Volo Volo is an album by the American worldbeat band Poi Dog Pondering.[1][2] It was released in 1992 via Columbia Records.[3] The album title is allegedly Swahili for "revolver".[4] Poi Dog Pondering supported the album with a North American tour.[5]
The album was a commercial disappointment, with only 50,000 copies sold by the fall of 1993.[6] Columbia dropped the band; to regroup, several members of Poi moved from Austin to Chicago.[7]
Production
The band built the songs by creating the rhythms first, before adding other instruments on top of the drum patterns.[8] About half of the album was produced by Alan Winstanley and Clive Langer.[9]Jerry Harrison also worked on Volo Volo.[10][11]
The Washington Post wrote that "instead of acoustic rag-tag charm and unpredictability, something [the band's] early recordings had in abundance, Volo Volo offers a more focused and groove-oriented sound."[8]Trouser Press thought that the album "bears an occasional disconcerting resemblance to smart UK popsters like the Smiths, Wedding Present and Waterboys."[15]
The New York Times deemed the band's sound "a kind of world beat-influenced earth music," writing that Volo Volo "celebrates buildings, collarbones, thunder and the joy of shaking one's booty."[16]Spin panned the album, declaring that "this is kinda like a 'Don't Worry Be Happy' stew that's so dull you'll be jonesin' for some raw flesh to bite into."[17]The Philadelphia Inquirer disparaged the "techno-dance seasonings," opining that Poi had hopped on the "EMF/Happy Mondays bandwagon."[18]
AllMusic wrote that "interestingly, Poi Dog Pondering here seems to be attempting a move into a more pop-oriented direction, sounding at times like a bizarre meeting between Santana, the Meters, Wham!, and Simple Minds."[12]MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide praised the "amazingly haunting" violin of Susan Voeltz.[13]
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