All hail Mandrill and this twoferone, which captures them in their prime. Their legacy lives on in endless samples culled by the likes of Nas, Cypress Hill and Public Enemy. When they funked none funked heavier (‘Hang Loose’) yet they could plumb deep soul: ‘Love Song’ is delirious soul over strings and glistening vibes, swooooon. Yet they could take it down with dark urban tales like ‘Out With The Boys’. All somehow shot through with a political and spiritual edge. Oops, nearly forgot the stretched-out, jazz-kissed instrumentals like ‘Africa Retrospectus’ and ‘Moroccan Nights’. And the Caribbean flavours and Latin beats. Such a rich alliance of talents, voices and writing was kind of bound to flourish only briefly (although the band as a dance funk unit has strut its fat city stuff for decades since), but Composite Truth particularly remains a classic of its groovesome kind.