Cymande’s first LP is a classic. This, their second album continues where they left off. The record has a much stronger Afro-Beat influence eon songs like Anthracite, Willie’s Headache, Genevieve, and Crawshay. As usual the band has the thick rhythms led by the bass and supported by the percussion. MORE

Cymande might be one of England’s greatest contributions to Soul & Funk music. Nine immigrants hailing from Jamaica, Guyana, and St. Vincent who met together in England formed the band. Produced by John Schroeder, this, their first self-titled album might be one of my favorite albums of all-time. MORE

Promised Heights was Cymande’s third LP, and their fourth overall. For the longest time I’d completely forgotten about it, but thankfully my man Sketch reminded me. The group split time between the Chess Recording Studio in Chicago and De Lane Lea Studios in their home country of England with John Schroeder doing production work again to create the album. MORE

Best find of the year so far. Picked this up at the flea market for $1. Betty Davis was the one time wife of Miles Davis and a singer in her own right who released three solo albums. This is her first and arguably best work. The sound is some strong rock inspired guitar playing by Doug Rodrigues and Neal Schon backed by a funky rhythm section of Gregg Errico, Larry Graham and Doug Rauch. MORE

Nasty Gal is the third and final Betty Davis LP. Interestingly enough, I found her albums in the order that they were released. While I love Davis' singing and she always had a good back-up band, being recorded in 1975, Nasty Gal pales in comparison to her other two albums. The best cut is the title track by far with Davis’ regular nasty delivery and vocal and drum breakdowns. MORE

Everything shall come to those who wait, a true digger’s motto. After passing on both records several times on eBay and on a couple trips to NYC, I found Davis’ first self-titled LP at the flea market a couple months ago, and then I just picked this up at a local store that I hit up every week. MORE

Demon Fuzz was a group out of England. Organist Ray Rhoden and guitarist Raphael Joseph wrote almost all of their material. They sound amazingly like Cymande. That takes a little while to develop on the instrumental Past, Present and Future that has a loud, distorted guitar that could’ve been the opening for any number of Heavy Metal songs back in the day. MORE

Afrovision starts off on a little neo-Disco feel with the dance song Big Blow. Dibango then mellows it out with Dakar Streets, before bringing it back up with the fast paced and funky Aloko Party. Really though, the best songs are the Afro-Beat groove of Bayam Sell’am with Dibango’s sly vocals coming in and out throughout the track, and the fast paced title cut. MORE

Manu Dibango is one of the most widely known Afro-Beat artists. That’s mostly due to the fact that his song Soul Makossa was a huge international hit in the early 70s. Makossa Man was released a couple years after that song, but is just as good. On the album, Dibango lays down 8 hot and funky tunes recorded in France. MORE

Soul Makossa is the album that put Manu Dibango on the world music scene as the title track was a huge hit. The album features his infectious mix of percussion, dance rhythms and singing on tracks such as New Bell, Dangwa that has a Shaft like hi hat and drum break in the beginning and a drum and percussion break later on, Oboso with another percussion break, and of course, Soul Makossa. MORE