HAPPY CHILDREN

Happy Children represents the best of African rock, and there are more instrumentals on this pressing than that of most of Osabisa's catalogue. It runs by your ears like a concept album, but with no overtly discernable single message. It is conceptual in its production and instrumentation.

We Want To Know is the ultimate Osabisa song; it seems similar to early Earth, Wind, and Fire at first. However, the difference is like that between domestic honeybees and those who have been Africanized. It is Fire though that will be the song you play over and over again. This is the deepest and darkest of funk, and it grows on you like a man-eating jungle moss. Fire may be the one song shown on this site that will get a dull party up and dancing.

Though light-years away from other prog classics from this era this LP is a mighty statement from Africa, and should be sought out by those who want to move while they listen. From personal experience it is safe to say that Happy Children is a great motivator when cleaning the house on an otherwise boring Sunday morning.