“Tomorrow’s Wedding” by Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1974Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s

TJR says

This group had started as Abafana Bentuthuko in the mid-60s and by now had now begun to trade as Intuthuko Brothers. Long-time guitarist Hansford Mthembu gets a front-cover big-up; by now his name carries a fair degree of rand-pulling power. Alas, the label errs with the spelling, “Hensford”, compounding the mistake in the liner-notes by opting for “Henceford”. Groan. It’s an all-instrumental affair barring track 2, “Please Don’t Cry”, which has a suitably lame male vocal to go with the title. This is an album of two halves I’d say; side one is rather non-dynamic, here, Intuthuko Brothers sound like a fairly competent shebeen pop-soul outfit. They do a cover of “Loving Arms” (Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, 1973) which is particularly poor. Such is the conservatism of this LP so far that I can’t help but think it might have something to do with a middle class wedding reception. Thankfully, things perk up from here. Four of the six tracks on side 2 save this LP from the scrapheap; namely, the four tracks where they delve headlong into the realm of mbaqanga. The best 2 tracks appear at the very end, “Is’Gul’Egoli” and “First Stop Durban” – both of which were written by the drummer, Kali Monare. At least the reception got going in the end! You can download this out-of-print LP at Electric Jive.

The Jukebox Rebel
22–Jul–2014

Tracklist
A1 [02:35] 4.8.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Tomorrow’s Wedding (Hansford Mthembu, Titus Masikane) Soul
A2 [02:58] 4.2.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Please Dont Cry (Hansford Mthembu) Pop
A3 [02:42] 5.0.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - S.A. My Love (Hansford Mthembu) Pop
A4 [02:27] 5.2.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Champaine & Wine (Hansford Mthembu) Soul
A5 [02:15] 3.9.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Loving Arms (Tom Jans) Pop Ballad
A6 [02:41] 5.7.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Xmas Bells (Hansford Mthembu) Africana
B1 [02:14] 4.5.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Back Home (Hansford Mthembu) Pop
B2 [02:27] 6.4.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Uthanda Bantu (Hansford Mthembu, Titus Masikane) Africana
B3 [02:55] 6.8.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Ematimatolo (Hansford Mthembu, Titus Masikane) Africana
B4 [02:38] 4.3.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Kwa Kheth’Omthandayo (Hansford Mthembu) Pop
B5 [02:41] 6.9.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - Is’Gul’Egoli (Kali Monare) Africana
B6 [02:24] 7.4.png Intuthuko Brothers featuring Hensford Mthembu - First Stop Durban (Kali Monare) Africana
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