Ebo Taylor - Life Stories: Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980 '2011

Tracks list

Ghanian composer, singer, guitarist, arranger, producer, and bandleader Ebo
Taylor came to the attention of DJs in the U.K. and throughout Europe in the
early part of the 21st century. His legend spread among hip-hop and dance music
producers in the United States as well, resulting in a sample from his slamming
track Heaven in Ushers hit She Don’t Know. The seminal Strut imprint
issued Taylors first transglobal offering, Love & Death in 2010: it was a smash
in club circles internationally. Strut has gone one better with Life Stories:
Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980, compiling two discs of Taylors solo work
and that of bands hes led, taken part in, or produced. The music here leans most
heavily on Taylors solo albums. It kicks off, of course, with the infectious,
groove-laden Heaven, but this isnt the high point. Tracks like the strangely
beautiful Peace on Earth and the 15-minute uber-charged, Afro-Latin, jazz-funk
orgy, Aba Yaa which open the first disc are arguably better. Disc one also
features tracks by Taylors side projects, the Apagya Show Band, and Assase Ase,
and closes with Ene Nyame Nam a Mensuro, a killer collaboration between Taylor
and Pat Thomas, a fellow member of another band Taylor played in, the Blue
Monks. Disc two focuses on side projects with a few solo tracks thrown in,
including the original version of Love and Death that clocks in at near
eight-and-a-half minutes. There two more excellent, funky tracks by the Apagya
Show Band, and Yes Indeed, a burning stepper by another of his short-lived
outfits, Super Sounds Namba. Another highlight is a later production he did of
Ghanas legendary C.K. Mann Big Bands Etuei (Taylor played in the band in the
formative years of his career). The set is closed by the strange, tortured
groove that haunts the dark and edgy “Egya Edu,” by Ebo Taylor & the
Pelikans. Soundways Miles Clerets liner notes are characteristically exhaustive
in research annotation and presentation. They provide not only a solid
biographical portrait of Taylor, but a cultural one of his region and times, as
well. The deluxe booklet in Life Stories: Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980
includes loads of rare photos to boot, filling out the profile of a true world
music legend. Fans of Love & Death will most certainly want this. We might now
reasonably hope for proper reissues of Taylors solo albums, as well.

Tracks:

CD 1
1. Heaven
2. Atwer Abroba
3. Victory (feat. Uhuru-Yenzu)
4. Ohiani Sua Efir (feat. Asaase Ase)
5. Kwaku Ananse (feat. The Apagya Showband)
6. Peace on Earth
7. Aba Yaa
8. Ene Nymae A Mensuro (feat. Pat Thomas)

CD 2
1. Tamfo Nyi Ekyir (feat. The Apagy Showband)
2. Love and Death (feat. Uhuru-Yenzu)
3. Ohye Atar Gyan
4. Yes Indeed (feat. Super Sounds Namba)
5. Mumude (feat. The Apagya Showband)
6. What is Life? (feat. Uhuru-Yenzu)
7. Etuei (feat. CK Mann Big Band)
8. Egya Edu (feat. The Pelikans)

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