Labels

PMG

  • 01. Shalewa
    02. Me & You
    03. I'm A Dancer
    04. Eniafelamo
    05. Long Live Nigeria
    cover

    EJI OYEWOLE

    You & Me

    [engl] A bona-fide Nigerian prince and probably the only musician to have ever played with Fela Kuti, Miles Davis and Bob Marley, Eji Oyewole combined African Highlife with western jazz to create a hybrid so that was as smooth as it was funky. His first album, Charity Begins At Home was an angry tirade against corruption in Nigeria. Me & You is his ‘relationship’ album, a brighter and happier set of songs that sees Eji all loved up, presumably with the mysterious ‘Cameleon’ featured on the cover. Eji’s flute is no longer a strident voice raised in anger. Instead, on ‘Me & You’ and ‘I’m a Dancer’ it is a playful line of seduction. On the wonky and woozy ‘Eniafelamo’ his sax is a post-coital salutation. Even the one political track, ‘Long Live Nigeria’, is a loved up call for peace, progress and trust. Chilled, assured and dexterious, Me & You is a sophisticated showcase of Eji Oyewole’s chops. ‘This is the beginning of an atomic musical evolution,’ he declares on the cover. ‘Brothers and sisters, stay cool.’
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    02.03.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190787
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    02.03.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190794
     
  • 01. What Ever You Need
    02. Cross Over Reggae
    03. The World Is Full Of Injustice
    04. Marry The Poor
    05. Funky Music
    06. This Is Life
    cover

    ELCADOS

    What Ever You Need

    [engl] By the 1979 release of Whatever You Need, the Elcados were ready to party. “We got rhythm, we got sound,” they declare on ‘Funky Music’. “You’re going to dig it!' Starting out as the Moonrakers in Kanu in 1968, Steve Black, Rocky Mustapha, Tony Nosika and Frank Martins, spent the next decade gigging their way out of the north, including a surreal set with Khalifa Baba-Ahmed at the Miss New Nigeria contest. They released two rock-oriented albums in the mid ‘70s before hitting a disco/reggae groove on Whatever You Need. The album starts with the title track, a bouncy reggae number guaranteed to fill the dance floor. ‘Cross Over Reggae’ keeps the mood light before ‘The World Is Full Of Injustice’ delivers a bit of Rasta indignation. Funk monsters ‘Marry The Poor’ and ‘Funky Music’ bring it all home, reminding listeners that the guys didn’t drag out their best shiny suits just to smoke spliffs. Sadly, Whatever You Need, was the last record the Elcados released. But they went out with the glitter ball burning brightly, dimmed but a little by the fug of the righteous herb.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    01.11.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190527
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    01.11.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190534
     
  • 01. Free My People
    02. Rover Man
    03. Babalawo
    04. Afro Fever
    05. Loving
    cover

    EMMA DORGU

    Roverman

    [engl] In 1979, Emma Dorgu decided it was time to act. He’d torn up the Lagos live scene with The Thermometers and conquered the airwaves with the single, ‘World People’. But there were injustices afoot, not just in Nigeria, but in South Africa and Zimbabwe and across the continent as well, and he felt that something needed to be done. Roverman was his politicized call to action. Blackman Akeeb Kareem lent him the instruments and let him rehearse in his sitting room. Dorgu sets his stall out early in the reggae-tinged ‘Free My People’ calling for freedom for South Africa, freedom for Zimbabwe, indeed, freedom for all. Thankfully political injustice hadn’t rid Emma completely of his urge to get on down. The New York ghetto funk of ‘Roverman’ and ‘Loving’ and the straighthead boogie of ‘Afro Fever’ leaven the message with a funky beat and an irresistible pull towards the dancefloor. On Roverman Emma Dorgu has achieved that that rarest of beats, an album that challenges your mind while it speaks to your feet. Protest music has never sounded so funky.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    02.03.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190749
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    02.03.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190756
     
  • 01. You And I
    02. Nobody Knows
    03. I Love You
    04. A Lonely Child
    05. Give A Little
    06. Orindo
    cover

