Reviews (page 6 of 7)
Poussee!!!
All these songs seemed a little similar for me. Maybe if I understood the lyrics I would have dug this more. The guitar tone was pretty neat though. Favorite song was Desespoir.
It feels like I'm in one of those weird "world novelty" stores in the mall from the 90s. Like I can buy a rain stick and a "Sounds of the Amazon" CD. Not a fan. Like... is it over yet?
Honestly found this quite hard to get through. Maybe in part because I couldn’t understand the lyrics but also because most song didn’t really change much and push up against the 7 minute mark. Still, can hear how this style of music influenced artists like Paul Simon and Vampire Weekend.
not that good, kinda boring and repetitive
Fun vibes. Made me feel like I'm on a beach but not my vibe
It felt exciting at the beginning but more or less faded to the background
Man am I on a string of mediocre albums. This adds to that pile. That this is in French doesn’t bother me. It’s just that it sounds like music I could hear in any cruise ship in the world. Boring and repetitive.
Tough to rate cultural music like this, but its fun and has a good vibe so it's at least a 2.
I don't have much to say about the quality of this guy's music, nor will I comment on his many controversies (it is pretty bad though). What I will talk about how god-awful this album cover is. The horrible composition of it, the random-ass fonts, the stupid fucking photo of Koffi. This is easily one of the worst album covers on this entire list. It's not even charming in a campy 90s way. Truly egregious stuff.
This was not a bad album, but it wasn't that exciting to listen to, although there were moments that would make you do a shakey shakey. Overall, it's alright, but only as a background listen.
Some of the World Music albums I've listened to have been real eye openers and fun. This one is okay. Some nice melodies and sounds. Nothing special though.
Aggressively 90's, but not necessarily in a negative way. Did feel like it overstayed its welcome after the first few tracks.
Fine but it didn't grab me. There are albums from the late 80s and early 90s whose production sounds timeless, but this isn't one of them.
It's interesting, I am always open to new genres, and this is definitely different from what I usually listen to. However, after a couple songs, I got quickly tired of it. I would not listen to it again. 2/5.
jeg er ret sikker på at nogle af de her sange var på min træners playlist da jeg gik til zumba i fitnessworld i 2015
Lyder lige clean nok men ellers ret catchy!
Happy music, but I agree, it sounds very clean, almost clinical.
var gøy å høre på - bra produksjon. men midt på treet
It's all a bit one note. I enjoyed it for about 5 or 10 minutes, but unless you're in a tropical resort it's just not going to hit right. Everything is well played and sounds as I assume it should, but it doesn't excite or move me.
Didn’t do a lot for me
Started off well then the carnival atmosphere got too much way too much.
King of Ndombolo my ass!
In a nutshell: do the rumba- Congolese style. From the (scarce) information I've gathered, Olomide is a godfather African pop music and has a catalogue that rivals King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Okay... The production sounds impressive. Rhythmically good. A little corny sometimes. The track length and the template format is what's holding me back from enjoying this album. Pity that Olomide has a history of being a jerk. Overall: 4/10
Tried listening, wasn’t for me
I appreciate that much of this is upbeat and sparkly and happy. It starts to get quite repetitive by 3-4 tracks in though. The tracks are incredibly long, and it gets a bit wearing. 2.5 rounded down.
Some music is perfect for a clear, calm morning. The sun is rising, almost no one else is in the office, you get a new recommendation and the music sounds like nothing so much as the introduction song in a Disney movie about a jungle village. The protagonist walks down the street, people sing and dance and say hello around him, all is good. That’s my first impression of ¨Papa Bonheur,¨ a Disney movie intro song. There’s something nice about this overwhelming cheerfulness, but one does get a bit wary of it after about 13 minutes of it. Far be it for me to pretend I know anything about Congolese music, but in my heart of hearts I was hoping for Afrobeat and I got bachata. Of course, anything in the 80s sounds like it’s from the 80s and suffers accordingly. Best songs: ¨Papa Bohnheur,¨ ¨Qui Cherche Trouve¨
I didn't think this was too bad. But after listening to radiohead, just about any other artist is a welcome relief. When I listened, I pictured me and my wife on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean having a Pina Colada. Can't say it's my favorite kind of music, but I've learned to appreciate because of Mindy and terrible stuff like radiohead. This dude has a shitload of music and albums so I decided to read a bit about him and it turns out he's your typical Republican leader. POS, rapist and loves the children. Sorry for the rant. I blame radiohead for my anger. Music = 3 POS person = negative 1 2
2 The best thing I can say about this album is that it made me think of being on a cruise ship. If I were in that scenario and had a piña colada in hand, I might like this a little more. As is, I found it overly long and repetitive. Like, very repetitive - am I crazy, or did this guy do the whole “who say??” thing on like every other song here? I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn’t saying something more vulgar, but I guess he is actually saying “Poussez”. Per Google, that’s French for “push”, so it seems to be innocuous, but man, is it really jarring hearing it constantly as an English speaker. There’s always a bit of a barrier for me with albums from non-English speakers, and this gave me nothing to grab onto musically. I guess I’m happy to have been exposed to a new genre at least (kwassa kwassa in this case), but I’d be lying if I said it sounds unlike anything I’ve heard before. It certainly isn’t terrible, but it’s certainly not great either - it’s basically glorified background music. For as upbeat as it is, it’s kind of wild how much of a total snoozefest it turns into very quickly. Also, turns out Koffi is a sexual predator as well, so F this dude.
Eh. Sounds like I’m on cruise ship.
Fun in small doses, but it wears repetitive over the length of an album.
Is generic island music universal?
I know there is better "World" music than this. The entire album feels like the music was toned down for Western audiences. It's fine musically, just completely bland and boring.
