OSIBISA

Review #91!

Before I had heard of the band, Osibisa's debut album caught my eye immediately at a swap meet. I didn't buy it (it was $40 as a used vinyl), but I went home loving the cover art and the Yes-esque band logo (makes sense, it was Roger Dean). Now, after about a month of procrastinating to write this, I own the vinyl; I achieved the price of six dollars. Great thanks to Mr. Gentle Giant for indirectly letting me know Osibisa was on Prog Archives after his wonderful review of this album. As the record's inside cover states, this album is full of "criss-cross rhythms that explode with happiness". The record starts with a spoken introduction to the record and then moves into this tribal, funky, hella-jamming jazz session of a song. This is 'The Dawn'. This track is seven minutes long, and is pure jazz deliciousness. 'Music for Gong Gong' I did not like at first listen, but now I have no idea why. It's one of the best tracks on this album. 'Ayiko Bia' has a bit of chanting at the beginning which further establishes a connection to the African culture that greatly influences this record. At some point, there is both a guitar and trumpet solo, both of which are amazing. Another great track. Has impressive percussion. 'Akwaaba' sounds like something straight off of a hard-bop-era Herbie Hancock album. Very funky and fun to listen to. 'Oranges' is another fun track. It sounds like muzak that would be played on a cruise but brought to the max. Another very fun jazzy track. 'Phallus C' has some odd lyrics and an equally odd title (did the band forget how to spell 'fallacy'?). There is a quite impressive guitar solo somewhere in that seven-minute runtime too. Great percussion, which seems to be a recurring theme in almost every Osibisa track I have ever heard. The final track, 'Think About The People', has the most structured lyrics of all the tracks in this album, if you get what I mean. Powerful and beautiful, this a great closer to such an emotion-provoking record. Even though this song is not happy, it makes me happy because of the wonderful instrumentation. Osibisa I highly recommend. Five out of five. Ten out of ten. One hundred out of one hundred. Perfection.

— First review of this album —

Review #90!

This Osibisa single features both a shortened version of the first and the full verion of the last track on their first album. 'The Dawn', which sadly had about two minutes shaved off the top of it, and 'Think About the People', a song about thinking about all the madness in the world and opposing corruption. The most serious song on their debut album, for sure. These are both great tracks, and I love the choice to put them both in a single. This is also my first review of a single, so this is a great introduction for me. And hey, if you have an interest in reading my review of Osibisa's debut album, I am going to drop it the same night of creating this one, so just keep that in mind if you wish. Prog on.

Incredible Record

Currently, I am in a massive OSIBISA phase, their music is just so happy! Their debut album is a brilliant example of this, containing some of their greatest tracks. Although i probably prefer WOYAYA, I am going to do these reviews chronologically.

Side One:

'The Dawn' is definitely a stand out track for me, possibly their greatest track? The brass arrangements are stellar and the Ian Anderson esque flute solo is sublime. A perfect 10/10 track for me.

'Music For The Gong Gong' is up next and is another excellent instrumental tune. This one is much in the same vein as the first and has a great happy vibe (as do all of their songs). This track gets a 9/10.

'Ayiko Bia' is song number 3 on this excellent debut album, the first track to include singing and its a great one, the longest track on the album at 7:53 and its worth it. This tune captures the brilliant fusion of afro-pop and psychedelic/jazz rock. This track gets another 9/10.

Side Two:

'Akwaaba' is the Fourth tune on this record and in my opinion probably the weakest although this is still a great song. Another (mostly) instrumental track clocking in at a modest 4 mins and 20 seconds, it gains a 7/10 rating from me.

Track Five is the jazzy 'Oranges', one of the best tracks on this album and yet another instrumental, this song perfectly captures the genius of OSIBISA, great sax, organ and guitar lines, what more could you ask for. 10/10.

Now for my personal favourite song on this album, the bass driven 'Phallus C'. Wow what a brilliant track, this immediately gets a 10/10. The drums are absolutely sublime and so is that bass riff in 9/8. The way the band effortlessly switches between 9/8, 3/4 and 6/8 (as stated by Teddy Osei in a live video) seriously blows me away. This song also has potentially Richardson's best guitar solo. I can't state how much I love this song. 10/10

The closer: 'Think About The People' is an excellent track. A theme with their albums to have a non instrumental closer with excellent lyrics. Speaks of problems such as climate change, it is a very meaningful song and along with most of the tracks on the album one of the best. 9/10

In conclusion this is one of the greatest jazz-funk-afro-pop-rock albums ever released (not that there are many of them). How about this: this is one of the greatest jazz-rock-related albums ever. 9.2/10 (4.6/5) rounded up to 5/5

— First review of this album —

Osibisa was founded in London in 1969 by three musicians from Ghana. The group grew into a seven-piece and released the eponymous debut album in 1971. The second album Woyaya, likewise featuring an exotic, winged elephant themed cover art by Roger Dean, came later the same year. Several singles were also released to promote Osibisa's African-based jazz rock (see discogs.com for more of them).

