Best Of The Black President, The

2 CDs 13 of his most famous tracks

Afrobeat by the father of Afrobeat. Knitting Factory records will re release all 45 albums of Fela's recordings on both CDs & vinyl. This cd features recordings with Nigerian 70, Africa 70 and Egypt 80. Coincides with FELA! The Musical on Broadway,
a Bill T Jones produced show. Afrobeat is African Highlife, Jazz, James Brown Funk, Latin and a Fela touch to make a powerful sound with potent lyrics about everyday life in Nigeria, the military, religion, international corporations & politics. GREAT notes on Fela's life by friend Rikki Stein in the booklet. all tracks are GREAT. #5 "Zombie" a must play. When he played this the Nigerian government sent a thousand soldiers to burn down his compound.

CD#1
1: 13:48 mid tempo locked groove, keyboard, funk guitar noodling, brass, male vocals at 6 min. some female chorus call & response
2: 13:27 a 2nd half. mid faster locked groove, keyboard, funk guitar noodling, brass, wailing sax, male vocals at 6:30, fem chorus great locked chang-a-lang funk guitar groove
3: 11:02 an EDIT. wailing sax noodling intro, 2:30 mid tempo rhythm kicks in, vocals at 4:40
4: 9:52 an EDIT. mid to faster, mellow groove
5: 12:26 fast locked groove, sax, guitar, bass, vocal & chorus
6: 10:16 mid tempo groove. great lyrics, chorus.
7: 7:53 a 2nd half. instrumental mid tempo groove, great sax.

CD#2
1: 15:41 fast locked rhythm groove, Great funk sax wailing/groove, locked high energy groove, scat/wail fast vocals
2: 12:25 a 2nd half. fast locked groove, Fela speaks, very cool call & response chorus groove, brass, keyboard. WOW!
3: 13:25 a 2nd half. mid tempo, call & response chorus groove,
4: 13:40 a 2nd half. fast, call & response chorus groove, indestructible locked rhythm. faster vocals, keyboard groove on.
5: 17:02 a 2nd half. mid tempo, vocals, great building pounding rhythm, vocal/spoken word groove, chorus, keyboard groove on
6: 6:55 an EDIT. fast call & response chorus groove, locked fast rhythm.
D  Farrell 12/2009