I didn't have the same visceral reaction to this as a lot of people here; the production is definitely awful in a few places, and each song is way too long, but I can't say I mind the overall vibe *too* much. 2.5/5
This album wasn't for me, and I'm not sure who it is for musically. Maybe the language barrier has me impeded, but the music stylings were a sign of their times and kind of just sounded like I was standing in line at a Häagen-Dazs at the mall.
Just not my cup of tea lol it wasn't terrible but not one of my favorites
Correct vibes, mais très simple. Dans le genre il y a mieux. -1 car il a agressé des enfants.
Très long et répétitif, c'est pas de la mauvaise musique en soi mais on se tanne rapidement.
It's always worthwhile to get something you know nothing about, and this couldn't be more foreign to me. At least I understood some of the French? This was enjoyable for a song, but stretched across nine 6- and 7-minute songs, it sounds like one hour-long track. At least I won't have to worry about separating the art from the artist.
Groovy, and I like the mix of languages, but my ear struggles to pick the songs apart from each other.
Meh.
Fun and groovy for about 10 minutes, but I was kind of over it after that
meh
Gets old fairly quick, very repetitive and safe. Wish I could say more.
Was okay… 4/10
It’s fun and different, but not something I would particularly gravitate to. I thought some of the songs dragged on a bit too long.
This album is a cheesy, awkward mess that might be somewhat okay playing very softly in the background somewhere. Again, WHY IS THIS ON THE LIST!?
So this is basically an hour-long Gatorade 'Be Like Mike' commercial. Supposedly this was his sell-out Westernized album, but damned if I could tell the difference. It is pleasant enough, but really did nothing for me. And learning about the guy behind it, I don't feel the need to delve any further. Another weird, bad pick for the 1001.
Mahalo
pu-say
Not all of this music is terrible but this guy is 100% terrible.
It's tough to put this one into a box because while the music itself is really nice and great, the fact that the lyrics are not in English makes it very hard to connect to anything on a deeper level. Like, okay, I don't know what the fuck I'm actually listening to. I just got more annoyed as the album went on
no
The songs were ok on their own, but they started to all sound the same after a while, though maybe if I could understand the lyrics I would have found them more engaging. The album did not need to be an hour
This isn't bad and is kind of fun but it's pretty easy to ignore unless you're really enjoying it. It almost feels like this is an institution and the performer knows everyone is meant to be digging it. Good voice but I didn't find a ton which surprised me.
A well produced album. Some toe tapping music, but gets a little repetitive. The last track I found repelling.
Good vibes. 80s instrumentation. Just not that exciting.
Boring. Cool that's it's African, I guess?
Ik hou gewoon heel erg niet van frans. En deze stem enzo pakt me niet echt. Ook niet barslecht maar toch,.
Has fun moments. Great melodies, easy to listen to, but not something I'd turn my full attention to. Some perfect background music here for a tropical restaurant though
Not really my jam unless I’m sitting poolside in the tropics. But I can certainly appreciate why people like it and why it’s a big deal.
The definition of a filler album.
If we could give half stars, this record would earn the middling, average 2.5 it deserves. I like the feel of western and equatorial African melodies, though I tend to lean more towards smooth classic Ethiopian jazz and more aggressive afrobeat stuff like Fela Kuti. The stuff on this record all sounds upbeat and happy, though I have no idea what the lyrics are. Not typically my go-to, but I always find this stuff pretty inoffensively listenable, if only in a "browsing candles and scarves in some white hippie store or cruise ship soundtrack" kinda way. That said, there are better examples of this style that I prefer. The weird breaking glass samples on "Desespoir" following the 80s cheese-synth intro was unexpected and pretty rad, the only other place I've heard that was on "Der Kuss" by Neubauten. "Dit Jeannot" is a standout track and a pretty good closer. My listening partner just hears "pussy" in the French "poussez" lyrics, and I ain't mad at it.
This was a nice album to listen to. The music was upbeat and peaceful sounding, I'm not sure if the lyrical content reflects the mood I got from the music.
Impressive musicianship, but not really my bag tunes-wise.
Gar keine Lust das anzuhören obwohl es eh nett klingt (Musik aus DRC)
Songs are too long (respectfully) Not bad but not good either
A bit too cheesy for me.
2+ Stars (6/15)
not bad but every song overstay its welcome. why is almost every song like 6 minutes long??? amazing cover art tho
Tiring. The songs are long and sound more or less the same
Didnt understand it
I gave it a good go but it’s just not my type of thing whatsoever. Some of the songs reminded me of the Lilo & Stitch soundtrack but maybe that’s a result of having kids and listening to a lot of Disney music. Top Track - Désespoir for the sole reason that I found the opening really cheesy and it made me laugh.
After a German artist, Koffi is only the second non-English-speaking artist we had. Congolese rumba fits surprisingly well under this grey sky, but I would have preferred a more organic sound. The tracks are long, and listening to the whole album in one go gets tiring, though I’m not very familiar with the style and I am pretty sure I could get used to it. I especially enjoy the more nuanced songs like “Conte de fées.”
its too cold for this
It’s fun but feels like a 90s Sandals Resort album
Very nice to have some representation from non-western music on this list. I wasn't the biggest fan of this one though. It's a very cheery and upbeat album for sure, but the late 80's / 90's production it's drenched in hampers my enjoyment of it a lot. I'm also not the biggest fan of Soukous in general, the music doesn't really have hooks and just goes on and on and on. It's nice to have the tempo increase in the songs after a few minutes, where they reach their peak enjoyment for me. Still happy to have heard this album and I feel it does deserve its placement here.