    EMMA OGOSI

    Nobody Knows

    [engl] Limited to 500 copies only! Emma Ogosi has worn a lot of different hats in his career: former air force officer, guitarist with Benin-based Pogo Limited, and husband and manager of Nigerian reggae superstar, Evi-Edna Ogholi. In 1981, he donned a sequined cowboy hat and released Nobody Knows. Nobody Knows is arguably the Nigeria’s best – and perhaps only – Disco Country album. Country music has always been influential in the country and Ogosi managed to channel Jim Reeves via the bright lights of Lagos’ burgeoning disco scene to produce an album of sparkling mournfulness. The album starts brightly with ‘You And I’ and ends with ‘Orindo,’ a horn-driven dance floor filler. ‘Nobody Knows’ and ‘A Lonely Child’ venture into ‘you done me wrong’ territory. And you can imagine Kenny Rogers covering ‘Give A Little’, albeit wearing flares and platforms and a moustache instead of a beard. Overall, though, Nobody Knows is as disco as the sharp suit and gull-wing collar Emma is wearing on the cover. But don’t be fooled – there are rhinestones on that there glitter ball.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191425
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191418
     
  • 01. Kiss Me Once Again
    02. Come True
    03. Mr. Big Brother
    04. Love Me Kiss Me
    05. Don't Take My Girls
    06. Girls For Sale
    cover

    FELIX LEBARTY

    Girls For Sale

    [engl] Before he was Nigeria's self-proclaimed Mr Lover Boy, Felix Lebarty was an upcoming musician in the country's Edo-Delta region. His big brother, Aigbe, was a legendary Highlife bandleader, but Felix paid his dues playing guitar with Thony Shorby Nwenyi and the Collection of Stars, along with fellow 'star' Mighty Flames bassist, Willy Nfor. Perversely, Girls For Sale was released after Lover Boy, the slick disco album that cemented his place in Nigerian music history. It is a collection of tracks Lebarty made early in his career, when his music was rawer and his pickup lines less sophisticated and less practised. In 'Come True', Lebarty actually admits to a girl that he hasn't got any money. He begs a girl to love him in 'Love Me Kiss Me' and pleads with a rival to give him a break in 'Don't Take My Girl'. He even takes a dig at Aigbe, his more successful sibling, in 'Mr Big Brother'. It's hardly what you'd expect from the disco god behind Lover Boy, who went on to have 19 children with 7 different women. To me, that's what makes Girls For Sale worth checking out. It's gritty, lo-fi and melodic, like The Apostles with a subtle a nod towards the Jackson Five, sung with endearing insecurity. What's not to like about that? - Peter Moore
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    11.05.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190848
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    11.05.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190855
     
  • 01. We Are On The Move
    02. Money Or Love
    03. Long Time Girl
    04. God Of My Heart
    05. Cool And Good (For Loving)
    06. Co-Operation
    07. Work To Success
    08. Queen Of Hate
    09. Anyi Nwe Mmeri
    cover

    FOUNDARS 15

    Co-Operation

    [engl] After years of gigging around the east Nigerian music scene, Foundars 15 finally hit the jackpot when they recruited legendary bass player, Marshall Udo. Charismatic and confident, Udo immediately energised the band, bringing a new funky and psychedelic vibe as well as a bunch of songs he?d workshopped with the Funkees. The tone of the album is set early. Nek Adirika?s searing guitar lick announces ?We Are On The Move?, a track that is both funky and determined. ?Co-operation? is a horn-driven slab of ghetto funk. ?Cool and Good (For Love)? is a psychedelic wig-out. ?Work To Success? could well be the new-look Foundars 15 manifesto set to music. While Marshall Udo was undoubtedly the catalyst, Co-operation is very much a group effort. Udo, Sony Enang, Nek Adirika and Ike Peters each provide songs and the musicianship of each player is impeccable. Every track is super-tight and sophisticated. This is the sound of a band that means business. It?s also why Co-operation is widely regarded as one of the great Afro-Funk rock albums of all time. - Peter Moore, www.africanrevolutions.com
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    06.11.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190985
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    15.07.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190923
     
  • 01. Let's Stay Together
    02. Think Of What To Do
    03. The Creator
    04. We Can Get It On
    05. Freedom
    06. Salt Sweet Style
    07. I Believe In Hard Working
    08. Music Makes You Move
    cover

