones
6. "Scorpio Rising" -- 10,000 Maniacs
7. "Halbermensch" -- Einstürzende Neubaten
8. "Kiss Me on the Bus" -- The Replacements
9. "I Can't Live Without My Radio" -- LL Cool J
10. "It's Only Mystery" -- Arthur Simms & Eric Serra
11. "Driver 8" -- R.E.M.
12. "Raspberry Beret" -- Prince
13. "Makes No Sense at All" -- Hüsker Dü
14. "Cruiser's Creek" -- The Fall
15. "The Boy with the Thorn in his Side" -- The Smiths
16. "Ways to Be Wicked" -- Lone Justice
17. "Repulsion" -- Dinosaur Jr.
18. "Sun City" -- Artists United Against Apartheid
19. "Primitive Painters" -- Felt
20. "Paris - Taxi" -- B-Side
Are the votes for Army Arrangement for the Laswell version ("Army Arrangement"/"Cross Examination"/"Government Chicken Boy"), the Nigerian version(s) ("Army Arrangement" on both sides), or the reissue (30-min "Army Arrangement" + 30-min "Government Chicken Boy")? Not that it matters since I'm going to combine all the votes for it anyway, just curious.
I will adapt Grandpa Simpson and say: "A little from Column B, and a little from Column C." I listen to the version from the Fela box set -- the reissue with the two 30-minute tracks -- but I also mentally excluded "Government Chicken Boy," since I figured it had not appeared on the original album.
Is there any difference between the versions of "Army Arrangement" on the Laswell and on the reissue? I have never heard the former, and I know Fela and others complain about it.
The Laswell "Army Arrangement" is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3j5MstXDfw
It's pretty clearly different—it feels *off* if you're used to unadulterated Fela, but if you get over that it has novelty value (which as we know is the highest of all values.)
Thanks! It's an interesting act of historical folly, like the trial of Galileo or the Bay of Pigs.
13 Songs (not necessarily singles) in no order:
1. Anywhere I Lay My Head: Tom Waits
2. I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day - The Pogues
3. Everytime You Go Away - Paul Young
4. Crazy For You - Madonna
5. These Dreams - Heart
6. Would I Lie To You - Eurythmics
7. Why Worry - Dire Straits
8. Rock and Roll Girls - John Fogerty
9. I Didn't Mean to Turn You On - Robert Palmer
10. The Promised Land - Bruce Springsteen (from Live 1975-1985)
11. Rosanne Cash - Pink Bedroom
12. Aretha Franklin - Freeway of Love
13. Talking Heads - And She Was
1. John Mellencamp - Scarecrow. (30)
2. Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club. (25)
3. Luther Vandross - The Night I Fell In Love. 15
4. Lone Justice - s/t. 10
5. Willie Nelson - Me & Paul. 10
6. Don Henley - Building the Perfect Beast. 10
7. Mekons - Fear & Whiskey. 10
8. Rosanne Cash - Rhythm and Romance. 10
9. Phil Collins - No Jacket Required. 10
10. Talking Heads - Little Creatures. 10
11. Replacements - Tim. 10
12. Blasters - Hard Line. 10
13. Tears for Fears - Songs From the Big Chair. 5
14. Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen 5
15. Jesus and the Mary Chain - Psychocandy. 5
16. Pogues - Rum Sodomy and the Lash. 5
17. Rene & Angela - Street Called Desire. 5
18. Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms. 5
19. Prince - Around the World In A Day 5
20. REM - Fables of the Reconstruction. 5
1. Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is
2. Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
3. Prince - Raspberry Beret
4. Don Henley - Boys of Summer
5. Commodores - Nightshift
6. Bangles - If She Knew What She Wants
7. Madonna - Into the Groove
8. Lone Justice - Ways To Be Wicked
9. Wham - Everything She Wants
10. Smiths - How Soon Is Now
11. Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
12. Debarge - Rhythm of the NIght
13. Loose Ends - Hangin’ On A String
14. Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City
15. Bryan Adams - Heaven
16. Katrina and the Waves - Walking on Sunshine
17. Kool & The Gang - Fresh
18. Talking Heads - And She Was
