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baad john cross - new revolution chapter one - pmg - vinyl

New Copy

Genre: African - Nigeria

1. Gimme Some Lovin'
2. Get Up And Dance Salsa
3. Jeannie My Love
4. This World Is For No One
5. Rock And Roll Birthday
6. We Need Freedom

Baad John Cross’s New Revolution is a Afro-electro-funk-boogie-disco banger that could only come from 1980s Nigeria. Bright, optimistic, with an unrelenting eye on the dance floor, it is regarded by many as a prototype of the electro rhythms that would become the signature sound of Nigerian boogie

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A Cameroonian by birth, Cross arrived in Lagos a cheeky smile, a pair of white dungarees and a bag full of songs. After proving his chops with uncredited session work, he signed with the legendary Coconut label, hooked up with producer Modjo Isidore and created a stone cold boogie classic in New Revolution. ’Gimme Some Lovin’ and ‘Get Up And Dance Salsa’ (briefly a dance craze in Lagos, apparently) are dance floor classics, ‘Jeanie My Love’ the obligatory love ballad and ‘We Need Freedom’ a Marleyesque call for peace across the continent. The real surprise is ‘Rock n Roll Birthday’, a rockabilly number straight out of 80’s London. (The cover photo has a similar vibe.) Sadly, New Revolution was to be Baad John Cross’s only album. He was soon back in Cameroon, eking out a career as a session musician, but not before creating one of the freshest Nigerian boogie albums ever made.