Live!

Being used to two-track under-30-minute Fela albums, I am pleasantly surprised to see this one clock in at 45 minutes and contain four tracks. There's some Fela talking to the audience a bit, but most of this live album is jamming and soloing, and it's all good. Groovy from beginning to end, sweeping the listener up into the festivities.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Nice funky vibe, had me tapping along whilst I was driving

Probably won’t be back though

Songs are quite long

3

Som med en del andre artister her så har Fela Kuti vært et navn å sjekke ut og det burde jeg også her gjort lenge før. Helt rått!

1) Ye Ye De Smell
2) Black Man's Cry
3) Let's Cry

Least Favourite: None Of 'Em

Jamais écouté avant.

Top : Ye Ye De Smell
Flop : Egbe Mi O (Carry Me)

This was pretty fun.

Another bloody live album!! I dont need introductions to every song.

I really dont enjoy the organ sound of ‘Let’s Start’ and it’s just too repetitive. As the song progresses it just makes me slightly anxious. I didn’t mind the vocal parts though.

‘Black Man’s Cry’ run time 11 minutes 38…….ffs. The more percussive bits are fine (the less keys the better on this I’m learning). However very few songs will ever need to be this long and this is not one of them. Half way in the keys take the fore and all hope is lost. It feels like a battle of attrition, rather than something to be enjoyed.

‘Ye Ye De Small’ brings Ginger Baker snd the promise therefore of more drums (after a minute chat about smelly people and the fact GB takes his bath). It delivers plenty of drums, but if i’m honest there’s not a huge shift from what has come before so another overlong meander that gets more annoying as the song goes on. I didn’t mind enjoy Ginger’s drumming though.

The spoken intro to ‘Egbe Mi O’ says it means “Carry me, i want to die’ which unfortunately is pretty much how I feel at this stage and Ginger Baker agress😆)

The drum duet bonus track is more enjoyable than the rest, but even as someone who generally enjoys a good drum break this is just too long

Were each of these tracks a nice trim 4 minutes, this could have got a really good score from me as I really enjoyed the funky rhythms. But everything just drags due to the live average of 12 minute extended jaminess of it all. Fela had a very engaging voice too, but no one needs a 15 minute drum battle on a live album.

Nice to know Ginger Baker didn't really smell though.

Really a 2.5, but getting a

3/5

Fantastic stuff wow

How long is that drum solo for fuck sake?
Apart from that it was groovy and in the end not so boring.

Wanted it to end about 2 minutes into the 16 minute drum solo song.

The drumming is good. Not a fan of the singing.

Not really familiar with Fela Kuti, but I know a fair bit of Ginger Baker, mostly from his time with Cream. Damn, there is plenty of good stuff going on here, they can even get away with the last song being an extended drum solo/battle between Ginger Baker and Tony Allen. Might have to dig a little deeper on this one!!

Pretty interesting overall