    FRIIMEN MUSIK COMPANY

    We Can Get It On

    [engl] By the mid 1970’s in Nigeria, the Biafran War was a distant memory and the music scene in the eastern city of Aba was booming again. Bands like The Funkees, The Wings and The Apostles grabbed the headlines, but the more interesting stuff was coming from smaller groups like the Friimen. The Friimen, or the Friimen Muzik Company to use their official name, were influenced as much by pre-Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees as Jimi Hendrix and James Brown. In Beni Tudumey they had the best keyboardist in the city, and in Dan Igbaji, Charlie Eze and Ken Okogbue its tightest rhythm section. Throw in Gbemi Saka Toju channeling his inner Barry Gibb and you had a band quite unlike any other in the country. The result is We Can Get it On, a hybrid of West Coast ballads and dancefloor chuggers. One moment they are thanking God for making the mountains (‘The Creator’), the next salaciously suggesting it’s time to make the mountains move (‘We Can Get It On’). Some of the songs simply state the obvious (‘Music Makes You Move’.) However, it’s the track, ‘Salt Sweet Style’, that sums up the Friimen best: “We have the salt. We have the sweet. We have the style.” It’s all present and accounted for on We Can Get It On. - Peter Moore
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    01.11.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191371
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    01.11.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191388
     
  • 01. Now I'm A Man
    02. Korfisa
    03. Dance With Me
    04. Mimbo
    05. Patience
    06. Salam
    07. Time
    08. 303
    cover

    FUNKEES

    Now I'm a Man

    [engl] Has there ever been a band as aptly named as The Funkees? Formed after the Biafran War to raise spirits in the east, they quickly conquered the dance floors of Lagos and in 1973 headed to London, playing at Ronnie Scott’s and tearing up the local scene. Now I’m A Man captures the band at the height of their London-era pomp. Africans were making soca, West Indians were playing afro-funk and discolypso blasted from boom boxes across West London. The Funkees soaked it all up and delivered back, funkier, tighter and louder. Bookended by two Santana-esque jams, ‘I’m A Man’ and ‘303’, The Funkees second album delivers slow burning Afrobeat (‘Mimbo’), urgent jungle bongo chants (‘Salam’) and straight-ahead floor-fillers (Dance With Me.) Little wonder that legendary BBC Radio 1 DJ, John Peel, recorded not one, but two sessions with them. A year later, The Funkees were no more. Jake Sollo joined Osibisa. Sonny Akpabio and Harry Mosco pursued successful solo careers. But on Now I’m A Man they burned brightly as Nigeria’s most talented, inventive and funky band.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    05.08.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190428
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    05.08.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190435
     
  • cover

    FUNKEES, THE

    Point Of No Return - Afro Funk Music (French Girlie Cover)

    [engl] FRENCH GIRLIE COVER VERSION! The Funkees hit London in 1973 as the tightest, funkiest and most audacious bands to come out of Africa. Hardened by endless touring and an unrelenting battle with BLO and Monomono to be the best band in Nigeria, they were in prime musical condition, ready to finally lay down their first album. The result was Point Of No Return, a balls-to-the wall Afro funk-psych-rock monster that placed them, without question, on the top of the Afro funk pile. From the audacious opening instrumental title track to the funky finale, ?I Can?t Be Satisfied?, the musicianship is jaw dropping, with a rhythm section so tight you couldn't slip a cigarette paper between them. ?Abraka?, ?Dancing In The Nude? and ?Ole? find Jake Sollo, Harry Mosco and Sonny Akpabio at the height of their powers, playing songs fashioned from the sweat of years playing live and the soca and calypso influences of the West African and Caribbean musicians they played with in London. Point of No Return is rightly regarded as a landmark of psychedelic Afro Funk. It's also one that marks out The Funkees as not just one of the best bands in Nigeria or Africa, but in London and across the world too. - Peter Moore, www.africanrevolutions.com
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    22.01.2018
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191777
     
  • cover

    FUNKEES, THE

    Point Of No Return - Afro Funk Music (Nigerian Yellow Cover)

