Review Summary: Starting revolutions to make music to start revolutions to.
In 1974, political and musical maverick Fela Kuti, having just invented and perfected a new genre of music that he called Afrobeat, was embarking on one of the most extraordinary creative journeys any artist has ever taken. Over the course of the decade he released over 35 albums, many of them classic and none of them far below brilliant. Although the world rightly reveres seminal LPs such as Zombie, Gentleman and Shakara, Alagbon Close was Fela's first and angriest political statement of a career defined by its anti-government diatribes.
Alagbon Close is the name of the street that houses the police headquarters of Lagos, Nigeria. The album was released as a reaction to Fela and his band being locked up without trial for months after the first of many raids on his Kalakuta Republic living and working space. It is one of the first examples of his direct criticism of the Nigerian government, something that would come to define his music, and indeed his life, in later years.
Musically, the two tracks on this album (each over ten minutes in length) are typical of his '70s output. In the title track, staccato percussion lines interact with Tony Allen's masterful drumming to create a solid, funky base - this is the defining sound of Afrobeat. Lead and tenor guitar lines rhythmically intertwine between the speakers. For a full five minutes before Kuti's vocals enter, brass stabs and organ riffs punctuate long, entrancing solos from sax player Lekan Animashaun and trumpeter Tunde Williams.
Afrobeat really is easy to love. It takes the driving, downbeat-heavy funk of James Brown and the rhythmic sophistication of traditional Yoruba music and twists them both into an unstoppable force. It is quite honestly impossible not to dance to. Tony Allen's drumming gives the music such bounce and drive and the Africa '70 band are so tight that members of James Browns band literally took notes when they saw them play.
Fela, though, is the main attraction. It's maybe why it has taken Afrobeat years to recover from his death. His personality pushes the music along at a rattling place, whether it be through his recklessly dynamic organ parts or his fearless lyrics. He attacks the police for arresting him, saying that he is "a civil servant" (referring to his own attempts to call out the government's corruption through his music). He concludes, in a fantastically exciting double tracked vocal: "Never mind, I do my part, I'm a human being like you... Without me your city go smell like ***."
As always, the interplay between Fela, the brass section, and the backing singers is impeccable, tight and innovative. It's a masterclass in political music; always upbeat, always musical, yet never any less direct in its lyrics - uncompromising in every department. He is devastating in his critique of the army and police department and their attitude towards Nigeria's citizens: "Uniform na cloth, na tailor de sew em like your dress. Nothing special about uniform."
B-side I No Get Eye For Back presents a much more positive side to Fela's composing, with an easy, laid-back pace. One of Tony Allen's most inventive polyrhythmic patterns holds the song together and the interplay between the different sections of the band is masterful. Even with a twenty-plus piece band, and with every instrument audible and upfront, it never feels cluttered. At times the trumpets will lock in with the bass player, at other times they will be playing a twisting call-and-response. The rhythm guitar part in the left speaker is particularly beautiful, and the player's delivery helps give the song its effortless groove and relaxed feel.
In the last ten years many Afrobeat bands have started to achieve some success, and the gradual re-release of Fela's discography by Knitting Factory Records is dragging the genre invented forty years ago back into the limelight. Fela's sons, particularly Seun, are releasing fantastic, angry and powerful Afrobeat albums, and former members of the Africa '70 like Dele Sosimi and Tony Allen continue to bring the music to life on stages around the world.
Fela Kuti was a composer that deserves to be mentioned alongside greats such as Wagner, Steve Reich or the Beatles - this is not an exaggeration; Fela was the leading musical genius of a continent that is often overlooked. It also feels appropriate to mention him alongside figures from the world of classical music such as Wagner. Fela called his music African Classical, and his intensely detailed arrangements justify the title.
Perhaps, though, his greatest quality was the fire and anger that he kept throughout his career, undimmed even after spending most of the '80s locked up in jail on false charges. Alagbon Close catches Fela's fire at its brightest and most enthralling.
