Cream of Africa

Ginger Baker is best known as the drummer for Cream, but his connection to Nigerian music spans many decades. He helped establish the first 16-track studio in Africa in the early ‘70s, a contribution to Lagos, Nigeria’s musical infrastructure that resulted high quality recordings for the burgeoning scene of the time. Ginger Baker in Africa (Eagle Rock) is a first person account of his initial Nigerian visit. Featuring Baker's hilariously, uh, baked narration, the first half is an entertaining travelogue with filmmaker Tony Palmer driving a Land Rover across the Sahara through Algeria, Niger and Nigeria. Most impressive, though, is a wild segment with Fela whipping his band into an absolute frenzy in a dangerously rain-soaked nightclub. A combination of the film's crappy sound and Fela's Nigeria 70 band hitting it hard make for a sublime Afro-noise juggernaut that justifies the whole disc.