Live!

This was fun I enjoyed it

A couple of things confuse me about this one. Firstly, it is 'Live', but only in the sense that it was recorded live in the studio rather than at a concert. Secondly, Ginger Baker gets headline billing despite only making his presence felt on two of the four tracks. I can only assume having the ex-Cream drummer’s name plastered across the album was to sell a few more copies. And to qualify that: I listened to the original albums, not the later reissue with the drum solo bolted onto the end. It seems I was wise to give that a swerve. Anyway, I quite enjoyed it as a jazzy Afrobeat album. Great rhythms, plenty going on, and Tony Allen’s drumming is superb. Whether Ginger Baker actually makes much difference to proceedings, I’m not convinced.

I'm not a big fan of Afrobeat, and wasn't especially fond of some of Kuti's other work, but this was really enjoyable! I struggled to get into this album, I do enjoy a lot of Jazz, but primarily instrumental music really has to be something special for it to resonate with me, and it wasn't until the third track that I really felt that. The third and fourth track cumulatively make up over 25-minutes, and they were great, but due to my lack of real appreciation for the first half, I'd find it unfair to give this a high rating. Regardless, this was very enjoyable, and Baker's drumming was phenomenal - as per usual!

Ja dit is een lekker jazz album hoor! Ik vind de Afrikaanse melodieën en de call and response heel goed werken hier. Fela Kuti is duidelijk de leider vna het ensemble en Baker stelt zich dienstbaar op op dit album. De muziek, zeker in de jaren 70 toen het uitkwam, moet wel echt vernieuwend zijn geweest, met hele andere ritmes die veel dansbaarder zijn dan veel van de toch wat stijvere Europese muziek. Over het algemeen ben ik geen groot fan van live albums, maar de recording hier op is fantastisch en de energie die Fela op het podium brengt komt goed over. De drumsolo's, de saxofoon solo's en dan toch steeds Kuti er nog bij. Dit album is een soort energiebom waar je in meegesleurd word. Een soort trance waar je in blijft hangen. De muziek blijft maar energieker en intenser worden, vooral bij het fantastische Drum Solo. Dit album, is er abosluut een die je minimaal een keer in je leven moet hebben gehoord. Al is het maar om te laten zien dat er nog zoveel meer is buiten de standaard Westerse maten. Waarom ik het dan toch 4 sterren geef ondanks de lofzang? Moeilijk uit te leggen, ik heb genoten, maar toch is dit nog altijd niet een album wat ik vaak en graag nog eens zal luisteren. Het is een hoge 4 sterren, net geen 5... FAVO: lastig om ene nummer te kiezen, maar luister absoluut eens naar Ye Ye de Smell. Dat nummer blijft en blijft maar gaan, echt bijzonder om te luisteren en die drumsolo!!!, over drumsolo gesproken; Ginger Baker and Tony Allen Drum Solo

The last drum solo song was a bit annoying

No

I'm not really a big fan of live albums. I've set out my reasoning for that in reviews for the small number of live albums that this site has served up over the last 3 years. (As an aside, I can't believe I'm 3 years in, I'm usually a quitter). This wasn't bad for a live album though, from reading the wiki page it was recorded in a studio, so it's a sort of half-way live album anyway. I've warmed to afrobeat over the last few years, and enjoyed this album generally ... the drum track went on a bit too long (and this is coming from someone that loves a drum solo!).

I already know and love this

Fela Kuti and the Cream drummer! Incredible stuff. Oh my. Fela is just absolutely electric onstage, and the instrumentalists all play so well. I’m astonished by this album’s quality frankly. The best song is probably the last one, just because of the visceral nature of such a title, and the way Fela says it at the beginning: “Carry Me, I Want To Die.” He’s somber, and stony. It is a truly great performance. Ginger does some good work here too. You can feel the rhythm, the funkiness, deep in here, and his experience adds something for sure. I like his willingness to collaborate out of the spotlight, many white men could learn from that. Great album. 9.2/10 DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES REASON: landmark collaboration, great tunes

Fantastic blending of afrobeat and jazz to create something both uniquely complex and accessible. Ginger Baker's drumming in particular is top notch. Highly enjoyable with a lot of reasons to listen to again and again. Fun from start to finish

Groove

panoramic drumming

it's pretty good. Interesting.

I don't know. I liked it a lot.

Probably great in a smokey bar. I'm just not a jazz album fan

What a cool album. Had me dancing from the beginning. The beats, the different instruments, and live vibe gave the album such a positive energy. Fela Kuti's vocals, or just his speaking parts were fun. Favorite track was Let's Start and the beginning of Ye Ye De Smell.

Usually I'm not the biggest fan of extended solos or live albums. But damn if Fela Kuti didn't have me on board from minute one. Insanely groovy and funky. People sleep on afrobeat music way too much.

