Talking Timbuktu

1.5/5

2/5

I feel like I'm stuck in a rut of being served albums that are "fine" for me but have a lot of love in other parts of the country. I'm trying to appreciate them but this one is another album where I'm like OK, next. Good background music for working though!

Not my jam on this moody day

Here's where this whole thing gets interesting. I think it's very important for any list of music and albums to have variety, especially something as broad as 1001 albums to hear before you die. There's plenty of music that's not in English or from a genre that doesn't have wide commercial appeal that deserves to be heard by music lovers. But how can I compare something like this to, say, Purple Rain or Physical Graffiti? How can I rate it on the same scale? There's a lot to like about this album from the start. I love stringed instruments, and guess what, there's lots of great stringed instrument parts here. The songs are upbeat for the most part, but also have an intentionally repetitive nature that doesn't fit with a lot of popular music. I found myself looking it less as it went on just because I have so much less experience for what I'm hearing. I know Ry Cooder is a rock guy and it's cool that he's on here, but it seems to veer pretty far into some areas I just don't know enough about. The songs I like are really fantastic, but there's enough long pieces that don't go anywhere that really make me question whether it's my own inexperience with this kind of music, or of these songs are very all over the place. To wrap up, I'm going to rate this album, but I'm less confident in my rating than usual. Maybe I'll come back here after I do a little bit of research, but for now this seems uneven with some very high points but also some significant lows

Enjoyable background music that I'm glad I've listened to. Not sure how there are two albums of his on the list though. Might start turning all of these reviews into complaining about how there's no Zevon on the list.

This album needed an editor badly. Shorten every song. It did not need to be this long. Tighten it up. I couldn't understand the lyrics. Surprised this artist got two albums on this list. I will round up but it is a close call.

Nice enough, doubt I'll listen to it again though.

Fairly route one afro bluesy stuff. Not a thrill a minute.

To be honest, I'm not sure this African/Blues fusion really works

So it's been over 2 years since I listened to this - but I can finally edit my reviews and knew there was one that I rated and it immediately saved it with no written critique. So here goes. . . This could have been so much better, but then Ry Cooder got involved. African Music for White Folks.

Kinda boring. Couple bright spots though. Kinda gets the same review of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Före långrandigt tyvärr

Not bad and pretty good instrumentation and background music. Can't see myself coming back to this one tough. 2.3/5

Vermoeiend om hier iets van te moeten vinden... ehm, gewoon ok maar niet bijzonder dan maar?

Leuke afwisseling, maar deed me weinig

Na een paar nummers wist ik het wel.

Sorry to say that this could not quite meet the 3star world music standard rating. To repetitive and too much of that particular version of vocalization

2.5

Kinda cool, but not for me.

Meh

I couldn't seem to get into this at all. Maybe the problem was that I was geared up for some stompin' Ry Cooder and got something much more subdued.

Second album I’m getting here from Ali Farka Touré. One might even think other African musicians are hard to find. Anyway, Ry Cooder or not, this album is too repetitive.

idk fine. nothing stand out

Don't really remember much about this.

I don't really care for the droning style of this album. 4/10

Tiene música tribal y también otros ritmos. La mayoría es instrumental. Safa para estudiar.

More random generic world music

middle of the bill at WOMAD.

I'd pay £25 to see Macauley Culkin have sex with Jonah Lomu

Talking Timbuktu is the 1994 collaboration album between Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré and American guitarist/producer Ry Cooder. This Malian folk crossed with hip hop album was certified gold in Europe in 2009 and won a Grammy in 1994 for Best World Music album. I enjoyed the cultural music on this album and was vibing to the beats. It's a great album to hear some world music.

Not my jam, again. I get it, we need music from around the world and not just the same sounds but I just wasn’t in to this one. Good for what it is, though. I guess.

This, for me, was just not able to get in to. It was interesting honestly- not necessarily awful but just something I would never find myself listening to. I neither loved nor hated it but seeing as I would never listen to it again, slightly below average.

Roots blues, very very repetitive. Not enough variety to really enjoy, but well played nonetheless. Two and half stars.

Too jazzy for me

Not my fav

I felt like I was going insane listening to this album. I'm not the target audience even a little bit. The beat was so repetitive it made me nauseous. I really wanted to like this one but just no.

Dull, and with that awful early nineties mix where everything is too bright

Uhh... No thanks.

No lo escuché directamente no me gusta el cantante, no es mi género ni tampoco a nivel cultural me gusta. Talvez sea oportunidad para expandir gustos!

gostei da vibe

Någon borde ge Ry Cooder yrkesförbud. Hur mycket musik har inte den karln förstört?

Sorry Ali. Not into your music

mmm album de mali africanito, not my tipe 1/5

really cool instrumentals and melodies but dear lord it was SO repetitive. this would be better live but sitting at work listening to this, i was just growing frustrated. the best song was soukora. 3/10

linda cultura mas não curti

Not my kind of music

Do not like african music

Farkin' hell. Where the 'New World' crashes into the 'Third World'. Please do not do this any more, one world is enough.

Every song is so repetitive! This is supposed to be a guitar-led album, but the guitar tone is so thin and wimpy and the playing is uninspired. Not a single fun moment.

