Some of the heaviest work to come from the African scene of the 70s – the initial offering of the Ngozi Family – a group who clearly take strong inspiration from the Cream years of the UK scene, but who also come across with a grittier, punkier vibe overall – thanks to lean, stripped-down instrumentation and some very sharp drums! The drums rattle out underneath the magnificent fuzzy guitar lines in the lead – almost with this compressed quality that recalls Thin Lizzy at their funkier moments – but much more raw, stripped-down, and unpolished – so that the English language lyrics burst out with a really biting sound! The record's one of the first in the Zamrock tradition, and is still one of the best – a set that deserves to be in any collection of hard rock, proto-punk, and even funk rock from the 70s. Titles include "I Wanna Know", "Day Of Judgement", "We Wonna Give It To Her", "Tikondane", and "Let Me Know". CD comes in a great book-style cover – and features the bonus tracks "We Were Not Told", "She Looks So Crazy", "I've Been Looking For You", and "Sunka Mulamu". CD

Some of the heaviest work to come from the African scene of the 70s – the initial offering of the Ngozi Family – a group who clearly take strong inspiration from the Cream years of the UK scene, but who also come across with a grittier, punkier vibe overall – thanks to lean, stripped-down instrumentation and some very sharp drums! The drums rattle out underneath the magnificent fuzzy guitar lines in the lead – almost with this compressed quality that recalls Thin Lizzy at their funkier moments – but much more raw, stripped-down, and unpolished – so that the English language lyrics burst out with a really biting sound! The record's one of the first in the Zamrock tradition, and is still one of the best – a set that deserves to be in any collection of hard rock, proto-punk, and even funk rock from the 70s. Titles include "I Wanna Know", "Day Of Judgement", "We Wonna Give It To Her", "Tikondane", and "Let Me Know". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic sounds for fans of funk and rock alike – music from the freaky, fuzzy 70s scene in Zambia – a place where styles effortlessly criss-crossed to really produce something new and unique! The work here is often heavy on fuzz guitars, but also has some wickedly soulful basslines and drums – so that although the tunes can be psych-styled, they're also pretty darn funky too – often at a level that's a bit like the Nigerian Afro Funk of the time, but much grittier and more righteous! The quality of the music and scene is explored in depth in the package – which includes a very detailed booklet of notes and photos – all to support the selection of music, which may well be the hippest so far from the Now Again label – and that's really saying a lot, if you know their other titles! Titles on volume 2 include "Really" by Crossbones, "History Of Man" by Amanaz, "Poor Man" by Five Revolutions, "Hold On" by Ngozi Family, "Katonga" by Musi-O-Tunya, "Request To God" by Oscillations, "Mpundu" by Tinkles, "Otenta" by Dr Footswitch, "Mad Man" by Born Free, "SM" by Mike Nyoni, "Hot Do" by Jesper Siliya Lungu, "I'm Not Made Of Iron" by Chrissy Zebby Tembo, "Umbwalwa Ne Chamba" by Peace, "Umwana Wakusanga Mung'Anda" by Fire Balls, and "See The Storm" by Salty Dog. LP, Vinyl record album

80s work from the Mashabe Band – a group who recorded for the same label that gave the world Ngozi Family and Witch during the Zamrock years, but who sound here like a much more traditional act overall! The music has long-flowing rhythms that come as much from the guitars in the lineup as they do the percussion at the bottom – some sort of strange, spare cousin to highlife maybe, but delivered with a lot more local flavor – and recorded with this excellent sort echo that gives the instrumentation an almost watery feel at times, leaving the vocals to have even more impact when they come into play. Titles include "Ba Music Parlour", "Ulwambo Lwaba Pongoshi", "Kanshi Ubupina Lisambi", and "Impalume Shaya". LP, Vinyl record album

A treasure trove of funky soul and trippy grooves from Eye Q – a group who hail from the same scene in Zimbabwe that gave us Witch and Ngozi Family, but who are maybe even groovier overall! There's some really wonderful guitar on most of these cuts – more funk-styled than some of the rockish work of the Zimbabwe scene of the period – but still with those great trippy elements around the edges, and the kind of heady production that can make even familiar aspects of these records sound surprisingly powerful overall. The tunes are plenty catchy, too – maybe in part because the collection draws heavily on the group's rare singles for the Afro Soul label, before moving into territory of their rare Beginning album. Titles include "Please The Nation", "Angel Face", "No More Crying", "Making Life Out Of Music", "Worthless Woman", "Lonely", "Looking For The Day", "Widow", "Waiting For The Chance", "Rock & Roll Soul", "Are You Satisfied", "Eniweth", and "Good Turning Bad". CD