Muy bueno pero denso como album, ya voy no se cuantos albumes instrumentales seguidos dios

I tried to get on board with this but couldn’t quite manage it. Wouldn’t be something I could see myself spinning again but that is not to say it is without merit. He is an excellent live performer.

Never heard of Mr. Kuti before but.. GOD DAMN! I'll be seeking out more of his stuff pronto! If your neck isn't strutting and your butt isn't bopping to this, you have a serious case of stick up your ass!

Favorite track: Egbe Mi O (Carry Me)

This is some funky shit.

Fun listen

Good energy and a nice variety album.

I'd give this 3.5! Wouldn't seek it out, but it was really fun!

wee bit too stressful for me at the end

It's a no for me, Fella ... and Ginger Baker couldn't save this.

Lo puse de fondo mientras laburaba y está bien para eso pero no es algo que volvería a escuchar ni pondría con auriculares, no es mi onda.

I'm sure this is just fine. It's just not for me.

Absolute legends. Decent music

I like Fela Kuti and have a few albums. The live aspect puts me off a little, but there's no doubting the gig exuded atmosphere. Drums solos though! Heard before ✅️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ❌️ ★★★☆☆(6/10) Total reviewed : 467 Already owned : 102 Purchased : 25 To buy : 3 Nope : 337

Happy to listen to this but the song length and repetition means I'm not keen to revisit, and the 16 minute drum duet at the end can go away.

So overall a good album. You really couldn’t tell it was a live album until the applause. The Africa 70 are great musicians who allow Fela Kuti to do his thing. You almost forget he’s there. Now I don’t think Ginger Baker added anything to most of these tracks. Now of course there’s a 16 minute drum song solo track. It’s over indulgent to say the least. It didn’t add anything to the album. I’m sure people at the show probably vibed out to it but 16 minutes is a long time. Good on them but it gets old after a while. I can understand why it’s on the list but it’s not all for me.

I like it, but it takes a very special mood to listen to.

I really enjoyed this, will def listen again. Would be a good work/study album.

Not my alley, street, borough, or even greater metro area.

Some interesting stuff here but no way am I giving a 16 min drum solo any time.

I think the wrong album is linked. It was good, but not really my genre.

So fun!

Fela & Ginger live? Hell yeah!

Yeah I mean I love live and I love big band sound and I love jazz and funk. SO like... perfect combo! Really enjoyed working to it. Kept me moving and grooving

love the vibe of this one 8/10 best song - ye ye de smell

A great example of why live albums exist. Great musicians getting locked in to a place where anything can happen and everything does.

Amazing intro to afrobeats. Just live and wild. Scatting on a level unthought of since CabCalloway. Fun and dancy but with deep themes. A great joint

Recently been getting into 70's African Music and started with Ofege and Wells Fargo and now this which is excellent. Incredible live sound

Fun! Chaotic! Wonderful! Best Song: Lets Start Rating: 7.0/10 Stars: 4

I enjoy the misc. it’s funky and fun. I’m not a fan of his voice. Sounded like he was mostly yelling.

Too boring, just not my cup of tea with this funky jazz or what it is

Fela, Fela, Fela. Always so fun to listen to his records. I wish I could have seen one of these live performances in person; what an energy they must have had. The music is fun, engaging, enlightening and inspiring. Usually always puts me in a good mood.

tons of great fela live ones. i'd have preferred one w/o the insanely long drum solo at the end. love both baker and allen. still

Pretty solid, but not sure why a live album was chosen as their only album on the list.

будто в прокуреном джазовом баре

Absolute vibe

Enjoyed

phenomenal at times, but some of the jams are not that interesting and pretty long

I can respect that it was good music, it just wasn’t my thing.

Day1013 - sounds like it would have been a good night to be in berlin

I was already familiar with this album. It has a really great beat throughout. It is a nice melding of styles into something that is completely its own thing. My only real gripe is that the whole thing sounds kind of the same. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but it kind of seems like 45 minutes of the same thing. I would listen again but have to be in the mood.

Have the album. Very good album but certainly not my favorite Fela Kuti album. Ginger Baker is just too much for me.

Easy listening

Really good of course - there's so much texture and detail in every moment. I hate to say it but I think ending on a very long drum solo is a downer? Drum solos are technically impressive but you don't close with it - need to cleanse yourself with some normal instruments after. I wonder if Ginger Baker was an asshole offstage. 4 stars because I heard the other Fela album first so this one was less exciting.

Pretty good stuff had never heard of this one before, but it is going to get added to the rotation. Plus, it has Ginger Baker.

Funky jazzy afrobeats. Actually rather good and beautifully played live

Another live album… eurgh… To be fair, this was pleasant enough. I am encouraged to listen to his studio albums as a result of it, but probably won’t listen to this one again

The individual tracks are too long to retain interest.

