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Strut originally released this compilation ten years ago but this music is timeless and now gets a re-issue and a re-mastering. With a name like Lafayette you’d be expecting something southern and you’d almost right - formed in Long Island, NY by Bobby Boy Congress these guys were full of funk. As there were loads of similar bands at the time, these guys were smart enought to relocated to Paris in 1971. And Afro-Rock? Well loads of Afro as they were Pierre Juabert’s Parisound Studio’s house band and there were increasingly influenced by the sound of African musician in the area.

The first six tracks on this album are pure Lafayette Afro-Rock Band with all the funk, jazz and dance (not really disco) influences of the time with an eye on Blakploitation and rumblin’ in the jungle; particularly ‘Congo’, ‘Hihache’ (even with a Santana style guitar solo) and ‘Malik’ but it all sounds Super Fly to me.

A year after Manu Dibango’s world wide hit ‘Soul Makossa’ they did their own cover version and it’s on this CD for all you Wax Poetic types.

And talking of which, of equal interest are how many times these tracks have been sampled, at least 28, including all the big boys including Jay Z, De La Soul, Coolio, Nas and many more. Probably the most well known is the sax intro of ‘Darkest Light’ used by Public Enemy for ‘Show ‘Em Whatcha Got’ (from It Takes A Nation Of Millions) and the classic old skool of Wreckx ‘N’ Effect’s ‘Rump Shaker. ‘Darkest Light’ itself is downtempo mix of Santana guitar and vocoder EFX with that killer sax phrase.

This is much more than a one track album though and whilst I suspect that I may well have jazz-funked to their ‘Soul Makossa’ in the past, the big track for me it the high speed percussive organ madness of ‘Racubah’ - it’s a shame that it fades out but you can’t have everything.

By 1976 the band reverted back to the name Ice and latterly worked as Captian Dax (‘Dr. Beezar’ was a hit in Japan) and Afro Agban, Crispy & Co. and even Funk Flovored when they finally returned to the U.S. before breaking up in 1982.

There’s two new tracks on CD, ‘Time Will Tell’ and ‘There’s Time To Change’ that show two sides of Ice and as Crispy & Co, they are right on form with ‘A.I.E. (A Mwana)’ and the T.V theme turn style of ‘Scorpion Flower’.

Like the majority of Strut’s albums, you can’t go wrong with Darkest Light. Now celebrating their 10th Birthday, the label has always been unearthing lost gems of dance music whilst telling the story of the characters behind the tunes. Since they started, they’d release compilations like Danny Krivit’s Musical Influences And Inspiration and I’ve only just got to grips with last years’ compilation Disco Italia - Essential Italo Disco Classics 1977-1985. Now they are looking to take it that one step further like the new series of Inspiration Information starting with Amp Fiddler with Sly & Robbie. Definitely a label to follow and enjoy.

Reviewed: The Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Darkest Light / The Best Of The Lafayette Afro-Rock Band (Remastered Edition) (Strut) Cat. No.: STRUT042CD Release date: 26th January 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Voodounon (4:53)
2 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Congo (5:04)
3 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Hihache (7:02)
4 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Malik (5:07)
5 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Nicky (6:06)
6 Ice - Time Will Tell (4:46)
7 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Darkest Light (6:27)
8 Ice - Ozan Koukle (3:15)
9 Ice - There’s Time To Change (9:26)
10 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Soul Makossa (4:56)
11 Ice - Racubah (3:22)
12 Crispy & Co.- Scorpion Flower (6:33)
13 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Heels & Soles (4:33)
14 Crispy & Co. - A.I.E. (A Mwana) (3:20)
15 Captain Dax - Dr Beezar “Soul Frankenstein” (Version) (3:26)

Links:
www.strut-records.com
www.myspace.com/strutrecords