Some African Reggae for you today. It's not MAR because now we have completed the Odyssey it is no longer mandatory. I thought about calling it Voluntary African Reggae but the abbreviation has too many unwanted connotations for those of us of a footballing persuasion.
We are taking a trip back to 1987 and to Klix recording studios in Lagos where three young lads have turned up looking for a chance to record their songs. Individually they went by the names Field Marshall Leyrics, Puppa Flaggar and Jah Myrah. Collectively they were Too Low For Zero (or TLZ for short).
Those recordings were released on an album called "Emergency", which was to be their only record. Field Marshall Leyrics shortened his name to The Marshall and released a couple of solo albums. As for the other two, who knows.
And that would have been it until some bright spark at Jamwax Records decided to release one of tracks from the album ("Molue") as a 12" single and make the whole album available as a download. Even then it didn't exactly set the world alight. I probably spend more time in the dustier corners of Bandcamp than is healthy and it took me five years to find it.
I won't make any overstated claims for "Emergency" being a lost classic but it has a certain period charm that I rather enjoy. I hope you will too. I've chosen two songs about their home city for you, the first promoting it as a tourist destination, the second extolling the virtues of its public transport system.
"Lagos Collection" - TLZ
"Molue" - TLZ
Unsurprisingly I could not find any clips of TLZ on YouTube but here is some Nigerian pop reggae from the same year as "Emergency" was first released. Not the best quality but it is 37 years old so it has an excuse.
Make an ARoC day once in a while
ReplyDelete(African Reggae of Choice)