Rachid Taha Made in Medina / Olé Olé (2CD) Wrasse WRASS151 || 14.3.2005 || £13.19  $ € ¥  + p+p +tax Click for big pic Two reissue albums with Steve Hillage throughout If you want to catch up on what Steve Hillage gets up to when not System 7-ing at a reasonable price, then the reissue of the Rachid Taha albums on this double package and the Diwân/Live double CD package are manna from heaven. Made in Medina was originally released in 2000 to huge acclaim and great reviews ("the rock, dance and world LP by which the rest of the year can be judged. A seriously fantastic album"- Time Out). It is produced, arranged and programmed by Steve Hillage at his a-wave studios in London. Steve also co-wrote 6 tracks and plays guitar throughout. Made in Medina is definitely Zeppelin meets Rai with attitude - often a big riffy beaty affair. Olé Olé was originally released in 1995. It is produced, programmed and mixed by Steve who also co-wrote 2 tracks and plays guitar throughout. It's a very polished and reminds me strongly of the very first System 7 album. It leans towards a Arabic/R'n'B/pop sensibility but with more beat and balls than that description implies. Some of my favourite Rachid tracks are on this album. LBut like I've said before, whichever one of the Rachid albums I'm listening to just seems to become number one tip-top fav - a nice problem to have. It's good to see that this doubling up of CDs doesn't mean a cheapening of the the quality as so often happens, the 20 page booklet reproduces the artwork, lyrics and notes (in French and English) of the original releases in their entirety. CD One: 'Made in Medina' Track Listing Total Runtime 63.57 Barra Barra 5.48 (Taha/Hillage) Foqt Foqt 6.10 (Taha/Hillage) Medina (Album Version) 5.39 (Taha/Hillage) Ala Jalkoum 4.55 (Kuti/Hillage) Aïe Aïe Aïe 6.30 (Taha/Hillage) Hey Anta 4.30 (Taha) Qalantiqa (Taha) En Retard 4.56 (Taha) Verité 6.06 (Taha) Ho Cherie Cherie 5.30 (Taha/Hillage) Garab 8.19 (Taha) CD Two: 'Olé Olé' Track Listing Total Runtime 78.43 Valencia 4.46 (Taha/Hillage) Nokta 5.12 (Taha) Baadini 5.17 (Taha) Comme un Chien 4.46 (Taha) Boire 4.09 (Taha) Zaâma 3.57 (Taha/Hillage) Tabla Motown 5.45 (Taha) Non Non Non (Multinational Version) 4.09 (Taha) Jungle Fiction 4.01 (Taha) Kelma 4.49 (Taha) Non Non Non 4.09 (Taha) Olé, Olé 4.35 (Taha) 'Made in Medina' Musicians: Rachid Taha: Vocals Steve Hillage: Programming, Guitar (also Producer & Arranger) Hossam Ramzy: Egyptian Percussion Stanton Moore: Live Drums Robert Mercurio: Bass Jeff Gaines: Guitar Rich Vogel: Keyboards Hassan Lachal: Mahgrebian Percussion Hakin Hamadduche: Mandolute, Backing Vocal Magid Serdur: Qanun B'Net Marrakesh: Female Vocals, Percussion Bob Loveday: Violin Geoff Richardson: Viola Helen Liebmann: Cello Mahmoud Serour: Violin Djilali Bendriss: Gasbar Jean-Max Mery: Additional Keyboards Abdel Abrit: Live Drums 'Olé Olé' Musicians: Rachid Taha: Vocals Steve Hillage: Programming (1-5,7-9), Guitar (1-10) Yves Aouizerate: Programming (6,10) Sodi: Programming, Guitar (2) Leo Williams: Bass Guitar (2,6,7) Kirsty Hawkshaw: Chorus vocals and backing vocals (1,3,5,6,8,9) Jim Abbis: Additional keyboards (1,6) Martin Ditcham: Percussion (1,2,3,8,9), Tambourine (4) Geoff Dugmore: Drums (2) Hagag Kenway: Percussion (2,3,6) Geoffery Richardson: Violin, viola (2,3) Helen Liebmann: Cello (2,3) Nabil Khalidi: Lute and banjo (3,4,5), Bindir (4,9), Backing vocals (4) Aziz Ben Salam: Flute (4) John Eacott: Trumpet (4,9) Pandit Dinesh: Tablas and percussion (7) Suchitra Pillai Malik: Vocals (7) Steve Conn: Accordian (9)