OSIBISA

— First review of this album —

Wow! Do you want to feel good? Listen to this album! I've been listening to Osibisa since their first album in the early 1970s, and am a big fan of their classic sound. But my interest diminished after the fourth album in 1973, Happy Children. It seemed like the magic and inspiration had gone. There were some good songs, but none of the albums after 1973 excited me too much. I've been listening to this new album, Osee Yee, a lot since I got it; it gets my foot tapping and puts a big smile on my face. Without a doubt, this is the best album the band has done since Happy Children. It recaptures some of the early magic, but also shows the accumulation of experience. There's also more prog element than a lot of Osibisa material since the classic early years.

Osibisa's music is hard to classify. The original group of African and Caribbean players, living in London at the time, mixed rock with African folk and highlife music, Caribbean, jazz and a smattering of other sounds. The band is nowadays usually labelled a world music group. When I first joined the Prog Archives Osibisa was listed as prog folk, but I see it's since been changed to jazz/rock fusion. Probably neither classification quite fits.

For those not familiar with Osibisa's music, it's very much rhythm based, with flute, sax, brass, guitar and keyboards providing the melody and harmony. (As a bass player, I have to comment on the excellent bass playing on this particular album.) The lyrics are in African and English languages, with the vocal harmonies being as complex and delightful as the drum and percussion parts. Osee Yee brings these elements together at a higher level than we've heard in years. This is partly due to the musician's abilities, but perhaps the music on this album is more inspired because this is Osibisa's 40th anniversary; some of the songs even quote musical lines from songs on the first few Osibisa albums.

Osee Yee opens with short rock-oriented instrumental, Osuno, then launches into another charging upbeat number, Watusi, that starts to bring in more of the African elements. The album proceeds through a variety of styles, some of them classic Osibisa hybrids, some African folk tunes, some funk-based R&B tunes, including a really nice rendition of George Harrison's My Sweet Lord that's given an Osibisa funk spin. A couple of numbers don't interest me as much as the others. Higher and Higher and It's Okay are more straightforward funk-based love songs. But they are so well played, and include enough classic Osibisa-style rhythm and horn parts to keep them from being pedestrian, so they only seem inferior in relation to the higher quality of the other songs.

The back cover calls this an Osibisa Generation Four album. Players have come and gone over the years, with leader Teddy Osei and his brother Mac Tontoh still in the group. (The Osibisa webpage mentions plans for a reunion tour and album by the original band members.) Overall, the playing is excellent, as is the production and sound. The best way to listen to Osee Yee is with headphones, to pick up all the little musical nuances and flourishes that have been added to the songs. These inventive parts add another prog element.

Not all of Osee Yee could be classified as prog rock. But as interesting well-played music with great spirit, it's well worth anyone's listen. There's enough of the original Osibisa sound and feel that I'd have to rank Osee Yee up there with Osibisa's first albums. (Perhaps I'm enthused by Osee Yee because I'd given up on ever hearing another Osibisa album to rank with the first four.) It's not quite Woyaya, but the quality of the music, playing and production makes me say 4.25 stars. And the music makes me feel so good I'll round it up to 5.

Some fantastic artwork, this album has. I would love to have that on my wall. The music too is very colourful.

This may be the most unusualalbum I have ever reviewed or even come across. The music is so far away from my standard fare as possible. But it is brilliant to be challenged and to explore new sides of this thing we call life.The music is very much based on rhythm. African Caribeen rhythms that is. Strangely enough, because Osibasa actually came from the exotic city of................. London, England. Contrary to popular belief, this band was not pulled from a dangerous lion hunt and then told to produce an album. This is what I have been told. Anyway; I like Osibasa and I have only respect and admiration for them.

I am used to a more melody based music. This album, their debut album, is entirely a rhythm based album. The drums, congos and other drums are supported by some lively saxophones, various brass, guitars and tangents. The result makes me smile and accept that even something totally alien to me actually is great music. I am not drumming this politically correct hihat drum. I am just saying that my own culture is not superior to the culture on this album. The music here is actually great and I am getting carried away. Not down the road to London, England...... but to a warmer place. Ghana. Africa. And that is a good feeling.

The opening track is excellent. The rest of the album is warm and organic. It is not excactly my style and I like the more prog rock flavoured follow up album Woyaya better than this album. But it is still a good album. This is good stuff. If I only could find a poster with the artwork and put it on my wall.......

