Talking Timbuktu

Second African album. I was alive in the 90s and don't remember any of this.

3.5 Really nice!

3.8 - I love the layering of bluesy guitar with plaintive chanting. It sounds like I’m listening to the genesis of American blues music. Throw in some delicate picking on the kora, and tapping on the hand drums, and you get a wonderful hour of listening. Check out “Sega” that switches things up with some Arabesque violin.

Un album que j'ai malheureusement écouté en plein récurage de WC, ce qui n'a pas aidé à le mettre en valeur. Dommage...

Ces recueils d'africanaiseries me sont devenus absolument insupportables, merci Robert de m'avoir rendu moitié raciste, moi qui entretenait jusque là des rapports très cordiaux avec la culture africaine.

this is the sixth world music album i got and all of it was from Africa... not that I'm mad or something i like it a lot but what about other traditional music? Asia? India? South America? what about these?

This wasn't really my thing - it sort of washed over me.

Very chill and quality, but not much diversity in the songs.

Enjoyable world music

African folk/blues. Enjoyable.

Not one I know…. Interesting sounds. I get those Paul Simon vibes when he collaborated with the Africans on his album. Standouts: Soukora Very Strong for a foreign album by someone I don’t know. 3/5

Good vibes, album is long without much variety but it has a natural “jam” element to it I enjoyed

Qué bien suena esto! Cuántas cosas interesantes se hicieron en los 90! Fue degenerando de más a menos pero no está mal.

Rating: 6/10

A 3.5 for me. The music sounds good, but it's just a bit too meandering and doesn't really go anywhere. Some more vocals and additional instrumentation would go a long way. A pleasant listen, but not enough to sustain attention.

West Africa meets Delta Blues. Never heard of Ali Farka Toure before but this album was a nice surprise.

Good record.

Great album. Definitely one of those in-the-room recordings, no doubt because it was. Ry Cooder's purist, naturalistic fingerprints are all over this one. I think presenting these "folk" or "world" artists in these stripped down studio environs could possibly imply a subtle, rarely addressed racism. Or at least classicism. But who knows.

I prefer Ali Farka Toure on his own.

Sounds good and fun but not something I'd listen to more than once I suppose. Maybe just not in the mood.

Another great World Music sound, with the peerless Ry Cooder backing Alli up.

Hressandi að fá eitthvað allt annað en það sem gengur og gerist í popp- og rokkheimum. Tilvalið til frekari skoðunar!

fascinating mix of middle eastern music, folk, and tribal rhythms. very hypnotic at times.

I actually really liked this.

what language is this? couldn't figure it out.

Pretty good, I especially enjoyed the instrumentals.

Washed over me, not my thing too Jazzy

it was nice

Música africana. Ni fu ni fa.

Entire thing sounded the same, but it was decent background music. 2.5/5

Not a bad album to work to.

Naw

Good in parts but not for me (2.5)

ok

It’s fine, but did there really need to be 2 albums from this guy? Surely there’s other African music out there.

it's background music. you couldve picked a better "world" album 2.5

Okay background music.

ok. kinda was just waiting for that to be over. felt very uninspired.

Ry cooter

Part of this was enjoyable.

Another example of one that deserves to be on the list...I just couldn't get into it.

não é o tipo de álbum que eu pegaria pra escutar de novo mas é um projeto interessante

Forgettable nothing music. Why is this on here?

Música exótica não atrai meu interesse. Melhor momento do disco é a faixa que se aproxima do blues tradicional, "Ai Du".

Background music. I appreciate what it was trying to do, but every song was about 3 minutes too long, and it all ended up just fading into the background while I was listening to it.

This is is probably both great and traditional for some. Not for me.

Don't really like the vocal style

I've listened to 662 albums from this list so far and it appears that all of the good albums are behind me which is a shame. This album didn't really do much for me.

It's ok I guess nothing special.

Nothing about this was enjoyable for me. Gave me anxiety, couldn't wait to turn it off.

Grundsätzlich finde ich die Tuareg/Wüstenrock Alben die den Feuilleton erreichen cool. Das hier nimmt mich aber nicht so mit.

Track 1 5:30 ok, Track 2 6:00 naja, Track 3 7:00 ehrlich? Track 4 3:10. Cool. Track 5 9:23. Tickts denn noch sauber? Mein Ohr ist auf die sehr einförmige, teppichartige Musik nicht geeicht. Und eine Stunde mit nur 10 verschiedenen Tracks füllen, weiß ich nicht. Ne. Nicht meins. Mag Sequenzen davon sehr und super interessante Kombinationen von Instrumenten und Melodieläufen. Als Album nicht mehr als eine 2.

I ain’t listening to all that. Nothing against it, but 4 tracks in I get what I’m listening to. I have no interest in world folk music and maybe you can call that a shortcoming of mine if you like.

It's not what I usually listen to. The songs were repeating for a bit too long for my liking

African rhythms all day long!!!

