"FELA!"

A good deal of these records I find out about by year end lists and amazon's best album lists is one of them, Which has the top 100 customer and critic cds of said year (seperate lists) and has the ten best    records released that year in each genre. This one was found in the Best Broadway/Vocalist category based on  FELA! Broadway's tribute to a great musician and political messenger. "Everything Scatter" is a great funky horn-laden track that has a child's choir singing yeah yeah yeah as he says his peace. I can be redundant and say the same thing for every song, but I'm not going to. He can play trumpets and horns really well, and showcases his talent in the next song with the 15 minute beast "Yellow Fever," and adds some nice piano at the last two minutes. "Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am" has the Kuti singing "My friend has just come from prison/Him dey look for work,/Waka* waka day and night, *(walk)/Police man come stop am for road,/He say, “Mister, I charge you for wandering”/Waking him dey find/PALAVER, HE DEY FIND."  Well, let's just say that long songs are easily his forte because this next one is over 26:00, and goes by name of "The Teacher Don't Teach Me No Nonsense" is about how the music can be a teacher and how it works both ways: "For this world go start, /When the teacher, schoolboy and schoolgirl jam together /Who be teacher? /I go let you know," but also sing that in different situations and environments the teacher changes, such as when westart to work Government is teacher, but who teaches the government? Culture and tradition which is repeated after every line in the next verse. Oh, "Lover," if you can be serenaded with my music, as I'm feeling horn-y; a nice instrumental piece with a great brass section. You're offended aren't you, and now you're going to have your friend hold me "Upside Down?" To do that for 14 minutes is not good for the victim. Could we just do it for half of the song? Now you're swaying with the music, and I'm starting to get sick.  What the heck happened? what am I listening to now? I must've blacked out, and I think I missed the last track, good thing too because I would have to pay a lot out. Wow, last track is "Expensive SH*T" How much would it have cost me? I heard I missed a great song, and I had some of my listening time stolen by the "International Thief Thief". He plays Horns too? Sax, you mean? No thank you, I'm not interested., but I do love the sound of the instrument. "Water No Get Enemy" basically states that water has no enemy for everything needs it and if they are without it, they will die.Who wants to die? Well, not everybody,and unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of making that choice,  as this song was written for those without that choice, and with little water to begin with. Are You a "Zombie?" Yeah, why don't we just leave this review at that. But then we would not get to hear "Sorrow Tears and Blood" or The jazzy "Shakara," both great additions. The former of which addresses how their system of justice does not follow its purpose"Police dey come, army dey come/Confusion everywhere/Hey yeah!/Seven minutes later/All don cool down, brother/Police don go away/Army don disappear/Them leave Sorrow, Tears, and Blood." "Coffin For The Head of State" says more than it leads one to believe and the instrumentals are spot on. What a "Gentleman" Mr. Kuti was to write a song such as this, and how it was placed at the end with its wonderful sax and "You dey go your way, the jeje way/Somebody come bring original trouble/You no talk, you no act/You say you be gentleman/You go suffer/You go tire/You go quench/Me I no be gentleman like that." IFIHadToChoose Only7SongsTheyWouldBe: Everything Scatter, Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am,The Teacher Don't Teach Me No Nonsense, Lover, Zombie, Sorrow Tears and Blood, and Shakara.