    [engl] NIGERIAN YELLOW COVER VERSION! The Funkees hit London in 1973 as the tightest, funkiest and most audacious bands to come out of Africa. Hardened by endless touring and an unrelenting battle with BLO and Monomono to be the best band in Nigeria, they were in prime musical condition, ready to finally lay down their first album. The result was Point Of No Return, a balls-to-the wall Afro funk-psych-rock monster that placed them, without question, on the top of the Afro funk pile. From the audacious opening instrumental title track to the funky finale, ?I Can?t Be Satisfied?, the musicianship is jaw dropping, with a rhythm section so tight you couldn't slip a cigarette paper between them. ?Abraka?, ?Dancing In The Nude? and ?Ole? find Jake Sollo, Harry Mosco and Sonny Akpabio at the height of their powers, playing songs fashioned from the sweat of years playing live and the soca and calypso influences of the West African and Caribbean musicians they played with in London. Point of No Return is rightly regarded as a landmark of psychedelic Afro Funk. It's also one that marks out The Funkees as not just one of the best bands in Nigeria or Africa, but in London and across the world too. - Peter Moore, www.africanrevolutions.com
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    22.01.2018
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191258
     
  • 01. Ganja (Ganja)
    02. 5th Bethoven Africana
    03. Boogie Fever
    04. Dance For Love
    05. African Hustle
    06. Shake Shake Shake
    cover

    GERALDO PINO

    Boogie Fever

    [engl] When Geraldo Pino rolled into town from Sierra Leone with his Heartbeats, Nigeria had never seen anything quite like them. Slick, tight and playing the latest James Brown-style funk on the very expensive equipment, they soon had the country in their thrall. ‘Made me fall right on my ass!’ a chastened Fela Kuti remembered in 1982. Fans of Geraldo’s disarmingly eloquent enunciation on early albums – re-issued soon by PMG – may shocked the gruff, rawer tones on Boogie Fever. The album starts with a jaunty reggae track extolling the virtues of ganja and, later, ‘Dance Fever’ sounds like it was recorded down in Trenchtown after Geraldo had taken a toke or two of his own advice. Even the more traditional funk tracks like ‘African Hustle’ have a darker, more threatening vibe. Not that that is a bad thing. Boogie Fever is the sound of consummate musician letting his hair down. Or in Geraldo’s case, letting it grow into a tight afro and not bothering to watch his Ps and Qs anymore. - Peter Moore, www.africanrevolutions.com / "Geraldo Pino came to Nigeria from Freetown in Sierra Leone in 1968 with his band THE HEARTBEATS and quickly changed the music scene completely. He was the first bandleader that brought sophistication into show business. He owned the best musical equipments, his costumes on stage was fantastic, his musicians were good looking guys with afro hair styles. His drummer then was Francis Foster who later played percussion with Paul Simon. Pino got the title of THE HARDEST WORKING MAN IN SHOW BUSINESS in Nigeria. Girls loved him. I later joined his band with new set of musicians in 1974 as a singer while he based in Kano in the north of Nigeria. To survive in Nigeria those days as a musician you have to be very good on stage and Pino was. His stagecraft was exhilarating, his costumes were dazzling, he command the band and his audience wherever he played with his dancesteps and he became an inspiration to many Musicians. He later moved to Port Harcourt where he lived and died many years ago. Though he is dead, his music lives on through his many songs and this vinyl in your hands. His memory also lived with those who watched him on stage. Ladies and gentle men, this is GERALDO PINO!" - Steve Black
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    25.07.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190305
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    25.07.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190312
     
  • 01. Heavy, Heavy, Heavy
    02. Let Them Talk
    03. Africans Must Unite
    04. Shake Hands
    05. Power To The People
    06. Let's Have A Party
    cover

    GERALDO PINO

    Let's Have A Party

    [engl] It’s no exaggeration to say that Geraldo Pino and his band the Heartbeats kickstarted the whole soul/funk/afrobeat scene in West Africa. Mixing highlife, funk and jazz, and using the latest equipment, they laid waste to all before them. In 1966 Fela Kuti was a jobbing musician, eeking out a living with highlife bands. When Gerlado Pino came to town, it changed his life. “Pino tore up the scene,” he recalls in an interview with Carlos Moore. “I knew I had to get my shit together. And fast!”. Produced by Odion Iruoje and engineered by Emmanual Odenusi, Let’s Have A Party is Geraldo Pino’s masterpiece. It’s slick and heavy, tough and uncompromising, with musicianship that will blow your mind. It’s all killer, no filler, with ‘Heavy Heavy Heavy’ and ‘Let Them Talk’ bonafide, nailed on funk classics. The Heartbeats are exactly that, a tight and efficient engine that keeps the groove moving. This is US-style funk, with an emphasis on extended percussion workouts and organ wigouts. You can’t listen to ‘Power To The People’ without being impressed – or compelled to dance. The extended call out to each Heartbeat in ‘Let’s Have a Party’ is well deserved. If my house caught on fire, this is the one album I’d rescue. After one listen, I reckon you’d do the same. - Peter Moore
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    11.05.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191708
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    11.05.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191692
     