- Some nice guitar playing and rhythms. - I dislike the tone of the singing voice in the higher registers - it felt strained, thin, and sharp. I definitely would have preferred this to be an instrumental album. - The songs (and album) go on too long without evolving enough. - I can't ever seeing myself be in the mood for this and reaching for it.

Some smooth and enjoyable moments but quite samey all the way through. Certain tracks did capture me, but on the whole I'm not enamoured with it.

These 2 are obviously having fun in each other's company. It doesn't really transmit to the listener where 1 song suddenly melds into the other 9 or 10. This has an audience but i would not be part of it.

Uhhh, ok, maybe? Sounds like the last one? The music Spotify started playing after this was over was great, though

One of the things I love about this website is how it exposes you to music from all over the world that you’d likely not be exposed to.

Listened to on my Bose AE2 Soundlink headphones. Talking Timbuktu is a pleasant collection of sometimes folksy, sometimes bluesy jams from Mali, and it was an album I found pleasant for my accompanying walk, but not much more than that. It has a very loose structure, really like a jam every song, so there is a strong rhythm and repetitious riffing giving way to improv soloing on guitar and occasional lyricism as these tracks reach towards the 6-8 minute mark regularly, and I just found it too unstructured to really connect with it strongly. It reminded me greatly of the jam band that would come in weekly to my local bookstore. Suprisingly, it never much disturbed the book browsing and light reading experience because of how little it demanded of my attention, outside of the volume. Talking Timbuktu takes me back there. It's quite alright but doesn't give me much to say, and I don't know how inclined I would be to revisit this one.

Not really my style

2.5

Something nice to play in the background. Thanks ❤️

i guess i would have liked it more if it was just instrumental

I have never heard of this artist. But when I saw he was from Mali - I got cautiously optimistic because I really liked the album Music in Exile by the band called Songhoy Blues who are also from there. Thoughts while listening... Ok, yeah - this has similarities to the Songhoy Blues album - which is good. It looks like this one came out 11 years before that one - so I'm guessing this guy (Ali Farka Touré) has had some influence on those guys. Or at least they are all swimming in a similar genre lake. I looked it up - Songhoy Blues was definitely influenced by Ali Farka Touré and they covered a lot of his songs when they started out. Cool connection! Never guessed that I would become an "expert" in understanding Malian music but here we are - haha. Ali is definitely more folky/acoustic sounding than Songhoy Blues and quite a bit less energetic. I like some of this, but felt it gets a little samey throughout without enough variation or energy to keep it interesting across the whole album. I ended up liking the first 3 songs - "Bonde", "Soukora", and "Gomni" - plus the last song "Diaraby". None of it is bad, just felt like these 4 stood out from the rest. Liked songs on Spotify: 4/10 Rating: 2/5

I guess this is fine

Not for me

Svag tvåa.

Ännu mer världsmusik. Egentligen är det väl rätt mycket av ett bluesalbum i västafrikanska tappning. Här finns en del fint malande blues som i Ai du och Amandrai. Eller sköna basslingor som i Soukora. Tyvärr blir det rätt enformigt i längden.

Ökenblues som släpar sig fram. Ry Cooder lyckas inte lätta upp det hela. Tvärtom är det lite mindre svängigt än vad Ali Farka Toure kan vara. Precis godkänt.

Wait, a second album from Ali Farka Toure? I didn't know he had two reps on the list. I listened to Savane around 140 albums ago and it was alright. Nothing wrong with a little African blues, though relative to what this genre is I think he might be punching above his weight. Anyways, this album was added first (Savane was added to the 2008 update of the book and much of the reason for its inclusion appears to concern Toure's death), so it evidently has the most staying power. Here goes. Yeah. Not for me, though I can commend this music for being a relaxing listen. I like the warm, mellow, distinctive African guitars. They have a nice sound and work well with the pattering percussion, though I do think the music sounds a little empty whenever they're absent. To compensate for these stretches, the percussion-based tracks typically incorporate more aggressive and layered vocals to fill the emptiness, which is another element that pushes me away. The vocals don't move me. They work well enough whenever they're in the background, but having them front and centre highlights how lackluster the melodies and performances are. There's also the matter of the runtime and how generally repetitious the music is, though these factors didn't bother me as much as they have previously. Overall, I was content with letting this music blow over my head, though I obviously didn't care too much about the particulars of this album. Book time. Won a Grammy. Farka Toure came to prominence when recordings from his early albums were circulated in Europe by DJs, musicians and critics. Apparently, the people who are into this music have gotten into slapfights over whether it's blues, though Farka Toure contends that this music belongs to a more traditional style. The World Circuit label picked him up in '88 and things went from there. Wikipedia says this album has moved 100,000 copies in Europe and 230,000 in the US. It also received middling reactions from the two music publications who reviewed it, though that's about it. I'm not tired of World music being in here just yet, though the level of variety is kind of a bummer. Off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure half of the world music picks are from Africa and a quarter are from India, with the remaining nominations being from South America. East Asia is definitely sorely missing in the world music nominations, though in all fairness the East Asian music industry was pretty insular until around the mid-2010s. Anyways, we're removing this one. Two albums from Toure is definitely him punching above his weight. In place of this album, I humbly submit "I See Seaweed" by The Drones for inclusion on the list.

