Afro-Beat Airways

Rate It! Avg: 4.5 (52 ratings)
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EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 14   Total Length: 78:40

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Amelia Raitt

eMusic Contributor

Amelia Raitt is a former writer for the television program Mr. Belvedere and has been writing about pop music of all colors and stripes for eMusic since 2005. S...more »

08.09.10
Organ-driven, acid-rock tinged grooves shimmering like heat off blacktop
2010 | Label: Analog Africa / Believe Digital

The folks at Analog Africa put together one of their most sizzling collections yet this year with African Airways — a slab of mostly organ-driven, acid-rock tinged grooves that shimmered like heat off blacktop. As befits its name, African Airways is a breezier affair than other African compilations, gliding by swiftly on just a handful of friction-igniting elements — four horn stabs and a perpetual-motion wah-wah guitar, and that ever-present, spine-shifting 3-against-2 groove. Serious record collectors might understandably be suffering from a slight case of African comp fatigue, but as long as curators like Analog Africa and Soundways are around, there will be a never-ending tide of musical revelations for us to contend with.

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afe ato yen bio

Lisel

The roots of funk.

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Smokin' Set *****

stfnc

As others have mentioned, this is of lesser sound quality, but beyond that it's a solid collection of music. There are numerous addictive cuts here. A good place to investigate African music of the 70's.

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Best for collectors

pjamesbonobo

A lot of interesting material in this collection but the sound quality, unfortunately, is sub-par by modern standards. Lots of distortion -- no doubt attributable to the lack of high quality recording equip available at the time these recordings were made. This one is going to be of interest primarily to collectors and ethnomusicologists.

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too bad about the sound quality

ailetra

good songs though

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Oh Yeah - You Must Fly This!

Smokeorange

With all the great 70's African music re-releases this year, you might ask "How is this different?" The Ebo Taylor cuts, which are worth the price of admission alone, tell the story. They're more pingy and bouncy, and less rock-y and fuzzy. It's great driving music, and perfect for late afternoon blahs.

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