I would have preferred this without the singing. Decent enough music but the voice is annoying and not enjoyable to listen to at all. 1.5/5

Oof. This is some repetitive west African music. It’s very tiring to listen to all of this because it doesn’t really go anywhere. I don’t know of care to learn the context here but I don’t find this worthwhile except from an anthropological standpoint. One star.

Not sure about this one…

not for me.

Snervt

There’s something interesting in here but I can’t hear it b/c Ry Cooder can’t shut the fuck up. I’m not a fan of modal noodling to begin with. Each of these songs plays like 30 seconds worth of a musical idea stretched to an intolerable length. But what makes this a truly negative listening experience is Ry Cooder constantly injecting his droll musical ideas (in that shitty strat-through-a-jazz-chorus-amp voice) so that I’m not even sure what the Malian musicians might sound like unmolested and unadulterated.

While Talking Timbuktu features Ry Cooder as a guest musician, unfortunately—for me, at least—that is about all it has going for it. I'll be the first to admit that I'm just not really into 'world music,' which is probably the main reason this album just didn't grab my attention. Despite Cooder's involvement, it simply wasn't a match for my personal taste.

2/10

Nö! Gedudel!

Rubbish

Nope

Was just so slow and repetitive. Not for me 3.5/10

Just couldn't do it. Too repetitive. I tried to give it an honest listen, but sadly I had to skip it. 1/5

Not for me.

Repetitive chanting nonsense

just didn't work for me.

No sir

Not for me. 1/5

1,4/5

buenos músicos y buena ejecución instrumental pero se me hizo difícil escuchar la hora entera de disco. probablemente no lo vuelva a escuchar

I am going to have to read why this made it.

Negative

I rate bonde a 1 star because its not for me and it really dosnt sound good but the bongos sound good. I rate ai du a 1 because ts not for me and it really dosnt sound good but the geutire sounds good. I rate sega a 1 star because its not for me and it really dosnt sound good but the bongos sound good.

Song: bonde this song is weird I don't know what it is saying but I think other people like it just not me Song: ai du this song at the start sounds good and normal but again I still don't know what there sing this song would have been good if It was in English Song: Sega this song is kind of weird

the first one i did not really like becuase its just not my type of style of music the second one i dont really like ethier i dont like the backround music the third one i dont like rthier because it has no lyrics

the first song started off okay but like there's no lyrics and I enjoy songs with lyrics oh wait nvm there is lyrics but I don't understand it but the voice of the guy I think is lowkey bad. the next song sounds uhm ight but I like the the background music the voice goes well with how slow the song is and everything sounds in tune

I've come to discover that I really hate this kind of music. It's so repetitive, dull, and for whatever reason every album is thirty minutes longer than it should be. I'm assuming there is a culture barrier keeping me away from appreciating this, as it is solid instrumentally, and nothing is obviously "bad," but there are very few things I'd rather not do than listen to this or Ali Farka Touré's other 1001 Album again.

Just not for me.

Tendrá un montón de armonías chulas pero yo sigo sin entender esta musica

Nope! Nope, not for me. That squeaky voice, the guitar style of Ali Farkas Toure, none of it is my thing.

Nope

Yeah, nah.

Nah bruh

1. bonde - 1.5 2. zoukura - 1.5 3. gommi - 1 4. zega - 1.5 5. amandrai - 2 6. lazidan - 1.5 7. keito - 1 8. banga - 1 9. du - 1.5 10. diaraby - 1

Nicht meine Richtung

Bring on the good albums!!

Bit of a dry dirgy album - wouldn’t re visit

Me ha aburrido la verdad :(

Songs are too long, I could have lived with that if it was a instrumental album as it would have been good background music however the siging spoils it for me

Couldn’t get this one on my streaming service.

Glad to get this shit out of the way Sooooooooo boring

When this album came up my first reactions was this is going to be terrible! Then after playing the first track I knew I was right and in for a rough ride with this one! Not a fan at all

World Music - absolut nicht mein Ding 1/5

Honestly, i did not care for this album. I've turned it off after 4-5 songs. It was just boring. Not my thing.

Good. Should not be on the list. Especially if there's no Mdou Moctar or Tinariwen

Nije moj đir

not for me

Hearing this album makes me happy I’m so close to being done with this list. Another album of “significance” that maybe 1000 people heard before doing this list. My life was unaffected by hearing this album. 2.3/10

I respect it, but it's not my taste.

Despite understanding not a single word, he kinda sounds happy :)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Terribly boring listen. Yet again 1001 includes music that I have zero context or perspective to even begin to appreciate with any sort of seriousness. One hour of what I've perceived as the same sound over and over again because I don't understand the language.

Not my style of music

I’m trying to figure out if including this album was a prank. Why is this good?

I don’t see myself ever listening to one of these songs for fun

In all honesty, how is this on the list?

Not in English

Ritmos étnicos y con cierto ritmo, pero no encuentro ningún elemento que haga que destaque especialmente. Estoy seguro de que discos de este tipo hay a puñados

Really not that interesting, couldn't hold my attention for the duration of a song.

Uninteresting throughout. Couldn't wait to finish the album. Track I came closest to liking was Ai Du.

absolute snoozefest, nothing to enjoy in this album