Some good African jazz vibes. Didn’t blow me away.

Day860 - super talented musicians making super boring album

2/5

I was excited about this one because of Ry Cooder but between the repetition and the awful early 90’s guitar tone, I couldn’t take it

i personally think we should smack the person who came up with the "world music" genre upside the head because i've heard folk music from every continent and somehow all of them are just classified as world music in the west. it's frankly insulting anyway i agree with what most people seem to think about this. it's pleasant listening. really beautiful at times. but does get repetitive quickly. i don't think i'll ever return but i had a good time while i was listening to it fave track: soukura

They should probably start talking about something else ...

Cool instruments, no English. I want to be able to sing the songs I listen to if I like them. I guess this has its place but 🤷 don’t feel like listening to the whole thing. Especially with 7 minute songs, it’s a long listen.

Jeg synes, det er rigtig kedeligt. 1.8

not really my taste. good music, but not something i'd really choose to listen to

This guy again? Really? The first one I reviewed was so bad I blocked his music from being played on my Spotify account. I had to unlock him to get to play this album, then I reblocked him so he never comes up in my mix. Cooder adds some clout but the music is still SO boring and wandering. His guitar work is an afterthought. The listener counts were high, likely because it's tied to Cooder. 33M oplayed "Ai Du", 11M listened to "Bonde" and 9M enjoyed "Soukora", which was the only decent tune on the album. No hits, can't sing along or understand, not into the vibe or instrumentation, nearly every song was utterly boring, the vocals suck. Grab a pillow and enjoy this snoozer. 2 stars.

Some beautiful sounds on here, and each track taken in isolation has plenty to offer. But as an album there’s not enough variety to keep you going for an hour.

It’s great at putting you in a trance, very easy to focus on other thoughts/tasks with it on in the background. Even though I didn’t save many individual tracks, I still enjoyed the whole thing. It just feels like one cohesive piece rather than individual songs. I quite like the desert blues. Whatever he does, something about it does give it more of a “soul” than a lot of Western music. Rating: 2.5

Just so so boring

Just not my thing. The vocals are irritating musically and I connect even less because I don’t understand them. The music is uninspiring to me.

Dnf

I really tried with this one, but it felt annoyingly repetitive.

This is fine, but he didn’t need a second album.

Fine album but not for me

2.4/5 interesting jams

Ry Cooder is the master of pretty boredom. As nice as it is to have some African elements here, this just makes me feel sleepy. Too much repetition, too little dynamics, it just lulls you in and...

Great start, solid finish, just OK through the middle - but AFT has an agreed Grammy winner here in (although not sure how many other international folk entries there were in 1994.) Makes for an hour of good, late night background music with some light international fare, maybe tapas. (2.45*s) Always enjoy the world music entries!

World music can be great but it can also be a bit redundant and bland. Talking Timbuktu is the former. The album is not bad but I was pretty over it after song 3. A Malian teaming up with a guy named Ry Cooder...I thought it'd be better but not feeling the vibes as much. Certainly better than Dry Cooter though. I'm feeling sorta like the drummer on the album cover, just going along and looking bored. 1.59 stars.

Surprisingly I have a little bit of exposure to Malian music through Damon Albarn's extensive collaboration with African Express and others. He has a handful of releases that I don't regularly listen to but have given each of them a spin over the years as a completionist. Worldbeat isn't my typical genre in any way, but I found Talking Tumbukto to be pleasant for a little while. The beats and delicate stringwork provide a fine foundation for some low energy background music. There's a wide variance of instruments that I don't expect I would hear in traditional american/english music. After a while it all starts to sound similar and you tune out. Even if I can't understand anything they are singing about I can appreciate the exposure. Like many of the other international releases on the list its not bad and just another reason to gain some insight into music from another culture. A half hour of it is about all I need every year or so. After a while it starts to run together and sound too similar so it gets shelved and I move on. 1.53 stars

I have taken a bit of a break from this because of various parts of my life getting a lot busier, so this is the first album I've heard from the list in a month. It's a fine album, it has some nice chord progressions and melodies played well by the musicians, but it doesn't really have a lot going on. A lot of the songs sound very similar, to the point that I thought a couple of tracks were reprises of earlier ones, and the songs themselves are often very repetitive. This isn't helped by the length of many of the tracks, there are only two on the whole album under five minutes and I don't think any really earn their length. Ultimately, I think this album would make for some good background music for other activities, as it's easy to move your focus elsewhere while listening to it. I struggle to envision someone putting Talking Timbuktu on specifically to listen to it, though I can absolutely see it providing ambience in a chilled out environment. Favourite song: Soukora

The music is beautiful. A bit boring but lovely

Started strong but into the end it felt like there just wasn’t enough weight to it.