  • 01. Don't Ask Me
    02. One More Chance
    03. Everything
    04. The Enemy
    05. My Music
    06. The Song I Sing
    cover

    GODDY OKU

    One More Chance

    [engl] Goddy Oku was the Eastern Nigerian music scene’s Mr Fixit. Need a new guitar? He’d make you one. Couldn’t afford a fancy new effects pedal? Give him a couple of days and he’d knock up something that would do the job. Oh, and he was also a red-hot guitarist with The Hygrades, one of the heaviest bands to come out of the east. When music started getting more electronic in the late 70’s and 80’s, Goddy was there, tinkering and experimenting. He built Godiac studios in Enugu, where fellow wonk, William Onyeabor recorded Crashes In Love. Between producing countless albums, he used his DIY skills and studio acumen to record One More Chance. “Don’t Ask Me” is the bomb, a dance floor chugger that sets the tone of the album with cheeky vocal interplay between Goddy and his backing singers, Alice Okaro and Sandra Okagbue. They’re soon asking for forgiveness on ‘One More Chance” and enjoying the fruits of reconciliation of the chirpy ‘Everything”. One More Chance is a wonky, synth driven masterpiece that is funky and quaint in equal measures. It will bring a smile to your face and an irresistible urge to dance to your feet.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    01.11.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191319
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    01.11.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191326
     
  • 01. Jane
    02. Funky Africa
    03. Julie Anna
    04. Let's Dance Together
    05. Jah Help Us
    06. B.M.S. Bowl
    cover

    GOLDFINGER DOE & B.M.S.

    Let's Dance Together

    [engl] William Onyeabor wasn?t the only Nigerian experimenting with synthesizers in the 70s and 80s. Goldfinger Doe was twiddling knobs too, no more so than on Let?s Dance Together ? a prime slab of cosmic Afro boogie funk, recorded with legendary percussionist, Mike Umoh (a.k.a B.M.S.) Goldfinger met Umoh playing with Bongos Ikwue & The Groovies. Bass player Bashiru Musa, was a fellow Groovie too, and when the three hit the studio to record Let?s Dance Together, the groove was already tight and hot. The title track, ?Let?s Dance Together?, is an urgent boogie monster, peppered with cosmic synths. ?Funky Africa? is an irresistible floor-filler, driven by the ?funk in the black soil and the soul in the air.? ?Jah Help Us? is a reggae-tinged reworking of the Lord?s Prayer, with added squelchy synth. ?B.M.S. Bowl?? It?s just an excuse for Umoh to show off his preposterous percussive skills. Goldfinger?s extraordinary synth skills are always front and centre. They transform ?Jane?, providing a humorous commentary in an otherwise straightforward romantic lament, and propel the funkier tracks to become the heartbeat of the album. Let?s Dance Together is an Afro Funk space ship, fuelled up and ready to take off. - Peter Moore, www.africanrevolutions.com
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    06.11.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191029
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    15.07.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191036
     
  • 01. Warteef Jigeen
    02. Leen Te Koun
    03. Mamadu Bitike
    04. N.T.C. The Gambia
    05. Jilanna
    06. President Diawara
    cover

    GUELEWAR BAND OF BANJUL

    Warteef Jigeen

    [engl] The Guelewar Band of Banjul are a band quite unlike any other – an explosive mix of soul and funk with local rhythms like Boogaraboo and Ndaga combined with a defiant insistence on singing in their local language, Wolof. They certainly blew a young Youssou N’dour away. He cites them as his biggest influence. Warteef Jigeen marks the point the band found its groove. The title track sets the tone early with parping horns and psychedelic guitar licks. ‘N.T.C. The Gambia’ and ‘Jilana’ seamlessly blend traditional percussion and plaintive sax. ‘Leen Te Koun’ and ‘President Diawara’ showcase some of the freakiest synth ever to come out of West Africa. It was Laye Ngom’s decision as bandleader to draft in his cousin as singer that elevates Warteef Jigeen. Moussa Ngom had paid his dues singing at traditional circumcision ceremonies and his rough, expressive vocals bring a level of melancholy and intensity to the album. It’s a melancholy and intensity that can only come from years of watching young boys take this painful journey to Gambian manhood, a journey, in a way, that Guelewar Band Of Banjul made on Warteef Jigeen.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191593
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191609
     
