"Don't Freak Out"

Don't Freak Out...
Don't you see how you look so dreary and so bad...
Why not give yourself a chance, don't take in some more...
Go your way and leave the thing
It's not good for you
Why not give yourself a change you've got too much of it...
Don't Freak.........
I say, Don't Freak now....
Don't Freak, wow, wow, wow
Don't Freak......
I say Don't Freak now...
Don't Freek yeahhhhhhhh.....

The Album: Radiant Color

People have been asking after the album "Radiant Color", and I will not hesitate to talk about it. This is an album that I released around 1990. It has six tracks. I sang lead vocals on three of the songs and my wife sang lead vocals on the other three tracks. We helped out each other with backing vocals. During the band's most recent show in Raleigh, North Carolina, the three songs on which I did the lead vocals were performed. They are "Don't Freak Out", "Do It In The Name of Love" and "Radiant Color" which is the title track.The first of these songs is a funk piece. The other two are rock genre. The CD is available at http://www.eclipseventures.com/page/19xnv/Shopping.html. When the Radiant Color album CD is played, it evokes the awe of the generation in which the music was recorded. This is the album that was recorded in Olodi-Apapa at the Fuzzy Studios. The recording engineer was Fuzzy's first son. Fuzzy's second son was a backup session musician. On the day of the recording, Fuzzy was not around. I still remember how interested Fuzzy's two sons were in the songs. They put in their ALL into the recording. They clearly showed their love for the song "You Won My Heart". That love is visible in the way they played the intro to that track.

Grace Band Performed In Raleigh, North Carolina

On the hot Sunday afternoon, June 28, 2009, Grace Band, performed at the thanksgiving ceremony organized by Dr. Jimmy Imo in Raleigh, North Carolina in the United States. The event was in honor of Sir and Lady Imo who were visiting their children. At that event, Grace Band played songs like "Don't Freak" and "Do It In The Name of Love" both written, composed and recorded by Arthur Freds. Those songs are part of the compilation in Arthur Freds' vintage album titled "Radiant Color", which is the opening (signature tune) to Arthur Freds' radio show http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ArthurFreds. Of all the very many songs performed at the events, Grace Band performed Ofege's "Nobody Fails", Oriental Brothers' "Nwada Di Nma", Herald '7's "Shooting Star" (by Jerry Boifraind). The band performed Sweet Breeze's "Palm Wine Tapper" and a highlife tune "Echendu Nweze". They also played their hit single, "Ebube" to which people danced freely. "Ebube" is also the title track in Grace Band's new release coming into the market sometime during the end of July. That album has nine tracks. One of the tracks is a 20-minute dance medley that will definitely take anybody's mind back to the Biafran days. It is a keepsake. Their own albums, "Radiant Color" and "Everybody Must Farm" are available at http://www.eclipseventures.com/page/19xnv/Shopping.html. Their new album, "Ebube" will also be availabe on that site whenever it is released in July. It will also be available on CD Baby and other downloadable sites. As a tribute, Grace Band gave copy of the hit single "Ebube'" to Sir and Lady Imo to honor them. Visit Grace Band at http://www.graceband.org.

The Radio Show - ABA MUSIC

The Radio Show featured ABA Music at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Arthurfreds. This broadacst takes place every Monday at 12.00 noon (Eastern Standard Time). Just log on and get your dose live. In the very last broadcast, The Apostles Rock Group featured so strongly that you could not afford to miss the information that came out. The songs that were played were Darlin', Radiant Color, Do It In The Name of Love, Don't Freak Out, You Won My Heart, Be My Own. All those song titles are from the album "Raidant Color" by Arthur Freds. The songs were written, composed, performed and directed by Arthur Freds except for three that were performed for him by Grace Freds. When you listen to that music, you will know rightaway that they are of the Motown era. Those songs are available together in one of Arthur Freds albums at http://www.eclipseventures.com/.
On the radio show, Arthur Freds revealed some of the things that people would not ordinarily know concerning The Apostles. From the things said in the radio show, it is clear that all the bands in Aba will be brought to the listeners. ...Who wouldn't want to know about those groups from a direct participant like Arthur Freds? Arthur Freds sat with them, had breakfast, lunch and dinner with most of those great names in Aba.

Memory Lane (1)

One day, I was passing through the end of Park Road, music was blaring out of a building. That building happened to be Unicoco Hotel. The block had openings such that someone could peep in to see what was going on, so I did peep in. I saw a musical group performing and people were dancing. I also saw so many people at the gate struggling to pay and get in. I wondered, "these people are struggling to pay and go in only to dance, and those guys playing will go home and share the money". I decided to enjoy such cool money, sitting or standing to play my instrument, watching people dancing, and sometimes fighting, and finally going home to share money with the other cool people on stage with me. I did it. The band that I saw when I peeped into Unicoco Hotel was Bob Miga and the Strangers. The song that they were playing has not left my head till today (must have been about 1973). The players finally left Bob Miga, formed One World and became everybody's darling. Cyril Abdullah never missed any of One World's shows at Unicoco Hotel. When I mustered the courage, I applied to the Apostles to be one of their vocalists. They invited me to an audition. I showed up on the agreed date. They were all on stage looking at me and I almost got intimited. I remembered that I started to play the keyboard from age four, and that there was nothing to fear. I knew that I belonged to the industry, but only needed to explore where to start the career. The Apostles' band leader Walton Arungwa, asked me which of their songs that I would feel comfortable singing. I told them "She's A Dropout". They played the song, and I vocalized it perfectly well. They complimented me and said that they would get in touch with me. They never hired me to join their band. What they did much later was to come to my house to pick me up whenever Benji (their organist) was away. I did some tours with them to places like Warri, Port Harcourt, etc.

Do you remember "Everyday when I question, and feel I can't find the answer, I don't know what to do, Oh yeah, one-more-time, everyday when I question, and feel I can't find the answer I don't know what to do, Oh yeah." That is a popular chorus in Tex Soul's hit song. Tex Soul also sang, "You'll make it someday (someday), someday in your life" (Sure, you will remember this.

Down, down the valley by the Apostles was one of the most powerful songs of our time. Remember "She's A Dropout". I cannot stop loving Apostles' songs. What about the Wings during the days of Spud Nathan? Manford Best was my favorite song writer. Spud was my favorite singer. Both of them wrote and sang songs that would make you cry. I memorized many of their songs. If I have anything good to do for somebody, I'll do it for Manford Best for very special reasons.

I do not think that I can do this exercise again. It was probably only possible at the time that soldiers were supervising us. Since the exercises were good for our physical fitness, there was no harm in doing them. However, after that, it was over. I was wondering whether Jonathan Akwada actually did it. He reported for youth service at a different time. He enjoyed life at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (That was some kind of America in Nigeria). I visited him once and loved the place!

It is amazing how youth service could be avoided by some people. It was fun keeping text books behind. I only used my native brain instead of memorizing principles and codes. I also made friends at all the activities scheduled as training to equip us in diverse strenuous situations. One of the toughest tasks was done at the Man-O-War Bay. I was not a big fan of that, but I knew that it was just for a time. It would come and go, and it did. I enjoyed youth service.