The compilation collects tracks from Ade’s first foray as a solo musician, just after leaving Victor Olaya’s highlife band and forming the Green Spots, a homage to IK Dairo’s Blue Spots. Far from being a novice musician, Ade was already a master of his craft, weaving gorgeous, leisurely tracks that run for close to twenty minutes but never overstay their welcome. Though the steel guitar and synths that would become a trademark of his later music are mostly absent (except on the 18 minute “Synchro System,” which he would re-record years later for his second album with Island Records), the interplay between guitars is captivating, anchored by the chatter of Yoruba percussion and guided by Ade’s unmistakable voice. It’s interesting to compare tracks like “Synchro System” and “Sunny Ti De” with their later Island Records versions. Even without the sleek production and modern instrumentation they are as hypnotic as ever.

Before signing with Island Records in the early 1980s, King Sunny Adé made a long string of albums in his native Nigeria. This compilation pulls tracks from various releases, most of which were recorded in the early ’70s, and sometimes splits up what were side-long medleys into shorter tracks. But you do also get the original 1974 version of “Synchro System,” at its original 18-minute length and a more relaxed, almost dubby tempo than the 1983 Island version. Without the synthesizers and Europop-ish production techniques that marked his ’80s output, the guitars on this set have real bite, nodding to the country music Adé grew up listening to, and the juju polyrhythms, including the ubiquitous talking drum, are positively trance-inducing, with his gentle voice floating on top, periodically bolstered by all-male backing shouts.