Talk:Lafayette Afro Rock Band

Crispy and Company
Crispy and Company has been credited as a 1978 act. However an act with a similar name released two singles on Creole Records in July resp. November 1975, namely:
 * Brazil b/w Love can (UK: Creole Records CRE 109, France: Kedzie Records 75 021, Germany: Polydor 2041 686), resp.:
 * Get it together b/w Down in St. Tropez (UK: Creole Records CRE 114, Netherlands: Negram NG 698 - France: b/w Sunara RCA BBZ 3006 (apparently Sunara, an old Fela Kuti song, was the A-side in France, as the title is the only one mentioned on the record sleeve)

To find out if these releases would actually have been originated from the Lafayette Afro Rock Band I stumbled upon a recording of A.I.E. (a mwana) (which was a huge hit by Black Blood across much of continental Europe during 1975), which has a similar sound as the Crispy & Company's version of Brazil.

Also I stumbled upon the list of releases on Creole Records, which also consists of one by Fela Kuti, an artist the Lafayette Afro Rock Band has been credited to before.

However I also found out in 1975 the Lafayette Afro Rock Band contibuted to an LP by various artists Tonight at the discotheque, playing under various moniker names, like Krispie & Company, Ice, Captain Dax, Les Atlantes (not sure), which has been released in France, Belgium, Germany and Canada on different record labels.

So for me it is very obvious Crispy (or Krispie) & Company (or Compagny) are just the same band as the Lafayette Afro Rock Band, and the band did indeed release those two singles which hit the UK Top 40, at No. 26 resp. No. 21.

Adding to these evidences is the release of an LP Funky Flavored (Creole Records CRLP 505) in most probably 1976. This LP contains both UK singles releases, the A as well as the B-sides. Some new tracks are added. All group members of the Lafayette Afro Rock Band have been listed as Crispy & Co.'s, however instead of its regular producer Pierre Jaubert an I.H.P. has been named producer, which usually stands for "In House Production". Which raises some doubts about the authenticity of these recordings, if you look at an affair Creole Records went through at that same time, namely the M & O Band's infringement on Eddie Drennon's copyright on the instrumental trackings of Let's do the Latin hustle which were just copied. However such a story is not known about Crispy & Co. A more convincing explanation is that by using I.H.P. Creole Records could presume the record has been homegrown produced, in a turn to confuse British record industry and mass media rules being dictated at that time by trade unionists telling to stick to British products, causing such measures as a BBC orchestra playing backing tracks on Top Of The Pops, unless the foreign artists could play them themselves.

Under another art-name, Ice, two of the tracks of this album, A.I.E. (a mwana) b/w Super Queen appeared on a single in 1975: France: Kedzie Records 75017, Germany: Polydor 2040 142, while on the Tonight at the Discotheque album these tracks were credited to Wall of Steel. Confusion seems to be a goal in itself of the Lafayette Afro Rock Band?

Pierre Jaubert took Super Queen in 1980 to USA disco singer Beckie Bell.



SporkBot (talk) 10:38, 6 March 2018 (UTC)