Back in the Highlife Again

Osei Sarfo and the Powerful Mercury - Gyesiwa (1980)
I had one of those thrift store scores a few weeks ago that sort of keeps the whole thing worthwhile. When I think of how many stacks of records I've flipped through over the past, christ - 15 years, well, it boggles the brainbones. But anyway, I found maybe a dozen or so highlife and afro-funk records from about 1972-80, Most of them no-name, pressed in Nigeria or Germany. A dollar a pop, just sitting their in some shitass Goodwill. Now, I feel like I've got a good handle on afro-funk and understand why it works for me and why it sounds so incredible. Highlife, I've been sort of indifferent to. I've always felt that it floated too high in the upper registers and didn't quite have the bottom heavy, earth-rattling stuff that I seem to gravitate to. This little outfit, who were apparently part of the Nigerian Army, hit it midway. But the clincher - the eye-popping, mouthwatering sugar that gets stirred up, comes from this wiggly little synth bomb that they drop just a few seconds in. Here, you have these guys taking a break from their army obligations, unwinding with some friendly, non-political highlife jams and then some guy comes in with a super sci-fi moog and just lets this little fireball loose and then suddenly we're talking about Contemporary Jammin' - in the style of 1980, where you could pull stuff like this off (whether or not it was 'seamlessly integrated') and you were a forward-thinking progressive, making the heavy-heavy future sounds. Well, dig it if you can.

Gwesiya