Hugh Masekela falls into that camp, but I love him so much I own most of his 60s & 70s albums up to 'Colonial Man' (and I have the 1980 live in Lesotho album, too).
Regarding Fela, I own twelve of his records, and these are the ones I stand by as great, essential albums of his:
Open & Close
Fela with Ginger Baker Live!
Afrodisiac
Gentleman
Alagbon Close
Confusion
Expensive Shit
Zombie
Yellow Fever
No Agreement
Sorrow, Tears & Blood
Coffin For Head of State (w/Egypt ‘80)
Where to begin even with these twelve titles, which can be overwhelming? Wow... that is a hard one, but you can't go wrong with any of the above titles. I will add, however, that his 'Live LP w/Ginger Baker' is worth it for the incendiary "Black Man's Cry" alone. But I do prefer other albums of his.
On a side note, I wrote this about Fela last year:
My intro to Fela (as "Ransome") was back in '72 and have loved him ever since - seeing that band three times was a wild, butt-shaking experience every time. Often, people recommend "Zombie" as a starting point for folks just discovering. They even featured it in a clever way in an episode of "Bob ❤️ Abishola" - playing excerpts at least three times during the show.
I'm very jealous that you saw them not just once but three times!
Many would say Jimi, but if I could take a time machine back to see just one artist, it would be Fela between 1972-1978 and preferably in Lagos. That is when he really got rolling and his unique musical voice was found. I love all the albums I listed and each one for different reasons. Whenever people ask "What is your favorite Fela?" it honestly depends on which one is on my turntable, the one I last heard, or am about to play.
There's all kinds of box sets out there - both vinyl and disc - on Fela. The packaging and sound is quite good on the 29+DVD disc set and it's available at a pretty good deal at around $100- $150 at times. I like my Editions Makossa LPs, but I could live with and listen to this nice and tidy box set anytime.
One artist/band to be added: Franco et le TP OK Jazz. There are many, many albums, stretching from the 1950s to the late 1980s, with TP OK Jazz continuing after Franco's death in 1989.
Hugh Masekela falls into that camp, but I love him so much I own most of his 60s & 70s albums up to 'Colonial Man' (and I have the 1980 live in Lesotho album, too).
Regarding Fela, I own twelve of his records, and these are the ones I stand by as great, essential albums of his:
Open & Close
Fela with Ginger Baker Live!
Afrodisiac
Gentleman
Alagbon Close
Confusion
Expensive Shit
Zombie
Yellow Fever
No Agreement
Sorrow, Tears & Blood
Coffin For Head of State (w/Egypt ‘80)
Where to begin even with these twelve titles, which can be overwhelming? Wow... that is a hard one, but you can't go wrong with any of the above titles. I will add, however, that his 'Live LP w/Ginger Baker' is worth it for the incendiary "Black Man's Cry" alone. But I do prefer other albums of his.
On a side note, I wrote this about Fela last year:
https://michaelfell.substack.com/p/sorrow-tears-and-blood
My intro to Fela (as "Ransome") was back in '72 and have loved him ever since - seeing that band three times was a wild, butt-shaking experience every time. Often, people recommend "Zombie" as a starting point for folks just discovering. They even featured it in a clever way in an episode of "Bob ❤️ Abishola" - playing excerpts at least three times during the show.
I'm very jealous that you saw them not just once but three times!
Many would say Jimi, but if I could take a time machine back to see just one artist, it would be Fela between 1972-1978 and preferably in Lagos. That is when he really got rolling and his unique musical voice was found. I love all the albums I listed and each one for different reasons. Whenever people ask "What is your favorite Fela?" it honestly depends on which one is on my turntable, the one I last heard, or am about to play.
There's all kinds of box sets out there - both vinyl and disc - on Fela. The packaging and sound is quite good on the 29+DVD disc set and it's available at a pretty good deal at around $100- $150 at times. I like my Editions Makossa LPs, but I could live with and listen to this nice and tidy box set anytime.
One artist/band to be added: Franco et le TP OK Jazz. There are many, many albums, stretching from the 1950s to the late 1980s, with TP OK Jazz continuing after Franco's death in 1989.
That's what I came here to mention. There are literally hundreds of albums from Tout Puissant Orchestre Kinois de Jazz.
Great news for anyone who likes their music. :)