3.25 stars

I can't deny that the quality of their music, the originality of their approach and some sort of nostalgia from my youth, make me a huge fan of OSIBISA, but being a fan doesn't make me a fanboy, and as much as I love their first two albums of the band, must accept that "Heads" is not in the same level, being that some of the originality is lost.

I'm not sure if the change of manager, the more commercial approach combined with the lack of a Roger Dean art cover, made me feel that the band was no more the same one I loved so much. This doesn't mean that the album is bad, by the contrary,it's still excellent, but it's obvious the priorities of OSIBISA were changing, they had grown a lot in popularity and wanted to grow more, sacrificing some of their musicality in favour of a mass appeal.

"Heads" starts with "Kokorokoo", as usual an introduction to a new day symbolized by the sound of a rooster singing in the dawn. This track is as good as anything they did before, still the subtle blending of Rock, tribal music, Funk and Psychedelia with massive use of Hammond is their characteristic, the dialogue between the vocalists and instruments and the native chorus are amazing as usual, a good start for the album.

"Wango Wango" is my first disappointment, seems as if they had sacrificed the native essence that took OSIBISA to the top for a very common Motown sound, something that is not bad "per se", but in the case of a band so identified with their ethnic roots implies a loss of personality.

Thanks God "So So Mi La So" takes us back to the early days, with a beautiful instrumental in which the Psyche guitar combines perfectly with the sweet flute and elaborate percussion, one of the best tracks in their career, the still can be faithful to their roots when they want.

"Sweet America" is a partial disappointment for the long time follower of OSIBISA, even when has some Prog overtones, specially when the flute and Hammond fuse, the vocals and lyrics are clearly far away of their root (seems like an attempt to reach the USA public), but the biggest problem is that the song is very monotone and repetitive.

Seems that OSIBISA were not totally ready to abandon their classical sound, because "Ye Tie Wo" is again a return to their natural tribal sound, with an extraordinary percussion and contrapuntist vocals, the jungle sounds in the background enhance the atmosphere.

It's the turn for "Che Che Kule", their first massive worldwide hit, contradictory to what normally happens, they didn't required to take down their level to be really popular. The song is an excellent mixture of African sounds with Arabic echoes and the most exciting percussion, the sounds, shouts and effects are a bonus,. excellent material despite the criminal overplay of the song in AM and FM radios, a real party of music and sounds.

"Mentumi" is probably the first Caribbean song (lets remember that by this point with Spartacus R the band had 3 musicians from that region of Central America), seems like a mixture of Calypso and African sounds, interesting material despite being a bit repetitive, something we can also say of the next track called "Sweet Sounds".

The album is closed with "Do You Know", an extremely beautiful ballad in which the Rock elements are preeminent over the African .- Caribbean influences, they start to leave their Psychedelic roots behind and advance towards a different form of Rock closer to some sort of light Prog with Pop leanings.

As I said in the first paragraph, "Heads" is not in the level of the self titled debut or the excellent "Woyaya", but still we are before a great band and a solid album that deserves no less than 3.5 stars.................As we know this rating is not possible in PA, so I will have to go with 4 stars, because 3 would be really unfair being that some tracks are real classics of the 70's.

Criss-Cross Rhythms That Explode In Happiness

Sometimes the worst curse a band can face is releasing an excellent debut album, after a great release, people expect not only a good album but also better than the first one, something very hard to achieve, mainly because a new band is still in developing process and probably will change the sound, something that fans are nor ready to accept, so we often read about bands being called one hit wonders, because they were not able to at least repeat a good debut.

OSIBISA released a fantastic self titled debut, and almost immediately their second album "Woyaya", in other words they took the risk, but in this case they hit the nail in the head, ""Woyaya" is at least as good as their self titled album, with the advantage of being better recorded and proving the world it was not just good luck.

As OSIBISA usually does, the first track "Beautiful Seven" works like an introduction to the album, in the same way as "The Dawn", this opener sounds like a tribal ceremony receiving a new day, full of sounds of the jungle. But as the song advances we can notice we are before an outstanding band, the beautiful flute combined with ceremonial chants, a Psyche guitar "a la" SANTANA, narration and shouts, surprise any new listener that would not know what to expect next.

"Y Sharp" explores more the Afro Funk sound, with a Wah - Wah guitar, trumpets, Saxophone and a frenetic rhythm, but this is not as simple as it seems, the elaborate arrangements,controlled dissonances and Jazzy feeling, keeps the album in a great level.