I had heard this before and enjoyed it a little better this time. Not something I will listen to often, some decent blues / world music

The sound of the album is pretty warm and pleasant to listen to, but track by track, the repetitive nature of most of the songs built up to weigh the full work down by the end It's still a likeable album and it's hard to mind the songs sitting comfortably in the background, but in the context of this list it's held back a little. "Soukora" stands out as having extra warmth and a bit of a different feel from the rest of the tracklist

Not to bad but have you heard 1 song you heard them all (especially if you don't understand the language). It's nice to have in the background but nothing I will remember tomorrow.

i remember when this came out

very dull, even as background noise it gets a little annoying after a while.

Escuché tres canciones, no están mal pero el disco en general no me atrapó.

Held together by, presumably, Ry Cooder

Desertified

Important culturally, not what I’m usually looking for. Songs are fine but I forgot I was listening often.

this was fine but im not sure malian guitar really does it for me

Inoffensive but it sounded like one hour long jam with little distinction between the various tracks. This would make great background music for a game or played in a restaurant maybe. It's music that fits the purpose of being so background that it washes over you and can easily be ignored. Mood music maybe? Two stars for something that was really not special in any way at all.

Not really my style at all unfortunately. Too jammy for my taste. I liked that it was a lot different than everything ive listened to so far. Very relaxing it almost made me fall asleep while listening.

I did not love this album and was hoping I would. two stars

It was interesting listening to something a bit different, but it felt like the album went on for a bit too long.

Eh, I’d take Ry Cooder and leave Ali Farka Toure. This record is like west African stony bro-ness. I dunno, not for me, I guess. 5/10

Just mellow, on the beach guitar tunes. It all just drifts along nicely - whether you think that's a good or bad thing is up to you. However, it does make me wonder - again - whether I needed to hear this before I died. Best Tracks: Bonde; Soukora; Ai Du

Started out good/ok (3 stars) but then dragged on a bit too long and got pretty boring. Might have dropped it a star for me.

This is ok I guess. It all starts to sound the same after awhile

Meditative stuff. Feelers with Same thing all over again.

I like the guitars.

Pleasant to have on in the background, but pretty repetitive for active listening.

Eh, album was fine. Registered as music in the background, nothing I felt myself jamming to. Pretty meh on it.

This was alright. Started off kind of strong but just went on for a bit too long in my opinion. The guitar is nice. I just can't picture myself ever returning to this album. It didn't do much for me, but it wasn't unpleasant.

Enjoyable sonic landscapes, but a dull album nonetheless.

Great guitar Not for me.

It was nice enough music to cook our tea to. One of the tracks reminded me of riding a donkey. Pleasant but nothing to fax work about.

A mix of African folk music and blues. It sounds like a jam session between talented musicians with very different styles, in that it was interesting to listen to but had lots of dead spots that felt like they were trying things that didn't work out. I don't feel like the styles really combined together very well. There were some interesting rhythms though.

2/5. An hour of anemic blues tinted with Malian folk and Malian folk tinted with blues. An album whose claims to fame are (1) having a riff show up on a quiz show segment and (2) appearing in the book that inspired this website. The guitar playing is competent and the composition is too, but that's not saying much given the simplicity of the songs. I'm reminded of my time at college where a friend of mine would excitedly share some music from a foreign artist every other week or so. The music, almost invariably, was a mediocre execution of a genre already available in the West but with foreign singing over it. And this fits that bill just about perfectly. That said: there are some pleasant listening moments here. Not enough to return though.

Рома: прикольное под травку мне кажется

Den Anfang fand ich durchaus spannend, mit der Zeit hat sich das Album aber ziemlich abgenutzt und es ist teilweise eher ins Nervige umgeschwungen.

Scheint ganz gut zu sein. Aber mehr als „normal gut“ erscheint es mir auch nicht.

Two legends, but this album isn't really my bag. Very similar songs, and longer than i would like.

Skilful guitarists just not something I would listen to

I feel like some of these albums were thrown in here simply for "diversity". Honestly there isn't any genre diversity nor culture diversity on this list. It's such a shame. This album isn't at all what I'd listen to. Just not my style. Two songs sound like a bare version of Romanian traditional folk, I think that's cool, that's like all I got to say. Overall it's eh, nothing that special for me, more like calming and relaxing background music. Still, I'd like to listen to more stuff like this instead of the same British punk/rock or American rock/folk. Idk I got a feeling this was only chosen cuz Ry Cooder is involved and he is American. I'm not tryna undermine his work, but seeing how little foreign works are chosen for this project, I can't help but think this way. I'm actually stunned to see African music on here. I'd expect that a guy like this list's author would think Africa is one big country and everyone lives in trees and caves.

