Skip to main content

Fela :: Original Sufferhead

By
Fela Original Sufferhead Album Cover

Dem come turn-us to suffer head to


Every once in awhile you come across an artist you wish you had found years ago. Fela Anikulapo Kuti is one of those artists. If only I had been more receptive to Nigerian jazz funk back in the early 70s . . . when I was embryonic. Oh, well. Lesson learned.


Lucky for me, Fela was one prolific mutha. So there is plenty of choice. From his first recorded album in 1970, he continued making music right up until his death in 1992 to rack up a total of 40 unique albums--that is, not including EP singles or best-of collections. I'm sure awareness of his early work is necessary to fully understand his style, but I've only listened to Original Sufferhead, produced in 1981. So keep this in mind while you read the following prescription. My exposure to Fela is limited to four tracks.


Here are a few scenarios which would benefit from a dose of Fela:



  1. You have invited a group of friends or colleagues to your home. On your table you have an eclectic spread including baguette, olives, oysters, salami, and chocolate mallow puffs. Everyone relaxes on the deck (or in your lounge if it is raining or your deck is non-existent) and drinks locally brewed beer. Your stereo is an old portable CD player. There's no graphic equalizer or bass control, but you can turn it up really, really loud. Which you do. Everyone is pleased with your choice (Fela). You earn 100 points.

  2. You are browsing the second-hand vinyls in your local record shop (or if you don't have a local record shop, you invite yourself over to your friend's house and ask if you can pretend his local record shop is your local record shop. It turns out he doesn't mind). The shop's ageing wood floors creak as you shift your weight from foot to foot. Your back is a little sore from sleeping on the couch, and you should really get some rest, but it's just started raining outside. You decide to stay and enjoy the music. Besides, you're only at "G." You earn 50 points.

  3. You've had too much coffee. 15 points

  4. It's three AM. Seeing as you can't sleep, you go for a drive (good thing you leased that Prius) through town. It's just stopped raining, so you roll down your windows. You always loved the smell of the city after a good downpour. You watch people meander home from the clubs and recognize one of them as the girl from the record shop. You call out, and she recognizes you. You ask if she needs a ride. She asks if she can just crash at your place. You say sure. She gets in and says nice tunes. 1 up!


Artist :: Fela

Album :: Original Sufferhead


Comments

s. said…
My absolute favourite Fela disc is Zombie (allmusic.com), but I would strongly recommend you furnish yourself with a copy of one of the many great compilations of his stuff that abound, such as King Of Afrobeat at your earliest convenience.
17 December, 2007
s. said…
... and I will furnish myself with a book on grammar and sentence construction.
17 December, 2007
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Celebrate Halloween with Peter Squires's New Video, "Witch"

By
I don't usually do festive or holiday posts. In fact, the closest I get is writing some kind of seasonal bent against a track, and only then when I've had too much coffee and can't find any relation to a song other than what the weather is doing. I just think holiday-themed posts / articles are lazy. But Halloween is different. Why? Because Halloween, to paraphrase Wesley Willis, whips a horse's ass. So when Ryan from The Musebox put me on to Peter Squires a few days ago, I knew it was going into the annals of Duck & Cover (that's right, I said "annals" on the Internets). From the Press Release: Peter’s direct and honest vocal delivery is reminiscent of contemporaries such as Kimya Dawson and Luke Temple. The album is all heart, laid bare for our aural pleasure. Woe Is Me was recorded in Peter Squires’ Brooklyn bedroom and is available on his website for fans to download at no charge. The first video from the album is “Witch” and it was just rele...
2 comments
Read more

The Pogues + The Dubliners = St. Patrick's Rovers

By
In celebration of St. Patrick's day, and because I spent a good deal of time living on Ireland's west coast (if you can call Limerick a coast), here's an old video of The Pogues and The Dubliners singing "Irish Rover." I love the fact that Shane MacGowan is puffing away at a rollie on stage--and I'm pretty sure it's not water in that styrofoam cup. This video reminds me of a musician I palled around with during my stint in stab city. A mesmerizing performer, Damo would often celebrate the fact he scored a gig before the gig itself. When it was time for him to go on, he would be completely trollied; too drunk for his own performance (which, if you knew Damo, you would concede is no small feat). Damn, I miss those guys.
Post a Comment
Read more

Lucero Video for "Darken My Door"

By
Darken My Door from Lucero on Vimeo . It's good to see that a serious band doesn't have to take itself seriously. Even better when a band's fans don't take them too seriously. "Darken My Door" off of Lucero's latest album, 1372 Overton Park , is a song about losing stuff--girlfriend, money, dignity. In fact, a lot of Lucero's songs are like that, but I'm not getting into that now. I'm talking about the video, which has so much to love. Obviously, I love the fact director Alex Mecum has used a puppet as the protagonist. But it's what the puppet does that makes this video so much fun. Puppet eating chili dogs, puppet drinking whiskey, puppet giving blow jobs . . . Hell, there's even puppet vomit! It's ridiculous, yes, but also tragic. By the end of the video, if you don't feel a little sorry for the scruffy faced whore puppet, then you have no soul. Here's a little more about the videos for Lucero's new album: To promot...
Post a Comment
Read more