*** Mandrill

FENCEWALK: THE ANTHOLOGY

(PolyGram)

This long-overdue two-CD compilation brings back the music of seminal disco-funk group Mandrill. A New York City band, they flourished from 1970 to 1975 alongside their local rivals Kool & the Gang, Fatback Band, and the Jimmy Castor Bunch. Distinctive for the smoothness of their glide, their tribal beat, and the sorcery of their psychedelicized vocals, they were unstoppable in slip-sliding jams like "Rollin' On," "Peace and Love (Amani Na Mapenzi)," "Lord of the Golden Baboon," "Ape Is High," "Folks on a Hill," "Hagalo," "Fat City Strut," and "Fencewalk," their biggest hit. Long before there was world music, Mandrill were doing it: African-language chants, merengue steps, funky strangeness, evocations of desert nights and Brazilian carnaval burst up through the mix, step to the forefront of a jam, and tumble the melody every which way. The compilation reprises all the Mandrill a fan could hope for, along with Pablo Guzman's superbly simpático liner notes, which tell the whole legendary story.

-- Michael Freedberg