During the 1970s, Ebo Taylor was one of the leading lights of Ghana's guitar highlife and Afrobeat scenes. He had a productive solo career and was one of the stars of the Apagya Show Band supergroup-- his contributions as guitarist and bandleader helped define the sound that we associate with 70s Ghana today. But it wasn't until this past decade that Taylor gained any kind of notoriety outside of West Africa. Soundway Records included his songs, both on his own and with Apagya, on its groundbreaking Ghana Soundz compilations, and he stood out as a guy with his own sound. "Atwer Abroba" and "Heaven", the two solo songs the label compiled, had a distinctive rhythm, a cousin of the Fela Kuti/Tony Allen backbeat that gave the songs a feeling of unstoppable momentum but felt much heavier than its Nigerian counterpart.
One of the best side effects of the surge of interest in West African popular music has been the revival of many careers and groups that had long been idle or working in the margins-- Mulatu Astatke, Bembeya Jazz, Orchestra Baobab, and Poly-Rythmo have all come back, and now Taylor joins them with his first-ever international release. He's joined by musicians from Berlin's Afrobeat Academy, which is comprised of members of Poets of Rhythm, Kabu Kabu, and Marijata, the last of which was active in Ghana around the same time as Taylor in the 70s. The band is important, because it's key to achieving a sound that makes it feel like Taylor never went away-- the material is fresh, but it has a thick, vintage sound that ties back to Taylor's old work nicely.
It must be said that it also generalizes his sound a little bit; many Afrobeat Academy members cut their teeth on Fela, after all, and that's clear especially in the rhythm guitar and bass playing of J. Whitefield and Patrick Frankowski, respectively. That should, however, be taken as an observation of style and not quality, as there's not really anything you could call a wrong note on the whole album. Taylor's songs are mostly newly written for the project, though the phenomenal title track is a new version of a song he originally recorded in 1980 after his first wife left him-- in the song, he compares her kiss at their wedding to a kiss of death as his guitar rolls calmly along beside his vocal. Taylor has made what appears to be a strategic decision to open the album with "Nga Nga", an adaptation of a Ghanaian children's rhyme that many people interested in highlife and Afrobeat will already recognize from a version by the Sweet Talks. Taylor's take is less frantic and takes a sort of slow-burn approach, his guitar slashing ominously against the heavy horns and spacey, snaking sax lead.
That flash of the familiar isn't necessarily a fleeting one-- if you're a fan of Ghana Soundz or, really, funky old West African music in general, you will feel right at home on this album. Taylor hasn't lost a bit of the spark that made his old records good (and we'll get a chance to compare more directly later this year when Strut releases a compilation of his old songs), and the new songs honor the spirit of that music without rehashing it. There's no need for an artist like Taylor to reinvent himself at this stage-- Love and Death gives us exactly what we want and does it exceedingly well. (Pitchfork)
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It must be said that it also generalizes his sound a little bit; many Afrobeat Academy members cut their teeth on Fela, after all, and that's clear especially in the rhythm guitar and bass playing of J. Whitefield and Patrick Frankowski, respectively. That should, however, be taken as an observation of style and not quality, as there's not really anything you could call a wrong note on the whole album. Taylor's songs are mostly newly written for the project, though the phenomenal title track is a new version of a song he originally recorded in 1980 after his first wife left him-- in the song, he compares her kiss at their wedding to a kiss of death as his guitar rolls calmly along beside his vocal. Taylor has made what appears to be a strategic decision to open the album with "Nga Nga", an adaptation of a Ghanaian children's rhyme that many people interested in highlife and Afrobeat will already recognize from a version by the Sweet Talks. Taylor's take is less frantic and takes a sort of slow-burn approach, his guitar slashing ominously against the heavy horns and spacey, snaking sax lead.
That flash of the familiar isn't necessarily a fleeting one-- if you're a fan of Ghana Soundz or, really, funky old West African music in general, you will feel right at home on this album. Taylor hasn't lost a bit of the spark that made his old records good (and we'll get a chance to compare more directly later this year when Strut releases a compilation of his old songs), and the new songs honor the spirit of that music without rehashing it. There's no need for an artist like Taylor to reinvent himself at this stage-- Love and Death gives us exactly what we want and does it exceedingly well. (Pitchfork)
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