Pas fan, je suis pas raciste hein mais bon...

Iif I understood the lyrics this may have been a higher rating. Instrumentation is good; all in all, great musicians but not my scene. Listened before? N Saved some tracks? N Favorite tracks? NA ⭐⭐ Didn't understand it

Boring and too long. Not something I will listen to again.

It was fine? A good vibe but didn't stand out in any way. Definitely above average for a predominantly instrumental album but still not my fave.

I can enjoy what this is but maybe not like it

It's African music, I guess?

Not my favourite listen, but more tolerable than other music I’ve listened to. I quite like some of the instrumentals but that might just be because I’m on holiday so it fits the sunny vibe.

Some great guitar work. Overall kinda one dimensional and not a lot happening. Not offensive, but have to be really in the mood for this.

Bedst når der går Blues. Men det gør det desværre for sjældent

I think this was a little better than his other album on this list, but overall just not for me I guess. Nothing about it gripped me. I could see having it as some background music but even for that there are other options I would prefer

Passa uma sensação de conforto vendo essa capa e imaginando os brothers de culturas diferentes numa casinha, tocando, experimentando sons, improvisando. Bem parecidas as músicas e repetitivas, até a mais famosa é igual. Parece uma sessão de improviso mesmo, os caras são bons, mas não curti muito não. Deve ter sido mais legal para eles criando do que a gente ouvindo. 2*

Tava interessado no início, bem diferenciado, instrumentos diferenciados, gostosinho, tava achando bacaninha, ia dar 3. Mas aí foi passando e foi passando e se tornou extremamente repetitivo. As linhas do violão/guitarra/sei lá ficavam fazendo a mesma coisa over and over and over again. E o interesse acabou se esvaindo, começou a se tornar cada vez mais chato e desinteressante. Se ouvir as músicas separadas, talvez seja bacaninha. Mas ouvindo o álbum como um todo assim, não ficou bacana não. Acabou caindo pra um 2.

Wasn't feeling it 2

Ga meg lite

It came, it went

478/14001 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

African mellow rock, okay not My style

There’s nothing wrong with this as a sound but as an album it’s quite dull

Outside of my type of music preference, but most were decent songs that had enjoyable vibes.

Mäßiges nature Album

Vibes are cool - don't need to listen to a whole album of it.

Guitar to start the album was very nice. Sega - not for me! Maked me want to rip my eardrums out! Following it up with Amandrai is like punching someone in the face and then kissing them after. Welp, at least the first 7 minutes of Amandrai. Not a fan of Keito either. Banga sucks too. I have to stop the album I can't keep going. It sucks because the guitar in the first 5 mins of the album was great.

Felt very background music. Didn’t really grab me

sure, fine?

Talking Timbuktu is perfectly pleasant smooth, melodic, and so consistent it starts to feel like one long, uninterrupted track. There’s nothing offensive here, but also not much to grab onto.

Best Track - "Bonde"

A very pleasant listen, but also somewhat of a nondescript listen. The songs really ran together for me, which is a common problem for me with non-English songs. I didn't connect with this one, but that very well might be because I am a dumbass.

Kinda good but also kinda boring

Good guitarist. Good music.

It’s nice that Ry Cooder is doing this and it’s nice that our curator is doing this for Ry Cooder

This was fine, it’s just I won’t ever turn it back on again (never say never)

Clean tones, easy listening tunes. But not groundbreaking or new.

At first, this album may sound interesting, being a combination of blues and Songhai Music, a style of music which originates in Mali, from where Ali Farka Touré comes. The recording is also very very clean. Quite impeccable. But, from my perspective, this record presents some problems: it gets very repetitive and it feels 'flat' and lacking in ideas or depth, which ends up coming across as background music which I wouldn't pay too much attention. It frustates me to think that it could be much better, as I believe the ideas behind these tracks do have great potential. In fact, songs like 'Lasidan' and 'Diaraby' are my favourites and they have some great elements which makes them unique from the rest, the first being the most energetic track and the last one having some nice guitar melodies. Overall, dispite having a great sound, I can't say that I really enjoyed this LP.

pfrtttt

I was excited to finally break away from the UK and get something that was international (even if an American was playing blues guitar on it).My excited quickly evaporated as the second and third songs continued on the same path as the first. By the fourth track, I was pretty much over it, there was no range in this album, it all sounded so very similar throughout. I finally get to listen to an album that isn't from the UK (or the US) and it is one of the most vanilla albums the continent of Africa may have ever produced. I didn't hate the album, but am really starting to hate this list. The album was just so-so. But Dimery and this list so far (134 albums in) get a 3.3/10. 195 countries on this planet and a century of modern music and we only get shit from the UK from 1955 onward. I may just complete this list in a rage and hate on every album along the way or I may lose my shit when I hit submit on this review and see my next album is Dimery's cousin's band that played 3 shows at a local park back in 1987. Bad review for this list, mediocre review for this album. 4.8/10 134/1001

Some of the tracks are not bad if you just want some background music. But overall pretty meh.

not my vibe

I appreciate this for what it is, but most of the songs were just way too long and repetitive for me to find this an enjoyable listen.

