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_____________________________Elton John and his namesake,
Long John Baldry - do an even BETTER version of Jubilee Cloud, written by John Kongos and Peter LeRoy*. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja5-e2Q4asM
John Theodore Kongos, a producer from South Africa
https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/16031
1971 45 rpm mix of Tokoloshe Man
Produced by Elton John's producer, the great Gus Dudgeon
3:50 ...amazing, why wasn't Kongos a superstar?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmgqP0BDhxs
Wow, I'm impressed. PopRunners Blogspot has my review of the lost classic by John Kongos
http://poprunners.blogspot.com/2019/03/early-70s-poprock-john-kongos-kongos.html
Interesting that Frank from PopRunners likes songs different from the ones that I love off of the Top40 "
Many of you will know John Kongos from his work in the sixties with Floribunda Rose, Scrugg and his solo works where he mainly did psychedelic/baroque pop and later also singer songwriter style. This album is different from his older work although his late sixties work point to his early seventies music. Sometimes I think I've heard an album other than the one discussed in the review. Anyway, this is an album that convinces me by the songwriting. You can't really compare Kongos with what Elton John did. Of course there are similarities, but in my opinion they were caused more by the team who worked with Kongos for this record. Kongos hippiesque approach shimmers through here again and again. And I think that's what makes this record so wonderful. And my favourite songs are completely different from the songs Mr Viglione favoured :-) . Enjoy.(Frank)
And watch a rare French TV show with He's Gonna Step On You Again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld1vQVoaQIM
Listen to TOKOLOSHE MAN - what an amazing rock and roll recording, right up there with Speedy Keen's "Something in the Air" ---truly groundbreaking and delightfully different.
Can't pick a favorite, but "Jubilee Cloud" - perhaps a 2nd cousin to Malden artist Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" comes to mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbWI5Gf9rv8
______________________________
Why John Kongos didn't become a superstar with three hit records off of this one album is the big question. Totally innovative and fun!
Someone's using my review to sell it on eBay
Additional Information from Movie Mars
Product DescriptionThis classic 1972 album on Elektra by John Kongos has Queen/Cars director Roy Thomas Baker remixing superb production by Gus Dudgeon, the man who created many an Elton John hit. Elton sidemen Ray Cooper, Caleb Quaye, Dave Glover, Roger Pope, Sue (Glover) and Sunny (Leslie) -- pretty much the crew from John's 1971 epic Madman Across the Water -- are all excellent here. But this album has more to offer than the solo records by Kiki Dee and Bernie Taupin, which also proliferated around the same time. Though he never made it to Joel Whitburn's Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits in the U.S.A., there were three minor splashes on this disc: "Tokoloshe Man," "Jubilee Cloud," and "He's Gonna Step on You Again." The totally original sound -- producer Dudgeon on "asses jawbone," bicycle bell, maracas, and Mike Noble playing the "clapper board" -- build a texture one didn't hear on Elton John records. Highly experimental, the brilliant piano and guitar by Quaye invigorate "Jubilee Cloud," which can only be described as psychedelic gospel. Not only a gospel feel, the mysterious Sue and Sonny personify a church choir next to Mike Moran's ARP Synthesizer. There are lots of Jesus references throughout the disc, and on the heavily Beatles-influenced "Come on Down Jesus" with brass and Ray Cooper's tambourine, one gets the message that Kongos is a Jesus freak. This record sounds like a party -- a bunch of hippies on some Indian reservation at sunset. The album cover giving hints to what is transpiring on the grooves. Some of the themes Bernie Taupin flavored the Elton John "Country Comfort" song with are here, but the singer embraces them in a different way. Kongos sounds like a sincere Billy Joel on "Gold," and a cross between Elton and Joel on "I Would Have Had a Good Time." But as good as those tracks are, it is the energy of "Tokoloshe Man," the ecstasy of "Jubilee Cloud," and the insanity of "He's Gonna Step on You Again" that make this album timeless. Producer Gus Dudgeon plays "chair squeak," "rusty tin," and "earth drums" on "Step on You," John Kongos adding castanets, creating a Phil Spector stereo nightmare, which is simply gorgeous. The album has been re-released in different versions; a German CD contains eight bonus tracks and a U.K. collection has five additional songs. Magical music that one does not get to experience often. ~ Joe Viglione
About Movie Mars
https://www.ebay.com/itm/JOHN-KONGOS-KONGOS-EXPANDED-EDITION-NEW-CD/141809256124?epid=203068604&hash=item21047d86bc:g:UCUAAOSwgSpb5mQ0
*Notes from YouTube poster