Another cool detour here! While I did enjoy this one, it didn't grab me in the same way that the album from Youssou N'Dour did. There was less that stood out to me, and overall the music sort of faded into the background more. Maybe it was the dated 90s keyboard sounds and instrumentation, maybe it was because his voice wasn't as unique, or maybe for some other reason. I don't recall much focus on any individual instrument, so maybe the lack of 'solos' or other features is what it was missing for me. The album certainly isn't bad, but it just didn't bring the same excitement and energy while listening as the Youssou N'Dour album did. I found it interesting that there was at least one vocal/musical part that would repeat every couple of songs, without the context to understood what was being sung, I wonder if it might be some element to create cohesion in the album, whether from a lyrical/meaning standpoint, or just simply a repeated musical motif. Happy to have listened but not much reason to come back to this, as I'm sure there is plenty of other African music that tickles my fancy more than this one.
I like it but I have no idea what they are singing about. Music was fun and album was enjoyable.
12 times the same song. Not a bad song though.
The Good: High Level! The Bad: Something something left… The Ugly: Not understanding the level that we are high in… Who’d have thought that one needs to listen to an album by a Congolese artist before one dies? I was always under the impression that Senegal was where it’s at… Also, to all those snowflakes who rate this album low because they scan through a Wikipedia page to read something about a rape and instantly cancelling the artist… keep reading the damn page, to see that he was never convicted of rape, but he did receive a conviction for assault… Anyways, I’ve listened to the album, guess I can die now?
This album, although catchy, got very repetitive very quickly. The songs are about 7 minutes long across the board, and they inevitably all sound the same at around the 2 or 3 minute mark. It’s good music to move to, but not so great to just sit and listen to. Olomide has a nice voice, and I do think this album was kind of fun. It just wasn’t really for me. I would’ve like to know a bit more about the lyrics for context, but translating the songs was quite difficult to do.
Esse disco é tão fora do meu habitual e referências de música que acho até difícil avaliar. Tem umas guitarras legais as vezes e a percussão tbm, mas além disso não sei muito o que dizer.
I'm guessing this album isn't included in the post-2012 edition of the book.
Why album generator? Why???
Not only is it mid but this guy is a contender for one of the ugliest album covers on Spotify, shit's hilariously awful
Eh, interesting album for sure. Won't listen again.
The songs just drag on a bit too long. Once they hit the 4 to 5 minute mark, I'm ready to move on. It'd be fine if it were only one or two songs that were really long, but all of them are well over 5 minutes (okay, one song is just at 5 minutes). The music doesn't evoke much excitement despite the upbeat tempo, and it all sounds samey. Definitely not my jam.
Sure
I’m sure if I saw this live it would be infectiously fun. Listening to it on its own it all just fades into itself. 2.5/5
One of those albums that listening to in the sunshine, drink in hand, dancing away in a crowd might be fun. In the cold light of day it's bright, breezy but boring.
It was ok, nice to have some non western music. Shame he is a piece of shit though. Trying to separate the art from the artist isn’t always wasy
2.5
I did not think this was horrid. In fact I think I could be something I could listen to if the production wasn't so chintzy. This did not only sound cheap for 1992, it would have sounded cheap in 1985. The freakin keys and drum sounds give me 80s consumer grade Yamaha feel, you know the kind you bought at Target. Just a step above Casio. If it had a more rich robust sound, I might be fine with it. But it just sounds like NPR royalty free music as is. (4.5/10) ★★
The songs overstay their welcome, and it is way too 90s sounding. 2 stars
2.5
When getting albums like this, I feel really un-cultured and some may call me narrow minded. I just don’t like this kind of music. I get that there are some nice danceable rhytms, and the music makes me smile from time to time. However, the songs are far too long and I lose interest about halfway through them
Bit too happy and bouncy for me.
Liked that it was something different. Liked that it's a different language but didn't really hold my attention.
Ok, I’m rating this on the music alone, as I rarely read the Wikipedia page for every album. Wow, I picked a whopper of an album to change up my habits. The guy seems like a piece of shit. Having said that, the music is “okay”, as it reminds me what you would hear if you were boarding a Carnival Cruise trip. In that environment it’s pleasant enough (especially with a drink or two), but I’ll never go back to it in any other environment.
I know congolese music is supposed to be pepetitive and all, but it's just not fun enough to warrant it's lenght
Well... It wasn't that bad, but in terms of african/congolese music, there's plenty of better options that could have been on this list.
Why?
01) Papa Bonheur - 7,0 02) Désespoir - 7,0 03) Koweït, rive gauche - 6,5 04) Qui cherche trouve - 5,5 05) Elixir - 5,5 06) Porte Monnaie - 6,0 07) Conte de fées - 5,5 08) Obrigado - 5,0 09) Dit Jeannot - 5,5 TOTAL: 5,94 (59/100) Current ranking: 389/490
decent but wouldn’t listen again, it was just okay, songs dragged
4/10 - the songs sounded almost the same and were not that good in my opinion.
World music being lively, upbeat, infectious and dance-able. While musicianship isn't bad it soon ticks all the boxes of resort background music.
A bit monotonous. Tired of listening to this album after awhile.
I wasn't feeling this one. It was fine, but a necessary listen? I'm not sure.
I've really enjoyed all of the African music this list has put in front of me. This... not so much. Soukous sounds a lot like Soca to my ears and I'm just not fond of it. Koffi has an undeniably strong voice, but I just can't get into the jerky rhythms and pop production overall.
it's kinda fun without sounding like it has any hard hitting impact, sounds like 80s samba music, album did not grow on me and just wanted it to be done about half way through
Made me want to dance but I simultaneously lost my mind because I swear the same song played 4 or 5 times throughout the album
For fans of cheesy 90's production (complete with tacky midi sounds), African rhythms and the French language. Robert, mate, you might have messed up with these African album picks, clearly there must be better stuff out there.
Not my style
Gear: Abyss DIANA MR Artwork: 🫵🟪🟩 Production: 😐🙂👌 Music: 🎸🪘🕺💃🇫🇷🌍 Rating: 🕺(💃)/5
2.5 It was fine! Very white of me but I imagined Paul Simon singing over a lot of the tracks lol
Very long, fun, but I didn't understand it at all, so I don't want to listen to it again.
