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Coming Home

by Pat Thomas

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD1
    1. Broadway Dance Band - Go Modern 02:59
    2. Ogyatanaa Show Band with Pat Thomas - Yaa Amponsah 05:03
    3. Pat Thomas & The Black Berets - Obra E Yebo Yi 03:21
    4. Pat Thomas & The Big '7' - Eye Colo 03:12
    5. Awurade Mpaebo 03:26
    6. Pat Thomas & The Sweet Beans - Merebre 03:18
    7. Pat Thomas & The Sweet Beans - Revolution 04:18
    8. Pat Thomas & Marijata - We Are Coming Home 05:53
    9. Pat Thomas & Marijata - Let's Think It Over 03:56
    10. Pat Thomas & Marijata - Brain Washing 03:45
    11. Pat Thomas & The Sweet Beans - Set Me Free 02:51
    12. Pat Thomas & Marijata - I Can Say 05:30
    13. Ebo Taylor feat. Pat Thomas - No Money No Love (previously unreleased) 06:23
    14. Ebo Taylor feat. Pat Thomas - Sack The Devils (previously unreleased) 07:00

    CD2
    1. Pat Thomas & Ebo Taylor - Ma Huno 05:43
    2. Gyae Su (Wo Nyim Nnti Na Woye LP version) 04:28
    3. Yamona 10:02
    4. Mewo Akoma 14:27
    5. Gyae Su (Mpaebo LP version) 05:22
    6. Pat Thomas & Marijata - I Need More 07:42
    7. Super Sounds Namba - Who's Free 05:33
    8. Mpaebo 15:00
    9. Can't You See 05:54

    Includes unlimited streaming of Coming Home via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £11 GBP  or more

     

  • Coming Home (3LP)
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A1 Ogyatanaa Show Band with Pat Thomas - Yaa Amponsah
    A2 Pat Thomas & The Black Berets - Obra E Yebo Yi
    A3 Pat Thomas & The Big '7' - Eye Colo
    A4 Pat Thomas - Awurade Mpaebo
    A5 Pat Thomas & The Sweet Beans - Merebre

    B1 Pat Thomas & The Sweet Beans - Revolution
    B2 Pat Thomas & Marijata - We Are Coming Home
    B3 Pat Thomas & Marijata - Let's Think It Over
    B4 Pat Thomas & The Sweet Beans - Set Me Free

    C1 Ebo Taylor feat. Pat Thomas - No Money No Love
    C2 Ebo Taylor feat. Pat Thomas - Sack The Devils
    C3 Pat Thomas & Ebo Taylor - Ma Huno

    D1 Pat Thomas - Mewo Akoma
    D2 Pat Thomas - Gyae Su

    E1 Pat Thomas - Yamona
    E2 Pat Thomas & Marijata - I Need More

    F1 Super Sounds Namba - Who's Free
    F2 Pat Thomas - Mpaebo

    Includes unlimited streaming of Coming Home via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more

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Yamona 10:02
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Mewo Akoma 14:27
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Mpaebo 15:00
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about

Ghanaian highlife master and “The Golden Voice Of Africa”, Pat Thomas, returns with his first full career retrospective on Strut this Autumn, covering his late ‘60s big band highlife recordings through to the “burger highlife” movement of the early ‘80s.

Growing up with music around him (“my uncle, King Onyina, was an important highlife musician”), Thomas was inspired to become a singer after hearing vocalist Joss Aikins: “He sang with Broadway Dance Band and Decca in Ghana chose him to sing with any group that came into their studios.”

When a new incarnation of Broadway Dance Band was created in ‘67, led by Ebo Taylor, Thomas received his first big break. “Ebo started to write new songs. I added the lyrics and sang them and it worked well.” The partnership with Taylor would become one of the enduring forces in Ghanaian music during the ‘70s, creating a fresh, progressive new highlife sound. They played with the Blue Monks band before, in 1974, forming Sweet Beans with the backing of Ghana’s Cocoa Marketing Board: “The album, ‘False Lover’, was the first under my own name and my first for Gapophone,” Pat reflects. “Reggae was “on” at that time - Jimmy Cliff was the guy - so I tried reggae fusions and brought in some soul.”

The album established Thomas across Ghana. Sweet Beans disbanded but the musicians stayed together as Marijata. “The guys initially used Jewel Ackah as their vocalist but they involved me and I re-vocalled the album. This became the ‘Pat Thomas Introduces Marijata’ LP. At that time, I would go to George Prah at Gapophone to ask for money and he would say, ‘if you want me to pay you, go and write a song!’ So, tracks like ‘Coming Home’ came about that way, written on the spot.” A second Marijata album followed before a damaging coup in Ghana in 1979. “Jerry Rawlings’ “house-cleaning” was designed to stop corruption but it seriously damaged our country’s music culture.”

Thomas left for Berlin and stayed true to his highlife roots, becoming the first Ghanaian to record highlife there. “In Ghana, people ex-pats living in Germany called themselves ‘burgers’, so the scene became ‘burger highlife’.” Thomas travelled to Togo and London, before settling in Canada: “I ended up there for ten years playing for universities, Ghanaian societies and festivals.”

credits

released September 30, 2016

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Pat Thomas Kumasi, Ghana

Known as “The Golden Voice Of Africa”, Pat Thomas is a true Ghanaian highlife legend. Working with big bands including Uhuru Dance Band, Thomas became a domestic star through his ‘70s work with Sweet Beans, Ebo Taylor and Marijata. He recorded his first international studio album for Strut in 2015, backed by Accra’s Kwashibu Area Band. ... more

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