Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77

As suggested in the title, The Funkees were one of the Nigerian bands in the 1970s whose musical bias lay more toward funk and rock than West Africa's indigenous highlife hybrid. What I'd heard before of their recordings led me to a certain trepidation. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to discover that much of their material is considerably more ‘African’ than I had been led me to believe. They were formed at the end of the Nigerian civil war and became a very popular live act. They eventually moved to London where they recorded two LPs before disbanding in 1977. Dancing Time compiles the best of their Nigerian 45s and selections from their two LPs.

Afro-beat is the underlying rhythm but The Funkees drift frequently into Santana-style Latin rock, Doors-style improvisations with swirling keyboards, and churning funk with wah-wah guitars. Titles like Acid Rock, ‘Slipping into Darkness’ and ‘Dancing in the Nude’ give an indication of the time-frame, as well as, perhaps, the group's social pastimes. Some of the vocals are pretty shaky, and the more prog-rock orientated tracks quite laughably awful. There's clearly a market for this variation of the Afro-beat formula and, despite some abominations, there are several enjoyable tracks on Dancing Time: ‘Onye Mmanya’ alone is worth the price of admission. Afro hair-dos are back in fashion; here's the soundtrack to go with the hairstyle.