I’ve never heard of Koffi Olomide before, but I tend to enjoy modern music from Africa, so I have some pretty high hopes for this album. Despite going into this album with some high hopes and an open mind, I wasn’t really impressed by it. My biggest complaint is that this album was pretty boring, and none of the songs really went anywhere interesting. Some songs had some synthesizer arrangements that I enjoyed, but those sounds wound up being pretty sparse in the songs where they popped up. This album wasn’t bad, but it was just bland. I don’t understand this is on this list when an artist like William Onyeabor isn’t represented at all.
Not usually what I would listen to but, it was not awful.
It's ok
Reminds me of lady smith black Mombasa sometimes. Reminds me of some classic 80s city pop. A little cheesy. Very fun/well played and produced. Makes me think of vapor wave 90’s commercials showing off tropical vacations
Didn't know what to make of this. Ok, apart from cheesy electric piano.
Some okay background noise, but every song going around 7 minutes each makes sure that they all overstay their welcome.
It's conventional World Beat. There's nothing particularly original here -- you've heard one song, you've heard them all.
It’s not that this was bad but it’s just not something I’d ever actually select. Out of my q zone
it's different, but that's not enough to make it good. It seems like background music at a beach bar.
Surprised at how dated this sounds. Usually 'world' music tends to keep a certain timelessness, with only the sound recording quality really varying from era to era, but here the choice of sounds makes the record sound very of its time. The songs also go on for too long. However, I could see myself revisit this and enjoying it more then.
Mostly boring and whatever. Also dude is a creeeeeeep 3/10
Not for me. Also too long. 2 stars
Musicianship is good but the songs kind of bleed together after a while and the music isn't totally my jam. Also, he's an alleged scumbag.
Fine. Nothing wrong with it and fun rhythms but not really anything interesting happening whatsoever
This would be ok if I was sitting at a beach 🏖️ bar drinking a tropical drink but otherwise I didn't really feel it
Not my speed
It was ok I suppose, I didn't hate it. I like the bit of variety this gives compared to the rest of the albums on this list It's very samey, which is bad for an hour long album as it just gets tedious to listen to fast Didn't really invoke anything in me but I can see why people would enjoy this
Background music
sei nem o que comentar honestamente mas n achei bom não
I find it interesting that a lot of people that have listened to and reviewed this album for this project are acting all holier than thou about the awful things this guy has done and giving the album poor reviews, while at the same time handing out great reviews to equally shitty artists just because they know who they are or are more famous (Michael Jackson, Kanye, etc.). I'm not saying this guy gets a pass, and I'm not saying the other shitty people with albums on this list should either. I'm just saying that if we're going to condemn this guy's work because of the person he is, let's also condemn the work of artists like Jackson and Kanye for the same reasons. I stated in my review of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" that I wanted to review the art, not the artist, to separate the two from each other. Some people find that impossible to do, and I don't blame them for it. But the point of this project is to listen to and review albums, so that's what I’m going to do. So, with that in mind, let's review this album. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maybe it's just that I don't understand the style of music enough to understand why this is so repetitive. Melodies, guitar tones, arpeggios, and even specific phrases appear and reappear throughout this album enough that I'm left assuming that it must be a feature, not a bug. That the culture around this music is such that you just cannot have this style of music without certain elements. Like how a lot of rock music uses heavy distortion on guitars, metal uses double bass drums, reggaeton uses that same reggaeton beat in most of its songs, and how Radiohead wouldn't be Radiohead if you could actually understand Thom Yorke (still not over that...). So I'm willing to assume that I just don't know enough about the genre here, and that the repetitiveness is intentional and celebrated by those who have intimate knowledge of it. But it didn't work for me, honestly. I loved what I heard in the first couple tracks, but the more certain themes or motifs kept returning, the more I realized just how one-note the whole thing seemed. Bummer, because a lot of it is a fun, happy time with music you could easily dance to either in your seat or on a dance floor. On the whole, this had potential but just didn't get any more interesting or better after the first couple of tracks. Two stars. Standout Tracks: Papa bonheur, Désespoir, Qui cherche trouve, Porte-monnaie
Did not understand a word. Ok overall, but most of it sounded the same. 2.5/5
Quick history lesson about afro-cuban music: In the early 20th century, afro-cuban recordings proved to be very popular throughout America. EMI was doing quite well selling these records, until the Great Depression hit in the '30s. It was decided that in order to boost sales, EM would launch their G.V. series which would see pressings of their most popular afro-cuban records being distributed worldwide. EMI agents from several countries around the world, including the Belgian Congo, would help sell records to distributors to help make up for lost profits in America. One commercial radio station owner in the Belgian Congo, Hourdebise, would heavily feature G.V. records on his broadcast, which helped to boost the popularity and influence of afro-cuban music within the sub-Saharan country. With the music showing some resemblances to traditional central african music, many residents of the Belgian Congo took to the Latin American rhythms and began incorporating it into their own songs. Thus, we get Congolese Rumba. This would eventually evolve into Soukous, which is a genre that would see heavy guitar work that was intricate, bright, and set to the rhythms of afro-cuban music. Enter Koffi Olomide, originally a ghostwriter for artists making Soukous music and eventually breaking out in his own career. His workrate combined with his various collaborations had propelled him to become one of the most popular African musicians of the 20th century. Haut de gamme / Koweït, rive gauche is just one of many albums from his impressive catalogue, though this one sees the genre of Soukous being weighed down by cheesy '90s production. What should hold more weight and warmth ends up coming across as shallow and boring. I'm sure the songs would find more success outside of the album context, but I did not find this to be an experience I would revisit.