[ As a teenager, in the late 80's, I bought Woyaya second-hand (surely not least because of Roger Dean, in fact), but later I unfortunately sold it away among heaps of other vinyls. Approximately a decade ago Osibisa entered my CD shelves, although I haven't much listened to the compilation CD. To make a modest compensation for the truly undeserved oblivion I've put them into, here's a 7" review. ]

'Survival' is probably the funkiest track of Woyaya. On the album it has a long and rather unnecessary intro for percussion and voice, which is wisely edited from the single version. Basically the composition is an instrumental despite some mostly-wordless vocal parts. The groove is full of energy, quite the same way as the early SANTANA. Reeds and horns play sharp riffs while guitar and organ are mainly basic ingredients for the overall soundscape.

'Think About the People' was taken from the debut album, where it is the closing song. This is vintage jazz rock with funk flavours. The lyrics about the pollution and other global problems are sung by guitarist Wendel Richardson (with background harmonies). The song in itself is pretty effective and there are also some cool proggy alterations in the tempo etc. These two pieces may not represesnt Osibisa's fusion at its finest, but certainly this is not a bad single at all.

Great world music but bland European jazz-rock: 7/10

WOYAYA's ridiculously upbeat jazz-rock, imbued with African and Caribbean influences, is particularly innovative for the early 70s and also helped to set world music as a marketable genre. OSIBISA's musicianship and creativity shines brilliantly when they play ethnic-oriented moments: Beautiful Seven is tropically vibrant, offering amazing bongo solo outro; Rabiatu, my favorite track and by far what I consider OSIBISA's pinnacle, virtually has no jazz fusion, instead, it brings SANTANA-influenced latin rock mixed with distinctively rhythmic, polyphonic and energetic West African music.

Sadly, OSIBISA hinders their utmost potential as they give far too much attention on performing jazz fusion which, frankly, feels generic most of the time. In the end, I see WOYAYA as a good (even if flat) jazz-rock album that occasionally astounded me with superb world music moments. Worth checking out nonetheless - who knows, my "good and bland" might be yours "absolutely amazing".

First let me say that if you're not familiar with Osibisa's "criss cross rhythms that explode with happiness," then you're missing out. This band's blend of world beats, jazz fusion, unapologetically open-ended songs, instrumental improvisation, and thick grooves makes Osibisa immediately appealing. The "prog" in Osibisa comes from their blending of musical roots, making an end result a unique and charming musical experience.

I highly recommend everyone reading to the warm sound and dynamic rhythms of this little heard of band. It may not blow your mind as a prog-rock master piece, or have the razzle-dazzle as a Chic Corea or Mahavishnu Orchestra fusion album... but I guarantee that Osibisa will groove its way into your soul and, enhance any party as background music, and catch your attention with its dense rhythms and musicianship. It's a ton of fun while also being artistic, flamboyant, and genuine. Moreover, it could give your Anglo or Scandanavian-centric prog-rock music collection a juicy bit of soul from the equator!

Songwriting: 3 - Instrumental Performances: 4 - Lyrics/Vocals: 3 - Style/Emotion/Replay: 4

Although OSIBISA is primarily a band from the African nation of Ghana, it didn't form there. Four members from Ghana met three others from Caribbean nations in London in 1969 and so began their unique and catchy brand of Afro-funk jazz fusion. Their music is an eclectic fusion of various types of African and Caribbean music with particular emphasis on the local African form of Highlife but they also include a healthy dose of jazz, rock, Latin and R&B. I share the overwhelming opinion that OSIBISA is indeed the African version of Santana. There are a few tracks that could easily be slipped onto an early Santana album and no one would notice. The result of all this fusion is a vibrant, energetic and melodic percussion dominated big sound that I find quite uplifting.

The band put out the rumors that their name means "criss cross rhythms that explode with happiness." What a great advertising method it was however the name is actually derived from "osibisaba" which means nothing more than "highlife" in Fante which is an indigenous language of Ghana. OSIBISA actually enjoyed mild success in the US with both their first two albums scoring mild success on the Billboard Top 200 possibly helped by the fact that a prolific Roger Dean contributed his artistic talents to the album covers. OSIBISA also was one of the first bands to popularize the term "world music" and influenced a gazillion others to follow their multi-cultural cross pollination. A very pleasant debut album where you can expect a big full sound delivering happy and upbeat harmonies and rhythms very much in the style of early Santana.