"Spirits Up Above" is a strong combination of Jazz and Psychedelia, while Robert Bailey makes the Hammond cry, Loughty Amao, Teddy Osei and Mac Tontoh calm the mood with the wind instruments. But still OSIBISA has more to offer, the beautiful chants and elaborate vocal work combine the nostalgia of Blues with African tunes, if this wasn't enough the lengthy instrumental final section is an explosion of rhythm and melody, simply hallucinating.

"Survival" is what we should always expect from an African band of the early 70's and hardly find, a perfect fusion between the tribal African rhythms, Rock and, late Psychedelia and Funk, carefully balanced in order not to sound cheesy or vulgar, everything is in it's place, again a perfect hit.

"Move On" presents us a fantastic bass and percussion introduction, the sound of the congas, cowbells, bongos and drums melt together in a contagious rhythm, while the wind instruments add a Caribbean touch and the Hammond B3 screams in the background, can't get enough of OSIBISA. But the cherry in the top of the pie is the guitar performance by Wendel Richardson in the perfect style of Carlos Santana.

"Rabiatu" begins with Roy Bedeau and his powerful bass making the way for the explosion of percussion instruments that lead to another frenetic mixture of sounds and moods of the Dark Continent and a touch of Caribbean flavour provided by Roger Bayley from Trinidad & Tobago plus Wendel Richardson from Antigua who plays a killer guitar. The final percussion extravaganza is delirious.

When the listener believes things can't get better, comes "Woyaya", a magical and mysterious African Ballad with melancholic lyrics, oneiric Hammond and as usual perfect percussion, but this time with the addition of outstanding flute solos, one of the most beautiful tracks I ever heard. Even the strong accent in their English fits perfectly with the atmosphere.

Now, many people may believe I exaggerate with the rating, but I honestly believe this album is essential and a masterpiece, so you now where this is pointing, maybe the only doubt is the Progressive Rock element, but if this delicate fusion of styles, sounds and genres is not Prog, I still don't know what this word means.

So I have no other choice than rate "Woyaya" with 5 stars.

This album and Osibisa is for me one of the major discoveries of the year. The art-work itself just prepares me for something special. And something special, it is. Mind expanding, no less.

The album opens with a cracking song full of flute and African drums in the fusion vein. Their use of flute reminds me of FOCUS. It is a mix of Netherlands, Ghana, Caribeen and Canterbury. The rest of the album continues down the same path. Always very interesting. Never boring. The music is very soulful at songs like Spirits Up Above and very playful at Move On. Some of the music on this album reminds me about CARAVAN and their mates at the shadows of the Canterbury Cathedral. This is perhaps why I really enjoy this album. This despite of Osibisa's music being firmly rooted in the African and the Latin-American tradition. SANTANA is a good reference too with the use of solo-guitars and brass. But Osibisa use alot more drums and rhythms than any other prog/fusion band I have ever heard. This is perhaps because African music is more based on beat than the European music scene. Which makes this album a bit of a revelation and a shock for a narrow- minded European like myself.

The quality of the music is in my view undisputed good. The opening track is excellent. So is the jazz improvisation Move On. The title track too is excellent. There is nothing here I do not like. Osibisa's brand of fusion has given my life more colours and joy. In particular, I love Osibisa's use of keyboards which I think is excellent. This is an excellent album.

4 stars.

— First review of this album —

The first two OSIBISA albums is here available as a double CD for the price of one CD. This is the original albums, remastered. Which makes it a very interesting proposition. I will later review both albums in their own right. I will here add my 100 words to this album by saying that while the first album, which many regard as a classic, is very Africa/Caribeen influenced, the second album Woyaya is very much a prog/fusion album. Still with a dosage of African music. The music is very good throughout, although both albums requires an open mind. Which means I need more time to do the reviews.......

For this price, this double album is very interesting and a bargain. The art-work itself is worthy the money. The whole package is as exotic and exciting as anything you can get within the "prog archives" family of bands.

3 stars

A delightful debut from Osibisa that was a breath of fresh air when I first heard it. Previously I didn't know much about ethnic fusion. I loved Santana, and in retrospect even though I discovered them by accident Osibisa's first two albums are a logical step forward from there.

Osibisa's self titled is a varied affair that brings a lot of different sounds to the table, while remaining distinctively Osibisa. The jazzier tracks, like Dawn and Phallus C, are very free and adventurous. Shorter tracks like the powerful Music for Gong Gong and the delightful Oranges are more structured, but no less progressive and still very jazzy.

