Live!

I give this 28 stars--one for each of his wives.

This is why I’m doing this project to hear albums like this that I would never otherwise be exposed. This is awesome from the start.

This album has a fantastic start and then just keeps going. Very funky and jammy with great rhythms. Didn't even notice the songs are 12 min long! Just a fun, and well-rounded album.

I’m not sure what other Fela Kuti records are on this list, so I’m gonna take this opportunity to say that Fela Kuti was a certified badass. A legitimately revolutionary musician, from a political stand point, but also musically. If you’re unfamiliar with him, take a few minutes to read about his career and the oppositional force he was to the oppressive Nigerian government in the 70’s/80’s. Live! might not be his best record (that’s Zombie, or maybe Expensive Shit, in my estimation), but it’s a tight, funky firestorm that doesn’t let up across its 4 tracks.

Listened through 4 times. Morning, noon or night it's great. Just utterly outstanding danceable music. No, it's not like any Ginger Baker I've heard before, but yes it's as good as every Fela Kuti album I've heard.

Day 11 of Albums You Must Hear before you die. This serving is another live album, this one by Fela Ransome-Kuti and The Africa ‘70. It features the former drummer of the British rock band Cream, Ginger Baker. I’ve never heard of Fela Ransome-Kuti, nor do I know anything about Afro Beat music or the culture it rose from. Going in blind on that front! Cream, however, is one of the best bands of the 60’s hard rock era in my opinion. Their songs I’ve known all my life. One of my favorite Rock Gods is Eric Clapton. If I don’t make my personal observation of this album as short and sweet as possible, I won’t be doing either Fela Kuti, nor Ginger Baker their due respect. I’ll tell you this, I was a day late even writing this, because I fell in love with the music so much, that I fell into a research rabbit hole. I dug so deep into the super unlikely collaboration of these two, ummm, shall I say super gifted and influential but a little bit, no joke, bat shit craz... eccentric guys, that I’d have to write and research for years and probably go nuts, too. It’s that wild. That’s all I’ll say. This was a great listen and you must hear it before you die. The percussion alone will get your foot in the door on this album. Everything else is.. good. It’s so good. ✌️

be honest, do you really like fela kuti or are you just pretending to so that people think you are cool

I'm a jazz nerd and a drummer this album was unfair to the competition godlike

Dude this album fucks. what a cool sound. read up on the artist bio a little, Fela Kuti was a neat man. Wish he hadn't died so soon. Wiki says the genre is afrobeat, really digging it. The Black Man's Cry-man, what a song. the growl in that cry. damn. Ye Ye De Smell-The druuuumms. Whew. Egbe Mio-honestly super funky. i dig. That was real cool man. I knew nothing about afrobeat until today but i enjoyed it. for a live album it was pretty sweet.

Fela the type of fella to only release bangers

Not far off elevator music. I guess it’d be ok in the background.

Not my style of music, too much going on and tracks went on forever.

It’s funny because just yesterday I reviewed an album I said there’s no way in hell I’m listening to a long ass instrumental. Just one day later I have proven myself wrong because I just listened to a 15 minute drum solo and was completely enthralled with it. So maybe this music shit really is subjective!

The definition of what a live album should sound like. An absolute surprising burst of euphoria. This album is why I signed up for this project some 267 days ago. Sure, I've enjoyed revisiting the classic albums I was already familiar with. But the biggest reason lies in the potential discovery of gems I'd never even heard of previously. Like this one.

Best thing i have ever have heard. Transcendental

Horrible. I hated every second of this. It was a real battle to not skip through any of it.

I started this project on my own and got this as my 3rd album. Fela Kuta was completely new to me. My mind was blown, especially with Ye Ye De Smell, which for a while I listened to on the daily. When I created a group, I knew I'd be receiving albums I'd already rated, nbd. So now this is album 333 for me and this album and Pulp's Different Class are the two biggest wins for me with this project, making listening to way too much PJ Harvey, Bjork, and Fiona "fuck you" Apple (and yet only ONE Patti Smith album! WTF!) worth it.