19. Paul Young - Everytime You Go Away
20. Aretha Franklin - Freeway of Love
Top 1985 Albums
1) Replacements – Tim (25)
2) Tom Waits – Rain Dogs (25)
3) Le Grand Maitre Franco & son T.P.O.K. Jazz – Mario (CHOC 004)/Mario (CHOC 005, aka “Mario part 2”) (both were LPs, and yes I recognize I’m cheating here) (25)
4) Mekons – Fear and Whiskey (20)
5) Pogues – Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash (15)
6) R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction (10)
7) Husker Du – New Day Rising (10)
8) Meat Puppets – Up on the Sun (10)
9) Waterboys – This is the Sea (5)
10) John Cougar Mellencamp – Scarecrow (5)
11) Kate Bush – Hounds of Love (5)
12) v/a – The Indestructible Beat of Soweto (5)
13) Lone Justice – Lone Justice (5)
14) Big Audio Dynamite – This is Big Audio Dynamite (5)
15) Talking Heads – Little Creatures (5)
16) Fela Kuti and Egypt 80 – Army Arrangement (the Nigerian LP release) (5)
17) Luther Vandross – The Night I fell in Love (5)
18) Green on Red – Food Gas Lodging (5)
19) Alpha Blondy - Apartheid is Nazism (5)
20) Dicks – These People (5)
A couple of observations...
-I was 5 in 1985 and I clearly benefitted from coming of age in a time when African music only became more and more accessible in the US. That said, can we admit that Omona Wapi is not one of Franco's better LPs of the mid-80s? I mean, there's not a single song of the four that I'd place in the top rank of his 80s recordings, and certainly not across the discography. Mario, however, is an all-timer, and the b-side cuts on both LPs are at least replacement-level TPOK Jazz. It's legacy owes entirely to being available at the right time in the right circles, and to the simple fact that some Franco is still better than none Franco.
-I had not heard that Vandross record all the way through before this, and it might climb further in my estimation. It's really good.
-1985 is a weaker year than I remembered. After my top 3, we're into really good records by second tier bands or non-best albums by great bands (and yes, I think Rain Dogs is the best post-Brennan Waits LP, although I could be talked into Mule Variations sometimes). 1984 is also (with the exception of Mario) notably stronger on the Congolese side. Youlou Mabiala and Empire Bakuba had better records in '84 than '85. That Mbilia Bell/Tabu Ley record "Kenya" was close to the top 20 for me, though, as was one of the Tshala Muana records from that year.
-I really don't like the Lasswell Army Arrangement, which I'm not sure I'd ever heard (my Fela interest happened just shortly before the first MCA reissues). Even in his version, it's not a top 10 record in his discography, or even close (which also seems to have been the consensus at the time), but still pretty good.
The pollrunner had previously made the decision to concatenate the Marios into one entry…
Omona Wapi is a better Tabu Ley album than a Franco album imo.
(p.s.: your points currently sum to 205…)
Ack. 15 to the Pogues.
Christgau has Indestructible Beat of Soweto as ‘86. Which probably means it will be underrepresented in this poll.
Yeah. The US release was '86 with Shanachie. And the album that eventually gets named Omona Wapi was actually released in Zaire and Europe in '83, although that wouldn't have been in my top 20 anyway. Another way that Pazz and Jop continues to shape our sense of the canon long after global music access democratized.
Might as well add here that Zani Diabaté & Le Super Djata (Xgau 1988) and Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument (Xgau 2013) are probably among the eligible
(Albums only)
Franco & Rochereau: Omona Wapi 18
Pogues: Rum, Sodomy and the Lash 14
Mekons: Fear and Whiskey 12
Aretha Franklin: Who's Zoomin Who 10
Husker Du: Flip Your Wig 10
Husker Du: New Day Rising 9
Meat Puppets: Up On the Sun 8
The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace 7
Replacements: Tim 6
Kate BushHounds of Love 6