HAPPY CHILDREN

Happy Children is a touch better than Heads, revitalising the Osibisa sound by adding a more funk-influenced bassline courtesy of Jean-Karl Dikoto Mandengue, and a carefully-applied layer of keyboards played by Jean Roussel. Still, by and large this is the same sort of material as appeared on the previous three albums, and if you already own them you may begin to wonder why you'd want a fourth. Like the Ozric Tentacles, early Osibisa are a band where sometimes you can feel as though if you've heard one of their albums you've heard them all. Interesting, but the first two albums are a better pick.