Afrobeat to the max. According to Wikipedia, Fela Kuti married 27 women in one ceremony… absolute lad. Overall, this shit SLAPS. Although I thought I was watching Whiplash for the last song

I ♥️ Fela, to where I would gladly listen to him suffer extreme intestinal distress so long as Tony Allen was backing him up on it. However, I don't know his discography well and yet would be surprised if a non Boomer, non British (ie, has no reason to give a shit about Ginger Baker) critic would cite this as a top pick of Fela's recordings. It sounds good enough but feels like a loose jam session more than an intentional musical statement we need to pay close attention to. It is also true that within five minutes it became my all time favorite thing Ginger Baker ever did. Hilariously, I looked at the credits and Ginger hadn't even yet appeared on the album when I rendered that judgement! 😅

Nr. 13/1001 Let's Start 4/5 Black Man's Cry 4/5 Ye Ye De Smell 2/5 Egbe Mi O 2/5 Drum Solo 2/5 Average: 2,8 The first two songs are super groovy, funky and soulfoul

My initial thought was "An hour for 5 songs?" Then the first beat hit and I'm locked in. This is like big band and jazz had a baby that was touched by the hand of the funk gods. Even at 13+ minutes the song "Ye Ye De Smell" was dope as hell. I found myself getting mesmerized by the extensive drum solo--and I can get bored of drum solos very quickly. Now that being said, if you don't like jazz or instrumental, solo-heavy music this is going to be an awful experience for you.

I loved every moment of it. It was electric and irresistible! The grooves are hypnotic and the dynamic range of the band is wide! Ginger Bakers drum solo on Ye Ye De Smell is mind-melting and Black Man’s Chris deeply moving both in body and sport. Gorgeous and important music!

Love Fela. Tony Allen is a contender for greatest drummer across time and genre. This all follows the Fela formula - extended groove, improved electric piano and brass, lyrics ranging from jokes to sociopolitical stuff, but you gotta wait for them. Its a hell of a formula, and the layers his African James Brown backing provide more than justifies the repetition. Not sure how valuable ol Gingers contribution was - but kudos for coming to learn off Tony Allen, and for promoting these guys!

What a ferocious drum showcase this album is! Kuti brings in his funky jam session with Cream drummer Ginger Baker and he just rips through these 4 songs, including a near 15 solo towards the end. It's a really great listen between musicians that are willing to let each other shine. Ye Ye De Smell was my favorite.

Loved this album. Ye Ye De Smell reminds me of five peace band. Very jazzy and lively. The layering of the instruments is fantastic. The drum solo track is an all-timer as well.

Absolutely killer. Never listened to this before. I wish someone would've shown me this 30 years ago. I'll be investing some time in Fela's catalog.

The Production is amazing and clear for a live album and the audience participation part on the shout chorus sounds like a chamber choir in a recording studio. The sound is amazing. I am a fan of Fela Kuti and Ginger Baker so I always knew I would enjoy listening to it but had never taken the time until know. All of the songs are complete jams that could be endlessly enjoyable and what make well played afro-pop so enjoyable to listen to when the greats are involved and this album has it all in that regard. From front to back it is an amazing listen that feels like your own personal concert at times that I would agree is a must listen for anybody with a healthy appreciation for Afro-pop, Jazz, World, or music in general.

Прослушано! Очень круто, прекрасный джазовый альбом.

30 Oct/22: I know next to nothing about Afrobeats as a genre and wow, this album is quite the introduction! Absolutely loved it, this is live music at its best. Standouts after listening to the whole thing once: Black Man’s Cry and the Baker/Allen drum solo. Something that surprised me right from the start is how much the trumpets remind me of the Salsa and Latin sounds of my youth; but of course they’re similar! Cuban salsa especially has a ton of influence from African sounds, so that was a component I held onto while listening to the record and it really enhanced the experience.

I knew of Fela Kuti from how he influenced later projects by the Talking Heads, but being able to sit down and listen to his stuff from a clean lens is really enjoyable. I love the funk inspired sounds, but I never usually find people capitalize on them well. Fela definitely does.

Really enjoyed listening while I was working. Reminded me of ‘Whiplash’!

Given Ginger Baker was involved, this must have been widely available in 1971. I can't understand someone  hearing it and not searching for more musicians from Nigeria. I ended up finding  Miriam Makeba  before finding Fela. In both cases it was mixed feelings. So glad to have made the discovery but unhappy I hadn't found them a decade or two sooner. What a fabulous LP.