  • 01. It's Too Late
    02. I Feel Funky
    03. Harry's Party
    04. Country Boy / Country Dub
    05. Wanderer
    cover

    HARRY MOSCO

    Country Boy

    [engl] Don't let the floppy hat and rolling English countryside on the cover fool you. Harry Mosco's Country Boy is a certified floor-filler, bursting with Studio 54 era disco-funk as well as a token reggae monster, complete with its own dub version. Harry Mosco always had swagger. A founding member of The Funkees, he'd stride out on stage in tight pants and dark sunglasses, commanding the attention of a population distracted by war. When The Funkees split in London, it was clear that his star would rise the fastest. Released in 1978 by fledgling Taretone label, Country Boy went on to become one of the best-selling Nigerian records of all time. The first few bars of ‘It's Too Late' are guaranteed to get on the dance floor. Sam El'Salahi's slinky bassline on ‘I Feel Funky' will keep you there. And ‘Harry's Party' is a celebration you never want to end. The title track, and its dub doppleganger, are a reggae-tinged chance to catch your breath, before ‘The Wanderer' drags you back on the dancefloor until the house lights come on.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    12.09.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190442
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    20.09.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190459
     
  • 01. Out Of Sight
    02. Cold Fire
    03. I Need Your Loving
    04. Got To Know
    05. Funky Port Harcourt
    06. Intro
    07. Be With Me
    08. Not Yours Anymore
    09. Put On Your Funky Shoes
    cover

    HEADS FUNK BAND

    Cold Fire

    [engl] The self-proclaimed funkiest band on the west coast of Africa, the Heads Funk Band, could arguably make that claim for the whole continent. Featuring the slick guitar of Felix ‘Feladey’ Odey, the slinky drumming of Eddie Offeyi and the swirling keyboard chops of Kevin ‘Fortune’ Coburn, nobody was funkier. And that’s not even taking into account the dance floor monsters they were releasing at the same time as Akwassa. Cold Fire was their second album as the Heads Funk Band. Where their first album, Hard World, was in a hurry to get you on the dance floor, on Cold Fire the funk is given room to breathe. The title track has a dark ghetto groove, straight from the mean streets of New York. ‘Got To Know’ has a loose, feel good vibe. ‘Put On Your Funky Shoes’ and the instrumental, ‘Funky Port Harcourt’ live up to their names. With Feladey laying down a hybrid chicken scratch/wah-wah sound over Eddie Offeyi’s assured drumming, and ‘Fortune’ Coburn supplying the free-range keyboards, this is a band at the height of their powers. Cold Fire is killer stuff and proof that in the mid-seventies Nigeria was producing the funkiest bands in the world. - Peter Moore
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    11.05.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190954
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    11.05.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190947
     
  • 01. Hard World
    02. Money Makes You Happy
    03. Can You Do It
    04. Jesus
    05. Egbe Bere Ogo Bere (Live And Let Live)
    06. Hot Punk
    07. Got To Love
    cover

    HEADS FUNK BAND

    Hard World

    [engl] Hard World is the first of three albums released by Heads Funk Band and it's one of the most rare LPs coming from Nigeria. What we have here is a pure, well crafted Afro-Funk. Heads Funk Band is related to Akwassa, where both are two exceptional bands with the same members, but co-existed simultaneously featuring Felix Odey (Feladey) on guitar and Eddie Offeyi on drums. The original forming duo of Akwassa was Felix Day / Feladey (guitar, vocals) and Kevin Coburn (keyboards, synths, vocals), who collaborated with guest musicians, which later turned out to be the actual Heads Funk Band. Some rumours say all of them were in both bands and musically speaking we can hear a lot of similarities. Akwassa released two incredibly rare albums, while Heads Funk Band managed to release three LPs, of which Hard World is the most hard to find.
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    25.07.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190213
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    25.07.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190183
     
