A-F-R-O & Marco Polo – A-F-R-O Polo (Album Review)

The world of Hip Hop is in a constant state of flux and there is little doubt that it is one genre of music that is constantly evolving, building upon itself, as up and coming artist push beyond the status quo. 

A-F-R-O is one such revolutionary artist, having paired with fellow Hip Hop producer, Marko Polo for this debut release A-F-R-O Polo. If you’ve ever enjoyed Hip Hop/Rap music, you’re going to love this release. 

I do however wish to advise that the Explicit tag is here for a reason, especially when it comes to the song Sunshine And Flowers. For those of you that would prefer a ‘clean’ edition of the album, there, unfortunately, isn’t one available. However, and in a stroke of genius, there’s an Instrumentals album that gets you 95% of the way there without the editing blips or spaces that generally ruin the songs. When my kids are around, I can listen to the Instrumentals release and thoroughly enjoy and then when listening privately, I can appreciate the lyrical component even though I generally don’t look for literal lyrical interpretation, instead preferring to consider vocals to be akin to another instrument.  

It is important to note that while I have referenced the Instrumentals release, if you’re interested in picking up A-F-R-O Polo physically, the Instrumentals release is digital only, being available on iTunes and Apple Music. 

While available on both Vinyl and CD, it is a little disappointing that the vinyl cover art is different from the cat-head cover of the CD/Digital releases. It’s a shame as it would have looked incredible on the larger canvas and I can only hope that one day a future pressing of the vinyl release will be done with the core album cover.

Some of you may be wondering if A-F-R-O Polo can really be classed as an album, rather than an EP. Well, it is right on the edge with a runtime of 25 minutes, but it does have eight tracks so I consider it to be an album. To be completely honest, I love shorter albums. Long gone are the double albums from the 90s; thank god! Seriously, how many were truly great? 

From a sonic perspective, A-F-R-O Polo is magnificent with a soundstage that grows as you increase the volume and doesn’t distort. The separation between elements is also superb and the complete opposite to the disposable pop music in the modern era where there is little to no separation and depth in the soundstage, instead aiming for a wall of sound. A-F-R-O Polo is incredibly dynamic and while I love the music, I’d listen to this album just merely for the mix which I consider is beyond reproach on all but one song. 

Long Time Coming (feat. Shylow) is brilliant! What an incredible opening for a Hip Hop/Rap album. The lyrical delivery shoots fast and hard, while simultaneously ensuring the sampling and mix is the definition of pure perfection. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I can’t stop moving to this song. I love it!

Nightmare On Fro Street flows on beautifully and while rhythmically different, doesn’t sound out-of-place with the overall musical style of A-F-R-O Polo. I would, however, and this is a very personal perspective, prefer a more rhythmic approach to the vocal delivery as the spoken word, while a trademark of this style of music, feels a little too separated from the sampling and overall musical mix. That said, I’m sure there are many of you who would love it and consider it to be perfect. I certainly don’t dislike it, I’d just like a slightly different vocal presentation. 

Swarm (feat. Pharoahe Monch) has a great beat and overall rhythm. Sometimes that is all you need! 

Sunshine And Flowers is one of the best songs on the album, if not the best. That rhythm, beat, and lyrical delivery is off-the-charts good; a perfect mix! Yes, the lyrics are controversial and will absolutely offend some people but, while I can’t confirm this, I don’t believe the lyrics are meant to be taken seriously. Sunshine And Flowers very much reminds me of the exaggerated style of the comedic glam metal band, Steel Panther. Nevertheless, if the lyrics bother you, remember there is always the Instrumentals edition to enjoy.  

Fro Armstrong continues perfectly from Sunshine And Flowers and has some great sampling and an incredible mix. A great tune!

Use These Blues (feat. Eamon) slows things down a little but is utterly brilliant. Although, is it just me or has the faux record surface noise been overdone at this stage? Either way, it’s a beautiful song with a soundstage that is full but not compressed thereby allowing every element the space it needs to breathe. 