Pues muy bien, variado, rítmico, ecléctico, hipnótico. Sin skips y eso que son canciones re largas y monotonas en ratotes. Fav: el solo de percusiones del final. Mood: johny la gente está muy loca

that was fire, special mention to the drum solo

Let’s Start with this, Fela is the man. Second, Ye Ye De Smell.

If a 16 minute drumming track is not the most fitting way to end this project, then I don't know what is.

Well, if there is anything I have learned in this exercise, it is not to judge anything in the first 60 seconds and that “Jazz” is a much broader category than I realized. This was a groovy listen making me wish I was in a hammock on the beach in Costa Rica or the Jungles of Belize. Huge props to the horns but most importantly the Drums on this one. Very interesting background stories on these artists too. Starting out I didn’t think I would be tagging anything for my 1001 playlist, but Ye Ye de Smell made the cut. 3.5/5 rounding up for the drums.

Fela Kuti always brings such energy to his performances, it's interesting to hear a live recording from so early on in his international career.Even before some of his biggest albums, he was always Fela, one of the main players in defining the Afrobeat genre.

Good funk afrobeat, but ignore the additional long drum solo tracks from track 5 (original album is 4 tracks)

Previously rated: Zombie (3/5) ********************* The drumming is great on this. I just wish I liked the style of music more. Tracks 2 and 4 are just so repetitive with the same bass riff repeated over and over. Besides that, not bad. Best track: Ye Ye De Smell

"Ṣe o fẹran jazz?"

Anticipated a 5, giving it a 3. The Drum solo track is my fave. Im probably to stupid to like it more.

Drummy

Always cool to listen to music outside of my wheelhouse, and this fits that. I was focused on the bass and thinking how I'd tire of playing the identical riff over and over and over and over in this band, and that didn't aid in my enjoying the music. It also speaks to why this is not music I am drawn to. It's impressive, the band is really good, but the redundancy of the material wears on me. It's not my bag, baby.

Way better than the last Fela Kuti album (Zombie). I'm still kinda against live albums being included in this book, but this has a pretty undeniable energy. It came out of the gate pretty strong - upbeat, jazzy as all getup, pretty tasty etc. Got a bit long in the tooth by the end, cause they're all extended jams and unless you REALLY dig this sorta stuff it'll just get old, but it did grab me for the first half. The last 15min drum solo was a bit much, but it was also a bonus track so can't chip it for that. And it's weird that they really tried to push Ginger Baker's name here, especially given he was only on 2 songs and one is a bonus track... maybe the name-drop added value at the time? Overall a good surprise considering how much I groaned and rolled my eyes through the last Fela Kuti album here haha. 3/5.

Kind of all sounds the same, good restaurant music though

Instantly hooked by those fat horns. The horns on Black Man's Cry might be some of my favourite bits of instrumental ever. Despite all that epicness I did get a tad bored at times and the music wasn't doing enough to keep me interested all the time, but for the most part it was fab. But it is Fela Kuti who in my eyes is a musical genius and one of the most influential artists on today's musical landscape so it is no surprise that this is great.

Definitely a lot of funk. I don't think I need to listen to it again. I didn't hate it. Also why so many live albums? (No pun intended)

Very nice background music

A few minutes in to 'Let's Start' I noticed that the drum (or is it the bass?) follows the same rhythm along the lines of "du du du du, dun dunnn" and it just never changes, and it's the same for 'Black Man's Cry' which I just couldn't ignore the repetitiveness of after 18 min of the same even if there's some nice guitar bits or trumpets on top of it sometimes I just could not focus on anything else Standouts Ye Ye De Smell "Du du du du, dun dunnn"/5 (2/5)

Not at all my type of music.

Very different music, never heard this style. Jazz with incoherent shouting. Great rythm but I didn’t like the vocal noises

My joy of this was somewhat amplified by the stupidly hot heatwave in the UK currently. This made it feel like an opening sequence to a Far Cry game. The music here is interesting throughout, showing that sometimes (believe it or not), jazz can be pretty good. I’m pretty sure I’ve come across Ginger Baker before, but where this was escapes me presently. Fun album though!

