A Move in the Right Direction

by SJOB Movement

The SJOB Movement were born in 1975 when a quartet of musicians in the band Ozziddi got tired of being given no recognition for or financial stake in their music's success.  This was common in Nigeria, that the front man of a band would be the only person to reap the rewards, while the rest of the band were seen as employees.  Famously, the members of Fela Kuti's Nigeria 70 received no royalties for the music they made.

Anyway, the four men who became the SJOB Movement founded their group on the principle of being equal partners.  They crafted this debut album, which became quite popular.  Their unusual name came from each member supplying the first letter of their own name.

The songs on this album are pretty funky.  They were incorporating a lot of what they heard coming from the US funk scene, and it works very nicely.  While drummer Prince Bola sings the lead vocals on most of the songs, he was not the frontman.  This is a nice time capsule from a lost era of music.