The Lijadu Sisters – Lord Have Mercy
First heard of the Lijadu Sisters from a collection that Oliver Wang of Soul-Sides.com put together to celebrate his 5th Anniversary. Their song “Life’s Gone Down Low” has this incredible slow burning funky sound to it that I fell in love instantly. Given my current budgetary constraints I knew it would likely be a long long long time before I was able to get a copy of the original, but then this year Knitting Factory had the good sense to reissue the full-length of their 1976 album Danger and I think I’m even more in love with the special, funky and psychedelic sound of Nigeria’s the Lijadu Sisters especially on the positively heartstopping “Love Have Mercy.” The song just has such a great mood, sort of “Maggot Brain” meets Isaac Hayes’ “Walk On By” with a touch of Axelrod in the out of site guitar playing from Biddy Wright. I wonder how long before it ends up being used in the soundtrack for a War movie or TV show on Vietnam…
Good that Knitting Factory reissued the full-length of their 1976 album Danger