Ken Chutney was originally going to appear on this. Despite being a far superior drummer to Ginger Baker, Fela Kuti was concerned no one would know him as a drummer! On the day he found out I remember Ken telling Ginger he was like the cat that got the cream! Ken was unbelievably witty. 4.6 4/5 Egbe Mi O (Carry Me)

Man this stuff is great, kinda highlife, kinda jazz, kinda James Brown, all awesome

Buenísimo y sorprendente. Puro jazz y ritmos afrocaribeños que prenden desde la primera percusión. Todos los tracks son una joya, pero el último del disco, un solo de percusiones de 20 minutos, es para volverse loco. Genial.

i LOVED how this was basically all instrumentals. it’s cool seeing jazz intersect with world music. there was a lot of passion in this album and it showed. 5/5.

Great stuff. Big energy throughout, lots of fun to listen to

Ugh! Drums! Beats! Rhythms! Unbelievable! Damn.. this album makes me feel like I can't see color in my own life. Like I've never even heard of a party. I'm just a tiny, slow, black and white snail. Sheesh. The context or rating something like this just makes me incredulous that even a fraction of the energy in that room could be bottled. It must have been transcendent. Did Ginger ever come back from that? Music is magic.

This music brings me joy.

This album was quite the discovery! I "knew of" Fela Kuti but never properly listened to an album. What a party! Super funky Afrobeat. James Brown with wits of jazz and loads of African charm. Only a 5 songs, all long (usually 10+ minutes) but they don't bore for a second. They almost brought a tear to my eye, I'm not sure why, but it's a good sign. Now I need to listen to MORE Fela Kuti (and check out his progeny too).

This album is great, moves and grooves, get on the train and go

Many of Fela's songs start slowly, with a funky rhythm that builds and builds, as horns, call and response vocals and organ make their respective appearances. This album starts off with a massive funk kick right from the beginning. As one of Fela's first albums, it's a great introduction. And by this point, all the elements that make Fela a unique explosion are there. A lot of people make a big deal of Ginger Baker's inclusion here. I don't hear it a lot. That's not to take away from his contribution, I just mean to say that this is a full big band experience, with everybody playing their parts. Plus, there is a lot of other percussion in here. Edit: At least I don't hear it until the bonus track, where Baker and Tony Allen go off. Solid collab. As a Fela fan, I'd say there are a lot of better albums out there. But I could see why this one is on the list. 4.5/5

Legendary drum solo between Tony Allen and Ginger Baker

This album is a party from start to finish, and a masterpiece to boot. I first heard about it on the Ginger Baker documentary where you find out he is absolutely batshit crazy, but also a virtuoso who pushed the boundaries and found Fela to work together AFTER he revolutionized rock and roll with Clapton. Still, the bass playing is the best part of the album.

Loved the funky groovy mood, the drums, and how danceable this album is.

Wow. Never would have picked this up on my own and so glad it’s on here. One of the best we’ve listened to

Ça commence assez raide, Fela qui introduit "Lets start" pis pouf! Fun fact :Baker travelled with Kuti into Africa in a Land Rover to learn about the continent's rhythms, as documented in Tony Palmer's film Ginger Baker in Africa (1971). Très centré sur le rhythme, il y a toujours au moins un element percussif qui reste et qui fait office de métronome. Côté forme, cest proche du jazz, des solos puis revient à des thèmes. Solos d'orgue par Fela, solos de drums/percs. Aussi, autre drummer sur l'album = Tony Allen, habitué de Fela Kuti, il y a un duel entre les deux drummers enregistré en 1978 comme Bonus track sur l'album

So much energy in his live performances, makes me wish I could have been there!

This was an spectacular album, a great hour of Afrobeat. Fela Kuti was a great talent, and he's in top form here, combining jazz and funk while also composing a record that feels original and authentic. All the performances are great, Baker's drumming is on point and Kuti's voice is super powerful. This album perfectly achieves what it aims to do, showing an excellent live version of Kuti and company, and the recording is so good it barely feels like a live album.

Wonderful. Another awesome and vibrant album from the combination of African and Western musical styles. Great for getting into the zone and bopping along, losing track of time. Must-listen #146

Ok, das holt mich total ab irgendwie 😄

What a fantastic album. If you don't like this, are you even alive?