The cut-off point for prog fans, 'Heads' is the last Osibisa album to feature the group's original and distinct afro- jazz style, though the poppier elements that would come into play on next album 'Happy Children' are already prevalent. And it's a shame, not because 'Heads' is a bad album, but because Osibisa' second release 'Wowoya'('Heads' predecessor) was so good. A cool, detached and mellow mixture of African beats, Caribbean rhythms, jazzy textures and psych-tinged rock, 'Wowoya' is Osibisa's stand-out album, graced, just like the group's self-titled debut, by a beautiful Roger Dean-drawn cover. 'Heads' still features elements of it's predecessor's style, with jazzy organs, tribal percussion and hip-swinging beats brewing up another highly infectious dose of Afro-Caribbean rock, yet the group were becoming popular and that, as we all know, is usually a recipe for sonic homogenisation. Still, 'Heads' is an enjoyable album nonetheless, both fresh and funky and almost like an African version of Chicago thanks to the powerful horn section. Although more mainstream in it's approach this is still worth the effort, and those yet to explore the delights of Osibisa are urged to seek out all three of their original albums. It's a shame that they couldn't follow-up 'Wowoya' with a similarly-styled effort, yet in the end 'Heads' will do.

STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012

(First review of this album.) OSIBISA is probably the best known 70's Fusion band from Africa and pioneers of the so called World Music. Most players were from Ghana but were operating in London. Their first two albums from the beginning of the decade, Osibisa and Woyaya, are considered their best. Funky, rhythmic Fusion with lots of woodwind, brass, excellent electric guitar and percussion, and with a strong Western African feel (a cousin to that of Latin-American). The band continued to make albums but they eventually got poorer and poorer, less and less original - often even disco-ish - as can be seen from the ratings here. And that notion gets pretty clear with this compilation too.

Roger Dean (the illustrator known by all YES fans) has done many of the later album covers too, including this one. That, and the title "The Very Best Of" makes one expect a good, well done compilation but these expectations are not fulfilled very well. It's definitely more recommended to get the double issue of the mentioned first albums. Not that all of the later stuff is crap. Some songs are quite listenable even if they don't have much in common with the Fusion they started with. And of course it's interesting to hear how they changed through the years. Well, at least they always kept that happy, joyous mood.

What a decent compilation should do is give the listener deeper information of the band. In that sense too this is a let-down. Especially I would have wanted to get the release years of each track. Albums are mentioned but not their release years, strange!

As someone who passed through a significant world music phase and still enjoys ethnic fusion, I was long overdue to check out the primordial blend offered up by OSIBISA before the genre even had a name. Hailing from 1971, their debut not surprisingly incorporates the progressive music of its day into an appealing mix of R&B, African, and Latin sounds. SANTANA certainly provides a solid point of reference but OSIBISA is more ensemble oriented and casts a wider net.

The intention from the get go was to produce joyous music that gets you or at least your chromosomes dancing, and the objective seems to have been met. While the group sound is clearly much happier than its analog in America, its general heaviness and incessant emphasis on rhythm do not produce the same effect on this listener, especially when compared to the more melodically oriented practitioners of the 80s and beyond - JULUKA, TOURE KUNDA, and HABIB KOITE to name a few. In the meantime, drum solos are the aural equivalent of traffic snarls for me in 2011, so, while I can appreciate that times were different, it doesn't mean I want to go back to something I never experienced in its proper context in the first place.

Still and all, OSIBISA offers enough striking material assessed on its own merits, as well as blueprints for the world music artists who followed, to merit their groundbreaking status. The best examples here of each respective aspect would be "Music for Gong Gong" and "Ayiko Bia". One of the group's strong suits is their expressive use of wind instruments, mostly brass, and "Oranges" provides the juiciest example herein. I am intrigued by the lyrical concept of "Phallus C", but the words are hard to make out and nowhere could I find them online. It almost sounds like an indictment of stereotypes around penis length and girth based on race, but musically leaves me cold. "Thing about the people" would seem out of place in lesser hands but actually works well as a closing number, solidifying the group's versatility in the realm of political protest. Lyrics aside, this one is worth it for the organ work even relative to the keyboard standards set earlier in the disk.

I don't imagine I will be crisscrossing these rhythms with high frequency, but I can certainly understand the buzz and the role this band could play as a portal to the world music scene for progressive aficionados.