Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 11/10/1999
Label: Strut

Naturally, with all things ''Afro funk'' very much in vogue at the moment it is little surprise that someone has jumped on the idea of reissuing the best of The Lafayette Afro Rock Band, after all, they even have the all important word in their name. The sleeve notes name drop Fela Kuti, Manu Dibango, Tony Allen and others but The Lafayette Afro Rock Band never really had that much in common, musically, with the Afro Funk artists. The other important word in the name is ''rock'' and that''s the association that ought really to come to mind, along with seriously heavy funk, that is. The band''s classic is surely one of the ultimate logical fusions of Jimi Hendrix and the 70s funk scene – ''Hihache''. This is a track that never fails to entrance dance floors to this day with its heavy rolling baseline and organ pushed into a dizzying frenzy by hallucinogenic electric guitar freestyling. Away from tracks like this and the obvious brilliance of ''Darkest Light'' (y''know the one that Public Enemy sampled for ''Show ''Em Whatcha Got'') and ''Soul Makossa'' you''re occasionally forced to recall that this was a session band. But at their best The Lafayette Afro Rock Band avoided the cliches of funk and the excesses of rock to fuse the two in that uniquely flared Afro-Parisian fashion that makes this collection so special.

    by James Poletti