Pirates Choice

Pirates Choice is an album from the 1980s of Senegalese band Orchestra Baobab. If I wouldn't know better, I'd think it was Cuban. It only goes to show that the origins of this Cuban sound (think of The Buena Vista Social Club) are from Africa. Great happy and cheerful melodies.

Dealing with an absolutely toxic boss at work and this is exactly what I need. So soothing and calming.

Fuck And I cannot emphasize this enough Yes

I don't really know what's going on here, but I love the vibe and I love the sound. Sometimes that's enough.

It's a bit repetitive, but it deserves my 5 only for presenting me with such a different kind of album that I did not even know I needed to listen to.

Really nice choice

Very nice find in a music genre I don't know well at all. What impresses me the most here is how both the gentle artistry and straightforward production values sound timeless for a record released in 1982. Ironically, the wikipedia blurb up there informed me that Orchestra Baobab would soon fall out of favor for their Seganalese audience because of the irruption of the mbalax style (Youssou N'dour and the likes) -- a style which probably didn't age as well decades later. Whether in Africa as elsewhere in the world, the eighties aesthetics sometimes did a lot of damage to authentic-sounding artistry. At least, it's a strong opinion I have about them. I recognized the very distinctive son cubano influences right away, and was surprised to find them in a fully "African" context. I don't know the first thing about Wolof and Mande music traditions, but I guess they bring the variety of influences I sense listening to this album. Apart from that, I enjoyed the guitar licks on "Utrus Horas" - some of them surprisingly atonal -- and "Werente Serigne"'s guitar and vocal hooks were very catchy. "Coumba" is also a memorable, bittersweet break-up song. Its French lyrics are very naive, but also very endearing. The rest tags along as excellent background music to relax and unwind by the pool this Sunday, with cool sax tones and cool vocal performances. Maybe I'll get a little more familiar with those other tracks later on. I only wish some of the songs weren't as long as they are for active listening. But the extended duration works pretty well for cuts showing subtle and interesting progressions, such as "Ray M'bele", or the odd meters at the end of the lively "Toumaranke" (from the second CD of outtakes taken from the recording sessions used for the original album, which is the first six tracks of the double-CD version, if I understood correctly). As usual for this sort of suggestion shedding a light outside of the Western Anglo sphere, I am left wondering if some supplementary lists of 1001 albums should be dedicated to that type of record so as to give justice to music traditions from all over the world. But of course, it goes without saying, there's absolutely nothing wrong with submitting this album in the generator's user list. So thank you, anonymous user. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 4 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and production values + 3.5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 122 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 140 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 309 ---- Salut Émile, Tu pourras lire ma dernière réponse sous le *Little Criminals* de Randy Newman. A+.

Went on long enough that it juuuuust started testing my patience, but this is the kind of pleasant mellow music that can go on for a long time without getting tiring.

Though the album length was excessive, the song lengths gave the album a good flow. I’d never heard of this band and liked them

Ça serait mon choix aussi

A very welcome burst of joyful sound. Hard not to like

each track is a straight shot of afro carribean goodness. Though languid at times, very good and cool vibey times await

Very nice

So the day before I had a Japanese Rock band as a selection and I did not enjoy that. This I did. When an album is in a language I don’t speak I shift my attention to other attributes. I loved listening to all parts of this. The music, the sound of the vocals, the overall feel. I feel I got a good intro a music I never would have stumbled across otherwise.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Ledi ndieme m’bodj, Werente serigne, Foire internationale

Quite laid back and oozing integrity. These guys are the real thing and I could listen all day.

What a cool collection of 70s'-era Senegalese dance music. Even though the extended runtime wore on me a bit near the end, the expressive yet chill instrumentals on this LP made for some great listening. Big fan of the chorus-drenched guitar lines meandering in over the excellent melodic backing – this whole LP had an air of slacker coolness that has aged like a fine wine. Cool add, always great to get some more international music onto the user list.

Yeah this is the stuff. Make sure to listen to the correct version since the original was only 45 minutes long versus the spotify version which is over 90 minutes. Really interesting stuff and interesting to learn the influences of Cuban and Senegalese music on each other. This is what the book should have been all about. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4.5/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes

Relaxing, fun album

I love when interesting World options get added. I've never heard Ethiopian music and the African / French feel is so classic. 4/5

Vet inte riktigt vad det här var för något? Bra är det i alla fall om än något för lång. Här blir det minsann en stabil fyra.

Seems to not only be a compilation album, but an extended re-release of a compilation album. Good thing I'm actually very much in the mood for something like this right now. From my two minutes of research, this is a Senegalese band playing music heavily inspired by Cuban music, which itself is heavily inspired by Senegalese music. Very chill and enjoyable, but as is very often the case for compilation albums, I was mostly done with it about 4 songs before the album was done with itself. Happy I listened to it though. Cool suggestion.

You know I'm absolutely here for this shit

Album Cover: 5/5 (Reminiscent of a 1950s or 1960s album) There isn't a Wikipedia page for the album so I am trusting that I listened to right album/songs on YouTube. What I head was good. "1989 UK release of legendary 1982 recordings by the Senegalese band Orchestra Baobab. It captures the group's smooth mix of Afro-Cuban rhythms and West African styles, becoming a classic item for world music fans." AI Search results for info on the Album. Track List: www.discogs.com -------------------------------------------------- 1 Utru Horas 8:38 2 Coumba 7:36 3 Ledi Ndieme M'bodj 8:49 4 Werente Serigne 6:39 5 Ray Mbele 6:51 6 Soldadi 7:57 7 Utru Horas (Alternate Take) 7:02 8 Coumba (Alternate Take) 7:38 Rating: 4/5

Interesting and catchy album.

Pretty dope

Son cubano, Wolof music, Mande music, Afro-Cuban jazz. Ni fu ni fa.

It’s ok but too long.

Very enjoyable sort of background music

I got behind and then mixed up, and left my review for this album on Prince Daddy & The Hyena page. Whoops. No undo button so I guess Ill tell you how I felt about Prince Daddy & The Hyena here? Sorry about fucking up. Though, probably small potatoes given global warming is real and we're all watching billionaires race to contribute the most to an unprecedented fossil fuel energy surge in service of a technology designed to steal and the usurp the value of human creation, which may possibly also start trying to directly kill us all. Anyway PD&tH is fine kind of late era sound emo punk. Little bit oversaturated on the punk lately on this list.

Cheerful enough and something different. Not my jam but worth a listen.

Cold tunes

A bit tricky to research, but this album was first released in 1982 (under a different name), released in the UK in 1989 and then reissued on cd in 2001, which is the version available on streaming services. The first 6 tracks are the original album material, and the rest are the remaining songs recorded during the album sessions. With all that being said: This is some nice, light Senegalese dance music.

Way too long, but pretty good

I can appreciate the skill and 45 minutes of this would have been decent. 95 minutes is too much.

Cuban influencing? Fine as a short listen. Wouldn't return to this.

The first track I didn’t like The second track I rather enjoyed I switched off after that because I was late for work. But ultimately I think too much jazz