Orchestre Poly-Rythmo

The 1st Album (Analog Africa)

James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic, Fela Kuti: the funk band overlords. Into this mystic come four tracks – two previously unreleased – from Benin’s Kings of Vodoun. Cut one afternoon in 1973, its 33 minutes of French-kissed Afrobeat rings iron bell tones of raw percussion that outline an electric current of guitars and a tidal bleat of brass. Twelve-minute centerpiece “La La La La” irrigates the fourth precious CD available by this demon crew.

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This article appears in July 8 • 2011.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.