Yellow Fever/Na Poi

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About as classic as you can get for 70s Fela – 2 albums that are overflowing with righteous politics, heavy rhythms, and super-extended grooves! The CD features the complete tracks from the albums Yellow Fever and Na Poi – both recorded in 1976, but compiled here with a bonus alternate take of "Na Poi" from 1975! The 15 minute tune "Yellow Fever" is a brutal attack on miscegenation, backed by a funky groove that makes the whole thing fall into place with an amazing riffing sound – and the cuts "Na Poi" is one of the sexiest tunes that Fela ever cut – as you might guess from the image on the cover! The track begins with a cool spoken bit, about what man and woman get up to behind close doors – then moves into this pulsating keyboard part which is almost eerily spare, until the rest of Afrika 70 come into the mix and really funk things up! Drums are wonderfully skittish – kind of double-snapping, while the bassline dips nicely below – and the tune ebbs and flows in this really great way, almost with the shifting sensual intensity of the lovemaking couple on the cover! That title track takes up a side and a half of the record – and the rest of the set features the stunning funk of "You No Go Die Unless" – a tight track that begins with James Brown like energy, then opens up with rawer elements in the middle – including some great chanted lead vocals.  © 1996-2024, Dusty Groove, Inc.