World -> 2
Interesting but not fir me
Opening track - Sounds like it could be the opening music of the Congolese version of Encanto At 5.45 I checked to see if it was still track 1 as my Papa is 80 and I’d like to see him again at least once but Koffi seems to have other ideas Track 2 - Generic late 80s love song intro morphs into a modern church music vibe (one of the newer ones which leave you disappointed you’re not singing an assembly banger) don’t mind it. Found myself adding my own lyrics. Repeatedly singing Jump and Wave worked a treat. Track 3 - google translate says it means Kuwait left bank. Sorry Koffi but I’ve not the time nor the inclination to find out more Lasted 4 mins before skipping which is a lot less than Koffi lasts as he sounds like an absolute destroyer of poon Track 4 - Whoever seeks finds 4 tracks in and as Bono said I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. 4mins 50seconds and Jump and Wave has made a comeback Track 5 - 1min 45 I’d love to know what Koffi is laughing at. Seeing as the opening words are “my love” I bet it’s something filth. Track 6 - Wallet. I hope the extra Spotify revenue helps to fill Koffi’s wallet. Jump and Wave is back Track 7 - Fairy tale imagining the bass player in the studio getting fed up with Koffi’s swordsman antics. FFS Koffi can we just get though this Track 8 - Thanks I’m sure quite a few people will be saying thanks at this point if you enjoyed the other tracks. It’s a very Cantina bar band “Play the same song” kind of album Track 9 - 1.42 checked to make sure this wasn’t track 1 again and Spotify is on repeat. No it isn’t it’s still track 9 Cheers Koffi you’ve passed an hour
Sounds like the main song to every 90’s Disney film. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Gets the hips shaking - wish there was a video of a mate of mine dancing to it in a slightly questionable way. It’s not really my cup of tea, especially not on a cold November morning, but I could see this working at a summer get together, or sitting off on a balcony on holiday while nursing a can and waiting for the missus to get her fucking shit together she’s been in there for like 2 hours now and I’m starving but you can’t say owt or it’ll turn into a right kick off and spoil the evening and potentially spill over into the next day and you end up swimming on your bill all day all passively aggressively. Found this a bit of a slog and the beats sound like Casio keyboard presets. 2/5
Was going to give 3 stars, and blame language barrier and dated production for it not being higher. But, knocking an additional star because Koffi sounds like a garbage fire of a person, if Wikipedia is accurate.
It's wild to recognize super dated sounds and effects in genres that are still utterly different from what I grew up with and am familiar with. & while I'm thrilled to get exposed to soukous and a Congolese artist I'd never heard of before, this ultimately sounded too dated to really enjoy - my general impression was one of cheesiness without understanding a word of the lyrics. I might give his other music a try, but he also sounds like a hot mess of a person, like the Shia Labeouf of Congolese musicians, beating up people & abusing women left & right.
Not for me, but great to discover this music too!
2.5/5. Not great. I was optimistic seeing that it was not english, but was let down. It's different, but it sounds pretty dated.
What pleasant music; it's always great when this list drifts outside the anglo influence. Now to open up the artist's wikipedia page, but not before I take a big sip of hot coffee....
Greit nok, men håpte da skulle vær hakket bedre
Not bad but not that much variation and the instrumentation is veeeery repetitive . I'm guessing the focus is on the lyrics which is great… but i don't understand a word so this album flies over my head.
This is the soundtrack for every 80”s movie that has a palm tree in it
While I certainly appreciate the variety that this album provides to this list, it seems unremarkable on its own. Much of this is likely due to the language and lack of cultural context on my end, but still there wasn't enough there musically to compel future listening.
This was decent background music, but also fairly boring and very hard to distinguish one song from the next. As ever with music that's out of my comfort zone, I'm not sure if that's a me problem or an it problem.
Found it quite interesting and pleasant to listen to at the beginning then it just got a bit samey towards the end.
I won't speak at length about this album because of my lack of exposure to the genre. I enjoyed it rhythmically, but felt like some songs really reflected it's 90s release date (Porte-monnaie comes to mind). Favorite song: Qui cherche trouve Least favorite: Désespoir Knew before? No
The guitar track sounds like Latin loops from a program like Garage Band. To be fair, I don't speak the language, but to me the songs sound very samey. They are upbeat in a chill way though, so OK to play in the background.
Tried, couldn't finish.
Started off enjoying this but after a couple of tracks it got quite repetitive. Not something I would have otherwise listened to so always nice to hear something in a genre not familiar to me.
I felt like a lot of the songs blended together a bit because they all sounded so similar. Personal enjoyment: 2/5 Relevance to this list: 3/5
I kinda feel the same about this genre about 80's/90's music. Alot of the production shifts the original charm of the sound in more of an electronic sense but it sounds almost too electronic? It washes out alot of the genre I appreciate. But, from a critical listening perspective the album artist and genre would definitely go on to inspire early 2000's latinx pop. Daddy Yankee comes to mind.
It's not bad per se, it's just boring to my ears. And it makes me wonder... If this is on the list, why isn't any of Amadou & Mariam's albums?
It all sounds the same to me.
Not sure why this is on the list. Very repetitive, especially after the 4th or 5th song. Didn’t have it but not impressed.
It's a festive soundtrack for the day, but after a few songs, it began to feel repetitive at times.
It all sounds the same
After about 5 minutes this faded into being something like the soundtrack to a movie I left on but got distracted and walked into another room. There was something musical happening but it may as well have been playing nearby because I no longer cared.
I didn't really like this. But at no point did I hate it or feel the need to turn it off or skip a song. It's way to long, it's not in a language I understand (so who knows what the message is here) and apparently the guy is not a nice guy. Probably music a movie would use as a background. And I'm not sure why it's on the list. But there are worse albums on here.
Not for me
I’d rather listen to Paul Simon’s “Graceland”. This was just ok. Tough with all foreign lyrics.
