Although Afro-rock is the term generally applied to one of the great groups to have emerged from London in the late-1960s, that epithet almost seems too glib, if not restrictive in the cold light of day and warm glow of stereo speakers. These two albums capture the band at a creative peak and reveal, certainly upon repeat listening, just how much idiomatic ground they covered all the while retaining an enviably distinctive identity. Rattling west African rhythms – gliding seamlessly around 6/8, 6/4 and 4/4 – form the root structure and backbone of the arrangements, but the drifts into jazz, blues, rock and funk are so frequent that it is fair to say that Osei, Tontoh et al showed the music of the African diaspora to be a decidedly supple, shape-shifting force that was essentially defined by a running conversation on the many ways in which a pulse could be set and developed in an arrangement. All of which means that the great barrages of percussion and call and response chants, which were a crucial element in the group's sound, remind us that African beats ran through the music of anybody from Dizzy Gillespie to Carlos Santana, two of the artists referenced in the Osibisa sound. That said, the band, with its alliance of African and Caribbean personnel, also had the knack of writing the most infectious of melodic lines that are heard to great effect on pieces such as ‘Wango Wango’, ‘Bassa Bassa’ and the anthemic ‘Fire’. This is sunny, happy dance music with a high standard of playing and professional integrity and its influence on the likes of George Lee's Anansi and Paco Sery and, latterly, Yabbafunk and Soothsayers, should be duly noted.