On their triumphant Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love, Sa-Ra Creative Partners updated Sly Stone’s murky coke-funk as a polyphonic tale of redemption. For his solo debut, Sa-Ra’s Shafiq Husayn also turns to the past for inspiration — the Afro-soul and proto-disco of Roy Ayers and Eddie Kendricks — with intriguing results. Husayn tackles tough issues, from nuclear war on “Major Heavy” to the slave trade on “No Moor,” with elegant arrangements and sweet hooks, making his lessons go down like children’s medicine. And if Larry Levan were alive today, he would’ve worked wonders with the tickling percussion and bass bumps of “Le Star.”
