Buy anything from the World Music store and you can get the official CD from the Songlines Music Awards 2013 for just £1.99. Offer ends at 23:59 on Sunday, June 30. Learn more.
Buy anything from the World Music store and you can get the official CD from the Songlines Music Awards 2013 for just £1.99. Offer ends at 23:59 on Sunday, June 30. Learn more. |
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Product Description
Review
As a format, the live album serves numerous purposes: memento for fans of a concert recently attended, historical document of an important point in a band’s career. But, all too often, it’s a cynical cash cow to fleece the faithful. The best, however, make you wish you’d attended the concert in question. So it is with Live in Detroit, a recently exhumed 1986 recording from the first American tour by king of afrobeat Fela Kuti’s final band, Egypt 80, a year after he was freed from a bogus sentence for smuggling in his home country of Nigeria.
The memory of his incarceration is clearly fresh for Fela as he introduces the first song, Just Like That. "In my home country," he says, "They can put you in prison, just… like… that…" The song’s theme wouldn’t have been lost on the audience; while no corrupt militaristic hell-hole like Fela’s Nigeria, the Detroit of 1986 was a neglected, decaying post-industrial ghost-town. The recording’s bootleg roots – heavy with reverb, capturing the crackle and buzz of the audience – lend the music an electric presence.
Just Like That is the first of four songs over two-and-a-half hours, which won’t surprise Fela aficionados: his albums typically chased a single tune across one or both sides of vinyl. Still, not a moment is wasted. While Fela’s 80s output isn’t quite as fiery as his work with Africa 70 – there’s nothing here as blistering as the agit-bleat of ITT or Original Sufferhead – the slow-burn of the material is every bit as insurgent, as life-affirming.
The lengthy track times – Just Like That is the shortest, at just under a half-hour; a seething Confusion Break Bones boils away for over 40 minutes – are part of this music’s power, as Fela and band coax their grooves into meditative, conversational exchanges and roaring, intense peaks.
Witness Just Like That’s crescendos, saxophone solos writhing between blasts of righteous horns, Fela and his wives scattering chants between the polyrhythms, carving a martial funk from the chaos. Or the infernal slow build of the closing Beasts of No Nation, translating anger and pain into the sweetest, most-bristling, most-ecstatic party music. You’ll wish you’d been there. You’ll wish it would never end.
--Stevie Chick
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Product Description
2CD
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Julio Punch
Format:Audio CD
The only con about this CD-set is that the sound quality is not on the level of a professional recording. But for a bootleg (it was recorded off of a bootleg) it's actually pretty good. There's a hum in between songs when Fela introduces his songs, but the hum gets drowned in Egypt 80's big band musical swirl as soon as the music starts. This CD is from Fela's Egypt 80 period, where Jazz takes precedence over Funk and the compositions are LONG (and therefore less accessible than the Africa 70 songs used in the Fela! Musical). The great thing about the CD is that it was recorded shortly after Fela's release from bogus prison charges in 1986. It captures the enthusiasm of the crowd who were happy that justice prevailed and the enthusiasm of the Afrobeat King who was happy to be free again and able to resume his musical career. A few short notes about the songs:
JUST LIKE THAT
Serves as a warming-up. Want to hear Fela rap? This is the song to listen to.
CONFUSION BREAK BONE
One of Fela's longest (40 minutes!) and most complicated compositions. It sounds like several different compositions, overlapping in spaces. This slower tempo song needs repeated listening to get into. Fela's only recorded percussion is a definitive plus.
TEACHER DON'T TEACH ME NONSENSE
This is the party song of the set. You can imagine Egypt 80's dancers shaking their you-know-what's to this rhythm. Great Jazzy horn solo's.
BEASTS OF NO NATION
The most recent song on this set and representative of the "new phase of Afrobeat" as Fela puts it. A Nile Rodgers like guitar rhythm and great call and answer vocals make for an up-tempo song about a serious subject.
Many will argue that this period was not Fela at his best. I can understand that point of view, but as a true fan you really have to add this one to the collection. Remember that all solo's played live are improvised and therefore different than those on the official releases of these songs (that were actually released at later dates). If you want to hear a crystal clear rendition of this show, consider buying a time machine. Otherwise, enjoy this CD-set instead.
Note: this review refers to the 3-CD set. There is also a 2-CD set available, don't know whether there's much difference in sound quality.
Julio Punch (Webmaster of The Shrine: The Unofficial Website for Fela Kuti and Afrobeat Music)
JUST LIKE THAT
Serves as a warming-up. Want to hear Fela rap? This is the song to listen to.
CONFUSION BREAK BONE
One of Fela's longest (40 minutes!) and most complicated compositions. It sounds like several different compositions, overlapping in spaces. This slower tempo song needs repeated listening to get into. Fela's only recorded percussion is a definitive plus.
TEACHER DON'T TEACH ME NONSENSE
This is the party song of the set. You can imagine Egypt 80's dancers shaking their you-know-what's to this rhythm. Great Jazzy horn solo's.
BEASTS OF NO NATION
The most recent song on this set and representative of the "new phase of Afrobeat" as Fela puts it. A Nile Rodgers like guitar rhythm and great call and answer vocals make for an up-tempo song about a serious subject.
Many will argue that this period was not Fela at his best. I can understand that point of view, but as a true fan you really have to add this one to the collection. Remember that all solo's played live are improvised and therefore different than those on the official releases of these songs (that were actually released at later dates). If you want to hear a crystal clear rendition of this show, consider buying a time machine. Otherwise, enjoy this CD-set instead.
Note: this review refers to the 3-CD set. There is also a 2-CD set available, don't know whether there's much difference in sound quality.
Julio Punch (Webmaster of The Shrine: The Unofficial Website for Fela Kuti and Afrobeat Music)
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars
5 reviews
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stop reading this review and buy this CD now
11 May 2012
By Middle_Buffalo
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
It is unclear to me why a Fela Kuti fan would need to read a review to help decide if they should purchase the first new material released in 20 years.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bittersweet
31 Mar 2013
By Dave Morris
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
This is a disc of a bootleg recording I made of Fela's 1986 concert in Detroit. I smuggled a small Sony tape recorder and a stereo mic into the theater, and I did the best I could (the sound quality is pretty bad). I've only ever shared the tapes with a few people, and I'm not happy that someone has used my bootleg recording for commercial gain, as that was never my intent. On the other hand, it's nice that this document of the show is available to a wider audience than just me and a few of my friends.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Everybody say yeah-yeah.
27 Mar 2013
By celinedion
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I caught Fela on this tour and he was not a well man nor was the band the cream of his crop. Nor is the late period stuff like Underground System nearly as good as his early stuff.
But this is very much Fela at his very stoned most Fela-istic and this album is easily the equal of the likewise hot and cold Live In Amsterdam. If you're a Fela-head, you should get it.
The recording is perfectly fine for the era and did not detract from my listening experience.
But this is very much Fela at his very stoned most Fela-istic and this album is easily the equal of the likewise hot and cold Live In Amsterdam. If you're a Fela-head, you should get it.
The recording is perfectly fine for the era and did not detract from my listening experience.
›
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4.2 out of 5 stars
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