Enjoyable in specific circumstances. It does get repetitive as the album goes on and I found myself needing to take a break. That could have also been due to using excel though

Cool, but not my thing. 1001 album worthy: yeah - 101/185

Love the guitar, don’t love the vocals.

Another album that I see something here, but I just don't like it.

I didn't use a private spotify session, maybe I should have. It's interesting, but it's not for me. African rhythms, whiny lyrics I don't understand, still beats Taylor Swift.

Not for me

Really not my thing

Wish this grabbed me a bit more. Very repetitive and I really wished for some variety. Not unpleasant but I won’t be revisiting this. Just background guitar music to me.

Pleasant listen. Good guitarist

Maso

Nice vibe, but this won’t be more than a one-timer for me.

Somewhere on the soporific-stultifying continuum

Thought this was a nice, easy listening album. Not generally my thing, but overall was good background music while working. Seemed to drag on a little long, and there was nothing I really found adverse, but also not something I would revisit. Something about the other dudes name made me laugh whenever I saw it. I though I was seeing a putdown for a lady's private area. Yea, I'm a wierdo. 2

2.5 This is our second outing with Ali on this list, and my opinion is largely unchanged from the first time around - incredibly impressive guitar work, but the songs are too long and repetitive. I liked the sound of just about everything I heard, but each track grew old about halfway through, resulting in this album feeling like a bit of a slog towards the end. That said, I was really impressed with the production on this album. For being over 30 years old, no part of this felt outdated in any way, and the guitars have this great, crisp sound to them that does Farke’s music a lot of favors. That’s probably the most positive thing I can say about this though - while I admire the guy’s guitar work, I just don’t think it’s implemented into great or memorable songwriting, at least not here. Not bad, but would benefit greatly from a bit of trimming - no song here really felt like it needed to be 5+ minutes. Also, Sega had nothing to do with the blue hedgehog (or maybe it did idk I don’t speak Fula).

There was a lot of meandering on this album. Didn't feel it.

Good music but not for me

Ok background noise

Good musicians, just not my thing

Didn't hate it. Actually, kind of liked a few tracks - cool grooves. Wish I knew the language and could appreciate the lyrics.

so boring. also i reconciled with my ex-boyfriend so can i get an album that he loves tomorrow? 2/5

It's okay, just not really my style unfortunately! Nothing really stuck with me from it.

I can understand that the repetition of the same drum or bass line throughout each song is a very explicit choice from the style of music this is - but it made me feel impatient and frustrated more than anything, waiting for a chord change that was never going to come. Really wish I liked this, the talent on display is strong.

We’ve already had a Mali blues album, Music in Exile by Songhoy Blues. I found that a lot better than this one. This just kinda put me to sleep. It was fine, but I wouldn’t listen normally.

I am uncultured. I need to hear some Songhai Music which is not blues tinged, because most bluesy music knocks at least a star off due to my broken brain. My God I struggled with this record. I can hear that the performances are good. I'm into the vocals. I'm not into the hypnotic, winding melodies. If I was in a trance like state, meditating or at a serene cafe reading a book then maybe I'd be able to understand it better

While I appreciate that this list has introduced me to something new, I’ve never heard of this guy before, but it was not for me. I found this to be dull and overly long.

Liked this one a bit better than the last one by him, but still meh.

Oh, well, this didn't do much for me. a bit repetetive in its musical motifs, even if they were cute.

Talking Timbuktu didn’t do much for me overall — kind of boring, to be honest. That said, it did make for a pretty relaxing soundtrack on a long road trip. It’s chill background music, but not something I’d actively choose to listen to again.

Boring, simplistic & repetitive

I'll be honest it was in one ear and right out the other. I don't remember anything from it and I listened to it less than 24 hours ago 4/10

It was ok, I wouldn’t be in a rush to listen to it again though

Appreciate the musicality but quite inaccessible for me.

Ihan kuin olisin kuullut kaikki biisit ennenkin, mutta oli sentään viuluyllätys välissä. Periaatteessa pidän, mutta olisin kaivannut lisää vaihtuvuutta, siitä miinustähti (olen ehkä ankarampi kuin tarvitsisi).

Ali ja Ry toivovat, että jamit riittävät. Tiettyyn pisteeseen ehkä riittävätkin, mutta toista kuuntelukertaa on vaikea kuvitella muussa kuin akateemisessa mielessä. Matala 2.

this song is ok because it has some cool sounds. I would recommend this song. This song is okay because the start is good. I would recommend this song. This song is okay because the start is low, but it gets better in the beginning. I would recommend this song.

