Seven Degrees North
From the very first notes, the juju music of King Sunny Ade is  instantly identifiable. The musicians lock into a groove and don't let  it go until the song ends--and given that the tracks on this album give  all musicians a chance to stretch out (unlike, say, 1995'sE Dide), that can  be a while. But it's a pliable, irresistible groove, powered by the  percussion and talking drums, which also pop up to punctuate and accent  the music, while the Hammond organ and pedal steel guitar take most of  the solos with King Sunny himself at the center of things, singing and  directing his large band. It's a joyful noise they make, often quite  literally, as a number of these pieces are "praise songs," part of the  juju tradition ("Congratulations (Happy Birthday)" offers an idea of  the praise song in English.) This is his most enjoyable record in a  long time, better than the excellentOdu, and if you can  resist the urge to dance, check your pulse--you might be dead.--Chris Nickson