But boring.

Getting marked down for the bonus track 16 minutes drum solo

Some exceptional drumming

Thoroughly enchanting listen. Great for unwinding one’s brain after a stressful day at a seasonal farm inhaling the exhaust of one’s tractor-driven kids ride.

Really fun album. I think better than his Zombie album. The drum solo is fun for about 10 minutes, but drags on the last 10 minutes. 4.5 out of 5.

I've never heard of Fela Kuti. I have heard of Ginger Baker as a drummer with Cream and probably others. I know he's supposed to have a rep as a great drummer. Looks like the original album only had four songs so I'm going to review just those four songs Curious how this goes... Most of this is pretty fun and energetic. The funky horns and drumming gives me some James Brown vibes. But combine that with a jam band and jazz and African beats. And lyrics in an african I wish these all weren't so long. I'm not sure if listen to them very often because of this. But I ended up liking 2 out of the 4 songs on this one - the first 2 songs "Let's Start" and "Black Man's Cry" Liked songs on Spotify: 2/4 Rating: 3/5

Tho this doesn't prove that Ginger Baker is the great drummer of the 20th century (he's not - Tony Williams almost certainly is), it does prove that he could 'hang.' Most 'rock' musician can't transition from their home genre to other expressions. Shit, most can't e'en play their base genre, which is the unadulterated blues, i.e., I'm thinking of Clapton. But Ginger could, & he should be celebrated for that. Yet, Live! isn't all or at all 'bout Ginger - it's 'bout Fela & the band that redefined international music. It's weird to review an album like it. To some degree, it's just another Fela release, & I don't know enuf 'bout his catalogue to judge it relatively. All I know is what I hear - & that's the magic of a master arranger whose rhythms are a conscience.

++: Let's Start, Black Man's Cry, Ye Ye De Smell +: Egbe Mi O (Carry Me I Want to Die) 9,0/10

Fun album. Not sure what the right circumstance would be when I would listen to this again.

Nice sound and some jams

Fela Kuti is one of the most important artists of the rock era, popularizing the Afro-Jazz scene and creating some extraordinarily euphoric dance-inducing protest music. This album is one of many classics from the 1968-75ish era. Give it a listen.

We simply do not deserve Fela Kuti. There are few better Highlights: Black Man's Cry, Ye Ye De Smell

I'm an amateur drummer who gets bored if the drums become too... Self-centered. But this is all around great. It's quite the experience even in 2026, can hardly imagine how this hit back in 1971

Endelig noe originalt. Men å ha en 15 minutter lang trommesolo som eget spor på plata blir litt for originalt for min smak.

This was fun — I liked the live aspect and Fela is/was a very entertaining performer. I think the only downsides were that the music itself was a bit repetitive and the drum solo at the end wasn't really my thing.

i can't believe this is the fela kuti album the book guy picked, fela is so important and i could not give a fuck about ginger bakers long ass boring solos

I wanted to like this more than I actually did, I think. The repetitive bassline on "Black Man's Cry" drove me crazy. Loved the looooong drum section.

There's something about a great live album that really gets me going, and this one from Fela Kuti is no different. It's less of a collection of songs and more like an ongoing jam, with an audience of 150 packed into Abbey Road Studios and grooves that just don't stop. About half way through, Fela Kuti brings in legendary drummer Ginger Baker, and an already electric performance starts to really blow the roof off the place, resulting in a listening experience that transcends the continental boundaries. All in all, this is the music of togetherness, of a wartorn country that is able to express itself for once without fear, and I'm blown away by the technical prowess on display here. Superb.

I liked the studio album by Fela Kuti a little more than this one, but it’s still quite good.

That was a nice listen. I find the comment that Ginger Baker was on “only” two songs considering that equals about 40% of the album length!

This is a great jam! However, recorded parties rarely make you feel frenetic… it’s not the same if you weren’t there.

Great percussion. This was a very high quality live recording for the time. Not a big fan of long duration from solos though.