Musically, Osibisa fuses ethnic instrumentation and soloing with the more recent sounds of the electric keyboard and guitar. The rhythm section, as one might expect from the African influence is very tight and very powerful, and provides a very interesting and different groundwork for the musicians to work with. Don't expect the virtuosity of a Carlos Santana, but these are all accomplished musicians that play from their hearts, and that's all I really want out of a jazz record.

Certainly check this band out if you like Santana, or any similar ethnic fusion (Mandrill and Cymande spring to mind). Not exclusively however, any big fusion fan should find this delightful.

And as always here on PA, bonus points for the Roger Dean artwork!

— First review of this album —

There are certainly a few surprises that go with this record and this review. First of all I'm sure more than a few of you are surprised to see the soundtrack to Superfly II on a progressive rock website. Secondly, I'm surprised that proggy African highlife band Osibisa got the nod to do this soundtrack, especially when you consider the fact that Curtis Mayfield's first Superfly soundtrack was one of the most successful soundtracks of all time. Finally, I was really surprised to find this soundtrack in a thrift store in reasonable condition, I bet it fetches top dollar on the internet.

I love crime movie soundtracks, and 70s blaxploitation soundtracks are the cream of the crop. As I have mentioned in other reviews, crime movie soundtracks and progressive rock have much in common. Both create new types of music by combining jazz, experimental electronics, modern orchestral music and all manner of percussion from around the world.

Although they were probably a surprise choice, Osibisa turns out to be the perfect band for this soundtrack that combines proggy melodies, African grooves, psychedelic guitar, imaginative horn arangements, incredible polyrhythmic percussion sections, lots of loud and up-front B3 playing and a certain lounge- exotica 'moderness' that is always a part of any great soundtrack.

This is a great record, thought provoking and fun at the same time, the epitome of damn good serious music played by top-notch musicians and presented with just enough 70s kitsch so that it is totally devoid of any pretentiousness.

— First review of this album —

I discovered this promotional compilation by-case basis. And I must say that it is really interesting. I had many doubts about where to put PA, but since Gregg Brown has been part of the line-up of Osibisa in two albums... I think this is the best place.

Gregg Brown has worked as co-producer, journalist, researcher & presenter on music program 'Benson & Hedeges Golden Tones' for terrestrial television in Nigeria. Gregg, as performer has played in 'Tommy', 'The Blues Brothers' (among others) and has worked with Osibisa, Isaac Hayes and Joe Cocker 8among others).

Osibisa is the first African band that emerged in the world of music and played a sort of Proto World Music. In this CD all that is recognizable to 100%. The songs are presented in new arrangements. Only that the original spirit is all present. I think that the best songs are: 'Sunshine Day', 'Celebration', 'Dance The body Music', 'Right Now' and 'Woyaya' for African rhythms and magic and 'Welcome Home' and 'Superfly Man' for the use of European musucal style feeling in African version.

In conclusion 'Best Collection' is only a promotional compilation... But extreme good.

— First review of this album —

Ethno Disco... Ethno Funky... Ethno Soul... Ethno Rock... Since this is the enthralling music of Osibisa. What too many know for the collaboration with Uriah Heep. But that is, however, a great band from Ghana.

This 'Sunshine Day' present 14 new versions (from 1999) of 14 Osibisa's hits. In general is sufficient to describe the songs as Ethno something... What we focused the target! But we are sure that this description to make our case? In part yes and partly not. Surely, however, enough to create curiosity around the Osibisa. Because if 'Sunshine Day' is a Ethno Rock, famous beyond all about (and jingle in a television advertising) is true that 'Dance The Body Spirit' or 'Celebration' are two good Ethno Disco Music. But it is also true that Osibisa can also record (and written) 'Superfly Man', a great Ethno acoustic AOR. 'Cofee Song' is a good Ethno Samba, like 'I Feel Pata Pata' is a nice Ethno Latin Rock.

So, this type of Fusion is good, for me. Also if not all songs conquest me (especially cause of mix and production), these songs represent a unique and inimitable experience. Listen (and understand) Osibisa means understanding the relationship with Africa in Europe. And to do a swim in the purest fun.

Unfortunately, this 'Sunshine Day' does not contain real Prog. And do not recommend it openly. However its value, in my discography, is certainly high.