A1 Children
A2 Fire & Rain
A3 Ereyon
A4 Slow Down
B1 For You
B2 Politician
B3 Listen
B4 Spending My Life
Grill by Gbubemi Amas is as smooth as the red cardigan artfully slung around his shoulders on the cover. Whether he is running through the scales on a cover version of ‘Fire and Rain’, or trying on his calypso highlife moves on ‘Ereyon’, you know Amas is a man with a smooth line for every occasion. He is also a man with impeccable enunciation. Listen to ‘Slow Down’. It features one of the most cultured sound checks you will ever hear in your life – “Willy, keep the bass a little bit tighter”. That Amas is now a theatre producer and writer in Cardiff in Wales will come as no surprise. ‘Slow Down’ is a stone cold class, and an undoubted highlight, just as it was on the excellent Comb & Razor compilation, Brand New Wayo. ‘Children’ is a bright dancefloor filler. So is ‘For You’. And ‘Listen’ showcases Amas’s disco ball cassanova moves. Articulate, cultured and classy, Grill is proof that in 80s Nigeria was producing a class of boogie funk that was as sophisticated as anywhere in the world. - Peter Moore