Various Artists / Afrobeat Airways 2: Return Flight To Ghana 1974-1983
Album: Afrobeat Airways 2: Return Flight To Ghana 1974-1983   Collection:World
Artist:Various Artists   Added:Sep 2013
Label:Analog Africa  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2013-09-09 Pull Date: 2013-11-11 Charts: Reggae/World
Week Ending: Nov 10 Nov 3 Oct 27 Oct 20 Oct 13 Oct 6 Sep 29 Sep 22
Airplays: 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 3

Recent Airplay
1. Oct 30, 2021: Music Casserole (rebroadcast from Dec 26, 2015)
Waiting For My Baby, I Beg
4. Jan 02, 2014: KZSU Top 100 of 2013
God Is Love
2. Dec 26, 2015: Music Casserole
Waiting For My Baby, I Beg
5. Nov 28, 2013: Oh Messy Life
I Beg
3. Jun 12, 2014: The Final Aporeia
Kana Soro
6. Nov 09, 2013: Music Casserole
Obiara Wondo

Album Review
Diego Aguilar-Canabal
Reviewed 2013-09-04
Groovy deep cuts from Ghana during the golden age of afro-funk. Lots of variety as Ghana is quite diverse geographically, but a huge James Brown influence prevalent throughout. This stuff sent shockwaves through Africa back in the day, sparking a movement that would soon be dubbed “Afrobeat” by Nigerian star Fela Kuti (not a star until after he visited Ghana, as it turns out). But I digress. This is amazing, every track is an upbeat fun time and unlike anything I’ve ever heard—what the Shaft In Africa soundtrack SHOULD have been. Play this!

1. (3:57) cool tropical groove with sweet lo-fi wah-wah, organ, horns, call-and-response vocals
2. (6:43) urgent funk, mostly instrumental with guitar and horns trading solos, just a bit of subdued singing
3. (5:24) English-language funk anthem with cheesy 70s farfisa, thick layers of percussion, tight rhythm guitar; fire up the dancefloor with this one…
4. (2:38) …and keep it lit up with this midpaced soul strut, jangly guitar and sharp bluesy horn attacks, yeahhhh
5. (4:28) the least funky track on here, though still pretty funky, an old-school campy r&b anthem about waiting for his baby (with evident patience and optimism), reminds me a bit of 50s Jamaican tunes
6. (5:59) flippin’ sweet upbeat funky melodies insistently repeated ad infinitum, pounding percussion and there’s that darling farfisa again
7. (2:48) OH WORD this is the coolest driving jam of 2013, greener and rawer than Booker T’s “Onions”—gnarly guitar and organ ostinatos prove that minor seventh and minor third are the only intervals you really need to get FONKAY
8. (4:42) urgent, slightly chaotic polyrhythms and crazy organ tempered by subtle guitar, melancholic vocals
9. (3:27) bizarre, nightmarish deep funk from Rob, Ghana’s baritone answer to George Clinton
10. (5:45) nasty instrumental jam, totally 70s rhythm guitar and organ—this could/should have been on Herbie Hancock’s Fat Albert soundtrack
11. (7:11) breezy Caribbean style jam with bright horns, fits perfectly in a playlist with Cuban and Senegalese music
12. (5:04) dark, raw organ and guitar-dominated jam with heavy rolling percussion, sweetly cloying horns and vocals
13. (6:22) WHOA. Whoa. What? Just about the grooviest funk anthem EVER about God / truth/ love / beauty / whatever. Every instrument is perfect, stand-out basslines and cool trombone solos, catchy “god is loooove baaabay” chorus will have you singing along regardless of your beliefs or lack thereof.

Track Listing
 ArtistTrack Name
1. Uppers International Aja Wondo
2. Ebo Taylor Jr Children Don't Cry
3. De Frank's Band Do Your Thing
4. Cutlass Band, The Obiara Wondo
5. De Frank & His Professionals Waiting For My Baby
6. African Brothers Wope Me A Ka
7. Los Issufu & His Moslems Kana Soro
8. Waza-Afriko 76 Gbei Kpakpa Hife Sika
9. Rob Loose Up Yourself
10. Tony Sarfo & The Funky Afrosibi I Beg
11. K. Frimpong Abrabo
12. Pierre Antoine & Vis-A-Vis Say Min Sy Soh
13. Complex Soundz God Is Love