v/a: Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Ghanaian Blue 1968-1981
Label: Soundway
This two-CD set comes from the people who’ve previously compiled the Nigeria Special and Ghana Soundz series. This album is less psychedelic than the former and much closer to the first Nigeria Special set, the title and subtitle of which were identical with the obvious exception of the country. Pretty much anyone who enjoys Nigerian music will enjoy this too; they’re not the same, but they share the same virtues: the highlife tracks (the earlier material, mostly) infectiously joyous and rhythmically stimulating, the later stuff denser and grittier, like the most complex garage rock you’ve ever heard, and while that sounds like a contradiction, the groups here make it work. (Steve)
