You may recall that Yam Yam (aka Guy Morley & Rick Turner) first hit the dance floors back in the mid nineties with ‘The Spectacle’, which got remixed by the Big Chiller of the decks himself, Mr. Scruff. So to say this new CD is long-awaited is somewhat of an understatement, especially as the cheeky 7” ‘Bahama Mama’ came out a couple of years ago on Big Chill Recordings.

‘Bahama Mama’ is included here and still guaranteed to get a reaction as it sneaks up on you from the leftfield vegetation section. It’s bananas of course but not really indicative of the rest of the album. You may recall we’re fans of Guy Morley as part of the Equator Sound System (with Glyn ‘Bigga’ Bush), introducing Femi Kuti at the Barbican (on the African Soul Rebel Tour) or at the Big Chill Festival.

Apart from their love of Afrobeat, we know the Bhundu Boys were influences and they’ve also listed in the sleeve notes Abdoulaye Diabate, Victor Uwaifo, Simaro and Conjunto Musangola. This love of African music is self-evident on ‘Introspective Party People’ and ‘Hippopotame’. And talkin’ of Bigga, ‘Bittersweet’ is that type of percussive dubby hybrid that he loves so much.

At the launch at the Big Chill House, we saw Papa Pawulo (Monkfish) perform live and Andy Gangadeen (of The Bays, The Imagined Village and the exciting collaboration with The Heritage Orchestra in Liverpool this week -see links below) was in the house supporting.

‘Isabella’s Rhumba’ is an ideal opener and other downtempo gems are ‘Sojka’s Orbit’ and the chilled ‘On The Shoulders Of Giants’ with the big drums and horns. If I was picking a track for a Spiritual South remix, ‘On The Shoulders Of Giants’ would be the obvious one. Or perhaps ‘Antelope’ as it races over the Serengeti plains.

There’s no duff track on this album, even if ‘Banana Heater’ sounds like something I learned to dance to! That apart, now the end of year party season is out of the way, it’s time to get the word out and start a Yam Yam Eatdubafrobeat Party!

Reviewed: Yam Yam — Eatdubafrobeat (Big Chill Recordings) Cat No. FACTOR 21 Release date: November 2007
1. Isabella’s Rhumba 3:52
2. Bahama Mama 3:54
3. Hippopotame 4:19
4. Introspective Party People 5:27
5. Banana Heater 6:03
6. Sojka’s Orbit 6:21
7. On The Shoulders Of Giants 4:25
8. Antelope 5:50
9. Bittersweet 8:22
10. Aeoproplane 6:09

Links:
www.yamyam.org
www.last.fm/music/Yam+Yam
www.bigchill.net
www.myspace.com/monkfish
www.thebays.com The Heritage Orchestra & John Metcalfe — Liverpool Philharmonic Hall…04.01.08 : The Bays, The Heritage Orchestra & John Metcalf — Liverpool Philharmonic Hall “With the Heritage Orchestra, and a team of guest composers led by John Metcalfe and Simon Hale, for this World Premiere show The Bays will combine live electronica and classical ensemble playing in an entirely improvised performance using Sibelius Software.Forget what you think “live music” actually means. This music will be created on the spot, in front of the audience, never to be played, heard or experienced the same way again”
05.01.08 : The Bays, LIVE Bumper, Liverpool — Free entry with Fresh festival pass
05.01.08 : The Bays Soundsystem DJs Magnet, Liverpool
www.serengeti.org