v/a: Nigeria Special volume 2: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6
Label: Soundway
This album’s lengthy subtitle still doesn’t encompass all of the sounds on display here. The Don Issac Ezekiel Combination has gospel-group harmonizing, several groups deploy jazz-tinged stylings, and Joy Nwoso even displays the influence of opera. Buttressing most tracks, and tying together the album, are the highlife grooves (conveyed not only on percussion but also the cyclical guitar riffs) that modernized traditional polyrhythms. The three-LP set has three additional tracks not on the CD. (Steve)
