OSIBISA

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.

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