Lair Of The Black Worm is in similar styling to Nightmare On Fro Street, but I find the vocal presentation on Lair Of The Black Worm is much better suited and positioned to the overall musicality. It may not be the strongest song on this release, but I thoroughly enjoy it when listening to the album.

Joe Jackson has a perfect mid-tempo rhythm that will hypnotise you and Joe Jackson is one song that I wish would never end for I’d love the musicality to be repeated indefinitely. What I find is when I decide not to listen to the album again, that Joe Jackson continues on as a welcome earworm that thereby encourages me to return to A-F-R-O Polo and listen once again to what can only be considered a brilliant addition to my continuously growing library of Hip Hop/Rap music. 

Overall, A-F-R-O Polo was one of the greatest Hip Hop/Rap releases of 2016, and in recent history is only bested by Kanye West’s incredible ye. Yes, it is that good, and I can’t wait for more new albums to emerge. 

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The Alan Parsons Project – The Turn of a Friendly Card

It is such a long time ago that my memory is blurred on the fact, but I am pretty sure that The Turn of a Friendly Card (ToaFC) was the first music I owned.

My sister had a number of Alan Parsons Project albums on vinyl and I heard them in the house when I was a teenager. The sound must have captured my fancy because I soon owned ToaFC on cassette which I would play on my Sony Walkman. It is interesting to note that such an early discovery would really stand the test of time, as The Alan Parsons Project remains my second favourite act/artist of all time, after Jean Michel Jarre. I own a copy of every readily available album, including follow-up works by Parsons after the Project was dissolved.

ToaFC is the band’s fifth album, released in 1980, and like all preceding and indeed all following Project works is a concept album. In this case the concept is the temptations of gambling. Parsons and Eric Woolfson, the partnership that underpinned the Project, both lived in Monte Carlo within walking distance of the big casinos. Personally, as someone who often just doesn’t hear lyrics, I can forget that the theme is there most of the time and I don’t think that takes away from the listening experience.

The opening track, May Be A Price To Pay, has the typical sound of a Project work, but the track is otherwise a relatively standard “vocals and instruments” performance. The Project’s sound has an electronic timbre but typically they had a full complement of traditional instruments. The electronic sound likely came from the electronic keyboard and electric guitars, but there are also acoustic guitars and pianos, clavinets and harpsichords at times.

"May Be A Price To Pay – Live at Rock of Ages Festival 2013". This recent live version of May Be A Price To Pay shows that the more mainstream tracks are more easily replicable outside of the studio and with new band members and vocalists.

An interesting feature of Project works is that there is no “lead vocalist” in the band. May Be a Price To Pay is sung by “Elmer Gantry” (Dave Terry of Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera), one of four lead vocalists on this album alone, with at least a dozen over their entire catalogue. The key protagonists, Parsons and Woolfson, preferred to choose the right vocalist for the track. While Woolfson did sing on many of their songs (including some of their most successful), Parsons only sang lead once, on their debut album Tales of Mystery and Imagination, and even that was through a vocoder. (After dissolution of the Project and with live touring, Parsons has taken on a much greater role with vocals.)

While May Be a Price To Pay is very much a “standard” song with a distinctive Project feel to it, Games People Play is overtly more of a Project sound. Sung by frequent lead Lenny Zakatek, the song may sound almost normal in places, but slips into very electronic breaks and in fact has a consistent 4-note keyboard phrase from start to finish, clearly marking it as a work of the Project. It was released as a single and made number 16 on the Billboard Top 40, making it their 4th most successful.

Next is one of two tracks on the album sung by Woolfson. Time was his first for the Project and also features Parsons on backing vocals. It was their second most successful single, making it to number 15 on the Billboard Top 40, and it only takes a few moments of listening to understand why. A very simple, slow ballad, it is sung with soft, almost dreamy vocals and yet at times they soar to neck-hair tingling heights. It is one of my favourite Parsons tracks of all. It has been said of Woolfson (and ratified by himself) that he was not the most technically adept singer, but this track must surely be one he was proud of.

