Zombie

This was cool. I now understand when people say the talking heads were inspired by Fela Kuti.

Sounds pretty funky

Of the four Fela records I've heard, this one is pretty easily my favorite. I can occasionally struggle with the Afrobeat repetition as well if I'm not in the mood for it, but both of these songs feature more than enough moving melodic parts to "offset" it. The passion in his voice is quite striking as well; I can see this one growing on me if my appreciation for the genre grows a bit.

4/5

Really fun sound. Really sad to hear what happened after this album was released.

It's albums like this one that I was hoping to find through this site

A very enjoyable album and an even more interesting wiki to go with it! A good find!

4 ⭐️

Very cool

Perhaps his best work. It’s politically charged, yet upbeat and incredibly groovy.

Seems pretty standard Fela stuff

It’s a 5. It’s a little weird to give a 2-track album a 5, but I think it’s definitely a 5.

Those were 2 really good fucking tracks; Zombie has one of the catchiest choruses I’ve ever heard out of this genre (or others like it), and while Mr. Follow Follow wasn’t as good, it was still pretty damn good. Obviously, the politically charged undertones and the aftermath of this album’s release play a big part in its mythology and its impact, but the songs by themselves are both excellent to me. Sometimes, it’s just as simple as going “the music is really good,” and I think the music is just REALLY good. I’m fine with a 5.

Zombie is a very interesting album in many ways. First there is the fact that this album technically has only two songs (the other two are from the CD reissue) making it really short for an album. The other way its interesting is in it's lyrical themes basically criticizing the Nigerian government (which resulted in a lot of bad things happening to Kuti). The album itself, while not amazing, is a fairly fun listen for what it is. Every song had quite a lot of energy to it and generally kept introducing new elements in pretty decent ways. My only real gripe with this album is the organ, while unique in idea, sometimes tends to come out of nowhere in some of the songs which can get rather distracting. Other than that though, this was a fairly good listen.
Best Song: Mr. Follow Follow
Worst Song: Zombie

Since this is obviously Fela Kuti’s most well-known and revered album, it makes sense that it was my gateway to his music. All I know is that you don’t necessarily have to be a zombie to be a soldier, but it seems to be the way it works out for most people. Whereas Shakespeare once wrote, “the tongues of mocking wenches are as keen as is the razor's edge invisible,” in this case, it’s the tongue (and saxophone) of a different kind of bard that cut and thus infuriated an entire army.

Not bad at all. Not for me, but I definitely get why people like this album

Insanely important politically, but also a brilliant recording. A heartbreaking testament to the power of music for underrepresented voices.

2 albums on this list from Fela Kuti and yet only one for Otis Redding...WTF

This is a trip, the story behind it and the aftermath of it is wild, critique of military juntas and politically motivated deaths aside, this album is a straight up party groove. It's a strange juxtapose to be reading the wikipedia entries on the album and, indeed, Fela Kuti's life while chair boogieing to the beats they laid down.

This was great. An artist I hadn’t heard before and I spent the rest of the day listening to. African beats, jazz hooks and funk. I really dug this.

Sjov nok plade, med en tragisk historie.

I appreciate this album’s inclusion, and am glad to have listened to it. I like the grooves and the sparse, call-and-response melodies. And yet, it’s quite long and repetitive, seeming more like attending a jam-band’s concert than listening to a well-conceived album. So, though the album is interesting, I don’t think I’ll be listening to it again.

I feel crass for wanting to talk about his influence on Talking Heads after learning that this was a big deal protest album that resulted in serious violence being done to him. Then I kept reading the wikipedia article, which itself felt the need to bring up:

"Kuti and his band then took residence in Crossroads Hotel as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978 Kuti married 27 women, many of whom were his dancers, composers, and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Later, he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping only twelve simultaneous wives."

Like I dunno wiki editors, I feel like maybe musical impact and influences are maybe more relevant to the article about the album itself, and some of this other stuff belongs in the **Personal Life** section on the musician page.

Not as good as I remember but it's fela