Comments on: Blo “Chapter One”

By: mark

mark — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 17:03:57 +0000

Well… finally I fell under the spell of BLO… spinning now: “Chapters and Phases” – the first two albums (’73 and ’75)… I am caught in their intricate web of tones and textures… the drumming is indeed hypnotic and the guitar work is subtle! I read in the liner notes that they toured with Salt – a Ginger Baker (pre-Airforce) ensemble… no recordings seem top exist however. I am not sure why they returned to Nigeria when Europe seemed open to their magic. You singled out “Don’t”, but the entire album is filled with a rich fusion that is at once psychedelic and grounded in the vernacular of African tradition and, no doubt, the dark, dynamic, blue-smokey club scene of Lagos – filled with rhythmic bodies in trance. Thanks for the lead… I enjoy the sense of discovery as I pick up and follow the threads that you continue to offer. (hopefully, I will not find a Minotaur at the end…!) ciao!

By: Thursday January 20/11 « The Music of My Mind

Thursday January 20/11 « The Music of My Mind — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 01:41:21 +0000

[...] Blo – Blo [...]

By: Len Liechti

Len Liechti — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:20:47 +0000

Something a bit different for TRS, I must say, and very welcome. I have a weakness for African guitarists from the eighties onwards, because they really discovered a different way to make sounds with electric guitars that owes no baggage to the blues or any other western style. African guitarists simply s-p-a-r-k-l-e when they start hitting those riffs. Investigate any of the soukous coming out of Zaire or Senegal, for example, if you will. Oh, and I do have a soft spot for Osibisa even if they’re not really an African band. I saw them live at Bath University in 1973 when THEY blew Curved Air offstage.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:24:53 +0000

Strange coincidence you should post a band from Lagos today, as I just went to see the new Fela! Broadway musical last night. It was amazing to imagine you were really watching Fela at the Shrine, but it failed to really take me away… a little too much “Broadway” got into the mix.