Johnny Clegg & Savuka - Cruel Crazy Beautiful World
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Artist: Johnny Clegg & SavukaEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording reissued
CD Release Date: 1990-03-16
Music Label: Capitol
Soundtracks:
- One (Hu) Man, One Vote
- Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World
- Jericho
- Dela
- Moliva
- It's an Illusion
- Bombs Away
- Woman Be My Country
- Rolling Ocean
- Warsaw
- Vezandlebe [*]
Free Music Notes for Cruel Crazy Beautiful World
Free Music Review: My favorite album of all time!
Hit: 5 Stars
This was the first album that blew me away on first listen. From the opening tribal chanting of "One (Hu) Man, One Vote" I knew I was in for a musical journey my ears have never heard before. This album perfectly encapsulates the era of its time (the cautious optimism of 1989-1990 when communist regimes were falling in Europe and apartheid was heading in that direction), but manages to relate to current events as well, nearly 15 years later.
The song "Jericho" could very well describe the conditions at Guantanamo Bay, the recent Abu Ghraib prison scandal, and the wall being built in Israel: "standing at the gates/this is Jericho/and the walls reach up to the stars/and outside we were singing psalms/such a strange, strange place/for we are the prisoners of the prisoners we have taken/and the prophets' dreams are now forsaken."
In "One (Hu) Man, One Vote", Johnny sings, "the west is sleeping in a fragile freedom/forgotten is the price that was paid/ten thousand years of marching through a veil of tears/to break a few links in these chains/these things come to us by way of much pain/don't let us slip back into the dark."
Its not all politics, though. His catchy, danceable love song, "Dela" is guaranteed to get your feet and body moving. It was featured in the film "George of the Jungle" and remains one of the best love songs I've ever heard.
My personal favorite song is "Woman Be My Country", for its beautiful melody and lyrics, sweetened by a saxophone. This song is for anyone who feels like a stranger in his own country, an ex-patriot who disagrees with his government as it relates to the world. When we feel powerless to change the cold, impersonal bureaucracy, we seek refuge in the ones nearest and dearest to our hearts: "woman be my country/'till my country can be mine/hide me deep inside your borders/in these dark and troubled times/remember me my innocence/before I drown in a sea of lies/woman be my country/'till my country can be mine."
In short, this album is Johnny's most moving, brilliant, and best work. It is emblematic of an era in history, a soundtrack to the times, that transcends its era to represent relevancy in current situations. It is quite simply, Johnny Clegg's own "Sgt. Pepper" or "Pet Sounds". On top of that, the album cover is also one of the best ones I've seen and perhaps the best one of nearly 25 albums of his. Highly recommended, especially for any fan of world music, anyone who wants to hear a different sound than they hear on the radio, or people interested in the politics of Africa, the developing world, the Cold War, or the remarkable years that 1989-1991 were.
Cruel Crazy Beautiful World Poster
JOHNNY CLEGG & SAVUKA Cruel Crazy Beautiful World (1989 UK 3-track CD single including Crazy 12 Mix and Gumba Gumba Jive picture sleeve CDEM120)Classic Rock Music CDs
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