A couple of posts ago I mentioned meeting Hilton Schilder of the 1980s Cape Town rock / pop / punk band The Genuines, at the District Six museum's film series. I downloaded their 1986 album Goema, along with the short outtakes/B-sides compilation Offsides, at their bandcamp.com page. I chose the lossless FLAC format, which won't play in e.g. windows media player but sounds great in a free player like foobar2000; foobar can also convert it to other formats; I converted it to .wav and ripped a CD in WMP, which sounds great blasting on a real stereo---the way music should be really listened to although it sounds great on headphones too. You can stream mp3s of every track on the albums at bandcamp to decide if you like it or not, but it's definitely worth the $9 for Goema and $4 for Offsides to have the high-fidelity versions, and to support these great musicians. Herewith a review of this essential piece of South African music history.

The Genuines' album "Goema" melds jazz, classic rock, punk, hints of R&B, reggae, ska and latin music and a big dose of Cape carnival music and goema, seamlessly and to excellent musical and lyrical effect. The result is not pastiche but a style that is The Genuines' own.  The songwriting is sophisticated but not fussy, the instrumental solos are excellent but usually quite short, rather than long-winded, becoming part of the form as in e.g. an Ellington composition. Excellent playing from everyone. Hilton Schilder's voice is very recognizable, with smoothness and flexibility needed but also a slighty dark, honeyed character, and a very effective throatiness or growliness at times. He sings with ease, and perfect control of pitch. Good lyrics, lots of positive messages, but also humour, sometimes dark. Most of the pieces show some jazz influence, whether in a solo or in the chord changes on a bridge, or some Steely-Dan-ish harmonic touches (6/9 chords?). Several tracks are absolute classics, certainly Goema, Struggle, and Do it Right, which integrate carnival-party musical influences with other musical elements (notably punk in the case of the first two) but I'm also big on the mellow but funky Troubled Dreams and Pictures, the peppy lounge jazz of Let's Walk, and the alternating classic rock and jazzy pop of Observations. The lyrics work well with the music, and the album is sequenced very well; the sound quality in lossless format is really excellent. Overall the album is very well mixed, with interesting instrumental and vocal detail easy to hear but not obtrusive. It may be just slightly smooth for my taste but that works great on many tunes---and you can always turn it up louder if you want more distortion.

The album kicks off with a perfect piece of pop-inflected slow-groove R&B in "Troubled Dream", mellowish but with Schilder's vocal ranging from burnished smooth to an open-throated growl. "Pictures" is another medium slow
groove with a reggae-ish basic beat, latin-inflected melodies, and lush production, making good use of synthesizers or electronic keyboards, and occasional backing vocals. It seems to be continuing, from the previous cut, the story of a---romantic?---obsession.  There follows a more uptempo "Shadows", and then you're hit with a blast of "Goema", your basic melding of Cape carnival beat with uptempo thrash. Great tune, nice guitar solo. "Observations" turns down the tempo again, starting out in a classic-rock radio kind of groove but then segueing into a jazzier kind of bridge. Positive vibe inspirational lyric works well. We're back in classic rock territory again for the guitar solo, then another vocal bridge, and then a surprise...new material, double-tempo and also jazzy, with vocals and then a jazz keyboard solo into the fade. Another great cut. Uptempo again for "Struggle"---an Afrikaans language song about anti-apartheid action, melding upbeat almost Veracruzana party or carnival music with punky thrash.  Great bass breaks and fours between exchanged with guitar, keys. An instant classic. "20th floor" is solid moderate-tempo punkish rock.   "The Edge" is quirky, reminiscent of smooth jazz and---both lyrically and musically---Steely Dan. "On the edge... it's the only place to be. The edge was designed for you and me." Not the meatiest track on the album perhaps, but fun. And humorous: fades with some good advice for those on the edge: "don't let go." "Let's Walk" kicks up the tempo a bit while maintaining the jazzy Steely Dan-ish feel. Nice short guitar solo, nice organ work. "Narrow Escape" is a bit of an odd interlude, kind of gothic, with low-pitched sprechstimme (great voice!) and a police-show kind of theme. Probably not to be taken too seriously. "Three murderers chasing you....why did you have so many scotches with that girl?".  But then again street crime is a serious issue in the Cape Flats.  "Dancer" interweaves interludes of arabian-sounding vamping with bits of foursquare punkish stuff, not my top track but still interesting. The album ends on a high note with "Do it Right": great vocal harmonizing, a simple but effective lyric over a peppy latin carnival beat. The banjo (an essential element of Cape Klopse carnival bands) is a great touch.

The live "Offside" is a bonus track with the download of Goema; originally included on the B-sides/out-takes compilation "Offside" (it's also duplicated on that download). It's an excellent medium-tempo ska-ish track about taking care of your karma. Hilton is in beautiful form on vocals. The other tracks on "Offside" are also definitely worth having, especially if you like, as I do, the jazzier side of the Genuines.

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Numbers are kind of silly when it comes to art and such, but since I've started in with a 10 point scale, I'll say 9 out of 10.  Top notch stuff, and fun to listen to.