Fela Kuti - Complete Works Of Fela Anikulapo-kuti - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Three CD collection. Fela Kuti was like many musicians. It took years for him to define the sound and approach which defined the man. In the decade before he formed Africa 70 and created the unique hybrid of influences which became Afrobeat, Fela led a popular dance band in Lagos. The story began in London where Fela attended London's Trinity College and played trumpet with various aggregations. Upon his return to Lagos in 1963, he had dreams of becoming a successful modern jazz musician in the tradition of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and others. Over the course of the rest of the '60s, he recorded many singles for local labels, Parlaphone, Phillips and an album for EMI. They evolve from the West African slant on jazz called Highlife to soul to hints of what would become Afrobeat. It's a startling evolution of a man intent on ultimately finding his own voice and style. The music is spread over three discs with Disc One focusing on his singles, Disc Two on the album and Disc Three on Live and other recordings.

Knitting Factory Records reissues Fela Kuti's Underground System on vinyl LP, previously only available as part of the Box Set series. The last album of newly recorded material to be released during Fela's lifetime, 1992's Underground System is an outstanding swansong. While Fela's recorded output slowed up as the '80s progressed - largely as a result of ongoing arrests, beatings and jailings - his final years of recording produced some of his strongest work, notably Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense (1986), Beasts Of No Nation (1989), Overtake Don Overtake Overtake (1990) and Underground System. The audio has been restored and remastered from Fela's original Nigerian recordings. The artwork has been meticulously recreated from original album artwork.

Vinyl LP pressing includes . Everything Scatter, originally released in 1975, is one of several masterpieces from early in Fela's mid-1970s purple period. In three extraordinarily productive years, Fela released 20 some albums of new material. The purple period continued up to and immediately beyond the Nigerian army attack of February 1977 which destroyed Fela's self-governing commune, Kalakuta Republic. By the time Everything Scatter was recorded, Fela had put all Afrobeat's key elements in place the signature rhythms he had developed with drummer Tony Allen; edgy, jousting tenor and rhythm guitars; call and response vocals; fat horn arrangements and extended, jazz-based horn and keyboard solos; politically confrontational lyrics; and, crucially, the Broken English Fela adopted to take his message beyond Yoruba speakers.