The Return of the Juju King is a compilation album by the Nigerian musician King Sunny Adé, released in 1987.[1][2] It was his first album after being dropped by Island Records.[3] Adé supported the album with a North American tour that featured a 15-member version of his band, the African Beats.[4][5]
Production
The compilation collects tracks from several of Adé's Nigerian albums, which were released on his Atom Park label; Adé had formed a new version of his band to record them.[6][7][8] Most of the 17 tracks run together, producing five sections.[9] Adé emphasized the sound of a ukulele on many tracks.[10]
The Chicago Tribune wrote that the album "serves to highlight Ade's patented 'Synchro System' style, emphasizing a balance between all the 20-odd instruments in his band—the burbling, clattering, thumping riot of talking drums, shakers, rattles and other percussion, the sinuous electric and Hawaiian guitar lines and the synthesizer fills."[14] The Los Angeles Times deemed the music "characteristically hypnotic, joyful and eminently danceable."[9]Robert Christgau panned "the weakness of digital remixers for percussion."[12]Trouser Press concluded: "Shaking off his failure to win Western hearts, Adé sounds like a happy man again; the joyous juju reaffirms his status as one of the most captivating and important musical talents anywhere in the world today."[7]
AllMusic stated that "the sound is from the 'synchro system' end of the spectrum, with slightly psychedelic guitar effects here and there and loping beats bumped out by a collection of talking drums as well as the usual drum kit."[10]