  • 01. Hello There!
    02. Gbata Ngwa (Egwu Abia)
    03. Four In A Tangle
    04. (When Will It Be) Right Time
    05. That Man
    06. The Way We Are
    07. Hello There (Reprise)
    cover

    IFUDU, THEADORA

    First Time Out

    [engl] First Time Out is a cosmic soul transmission from Nigeria’s own Diana Ross, Theadora Ifudu. The arty co-host of hit TV program, ‘The Bar Beach Show’ hooked up with the guys from Monomono to created an album that is sultry, sexy and effortlessly cool. It’s a smoky, New York Soul Club on wax. A graduate of the New York film school, Ifudu considered herself an artiste, and the opening track, ‘Hello There!’ Is arresting in its cinematic scope and intriguing strangeness. After briefly channelling Miriam Makes in ‘Gbata Ngwa’, she moves into full diva mode. ‘(When Will It Be) Right Time’ features vocal runs that Mariah Carey would be proud of and ‘That Man’ has a smoky, jazz club vibe. It’s easy to imagine Theadora, under a single spotlight, dazzling in a sparkling figure-hugging crowd, holding a hard-to-please New York audience in her thrall. At times funky, laidback and smooth, the greatest compliment that can be paid to First Time Out is that it sounds international. The musicianship is first class, the vocals faultless and the mood super smooth. Theadora Ifudu, the self-proclaimed ‘moon watcher, ragdoll and artiste’, created an Afro soul masterpiece for the ages.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    15.06.2018
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    27.07.2018
     
  • 01. Disco Bomp
    02. Disco Power
    03. Funk Ina Ghatto
    04. World Of Misery
    05. World Of Love
    06. Take Me High
    cover

    IGNA IGWEBUIKE

    Bomp

    [engl] It takes a lot of swag to wear a hat as big as the hat that I.G. wears on the cover of Bomp. But I.G., a.k.a. Bobby I.G., a.k.a. I.G. New Yorker, had swag by the bucket load. That hat tells you everything you need to know about I.G. and, indeed, about Bomp – it’s a big funky slice of Nigerian cowboy disco magic. I.G. was a player in the thriving Enugu boogie scene, a scene, in the east of the country, that also produced Goddy Oku and William Onyeabor. With Mr Mighty Flames, Willie N’For on bass, Austin Onwurah on drums and all the bells and whistles of the Godiac Studios close at hand, a Nigerian disco classic was inevitable. ‘Disco Bomp’ and ‘Disco Power’ are straight-ahead floor-fillers. ‘Funk ina Ghatto’ has a slower, dirtier groove. ‘World of Misery’ takes a slight calypso reggae detour, before ‘Take Me Home’ brings it on home, with an unabashed plea for ‘loving’ and some delightfully wonky synth lines from another Mighty Flame, Frankie Song. Bomp was I.G.’s only album. It’s a startling one-off disco boogie classic that was clear in its ambition and perfect in its execution. A bit like the hat, really.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190640
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473190657
     
  • 01. 404
    02. I Am Somebody...I Know !
    03. Raise Your Hands
    04. I Just Wanna Dance
    05. Coming Home
    06. Where Is Love
    07. Deiyo Deiyo
    cover

    JAKE SOLLO

    Coming Home

    [engl] In 1977 Jake Sollo returned to Nigeria to record his first solo album, Coming Home. His long-term band, The Funkees, had imploded in London. And his big break with the Afro super band, Osibisa, was cut short when he went on strike with Kiki Gyan and promptly got sacked. Rather than sit at a bar and feel sorry for himself, Jake returned to Nigeria and got his mates together – including the aforementioned Mr. Gyan – and headed into the EMI studios in Lagos. The result was Coming Home, a triumphant album that combined the raw power of The Funkees with the slick tricks he learned in London. The opening instrumental, '404', is the track Carlos Santana would have recorded if he'd been born in Nigeria rather than Mexico. 'Raise Your Hands' and 'I Just Wanna Dance' are slick boogie monsters and 'Deiyo Deiyo' sees Jake displaying some mad synth skills on Africa's only Prophet-5, a hot piece of hardware that was transforming music in Europe and America. Coming Home is the sound of an artist at the heights of his power. And a precursor of the skills and sounds that would make Sollo the most sought after producer in Nigeria.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191432
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191449
     