I've been putting this one off for a while and I was missing out. This album is so excellent and groovy. I may not listen to an individual song from this again, but I would certainly through this on. I'm really impressed at how engaging this is and I don't understand any of the (sparse) lyrics on this thing. Light 5/5, totally needed to hear this

This was amazing I loved it

Fela Live! is absolutely explosive. Fela as a vocalist is so powerful and commanding. This is sort of my first proper exploration of afrobeat and the intensity and persistence of these grooves blew me away. Track after track, their phrases are simply as infectious as they are ferocious. The playing is incredibly tight and rhythmic as one would expect, but due to the way the drums specifically were recorded, it makes you feel like you're in the room with them. The drums are the star of the show in my eyes because of their meditative rhythmic properties. One does not have to know much about Nigerian music history to appreciate this album, for the energy is immediate and potent as soon as Let's Start kicks off. The instrumentation is just fantastic on every song, with bass and horn passages that mutate and grow or deform as the tracks go on, often time giving way to other instrumental passages and opening a track up to a different but equally intense groove. Fantastic album.

What an album! The energy and playfulness is off the charts, and the entire band is on point.

Hell yes! Second time getting a Fela Kuti album and second time I'm giving him 5 stars. Never heard of him before this but he's been nothing short of amazing so far. The drumming here in particual was great. 9/10

This man *explodes* into his music. I have serious band energy envy. Okay Fela is amazing but can anyone else hear how this clearly inspired "Chacarron" by El Chombo? Black Man's Cry is incredible. I am listening to this song while reading a news article about Trump relocating "persecuted" white South Africans to the US as "refugees" after denying refugee status to black and brown people. The persecution these White South Africans face is quite literally them having 20x the household wealth as the average Black South African family as well as 4x lower unemployment rate. Read that and re-listen to Kuti's cries. Ye Ye De Smell is a bop front to back. no notes. Egbe Mi O also stellar. Ginger v Allen is GOATED. Kuti is amongst the greatest musicians of all time. Finally - I like how the nice man talks to the audience between songs

This needs to be on some sort of short album list to throw on just whenever. It’s so easy to listen to!

Listening to this groovy album was the perfect way to start my week. This album has an infectious groove, you can't not move your body when listening to the first two tracks (or really, the whole album). Black Man's Cry was one of my favorites. Hearing the vocals combined with the perfectly timed instruments lights me up! The production on this album is so incredibly crisp. Each song flows beautifully, to the point where I didn't even notice how long some of the songs were. I could listen to this album nonstop, because it is one of those albums where you hear something new on each listen.

