The Visitors

Set up by producer Ben Okonkwo in 1973, the BEN label, and its offshoot Clover Sounds, broke some of the biggest bands outside of Lagos. The Apostles, Akwassa, The Doves, Mary Afi Usuah and Aktion all got their start in the cramped studio in the commercial heart of Aba. The least known – and arguably one of the best bands on the label – was The Visitors. For a short, sweet time between 1975 and 1978, The Visitors were creating the most righteous sounds in the East. We’re talking deep afro-funk with generous dollops of rock psych fuzz synth madness. My Good Friends, their second album, find them at the height of their powers. The musicianship throughout the album is extraordinary. Check out the synth and guitar wig out on ‘Here We Come Brothers’ and the searing guitar break that scorches the slinky groove of the title track. This album is impossibly hard to find and selling for high prices, one seller justified the high asking price by arguing that “once you let this record in your bones, it's not coming back out.” Thanks to the good guys at PMG, your bones can now get the good stuff for considerably less. - Peter Moore