Recording

Heaven
Ebo Taylor

Independently chosen for2 of our lists. Here is what each of them said.

Released

1977

On

Afrobeat and The Waxonia Desk — One Subject

Updated

2026-08-29

1. 06

   Ranked No. 6 in Afrobeat

   Ghana's answer, and a reminder that highlife was never only Nigeria's inheritance. Taylor's guitar is looser and jazzier than Lagos allowed, and the record swings where Fela's marched.

2. ·

   Picked by The Waxonia Desk — One Subject

   Ghana rather than Nigeria, and looser than anything Lagos allowed. Much of what reached Britain as afrobeat was highlife that nobody had bothered to distinguish.