I dont like this music because it reminds me of saint Patrick's day. I like the music in the back but I don't like the singers voice. I don't like the way that each song has a different vibe. I wouldn't reccomnend this album.

I'm not a huge fan of this album because its honestly kinda boring

The song is okay I like the beat but I would like to understand what they are saying . The second song is good but the same thing I would like to understand the words. the third one is good to I like the beat . I recommend this album because of the beat

I don't really like this because there is no lyrics and I don't like how the instruments sound. I would not recommend this album to someone else because I don't think a lot of people like music with no lyrics. I would probably give this album a solid 2 stars out of 5.

I don't like this album because its not my style of music I also don't like it because I feel like it would make me fall asleep I reccomend if you like calming music but I don't reccomend If you don't like calming music

the first song is okay I don't like the way the words sound they might be in a different language though, I also don't really like the sounds of the instruments. the next song is the same not much difference more talking but still in a different language I like the guitar though. the last song is way different it starts off really weird and stays like that.

A seemingly fun album at first. Then it drags on the phrases which if you don’t speak the language turns into insanity as he just keeps repeating himself in songs that last about 8 times longer than they should. Great guitarmenship but really brought down by repetitiveness and length of songs. 4/10

Too experimental to get into World music.

Inte min bag! Tvåa

Which technically good, I just couldn’t connect with this one. Some good moments, but overall I wouldn’t go back.

This jam session was not as interesting as I believe they thought it was. Probably great for whoever was there or maybe if I was stoned. Oh well, too long, not for me. 2/5

Yeah whatever it's fine but not great.

Kinda boring 2.4

I don't know how to rate world music. I don't have enough experience to know if something is 'good' or 'mid' or 'bad'. All I can ask is do I like it? Does it vibe? This vibes. But it also gets repetitive. And I'm not really sure what Cooder adds to the mix.

Well performed by all musicians involved but not a very exciting listen.

Another hard one for me to rate. Some very cool songs (“Ai Du” sounds like badass Delta Blues) but also some very repetitive tracks that probably are more Malian-influenced. To my ear there’s not a lot happening in many of the songs, but I also don’t understand the style or the words. I liked listening to this record though, even if I would have a hard time focusing on it as a listening experience.

As much as I would like, I just can't find my tastes aligning with this kind of world music. 2/5

Relatively easy listening. Pretty repetitive though.

1.8

funky background music

This catches the imagination in places, Ai Du being the most notable one, but ultimately it's too long and drawn out to be a really good album. It's quite an interesting combination of blues and Malian music; I definitely prefer it when it's blues front and centre, but the Malian sounds to add something different and interesting. I think it's a 2, mostly because it's so long and bloated.

4/10

Some songs are fairly boring, while others are interesting throughout. A middle of the road album for me. The guitar tracks are certainly better than the others.

Can't really get through this but seems good Will I listen to again: 0%

Almost remarkably banal.

Not much to say about this. Pretty chill but didn't need to be this long, or on the list probably.

⭐️⭐️

I like the idea of this album but found it a little bland. It has the promise of North African music but without the energy and fun that makes people get up and dance.

Gear: Moondrop Variations Artwork: 🎸🤣🪘😑🎸🤣 Production: 🎧😘🤌 Music: 🎸🪘🌍🎶☀️ Rating: 🪘🪘(🪘)/5

I’m sure lots of people enjoy this and I’m very happy for them. (ntm.)

Groovy, but not as groovy as the other one.

Listened Before? N Meh. More foreign language stuff. I did really enjoy the guitar work here but I found the whole thing sleepy overall. Good news it reminded me briefly of some Grateful Dead song and I listened to the Dead the rest of the day. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Bonde

This is alright but every song kind of sounds the same to be honest. Solid background music to work to, but it doesn’t really standout.

Soft gitarrspel men annars ganska tråkigt.

Not my normal genre for enjoyment- obviously talented musicians but sorry could not get into it

nice enough album with some excellent playing but I think Ry Cooder is a bit superfluous in that he just plays his own style and doesn't really engage with the album style. Cannot really engage with me since the style is in a totally different culture and most of the tracks are songs in an unknown language so with no meaning to me. In fact I often moved on to the next track after the first verse since there was little if any change in the musical accompaniment, the story is told by the lyrics that I don't understand. Some nice music though.

Currently one of my top 3 genres, I have enjoyed a great many "World" albums through this site. Unfortunately this is not one of them. Even as background music it was uninteresting, overly long, and so grating I couldn't even appreciate the guitar. I suppose it is a fairly broad genre, but this didn't grab me at all.

