The Hygrades (reissue) vinyl

Florence's Sleeve Records yoink the crown for most obscure reissue, as of late. In their words, "the image on the cover of this record as far as anybody can reasonably tell is probably the only photograph of The Hygrades in existence." Clearly, the promo move for this record is to play up the much-trammeled obscurity/mystery angle, but perhaps the real question should be 'why or how did The Hygrades find themselves in such a historical position to become the object of retroactive sleuthing in the first place?' The answer is: they had an early-career boost as recording artists for HMV/EMI and then seemed to drop off the commercial music map. So, if you're into mysteries, this one might be (and end up in) your bag. But, please, once the mystery is solved, don't also forget to stop and imbibe the glorious Afro-funk and Afrobeats jaunts heard inside, all testifying the potent hotpot of sounds - funk, blues, and soul - that both went into and made pungent the Western African shores of the 70s.