The Good Samaritans - 1982 - No Food Without Taste If By Hunger

The Good Samaritans

1982

No Food Without Taste If By Hunger

01. Onughara

02. Ughamwen-Rhienenemwen

03. Ekhueghamunu

04. Gaskya-Kace

05. Bi Enu Ba Sahun

06. Aikemienaru-Nanorunomwan

Harp – Almighty Isibor

Percussion – Goddy Asia, Sunday Bey, Taiwo Alias Showboy

Rhythm Guitar – Osas-Ohenhen

Vocals – Bacel Organization, Voices Of Victory (V.V.)

Instruments – The Good Samaritans

Written-By, Composed By, Arranged By, Translated By– 'Brother' Angel Philosopher Okundaye (The Ba 'C' El)

Put your dancing shoes on and be ready to kill the dancefloor, the intoxicating highlife music known as Edo Funk from Benin City, Nigeria is back. Following the planetary success of our "Edo Funk Explosion Vol.1" project we have now unearthed "No Food Without Taste If By Hunger" by "The Good Samaritans", one of the most obscure Nigerian album ever recorded. Originally released in 1982, the bands first album is full of bouncy basslines, raw trance-like grooves and tripped-out psychedelic guitars, a funk experience unlike any other.

"The Good Samaritans" is Philosopher Okundaye’s own Edo-Funk project, under which name he produced four albums, all recorded at Phonodisk Studio in Ijebu-Igbo east of Lagos with a 24 track. Okundaye who played many instruments, engaged the right musicians for each project and mixed the whole thing himself, is known as the composer of a large part of Benin City’s celebrated hits in the 80s. His name keeps popping up but somehow his role in the scene remains a bit hazy, giving the character an image of something like the gray eminence of Edo funk.

Due to its private pressing in a probably very small edition, "No Food Without Taste If By Hunger" is very difficult to find. With this reissue limited to 2000 copies - newly mastered by Nick Robbins and approved by Philosopher Okundaye himself - "The Good Samaritans" make a welcome and long-overdue return to turntables around the world in a beautiful Silk-Screen printed cover and an orange colored vinyl pressed on 180g high quality vinyl. This is funk stripped down to its primal essence, driving rhythms mixed with highlife horns, sweet keyboards and psychedelic guitar riffs, pushing the limits of dance moves towards cosmic dancefloors.

A lean little groover from the Nigerian scene – an Edo funk set that's got a vibe that's more stripped-down than most – really focused on the rhythms, with a stark, spare quality that's very different than bigger groups of the decade before! There's almost an influence here going on from both post-punk and reggae – darker production with some echoey edges, heady basslines that often come across with a slightly spooky sound, and use of horns and guitars in ways that really have a sharpness that's unexpected – funky but lean too