Ebo Taylor Vinyl, CD & tapes by Ebo Taylor at Norman Records

Good old crate digger label Mr Bongo here turns up a treat in the form of this 1982 LP by highlife super-trio Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas and Uhuru Yenzu. Each artist was a master of the form in their own right, and Hitsville Re-Visited is a perfect distillation of their shared love for highlife and funk. Four bright and gorgeous cuts, presented in fully-official reissue form.

At 82, you could forgive Ebo Taylor for taking it easy. After six decades in the game, he has nothing left to prove - a contemporary of Fela Kuti, an artist who has worked with the likes of Pat Thomas and one of the most celebrated musicians of post-independence Ghana. All of this leads us to one conclusion - he’s made his new LP Yen Ara because he still loves what he’s doing. One spin of tracks like the uproariously funky ‘Mumudey Mumudey’ proves this beyond dispute.

Ghanaian highlife hero Ebo Taylor gets the heavyweight reissue treatment from the ever-reliable Mr. Bongo for his rare and refined LP with The Pelikans. This is a gem of a record from one of the greats of West African grooves, all jubilant horns, loose funk and sweet soulful crooning from Taylor (on his first outing as a singer) with able assistance from Bessa Simmona and Fifi Orleans Lindsay.

Ghana’s Ebo Taylor produced some thoroughly gorgeous highlife music in the 1970’s, comfortably relaxed and smooth-flowing. 1978’s Twer Nyame adds strong twists of jazz and afrobeat into the mix too. The political conditions at the time of release meant that these records were sparsely distributed at the time, so relish this timely reissue on Mr Bongo.

Ghana’s Ebo Taylor produced some thoroughly gorgeous highlife music in the 1970’s, comfortably relaxed and smooth-flowing. The political conditions at the time of release meant that records like 1975’s My Love and Music were sparsely distributed at the time, so relish this timely reissue on Mr Bongo.