Amadou & Mariam - 'Coulibaly' (All Other) Released 27/02/06

Produced by pan-global maestro Manu Chao, ‘Coulibaly’ is sunny, fresh and upbeat with some truly breathtaking fluid guitar from Amadou, one half of this Malinese rock duo. It sits on a liquid techno rock/pop groove with some subterranean organ that wouldn’t be out of place on a Joe Meek album and at a pinch over 3 minutes it leaves the listener begging for more. Fred Chichin’s mix adds nothing exciting and actually dulls the clarity of the original with a too-muddy sound mix. Ashley Beedle’s much touted ‘Afrikanz on Marz’ mix kicks it with rolling snares, moves along nicely, but really the compact floating funk of the original is such a gem that no remix is going to truly complement it.