Fela Kuti ! Enfin, j'attendais un de ses albums ! Alors, c'est encore un live, je sais pas pourquoi on a autant d'albums live dans la liste, mais qu'importe, on a du Fela Kuti ! On parle quand même d'un gars qui a une discographie longue comme le bras, sans grosse baisse de régime. Fela Kuti, c'est tout simplement le fondateur de l'afrobeat, mélange de jazz et de funk avec des influences musicales africaines, selon l'origine de qui le pratique (si j'ai tout bien suivi). On parle aussi d'un gars qui a passé son temps à défier la dictature militaire dans son pays (avec des conséquences parfois funestes...) et qui a même tenté de présenter sa candidature à la présidentielle du Nigéria. Bref, Fela Kuti, c'est le goat et je chante ses louanges dès maintenant, parce que je suis pas certain d'avoir un autre album de lui dans la liste. Et donc ce live, c'est avant tout une énergie monstrueuse. Fela Kuti est à fond, suivi par son groupe qui l'est tout autant. C'est simple : j'ai déjà écouté beaucoup de ses albums studios, mais jamais un live. Et je dois dire que l'énergie est décuplée dans le contexte d'un concert. C'est une folie. On a aussi la présence de l'ancien batteur de Cream, bien annoncée dès la pochette, mais il ne vole certainement pas la vedette (et il n'était clairement pas là pour ça), il est même assez discret. Ah et aussi, à la fin, il y a un solo de batterie qui dure presque 17 minutes, mais qui étais pas sur le disque original et qui n'est même pas issu du même concert (il date de 1978, si je ne m'abuse). Je ne le compte pas dans ma note, parce qu'il casse un peu l'énergie de l'album, en plus. Bon, par contre, il va falloir qu'on m'explique. Parce que je n'en suis qu'à mon troisième album d'un artiste africain et sur les trois, deux impliquent un invité blanc (le premier étant l'album d'Ali Farka Touré). Est-ce que Robert Dimery a peur que les lecteur refusent d'écouter un artiste africain si ça n'implique pas au moins un blanc ? Trouve-t-il que ça ne ferait pas sérieux ? Tant de questions qui resteront sûrement sans réponse.

Right outta the gate the music hit me. I had never heard of Fela before, nor did I listen to much jazz, and I didn't know Afro Beat. This is the first 5 I'm giving because it truly feels like it belongs in this list. I don't want Bowie, Dylan, or anybody else I've heard of 1001 times already. GIVE ME MORE LIKE FELA, THE PEOPLE NEED IT. 5/5 - It made me feel something.

Good album

They do the thing they want to do, and we get to listen. Wie einfach, wie mitnehmend. Gefällt mir gut

Kaboom, das hat meine Fahrt von der S6 von Düsseldorf nach Essen um 100% besser gemacht.

Padre, lo de jazz

Ok. Let’s start was better than the others. I guess.

love it just sounds so fun

The instrumentals were good ig. Did not really in off all of the songs were SO long I was over it by song 3.

Groovy and fun but not really my thing. This shit would go hard if it was live though I can't lie, I think I'd be super into it.

soms mocht het wat minder uitgesponnen zijn

Many moons since I heard Zombie by Fela Kuti. Live! (or Fela With Ginger Baker Live!) is a step up from what I remember. And given the release year, I'm not surprised in the slightest. 1971 was a juggernaut. Let's Start is cool as heck. I love how Kuti introduces the crowd, and the listeners at home, to the track by reading what I assume is its name in Yoruba. That part being left in the album is something you wouldn't often hear in professional live recordings in more recent years. The song itself explodes into life from the get-go, featuring a slew of excellent instrumentals underlaid by that catchy repeated bassline. We're immersed into the setting by the surround-sound mixing. The singing is pretty incredible too. Spirited, soulful, bluesy. We then embark on the first of four consecutive tracks well over 10 minutes in length. And to its credit, Black Man's Cry uses that time to great effect. Just when I worried the entire album would consist of one-chord jams, the horns and bass butt in with a descending Latin-esque chord progression that re-ignites my harmony brain. And while the vast majority of the song's solo section sticks to just one chord, that by no means acts against it. The bassline keeps everything tied down while the keyboard and drums go absolutely ham. I wonder if early Steely Dan – think Your Gold Teeth and the rest of Countdown To Ecstasy in particular – took inspiration from this record. Ye Ye De Smell (very roughly, "You're Being a Bad Friend") has some great vocal improv throughout, accompanied by plenty of textural ups and downs to keep the track sounding dynamic. Incredible drum solo at around 9 minutes in. Egbe Mi O (Carry Me) has a goofy melodic hook in the beginning section that I suspect will take a couple more listens for me to really jibe with. The solos are great, though. And that extended outro clearly excites the crowd – rightfully so. The grand finale track is a 16-minute drum solo, which definitely lacks some of the staying power that the others emanate. It's still cool though. Would've been a blast to hear it in person. I don't have much to comment on – I'm typing this at the 8-minute mark and all I can say is that I'm impressed the percussionist is hitting all those drums with different timbres in such quick succession. A cool track, and though a clear step down from its predecessors, it also isn't actually part of the original track listing. So it doesn't mar my rating much. 4/5 Key tracks: Let's Start, Black Man's Cry

Never heard of this band, so I wouldn't have picked this album as something worth listening to. Wow! Amazing drum work, especially track 4 - Ginger Baker and Tony Allen Drum Solo. 16 minutes of perfection!