Haha
this album reminds me of a particular cafe in bandon oregon along the coast. it's a small tourist haven, a carbon copy of many such towns that you can find all along northern oregon's coast. white washed timber buildings splintered from years of harsh salt in the air and water. wind cuts it's path through everything. The cafe was something you could find all over oregon back then. a funky little room in the upstairs of a building that hadn't changed in generations. bright wood making up the most of the furniture and wall trim. i remember nursing my drink--most likely a latte with whole milk--and looking at a corkboard set up along the back wall. the entirety of the corkboard was taken up with a world map made sometime between 2000 and 2011. below the map was a simple proposition written in sharpie: where are you from? put a pin! i remember spending minutes scanning the map. most points on the map made sense with plenty of pins cluttering California and the Pacific Northwest in it's entirety. most pins were placed all over the continental us. a friend of mine put their pin in their small alaskan home, adding to the collective project. there were only a few pins in alaska scattered around the massive state. it was these outliers that fascinated me. every continent had a pin it somewhere, from england to japan, to argentina to zimbabwe. it seemed hundreds of people from across the globe had wandered into the little hole in the wall in a tourist afterthought for international travel. i was struck with awe in the idea that people from such different walks of life had stood where i now was and marked their home. invisible threads spread across the earth that intersected in this homey bit of nowhere. the music of koffi olomide reminds me of that connection. i don't know this man, or can speak the language that he speaks. but in this moment as i write, stoned and feverish, i feel connected. our threads intertwined through a fan project of a book most people will never read. a pin on the spotify listener map.
I normally go 3 starts automatically for world music, seeing as though I have little to no frame of reference. This record is no different, but at times sounds like a characateur of itself
Ça a parti pas trop pire, mais vers la fin je trouvais que ça s'essoufflait beaucoup trop. Quelque chose qui joue en défaveur selon moi c'est que les pièces sont souvent beaucoup trop longue pour leur bien. Aussi semblerait que cet artiste est plutôt problématique. 5/10
I didn’t know about Olomide’s statutory rape conviction while listening to this album, but even so I’m not inclined to give it an especially high score. It was fine, not exceptional.
This one just really didn't do it for me. Not totally sure why but I found it quite bland.
Haut de gamme / Koweït, rive gauche is jaunty and uplifting in places but gets pretty tiring and samey pretty quickly. It doesn't need to be as long as it is either, it's a standard underwhelming 2, aside from the guy being a rapist sack of shit, but we've had our share of absolute cunts on this list already and there's always an effort to try to separate the art from the artist.
Yeah, I really struggle to get excited about this kind of music, and it's no different here. Most likely a fault with me, rather than the music, but I really struggle to differentiate between good and bad in this kind of genre. 2/5.
Hmmmm...
Something is off with this cat. It’s sounds like one of those compilation albums where popular songs are made squeaky clean and performed by teens. Like playing a 33 album on 45. It’s not terrible but I’m cool with never hearing it again.
Each song is an enjoyable enough 3★ but this is a case of diminishing returns with how identical all the songs are.
ganz nett aber is apparently a creep, also punkteabzug
Haut de gamme / Koweït, rive gauche is a studio album by Koffi Olomidé, originally released in 1992. This was an interesting one. We've got our first album on this list from Congo. Based on other users' comments, it appears the artist has a sketchy past to say the least. Putting all that aside, I was disappointed by this. It sounds a bit...generic. Echoing what others have said, it sounds like what would be played at a tourist resort. I think it's the overproduction. Although this was released in 1992, there is still a lot of 80s cheese in this. The synth sounds, the drums, etc. Too slick for my taste. The guitar playing throughout was fantastic though.
Lasted 4 songs. Surely this isn't the best Congo has to offer. The bad MS paint job album cover, the string of controversies that litter his wiki page, the ok-ish music... Not for me.
It's fine. Just not for me. Would I listen to it again? No. That's what 2 stars will probably mean for me.
This sounds like the type of repetitive, same-sounding music that would be played over the PA system of a warm weather resort's lounge and gift shop for tourists.
It's well made, but there is little variety between songs. It's just not my cup of tea. 2/5
2.5
This was a pretty good album; I listened to it while working and it was pleasure to listen to despite me not understanding the language. It is a good backdrop album.
No está tan mal, una que otra con buen ritmo. Pero no es lo mío
I usually like a bit of African music but this isn’t doing it for me the way other albums have. The grooves are a bit lightweight, without the punch and energy that I usually enjoy, and there’s a hint of 80s pop production running through the album that doesn’t do it any favours.
Listened to it while make some apple crisp. The apple crisp turned out great.
Sounds like the music playing during the excursion boat ride.
2.44
I didn’t like that midi Doughie houser production. The guy is a criminal
Did not particularly care for this one. The sound is good and it is well-produced, but I'm not a fan of the music. It's a bit overproduced and a little too upbeat for my taste. The (non-English) vocals are a bit too prominent for me as well, so there's not much appeal for me.
La musique du monde :')
It's not bad, but really got tired of the stock Casio keyboard sounds. 2/5
It's good to see something from outside the US and UK, but this was kinda boring after the first couple of tracks.
Needed some coffee to get through Koffi, just a bit too light for me (2.5/5)
I love afrobeat and these songs had a great rhythm and great mood to them, but I did not think there was much of a variation from song to song. It felt like a slog after about 15 minutes, and I'd happily take one song on its own, but a whole album sorta put me to sleep. High level of musicianship, but I wouldn't listen again.
Don’t really need to hear again. But didn’t kill me.
It might have helped if my French was better but this one is missing that je ne sais quoi that I needed for a higher rating.
Really something that is not in my wheelhouse. Congolese music whilst sounding fun and interesting, is something that I don't enjoy on a daily basis. Best: Desespoir Worst: Dit Jeannot
Wading up to the swim-up bar in Cancun to get my 6th Negra Modelo of the morning, this is what's playing.......probably.