Alan Parsons Project – Time (Live 2014 Mainz). Because the band did no live performances until after Woolfson split from them in 1990, live performance videos authentic to the albums are very hard to come by. This Alan Parsons Live Project performance of Time from 2014 is a reasonable facsimile of the original.

Just when you were relaxed and chilled out by Time, along comes Lenny Zakatek again and, despite a soft start, I Don’t Wanna Go Home ramps up quickly to moderate pace with punchy vocals and equally punchy instrumentation, once again with that clear Project sound.

In the days of my cassette tape, this was the time to turn the tape over or, on more modern equipment, wait for the auto reverse to kick in.

This next track holds the honour of being the first one I absolutely fell in love with. For a time it was by far and away my favourite track, though it was not to last in that slot for long once I discovered Jarre’s works. (One day I will write about what Oxygene (Part II) does for me.)

The Gold Bug is an instrumental number that begins with Parsons whistling, rather well. He also contributes finger clicking to the percussion track. The basic makeup of this track is the unadulterated Project sound including electronic keyboards. It is lead for a time by an alto-saxophone that, like many great saxophone parts, soars to impressive heights. There are also a lot of backing vocals as instruments, to great effect. As I listen again while writing this, I can understand why this clicked with me so much in those early days. It is a stirring track.

The remainder of side 2 is taken up with the five parts of the title work, The Turn of a Friendly Card, wherein we hear the chorus line “the game never ends when your whole world depends on the turn of a friendly card,” with the title phrase spun out into far more than just a sung lyric.

The Turn of a Friendly Card, Part 1 opens with a flute which then leads to the beautiful vocals of Chris Rainbow. It’s a pretty laid back track opening with piano backing and closing with acoustic guitar. It is the shortest on the album, at a mere 2:43, but sets the tone, especially with the final line, “as he enters inside the cathedral,” punctuated by a loud gong. The cathedral, I assume, being a reference to the casino.

Rainbow then brings us the most overtly themed song of the album. After an instrumental opening to the basic melody, we get the opening line. “Snake eyes. Seven, Eleven. Don’t let me down boys.” Snake Eyes fits much the same musical model as I Don’t Wanna Go Home but briefly adds some background soundscape of a casino to support its message.

The Ace of Swords adds a harpsichord to the instrumentation before taking on a strong beat with another Project-identifiable instrumental. Once again, this track does not reinforce the album theme for me excepting, of course, the title, but is nevertheless an enjoyable listen and leads nicely into the lovely, balladic Nothing Left to Lose.

In this track, Woolfson reprises the same vocal style as Time making this another beautiful track, though this time backed with additional, layered vocals. I recently purchased my third copy of ToaFC – another CD – in order to get the Digital Remaster version of the album. This version contains bonus tracks including a raw version of the over-dubbed vocals for this track by Chris Rainbow. It really is magical to listen to without the strong presence of instruments.

The sadder tone of the song neatly fits the theme and begins to close the story with “nothing left to lose” and including the final line that just leaves off one word. “‘Cause you’ve got nothing left.”

Finally, Chris Rainbow returns for The Turn of a Friendly Card, Part 2 which is very much a continuation to Part 1 but with far more emotion pumped into it and ending on a long instrumental. The level of “the game is over” I get from this track is typical of final tracks on Project albums. I’m no audio engineer, but I’m sure there’s something that goes into this work that marks it as a final track. Disappointingly, the song completes with a fade out.

I couldn’t tell you which is my favourite Project album of all, but ToaFC would surely be a contender. It holds a special place in my collection, having been one of my first. There is no track out of place, no track which I feel lets the album down, and I never tire of listening from end to end, while also enjoying the singles in their own right.

I think my favourite Project tracks are from the earlier Pyramid and the later Eye in the Sky, but neither of those albums achieve the overall coherence of ToaFC.

Allister Jenks is a freelance music reviewer and podcaster. You can find him on Twitter at @zkarj

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