  • 01. A Stroll In The Moonlight
    02. Son Of A Man
    03. Iya Alakara
    04. I Love Myself
    05. Toughts Dedicated To Mama
    06. People Of The World
    cover

    JIMI LEE / MONA FINNIH & THE SENSATIONALS

    A Stroll In The Moonlight

    [engl] He was Nigerian guitar God, famous for his incendiary lead breaks with Aktion and Monomono. She was one of Nigeria’s first female band leader who went off to the US and became a big deal in the New Jazz scene there. It should be no surprise then that when Jimi Lee and Monah Finnih got together in 1980 for A Stroll In The Moonlight, an Afro Jazz cosmic funk masterpiece was born. Intricately arranged, beautifully produced and showcasing musicianship of the highest order, A Stroll In The Moonlight was a notch above anything else that was coming out of Nigeria at the time. “I Love Myself” is the perfect amalgam of a tight, horn-driven Lagos groove and an American New Jazz sheen. “People of the World” is pure Afro Funk, brightened by Jimi Lee’s sunny, twangy guitar. “Son of A Man” brings reggae to the table and “Iya Alakara” is a Lijadu Sisters style cosmic paean to beefcakes and plantains. Taking a stroll with Nigerian music’s oddest couple is a slinky, funky affair that comes highly recommended, but be warned: You’ll work up a sweat.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    01.11.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191357
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    01.11.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191364
     
  • 01. Jungle Magic Music
    02. I Got To Make It
    03. On My Way
    04. I Love Somebody
    05. Jungle Juice
    06. African Fever
    cover

    JOE KEMFA

    Jungle Juice

    [engl] Jungle Juice is a paean to the redemptive powers of boogie – a slab of New York ghetto grooves getting its freak on in the jungles of Africa. Joe Kemfa promises a magical party and that's what you get - from the straight-ahead party grooves of ‘Jungle Magic Music’ to the more slinky and sinuous ‘Jungle Juice.’ Hailing from Warra in Nigeria's Delta region, Joe Kemfa made his name with The Junkers and the Don Bruce Band. He recorded a few singles with Larry Ifedioranma from Ofo The Rock Company before disappearing to Europe. He returned in 1978 with two Germans in tow and, together with Cameroonian drummer Ali Ringo, they formed Aura, Joe's backing band on Jungle Juice. The best tracks are the freakiest. ‘I Got To Make It’ bemoans the cost of living, before becoming a stoned plea to the Lenleys, Joe’s very own Lijadu Sisters, to boogie it on a Saturday night. Freaky and funky, Jungle Juice is the sound of James Brown and Parliament jamming after a night on some nasty Delta home brew. One listen and you’ll want to get your hands on some Jungle Juice too.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191494
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    15.12.2016
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191500
     
  • 01. Love Is Gonna Pay
    02. Being In Love Is Being Involved
    03. You Look Without Seeing
    04. Insure My Love
    05. Boys And Girls
    06. Closer Than Skin
    07. Just Like Me
    cover

    JOE MOKS

    Boys And Girls

    [engl] Calling all students of late 70s Nigerian Boogie. Class is in and you?re about to get schooled by music professor Josephine Mokwunyei, aka Joe Moks. Spotted by legendary producer, Odion Iruoje, and nurtured by his protege, Alex Tony Okoroji, Joe Moks pioneered a wonky, hi-tech style of funk that would become the sound of 80s Nigeria. Her album Boys And Girls is brash, bouncy and fun, decorated by scatty synth lines and propelled by the ?magic hand claps? of Nigerian rhythm legends Steve Black, Goddy Igidigi and Ifi Okwechime. The title track and ?You Look Without Seeing? are spaced-out party starters. ?Closer Than Skin? boasts a super slinky bass line and ?Love Is Gonna Pay? is a slice of Bony M Euro pop. And, just beneath the froth, strong intelligent lyrics demanding respect and equality. ?Being In Love Is Being Involved? was the blueprint of new kind of relationship Nigerian women were looking for. Joe Moks only made one album. She made a few appearances on Victor Uwaifo?s TV show before becoming a professor of Music and Theatre Arts at the University of Benin. But forty years on, Boys And Girls remains a lesson in fun and intelligent Nigerian boogie. - Peter Moore, www.africanrevolutions.com
    Format
    CD
    Release-Datum
    06.11.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191760
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    20.10.2017
    EAN
    EAN 0710473191722