i've always loved phil collins' in the air tonight. mostly its tom tom drum - the dark, ominous beating heart that explodes a good three minutes deep into the track in an angry face off against cowardice and evil.
it's this sound that floats me back in history to when the first people of this land used drums that sound like this to communicate, to signal, to pow-wow, to live by. a skin, broad diameter, pounded steadily with a mallet.
and i can only guess that it's this sound that also caught the ear of house music guru and ifá priest, osunlade. the yoruba records boss polished up the sound and layered polyrhythms over top in his remix release, the backside of which is an instrumental dub.
thanks to jez proctor and his project innersounds, for weaving side b over a with a surprise horn, piano and cymbal-laden crescendo that pours back into to collins' original backbeat before it flies off.
i smile and think that eshu - yoruba god of spiritual justice - should be pleased...
phil collins - in the air tonight (yoruba soul mix) side a/b edit:
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