Kongos - JOHN KONGOS***

Tokoloshe Man/Jubilee Cloud/Gold/Lift Me From The Ground/Come On Down Jesus/I Would Have Had A Good Time/Try To Touch Just One/Tomorrow I'll Go/He's Gonna Step On You Again

South African pop-rock singer songwriter John Kongos enjoyed a brief moment in the spotlight in the early 1970s thanks to two dynamic UK top five hit singles, Tokoloshe Man and He’s Gonna Step On You Again. (US:29)

“With only the two hit singles to go on - He's Gonna Step On You Again and Tokoloshe Man, you'd expect lots of percussion, lots of effects and not much else. What you get, apart from those two tracks, is low percussion, low effects, worthwhile lyrics, mostly decent playing and a nicely balanced album.”

“I found this just a little too commercially oriented for my taste. It's a mix of soft, acoustic guitar driven material with some fast and hard cuts too.”

“A workman-like album from a period when a lot of one or two album artists came and went. Apart from Tokoloshe and He's Gonna Step there's nothing that really stands out from the ordinary and for me, one track, Tomorrow I'll Go, is dire.”

“Sounding like something Slade might have recorded, the fuzz guitar and African percussion propelled the slice of glam-rock Tokoloshe Man gets the set off to a rousing start. Similarly, He's Gonna Step On You Again offers up another pounding rocker that incorporates an early use of tape loop. Unfortunate Kongos didn't stick with this formula for the rest of the album. Instead, tracks such as Jubilee Cloud, Gold and Lift Me From The Ground offered up a more conventional pop-rock sound.”

"Tokoloshe Man and He's Gonna Step On You Again are absolute five star tracks, Unfortunately, the rest of the album is more subdued country rock.”

“John Kongos was, apparently, really hot in South Africa in the Sixties and Seventies, and you can see why from this album. It shows a guy who could belt 'em out with the best of the British rockers of that time.”

“The two standouts are the songs that bookend the album, Tokoloshe Man and especially He's Gonna Step On You Again, rockers that are ferocious and snarling, making you want to play them over and over the way you do with any good song.”