I just don't get on with African (world) music. I still liked the intro to the first track, a beautifully played acoustic guitar. But when the vocals started, it became too strange for me. The 2nd piece was ok, but I wasn't particularly interested. I only listened to two other pieces and then stopped the whole thing. 2/5

They were truly talking Timbuktu in this one. Somehow really interesting and excruciatingly boring at the same time - a true enigma. Appreciate some world music once in a while, but I can't really say I enjoyed this one.

I don't know it's alright.

Each song is 2 mins too long. Anyone who gave this a 5 either speaks this language or is lying to themselves

2 star

I didn't know glasgow had a desert

Started off ok, but drags on a bit after a while.

Relaxing enough sounds but nothing if actively choose to listen to again.

I like the guitar sound, can’t stand the vocal tone. Seemed like a very long hour. Ali Farka Touré is on the list twice. Blondie once. Annie Lennox once. This list is mental.

Very pleasant

Impressive musicianship, I really enjoyed the playing on this record. The songs wore on a little long though, and there wasn't a ton that kept my attention. But solid.

Sonically I can appreciate this recording, just didn’t resonate with me as something I’d like to sit and listen to

Decent background music for me, but not much else I take away from this.

Truthfully, I need to listen to this more and in a different setting. It just didn't hit me for my mood. It started of ok. And I thought I'd get African/western fusion. Graceland came to mind. But this seems to me to be an album of African folk music and I wasn't in the mood. 2.4

Ok...semi sterile but decent for background music. 2.5/5

I've listened to a couple of west african albums before and I enjoyed them, this one was a mix bag for me. Some of the songs I loved and others I felt nothing for. Guess that means no matter the culture or language barriers, some music will jive for ya and some won't.

Just o.k. Easy listening.

This was pretty snoozy (respectfully) mostly

Not my thing.

p739, 1994. 2 stars. Pleasant enough world music/blues crossover, and some great guitar work from Ry Cooder - but ultimately it's bland background noise.

African music. Sounded fine for what it was. Just couldn’t appreciate it. Standouts: Soukora and Diaraby.

Molto fuori dalle mie corde

Sorry, not for me.

2-3

Some decent music. But it didnt catch my attention. Not really my thing. Plus it was too long.

Made me want to listen to Workbook by Bob Mould

Not really my thing, though there were a couple good jams. Overall it not being an album sung in I language I can understand, I probably won't be revisiting this one.

Not my bag

I don't have the attention span for this

Album cover looks like a sick chop sessions w the fellas. First song i really vibed to, but didn’t get much from the rest of the album besides maybe Amandrai and Keito, which had a cool sound

Reading the positive reviews about this album is really strange to me. Not because I actively dislike it, but because I didn’t really hear any of that on this album. I don’t know, desert blues for me is just in one ear and out the other. Maybe at some point this genre will grow on me.

Not interested

not for me i guess

Not great. Ry Cooder really helped!

aggiunto a caso a questa lista

Meh

Really good but got repetitive at the end

Only okay ambient music

*sigh* c'était potentiellement musicalement intéressant mais aucunement dans mon mood/vibe.

Not my style

It's a groovy sound but doesn't change from song to song.

The songs didn't mean anything to me and it's a bad sign that I thought a couple times "This is still going?" It's not badly done but it's not for me.

awesome thanks

Idc

I don't think I appreciate this style of music. Maybe I need to listen to more of it but currently don't really get it

Soitannassa ei vikaa, mutta kielimuurin takaa vaikea saada taruntapintaa ja päästä fiilikseen. Jäi laimeaksi.

Paikoin ihan ok, ei kuitenkaan säväyttänyt erityisesti

2.5 A little repetitive and not my sort of thing but loved the vibes.

not for me

I have not heard of this album before. It’s not really my taste in music; I found it very boring to listen to. Will not listen again.

I liked a blues-based song early on the album and then the album became meditative. So, I think this is the second album I've gotten by the artist, and that's enough.

Not my style unfortunately

The songs were a bit soothing in a "I didn't understand a word of the lyrics" kind of way.

It wasn’t bad but I wanted to skip through it the whole time.

2.4

This album had a bit of everything. A lot of blues. A little "Graceland" Paul Simon. A little Dave Matthews Band. A little....🤢....jazz....🤮 The problem is, none of it sounds particularly great. It's not shit, but I certainly wouldn't write home about this album. As someone who's attempted to learn guitar, I can appreciate they're talented musicians. However, just because something is difficult to play, doesn't mean it's an easy listen. Just because you can *play* "Eruption" by Van Halen, doesn't mean anybody wants to *hear* that racket (apart from the intro, of course). The only time I can remember enjoying music similar to Ali Farka Toure is during an Oliver Stone film, when it plays over a scene where the characters are tripping on drugs. It's a perfect use of this sound. Other than that, it's boring and forgettable. 👎👎

It's easy enough to listen to, but it's just kind of boring. Why are we listening to this?

enjoyed it more than the previous 2 albums, very laid back and chilled, probably great to have on in the background but as an active listen i got bored before the end of every song.