Let's Start What We Have Come Into The Room To Do 1001 Albums Generator 23 (05/05/2025) I was hoping I would get some Mexican music for Cinco De Mayo, but I guess Nigeria is the next closest thing. Mexico is an observer state in the African Union after all. Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician who pioneered and popularized the genre Afrobeat in the 1970's. Recorded near the beginning of his 70's peak in the famous Abbey Road Studios, Live! was the sixth album released by Fela Kuti and his band Africa '70. In spite of the name, this is not a live album in the traditional sense, having been recorded "live in studio" as opposed to "live in concert". However, it certainly has the energy of a live album, with banter between songs and song introductions by the ever-entertaining Fela. Additionally, Ginger Baker, the drummer for Cream, was featured on this recording after appearing on Kuti's previous album, Black Men Dey Suffer. Baker had spent time exploring Africa alongside Kuti to familiarize himself with the music and rhythms of the continent. Before this album, I had only heard one album from Fela Kuti: 1975's Expensive Shit. The way that Fela mixes western jazz and funk elements with African rhythms and instrumentation on long jams on that album really intrigued me, so I was excited to hear more from him here. What better place to start than the man himself, Fela Kuti? As a Yoruba man from Nigeria growing up in the mid 1900's, Fela experienced a lot of chaos throughout his life. When Nigeria became independent of British rule in the 1950's, tensions between the different ethnic groups in the country (including the Yoruba) were extremely high. Then in the 1960's, Nigeria saw the secession of the Biafra state and the ensuing starvation of over a million of its people by the Nigerian government. This Civil War ended in 1970, one year before Fela recorded this album. Interestingly, this chaos is translated into music not as anger, but as rebellious joy. What made Fela such a unique character in the history of music (among other things) was that while he allowed his circumstances to fuel his music through the lyrics, album covers, and messaging (oftentimes his songs would feature lyrics describing the plight of his people), he did not allow these circumstances to negatively impact the energy of his art. He instead opted to take the disarray around him and focus it into unbridled vitality. And that vitality is infectious. One needs only listen to the nearly screamed vocals of Black Man's Cry or the Hey Jude-esque la la la's at the end of Egbe Mi O to hear this. The man could command a room like no other. In addition to his duties as frontman, Fela found himself behind the organ quite a lot, with my favorite solo of his on this album being on the aforementioned Black Man's Cry. Another key element of Fela's music, and one of the definitional aspects of Afrobeat in general, is the call-and-response between the vocals and the instruments. On this album, this idea can be seen most on the B side, with Ye Ye De Smell featuring Fela's wordless vocals sparring with the Africa '70's horn section. Let's talk about this Africa '70. Africa '70 was Fela Kuti's trusty band, with whom Fela released a huge portion of his extensive output throughout his career. The most notable members are Igo Chiko on the tenor sax and the incredible drummer Tony Allen, of whom Fela Kuti once said "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat". Additionally on side 2, we get a second drummer, the equally talented Ginger Baker, who, after travelling throughout Africa alongside Fela, fits right in with the rest of Africa '70. The double drumming, along with the percussionists and conga players, make this an extremely rhythmic album. My body was moving the whole time. This really is a nearly perfect album. It is exquisitely played and the mixing is really cool, especially on headphones. Fela's songwriting, while simple in theory, is masterful in execution. While I would lean towards encouraging Expensive Shit as a better introduction to Fela, Live! may very well be just as great. 4.5, rounded up to 5. Favs: Black Man's Cry Ye Ye De Smell Egbe Mi O (Carry Me) Least Fav: Let's Start

Very fun and groovy album. I had a very fun time listening, I think I would have liked it a little more if the songs were trimmed and they added more songs though. Low 5.

This is one of the few non-US/non-UK albums here on this list, which are really one of the albums you should hear "before you die". It doesn't really matter if you like it or not. If you are interested in music and interested in which musicians have had a big influence and changed music styles through the time, this is one of the albums you need to listen to. It is such a shame that this list of 1001 albums does not have more of important albums like this one but so many mediocre (US/UK) pop albums, which will be forgotten in a few years!

Damn! What a strong opening, great vibes so far. It's Jazz, it's world music, it's danceable.

peak

live music is so sick

Unbelievable. This album was so funky and infectious. I am so glad that i heard it and can't wait to add it to my collection.

I was hesitant at first because I usually don’t like live albums, and this album is only 5 songs and over an hour long. I ended up loving it. Super funky!

An enjoyable listen start to finish. I didn’t listen to the 16 minute bonus track of the Ginger Baker/Tony Allen drum solo, seemed like a bit much. Maybe I’d enjoy it if I were high? Nope being high didn’t help with listening to the drum solo. That’s a big ask of someone to set aside 16 minutes for a drum solo. Yeah better off skipping, I still like the album and already gave it another listen. This is the type of album I was hoping to start out with. Artists I was familiar with but not familiar with the album. I know there will be some rough days ahead. #1

Ginger Baker!! Yea. Done. Gimme all of it.

Flowing, funky, hypnotic. Fela Kuti is the afro beat king. Having Ginger Baker on drums is 5 star icing on an already award winning, 5 star cake. Play this one loud. You'll feel like you're sitting in the room with them

Vyborny, Fela Kuti je moje, predtim jsme to neslysel rad si poslechl.

Immediate love! I had heard Fela Kuti before, but not really listened ( which, like??). Fantastic.

Ginger Baker may not smell, but that last track drum duo was stanky. I will definitely be returning to Fela Kuti and the Africa 70

SO COOL! I understand why I needed to hear this before I died.

Great to dance while grocery shopping, very upbeat melodies

I love that last song on there. Banger

Amazing! Fantastic album really love all the little ad libs from it being a live album, and the percussion is fantastic

great live album. Filled with captivating drums and solid grooves.