Reissues
Quand Le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter La Girafe A La Mer
Originating from the 1960s’ French jazz scene, Jacques Thollot left a string of unclassifiable recordings ranging from free neo-expressionist explorations for keyboard and percussion to ornate, carefully arranged baroque jazz. But Thollot’s imaginati…
L\'oiseau / L\'arbre / Le Béton
his first solo album, included in the NWW list. Influenced by musicians as diverse as Django Reinhardt and Cecil Taylor, French guitarist Raymond Boni has developed a unique and dazzling style derived from gypsy technique. After studying the piano an…
Sarcelle Locheres
A mindblowing masterpiece, of course included in the NWW list: Red Noise's one and only album was originally released near the end of 1970 on the legendary Futura label. Red Noise was a radical, inventive avant rock band with some improvised jazz ele…
I Don't Wanna
LP version. After nearly a year on the assembly line, we're tickled to unveil the 5th in Locust Music's ongoing archival releases of Henry's work. He's made his mark with his brand of ecstatic North Indian Raga inspired minimalism on C Tune (Locust3)…
Man From The East
Originally released in 1973 for Island Records, “The Man from the East” was the soundtrack to a fascinating theatre-piece Yamashta presented in Paris and London in 1972. Several of these songs (‘Poker Dice’, ‘One Way’, ‘Memory of Hiroshima’) appeared…
Freedom Is Frightening
Originally issued by Island in 1973. Stomu Yamash'ta is a master percussionist who studied jazz drumming at Berklee School of Jazz. In the 1970s, he recorded a string of innovative albums for Island records fusing his percussion talents with jazz, el…
D.o.A. The Third And Final Report
1991 CD reissue of the 2nd TG album, originally issued in 1978; digitally remastered by Chris Carter. Adds 2 bonus tracks from the legendary Sordide Sentimental 7" ("We Hate You (Little Girls)" & "Five Knuckle Shuffle". Breaking from the live sound o…
Underground System
At 28 minutes in length, the title track boogies from fat funk break to fat funk break as though James Brown possessed the structural ambition of Duke Ellington. Recorded when Fela's 34-piece band was at its apex, this indispensable Fela disc has it …
Teacher, Don't Teach Me Nonsense
In Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense, Fela explains the role of the teacher in any society with the concept that all the things we consider to be problems and all that we consider to be good in life begin with what we are taught, whether it's by our mo…
Stalemate / Fear Not For Man
Originally released in 1977, this is a studio recording so it has a more polished sound than on the recent Best Best. BTW, none of these tracks are on Best Best... Stalemate and Fear not for Man are the stand outs, but the rest of album is good too. …
Shuffering And Shmiling / No Agreement
Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti specialized in the percolating jam, peppered with idiosyncratic horn stabs and political chants, underpinned with sinuous, interweaving guitar and bass lines, and propelled by Tony Allen's Afrobeat percussion, bl…
Shakara / London Scene
These percolating, horn-heavy grooves simmer while Fela lays down his trademark rants, often in deliberately skewered pidgin English....totally unstoppable in its mix of music and message. His voice, interlocking guitars and percussionist Tony Allen …
Roforofo Fight/Fela Singles
This is essentially a CD reissue of Fela Kuti's 1972 album Roforofo Fight, with the addition of two previously unreleased tracks from the same era. It's true that Kuti's early-'70s records tend to blur together with their similar groupings of four le…
Original Suffer Head/I.T.T.
Nearly every one of MCA's twofer reissues of the best albums in Fela Kuti's discography is worthwhile, and this pairing of 1980's I.T.T. and 1982's ORIGINAL SUFFER HEAD is no exception. By the early '80s Fela had already honed his intensely polyrhyth…
Opposite People / Sorrow Tears And Blood
His mixture of raw energy and sophistication is as remarkable today as it was when he first put it all on wax.
Brain Damage in Oklahoma City
Previously unreleased material recorded between 1967 and 1970. "Comprised of eight tracks, the acme of this collection is the two large ensemble pieces, "Dreamweapon Benefit for the Oklahoma City Police Dept. parts 1 & 2," featuring Angus Maclise (ba…
Monkey Banana / Excuse 0
"Monkey Banana/Excuse O" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series. (By the way, the cover art posted on this page is that of "Upside Down" not "Monkey Banana.") It should be noted that unlike some of the other titles in this ser…
Live!
It's hard to go wrong with Fela Kuti's work from the 1970s, and LIVE!, which features the Afrobeat innovator backed by his powerhouse band Africa '70 and ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker, is no exception. Like all of Fela's recordings from the era, LIVE…