Fela Kuti: Sorrow, Tears and Blood [KNITTING FACTORY]

Why you'll love it

This Knitting Factory reissue comes with a download card. The title track has been sampled by X-Clan and Missy Elliott, and Bilal and Common remade it for Bilal's album Love for Sale.

This edition

• Download card included

About the album

Fela Kuti wrote the title track in the wake of the February 1977 raid on his Kalakuta Republic compound in Lagos, when around 1,000 soldiers stormed the home he shared with his family and band. Rather than shout about it, he made one of his most measured, slow-burning records, and the restraint makes the message land harder.

"Sorrow, Tears & Blood" rides a midtempo groove for ten minutes, Fela's relaxed saxophone weaving between call-and-response vocals, while Tony Allen's drumming keeps everything rolling with that loose, propulsive swing he invented for Afrobeat and that drummers around the world still study. On side two, "Colonial Mentality" stretches past 13 minutes, a sly, horn-driven takedown of people who look abroad for every answer. Tunde Williams and Nwokoma Ukem on trumpet, Lekan Animashaun on baritone sax and a three-guitar front line give Africa 70 its unmistakable lift.

It first came out on Fela's own Kalakuta label and has fed hip hop producers ever since. Two songs, 24 minutes and not a second wasted, which is roughly how long it takes us to stop dancing behind the counter.

Also at Kops: more Fela Kuti on vinyl · browse World

Tracklist

Listen

On Knitting Factory / Kalakuta (cat# KFR2030-1), a reissue of the 1977 album.