Not bad.....but also not for me.
I think that was just the same annoying song nine times in a row. I can’t say it’s objectively BAD though.
Тумба-юмба
блять он бесконечный
- the vibes are good yes, but do i ever see myself listening to this again? Probably not
Lokale muziek uit de jaren '90. Het voelt at ouderwets aan. Het album Graceland van Paul Simon is dan een stuk leuker. **
Eh wasn't really feeling this one. It was decent as background music but hard for me to really get into.
The musicianship is fine, but this is not my style of music. There are albums that make me want to split my head on the corner of a cinder block wall, but this one falls just short.
Pretty not good. Not 1 star bad I guess but never again.
Theres not a single song on this album that I would want to go back and listen to again
Nada que resalte mas allá de la obvia calidad como músico. Pero que se yo, no debo tener el oído para distinguir algo sobresaliente en melodías ambientales
Classic forgettable album :A
A fun listen once
my only familiarity with this genre of music is from commericals for cruises, which brought a fun and whimsical energy to my seemingly endless covid isolation
This isn’t for me. I did not find much of anything redeeming here. Musically it is super interesting even if it lacks the pull and grab to keep my attention.
Every song sounded the same. Not a bad listen but not really sure why it's on this list.
uh pass Significant 39/125 Liked 18/125 Added 4/125 NNN
Caribbean afro pop meets Paul Simon. Most songs are twice as long as they need to be, and the music could, for the most part, just be put on a loop. The singer is quite talented. Otherwise, not something I'd ever want to listen to again.
Fun but thats about it
Eh, it's pretty jaunty but not amazing.
I can finally live as a Disney princess in a Latin America film. I mean, it's relaxing, but who decided this was a life changing album? Dudes got a nice voice though
If the goal of this challenge is to listen to things I usually wouldn't, this definitely ticks that box! I enjoyed it and it was quite uplifting, but I'm not in a rush to listen to it again.
Kreolische afrikanische Klänge mit dem Hang zum Gewimmer mit brauchbarer Stimme unterstützt von Rasseln und Bongos - nicht mein Geschmack.
Really not liking this at all. Pop and not the good kind
I feel bad that I don't have stronger feelings on this. It's fine background music, but I probably wouldn't listen to it with focus
Very ‘80s DJ-cruise-ship’ - dated and synthesized, doesn't hold up well
Ok
2/5. Yeah definitely something. I mean, it's a fun gimmick but not an hour worth, it's only natural to start tuning out. Like it's not bad but it's just a lot especially for a different language. Sometimes, multi-lingual albums transcend my language barrier but this one inhibits it. It's good background music and nothing more.
This was an upbeat good world/disco album, was swaying between and 2 or a 3, but the fact the man raped a 15 year old dancer sways any good feels I was going to give him, fair play to anyone separating the art from the artist, always harder to do when you know about the artist before embracing the art.
He may be a legend and this album may be representative, but it's also a strong vibe that wasn't my wavelength today despite giving it an honest effort more than once.
This album is pretty generic. The tracks run too long, and by the second song, the repetitive rhythms start to wear thin. Dude is also a terrible human being. Nothing of value here.
Totalmente desconocido. Tampoco es que sea fácil conocer estos autores más exóticos que además de africanos son de la órbita francófona. No me ha convencido, me ha sonado demasiado a orquesta de verbena. Como otros muchos no creo que sea imprescindible aunque tampoco sea malo.
i am usually pretty open to "world" music. usually i find it pretty fulfilling to hear music outside of my norms. this album was fine, i have no qualms with it. it didn't wow me
Album 277 of 1001 Koffi Olomide - Haut de gamme / Koweït, rive gauche Rating : 2 / 5 Language barrier and musical style keep me from considering this anything more than some pleasant background noise. Don't know anything of the guy, just not really for me.
Ça sonne pas très haut de gamme
Got excited for a bit with something new but very fast got into the ‘Meeeh’
Fun to listen to a different genre than I normally listen and it started out promising but then ended up being an album that just wasn't for me.
ok but got old pretty quick
Not for me-
Rating: 5/10 Meh.
Some nice bits, but overall pretty boring and forgettable for me at least. Won't be re-listening.
Det är ju inte sämre än rap och hiphop men det blir en svag tvåa.
It was interesting. It wasn't good. It wasn't bad. I won't listen to it again though.
Meh
musically, great album. musicianship is pristine and the songwriting is good probably and it’s a danceable record. the songs are obviously too long and repetitive but that’s the nature of the genre so i can’t fault it there. usually i dock points for perving on minors on record but i don’t know if he is here or not so i wont. perving on minors is obviously bad but if it has no affect on the music then i don’t take it into the rating. however, he is singing in french which does affect the music, so i have to dock a star for that. because he’s french and also a pedo, he should kill himself.
Unique. 2/5
listened over breakfast in Cumming at mom and dad's. beat is nice, but nothing i would ever listen to again. all lyrics in congolese. 1.6/5
Hey, that papa boner track was kinda fun. But this is pretty much just all-inclusive resort background pool music. Also, this album cover is a real vibe! Co-worker pointed out that it looks like someone was mid photoshop on his pants because they’re so white lmao.
This was catchy for a bit but just got very repetitive, not for me
Juuh. En sit tiedä miten kovaa settiä on genressään
Обложка 10/10 Бля, а хули так скучно? Ебать, я еще только на 4 треке 7 песня про отсос Ладно, не так уж и хуево 4/10
Koffi Olomide is a Congolese Soukus artist. Soukus is apparently Rumba music with a faster tempo, and more guitars. To me it sounds like Spanish music, sung in French, dripping with 80's cheese. Even the album cover screams 80's, with Koffi's blindingly white pants. I feel like I don't have the knowledge to accurately rate this album, because I know nothing about Congolese rumba music, so how it stacks (good or bad) is lost on me. I know that I enjoyed the danceable beats achieved by the band, but whether it makes it good or bad in the grand scheme of things, I have no idea. As I don't speak French, the bulk of this album ran together for me, so I can't really pick out where the songs started and stopped. Favouririte songs: Papa Bonheur Least favourite songs: Dit Jeannot 2/5
Nice for a change but not a regular listen. I have an old Papa Wemba album that has a very similar vibe.
