Fela - where to start?

Fela is tough as there are about 90 albums and most hardcore Fela fans I know will find value in every single release.

I?d suggest _the Best Best of Fela_ as a starting point and then you can branch out. Here is an older thread that covered some of the same ground.

Fela Kuti: S&D

Where to start? Where else, The Beginning..

---Fela's London Scene (which is available as one the wonderful "twofer" re-issues from MCA Shakara/London Scene).

where to start? how about "This Bitch of a Life" STILL not with no re-issue.

"music is the weapon" - TV BBC doc I think

there's been so much hype and backtracking about Fela it's almost maddening

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go.to/stevek

well, the easiest way to get started is to buy some of the compilations.

there's a really nice one called the jazz side of fela that sandwiches three of the more obvious (and necessary) selections ("water no get enemy", "sorrow tears and blood", "roforofo fight") between the opening half of "j.j.d." and all 23 gorgeous minutes of "just like that". unlike some collections, this one flows nicely as an album.

after that, i'd recommend the shakara record, which has two of his better funk workouts ("shakara oloje" and "lady") and various other goodies, depending on the re-issue.

if you're interested in branching out a bit from fela, you could try one of the dozens of afrobeat collections released over the last couple of years on labels like strut and harmless. Nigeria 70! is particularly good.

you might also want to hunt down a copy of the masters at work track "maw expensive". they took the music from fela's "expensive shit" and got wunmi to sing the vocal from fela's "upside down" over it. so it's sort of a fela-vs-fela bootleg studio reworking. works for me, anyway.

Man, what a question.

Maybe I might recommend the live album Fela & Africa 70 did with Ginger Baker. It's pulsating and very exciting...much like all of Fela's music.

In terms of his albums, I find Expensive Shit and Original Sufferhead to be good starting points, but maybe this is cause they were MY first Fela albums. :D

_Best Best_ is really solid, and also about the best value-for-money of any Fela thing out there.

Look and Laugh & Sorrow Tears & Blood are my favs recomendations putrely because they were the ones I started with.

That jazz comp sounds like an excellent intro - water no get enemy in particular is a favourite.

My other favs are ITT, VIP and Coffin For Head of State. Expensive Shit, Zombie and Gentleman, which are often cited as the "classics" which doesn't quite strike me as the case. The Roforofo Fight CD is great. Some of the 80's stuff is just as good (Teacher Don;t Teach Me Nonesense, Beast of No Nation and ODOO - avoid Army Arrangement).

But enough because this thread is purpose built to bum me out for not going to the Femi Kuti gig in Dublin last night (it was really expensive, I was knacered, nobody I knew was going, i've seen him before and it was sold out but I could've tried to go...)

My own first one, quite recently, was the incredible "Coffin for Head of State" -- unbelievably great.

I started (and ended, so far) with a 2CD compilation called 'The Best Best of Fela Kuti The Black President'. My favourite track is 'Coffin For Head of State - Part 2' so I suppose that's another round about vote for that album.

Incidentally, it never sounds like there are 50 musicians to me :-(

I second the Live with Ginger Baker LP.

so many of 'em are great as I'm sure ya gather... the ginger baker one is pretty fine...if for nothing else, Expensive Shit has a good story. But I think Best Best is a fine starting place....

Personally, my father had Zombie on record and I listened to that a *lot* growing up, so that one always has a spot close to me.

I also dig the MAW mix... I don't know any of their other stuff, though...

I got Best Best and loved it to bits. I got Confusion/Gentlemen and admired it, but it sorta seemed redundant so now I just play Best Best all the time (the great thing about it is the tracks actually end).

i honestly don't think it matters where you start, they're all amazing. i think he was in his prime in the 70s, so get anything that's Fela and Africa 70.

most people (Fela included) really dislike the Bill Laswell produced Army Arrangement, but i really don't dislike it. and the cover is badass

my biggest problem with Fela's albums is that they all sort of follow a pattern: slight groove w/guitar or keyboard. drums and bass come in, long solo periods of Fela's sax, and then end with a call and response chant between Fela and the ladies. don't get me wrong, i love fela, but i don't really think you need to be a completist. once you get a few of his albums, you "get" them.

Tony Allen, Fela's drummer, has been releasing albums recently that are really good. a more modern take on the afro-funk sound. nothing too cheesy or overproduced.

Cool. I think this is the first time a thread of mine has been linked to by anyone but me ;)

I like the Shuffering and Smiling/No Agreement re-release quite a bit.

Ditto to what Jordan said; Original Sufferhead was my first.

I wanted to inquire what the title is to this Fela song? The following are some lyrics from it, "I nor be thief, you be thief. I nor be rogue, you be rouge. I nor be armed robber...Argument, argument argue..."

I'm sure most of you recognise it. One thing about listening to Fela when we were growing in Warri (Nigeria) is that altho' we know most of the lyrics, we don't (back then at least) the titles to the songs. There are still some songs I do not kow the title to. Ta!