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Format

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  LB5031LPLong Player  £18.00

Label

Luaka Bop

William Onyeabor

Crashes In Love (Version 1)

Stand alone vinyl reissue of 'Crashes in Love Volume 1' originally released in 1977 His debut 'Crashes in Love' is subtitled 'A tragedy of how an African Princess rejects love that money buys' and is presented to the record buying public as a soundtrack to Onyeabor's film of the same name though there seems to be no trace of the film On the front cover is an advert for Onyeabor's own Wilfilms which produces exhibits and sells features and documentaries as well as 'Records Motion Advert General Entertainment etc' and the back features the disclaimer 'You may wish to know that it is neither all nor only the sounds contained in this album that are tracked in film' There are no credits other than that of Onyeabor but there's a full band behind him a crisp backbeat of drums and hand percussion horns snaking guitar lines and bubbling bass and female singers who sing 'One day you'll be lying dead' on the mortality funk of 'Something You'll Never Forget' Onyeabor's organ sounds less like a synthesizer prototype purchased in an Eastern bloc country and more like something airlifted from an Indiana rollerskate rink and what would be the primary instrument on future albums is relegated to accompaniment instead the horn line and bass On 'Crashes in Love' Onyeabor is of a piece with his Nigerian contemporaries the album bears similarity to the likes of other mid70s bands like BLO the Funkees and Ofege The title track has a lilt to it as if at any moment the melody might veer off into a particularly lightfooted take on 'Red Red Wine' while 'Heaven and Hell' sports the kind of breakbeat that would have led beat heads to seek the album out in the first place It closes with one of Onyeabor's stranger songs ''ungle Gods' featuring roiling bass and thundering percussion Onyeabor speaking in echoplexed tongues

Tracklist

• 1. Something You'll Never Forget
  2. Ride On Baby
  3. Crashes in Love
  4. Heaven & Hell
  5. Jungle Gods