7. King Sunny AdéSynchro System
In 1993, a decade after first discovering and falling in love with King Sunny Adé’s music, I was tracing my birth father, who was dead by then, but I found out he actually knew King Sunny Adé and this was one of his favourite albums as well as one of mine, and I was given his copy of the record by one of his wives and it made me feel a real connection to him. Back in 1983 though, I was dating our tour manager who when he wasn’t looking after The Selecter was working with King Sunny Adé when he was in the UK. I loved the talking drums and the wash of gentle guitars. That’s how I like my guitars to sound; when they are allowing the rhythm to just ride. Commie [Compton Amanor, The Selecter’s original guitarist] had that sound, he would just bubble away.
