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It has been said that Ginger Baker (Ginger being a nickname he was
given due to his red hair- his real name is Peter Baker) was rock's first
true superstar drummer, and one of the most influential percussionists of
the '60. While others might have been better known, their fame was due in
part to the bands with which they played. Baker made his name on his
playing, which was first showcased with the superstar assemblage of Baker,
Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce in Cream- a group that made enormous amounts of
money during their run but simply had too many egos in the mix to stay
together. Cream broke up after an electric two years, and Baker moved from
there to another superstar band, Blind Faith, with Clapton and Steve
Winwood. That band had an even shorter life span, and from there came Ginger
Baker's Air Force which produced two albums. Virtually every heavy metal
drummer since the 60's has sought to emulate the style of Baker in some form
or another, consciously or not.
In November 1971, Baker made the decision to set up his own recording studio
in Lagos, then the capital of Nigeria, the first multi track studio of its kind in
Northern Africa. A Western innovator in regards to the potential of African
music, he also made the decision to travel to Nigeria by vehicle, an
endeavor that could be construed as being a trifle insane considering the
fact that the Sahara Desert must be crossed in order to do so. Still, Ginger
decided it might be a rewarding musical experience, so he purchased one of
the first ever built Range Rovers and brought in music composer and film
director Tony Palmer to film the trek. The trip was a long and intense one,
and according to Baker's narration was filled with a number of
adventures.
This was a period before the oil boom and succession of corrupt governments
in the country, and one with music aplenty to be studied, from the African
talking-drummers of Oshogbo to a visit to the city of Calabar where Baker's
friend Fel Ransome-Kuti performed with incredible power. Baker, Palmer and
crew were in a region where they were the only white faces. According to the
literature provided this was not as frightening as their nights in a Calabar
hotel, rooms infested by and literally covered from ceiling to floor with
mosquitoes. Baker's take on this was, if we can survive this, we can survive
anything.
Over the next few years he worked with a number of acts ranging from Fela
to Paul McCartney and Wings, which used Baker's studio to record what is
certainly their best album, "Band On The Run". He also recorded a solo
release in house, "Stratavarious". successfully running through the seventies as a facility of both Western and local musicians, Baker eventually lost the studio as well as most of his
finances.
At best I found this documented journey to be a mixed bag; on the plus side,
there is some wonderful, energetic music performed by the African musicians
with Baker himself sitting in on drums. As could be expected percussion is
the driving force in much of the material here, but it also has its share of
soaring guitar and horn work. Some of the stuff here is a bit jazzy, and in
fact a trifle musically indicative of the period in which the documentary was filmed.
The dancing here by a number of the native Africans is also worth noting,
movements containing energetic, athletic adeptness. Unfortunately that's
about it as far as I'm concerned. The trip itself is rather tedious to watch
with a number of drawn maps giving the viewer the various locations to which the crew
roam, an abundance of admittedly lovely desert scenery to take in, and a bit of odd
70's type animation of Baker and his endeavors with the local authorities. I
can understand why Ginger would want to film this for personal posterity and
the sheer fun of doing so, but to bring it out as a DVD release seems
pointless; clocking in at 53 minutes, it has the look and feel of a "you had
to be there" odyssey.
Video-
According to the box the video aspect here is 16 x 9 screen format so I
presume this is 1.85:1 widescreen. Video quality here is average. Colors aren't bad on the whole, but the picture is fuzzy and has a washed out appearance. Given the age and camera quality of the endeavor it isn't awful, but average at best.
Audio-
I'm presuming this to be a mono track; no specifications are to be found on the box liner, nor could I ferret out a solid answer watching the disc itself. In any case, the sound is decent, but no more than that.
Extras-
No extras.
Final Thoughts-
For the most part, I found this short film to be of only mild interest.
While Baker and crew are at times engaging and the music can be interesting
to hear, it is repetitive, tedious, and simply boring. Ginger Baker is a
wonderful, groundbreaking drummer with a well known interest in African
percussion and music. He also seems to be a very likable personality. Still,
I'll be focusing my attention and admiration for his fine musicianship on
the Cream DVDs available. Skip it. |
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