Musicians:
Piet 'JP' Botha: Bass, harmonica
Boet Farber: Guitar, vocals
Colin Pratley: African drums, vocals
Karlien van Niekerk: Vocals
Dave Tarr: Violin, vocals
Release information:
LP: 1981, Rap Records, SRLPC10
CD: May 2000, Pofadder, licenced to Wildebeest, WILD022
Review:
I get a chuckle out of the introduction to Wildebeest's live set 'Bushrock 1' wherein the audience is advised to 'settle back and relax' -- then the music begins, grabs one, throws one around, and does not let up through nine songs and nearly 45 minutes of straight ahead rock. Relax?! Only by moving to the music!
Take a sharp guitarist (Boet Faber) and a thundering, driving bassist (Piet Botha) -- add an exuberantly talented drummer (Colin Pratley) and a rocking violin (Dave Tarr), sweeten with some lovely, yet strong, female vocals (Karlien van Niekerk), crank up the volume (you), and that's the basis of Wildebeest's thundering, stampeding rock album.
The songs are primarily driven by beat and rhythm, nonetheless the other instruments come to the fore without the other players getting out of the road. Piet's bass punctuates and emphasizes as it drives along, the rock steady and creative drumming is ever present, and the violin here becomes an essential rock instrument. Then the guitar sears and soars. Masterful rock, and with the great Colin Pratley flailing away on the drums, I think of it as Progressive Jungle Music.
After a modest-tempo and emotional opening song, 'Tribal Fence', 'Bokslaai' cranks in with a Celtic-sounding fiddle over some furious rock guitar, earnest drumming, and driving bass.
Song number three is a dramatic number with moving vocals titled 'Russian and Chips' -- Actually, it's Astra's 'The Kid He Came From Nazareth'. There is a Russian air to it in the fiddle and the shouted 'Hey! Hey!'
'The Horseman' has soaring vocals and an urgent beat -- like most of the CD it is definitely up tempo, yet the consistent fast pacing of the songs is not the same enough to detract -- there is plenty of musical variety here. This is an album to keep a party jumping.
The next song, 'Pofadder', a hard rock tune, surges in like a speeding train. A musical interlude, wherein the song is slowed in order to get let it steam ahead again, is filled by the lyrics to 'Slowly Toward The North'. Then the musicians kick the tune back into high gear. Like 'Bokslaai', the audience responds to the singer's call of 'Pofadder!' with 'Pofadder!'
'Pofadder' is followed by 'Living Drummers', and here Colin gets a chance to demonstrate his virtuosity and stretch out a bit. Not merely a drum solo, but a musician playing percussion.
'Here We Go Again' follows, and the tempo slows a bit, while Karlien sings the lovely melody. One of the guys periodically shouts 'We gonna tell you all about it!' that distracts slightly, but this is a nice tune. It does not rush forward as do the other songs, but one needs valleys to know what the mountains look like -- not at all a bad rock, it just follows the previous seven songs.
'Hottentotsgot' goes off rocking in an instrumental direction from the previous tune, building slowly with some freaky noises.
The closing tune, 'No Time in the City' shows Wildebeest's creativity and invention don't fade toward the end. This is a chugging tune that, in the lyrics, is more conventional rock than the rest of the album -- but the Wildebeest musicians don't play anything conventionally.
All in all, this is a CD that engages one's attention and holds one's interest; pay attention and it rewards with listening pleasure -- there is a rich variety of rhythmic rock on this CD.
What a pair of shows these must have been live at the Sunnyside in Pretoria in 1981. I'm certain they live vividly as wildly fun experiences in the memories of those who attended.
Last week I wrote about Jack Hammer's 'Death of a Gypsy' CD. This week I have not been able to stop listening to either 'Death of a Gypsy' or 'Bushrock 1'. I have been alternating these two CDs in the hi fi -- with Wonderboom's new EP thrown in at appropriate moments. To judge by Wonderboom's 'Never Ever Ever', Jack Hammer's 'Death of a Gypsy', and the projected re-releases heralded by 'Bushrock 1', the South African music scene is hot.
Like I said, I can't stop listening to this album, and why should I? When I was a teenager who loved loud beat music, if I had bought this album it would have become one of my favorite hard rocking discs. Some things don't change.
- Kurt Shoemaker, Texas
SA Rock Digest Issue #77, 1st October 2000
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