Not really my thing… it’s not terrible and I like the recording, instruments, and the singing is nice. But will likely never listen to it again. I’m gonna have to go 2.
Ritmos africanos y latinos, con ritmo. Ninguna característica especial.
❄️
good stuff, but not really into it
Not for me.
Interesting that you can hear the cultural "roots" of Carribean music in this one, but it's not for me
A latinish album, but I was not really feeling it.
Didn't know about Olomide before, definitely do now. If nothing else, the vocals were really good. Cool to learn more about Congolese music, but this felt kinda long for what it was. Nice background party music though? I zoned out as it went on... Some elements stood out, but weren't really developed, parts on tracks 4 and 7. (Listened 6/18/23, before "previous" album)
4/10 musique africaine pas désagréable, le chant pas mon vibe attouchements sexuels et séquestration étaient dans mon esprit
Not horrible, but also, not really for me. 2/5
Ok but a bit ‘background’ after a while. Would be great live.
I appreciated the uplifting melodies of the album, but other than that it was pretty underwhelming. It contained tons of typical 80s synth parts that have aged very well in my opinion, and the tracks were just not that good.
This was just not for me. Also from reading wikipedia he seems like a garbage person.
African beats. This album was okay. It's amazing how many African albums I've had so far. It's truly a genre of music I don't understand but I can appreciate the artistry.
Gonna keep it short and sweet: the guy is pretty shit and I won’t want to endorse him in anyway. The music doesn’t deserve much praise either with it being boring and lacking of energy.
He sounds like a real charmer. The difference between this and Clapton though is this is fun to listen to. Oh... Oh wait, track 2. Oh it's ok, it got better. The 90s production that kicked it off was too much. Oof, same situation with track 5. I enjoy the guitar noodlings and vocal harmonies. I feel like I can get better examples of that elsewhere (in fact I left it on and Spotify played some afterwards), but this was decent to have on in the background. By track 7 though I've basically tuned out.
This was surprisingly decent for not understanding a word of what was said. This had more Caribbean vibes than African but I found it to be decent background music. It’s hard to rate something accurately when you don’t know what is being said but the instrumentals were enjoyable. 4.0/10
Weird that this is on the list. Not good as far as African music goes, and not good as far as dance music goes. 2.5/5
koffi wrote these special songs for his precious mama. the most not my thing I've ever heard. Koweït, Rive Gauche
Not a fan. It's cute if you're looking for music to play on a beach. But the songs all seem so similar that they kind of melted together. Not the type of music I would seek out but the kind of music I would bop to with a margarita in my hand.
Like being drugged on a childrens birthday party. Funny at begging, tiresome in the stretch. 1.9
Interesting and different, didn't really hook me though
I felt that this music was very funky and fun to dance along t, listen to the lyrics and just something new. It isn’t totally up my alley for something I would enjoy listening to but it was good.
Music was fun enough I suppose, but pretty difficult to have any of it land meaningfully. Favorite track: Elixir
It's alright but really nothing special, not sure why its here ove rmany many other things.
Sounds like music that plays when you call a utility company and they put you on hold. I don't think that the "world" music genre is for me.
Not bad, but not my style.
Very repetitive African folk music inspired pop with late 80s production, which is a mismatch. The bass player is really good, but overall the music is very cheesy. Favorite song: Porte-monnaie
Was looking forward to this, as was completely new to me. I put it on while working and have to admit that - sadly - nothing really jumped out at me. Should give it another listen sometime. Was pleasant enough.
I would have preferred more Congolese rhythms rather than the Western influences that appear to be stapled on to some of the tracks. The better moments are when the slick US soul production doesn't feature. I've got limited knowledge or reference points. It's probably best to take it for what it is: an uplifting album, not quite my thing, but still decent.
really not my thing. only one song got my attention - Conte de fees, which had cool guitars and all. other than that, did not really find this interesting.
I got kinda put off reading the wikipedia page about the artist... Seems okay
I thought that “Haut de gamme” might mean “hate the game,” as in what you should hate instead of the player. Apparently it's more about high-end, luxury, or upscale fashion and culture. I guess Koffi Olomide’s outfit on the album cover fits that a bit. But Olomide’s high-end luxury style didn’t click for me as well as the Femi Kuti album I listened to right before this. Olomide was apparently very influential in African music, and especially in Congolese culture, but mostly what I will recall is the various feuds and legal issues he encountered later in life that I read about while listening.
Mostly happy upbeat music which is at odds with how he is described in his wikipedia article (multiple assault charges and a conviction for statutory rape). I have a history of docking stars for artists who use their status to exploit others and no exception will be made here.
meh i dont care for koffi
Papa bonheur
Leuk voor een keer, maar verder, neuh.
If I stumbled across this being played live at an outdoor festival in the summer I would probably dig it, but completely does not fit the vibe of the Pacific Northwest in the fall.
I can tell when something's corny, even if I don't speak the language. Best track: Obrigado
Not my cup of tea
Unfortunately I found this record really boring and really far from my taste.
I normally give a 3-star, middle-of-the-road rating to most of these world music albums, simply because I don't feel like I know enough about the genres/cultures to rate it. However, I didn't like this one. Even without speaking the language, I get a real creepy vibe from this guy. Also, the music and his vocals are subpar.
The early 90's synth piano sounds on this record really have not aged well. Other than that, this is a great record. Not in my wheel house but good for what it is. I just struggle to get over those synth drums and trumpets.