Gems From The Classic Years (1967-1974)

This 2007 compilation, a sequel to Best Of The Classic Years, gathers more material from his earliest recordings, going back as far as 1967. Adé’s albums mostly contained side-long medleys in these years, and that’s what you get here — four tracks running between 16 and 18 minutes, plus two three-minute stand-alone songs at the end. Even at the beginning of his career, Adé was far from a traditionalist, taking juju rhythms and adding pedal steel guitar and production techniques drawn from dub and even psychedelic rock; the multiple guitars are treated with reverb, and the percussion seems to leap from various corners of the stereo field, beguiling the ear. These tracks are slightly more raw than the early 1980s albums that brought Adé to the Western world’s attention, but they’re still some of the most lilting, joyous music ever made.