Jjd / Unnecessary Begging [Original recording reissued]

Fela Kuti | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 24, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B00004XT2M
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,627 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #96 in Music > World Music > Africa > Nigeria

Track Listings

1. J.J.D. (Johnny Just Drop)

2. Unnecessary Begging

3. No Buredi (No Bread)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Classic Fela Reissued, July 15, 2003

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jjd / Unnecessary Begging (Audio CD)

"JJD/Unnecessary Begging" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series on MCA. As original LPs, "JJD (Johnny Just Drop)," recorded live at Fela's home/club/compound, Kalakuta Republic, was released in 1977, while "Unnecessary Begging" and its b-side "No Buredi (No Bread)" were issued a year earlier in 1976. These albums were part of what was arguably Fela's greatest period as he released more than a dozen albums between 1975-77! While "Zombie" and "Opposite People" are clearly the essential recordings from this period, this disc, and all of the Fela reissues, are really indispensable.

4.0 out of 5 stars Recordings from Fela's most productive era, one giving insights into home musical life, November 12, 2010

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jjd / Unnecessary Begging (Audio CD)

Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician, amateur afrocentric philosopher, and social and political gadfly. His songs are fascinating combinations of an American funk aesthetic and traditional Nigerian percussion, and develop at a leisurely pace but in a way that keeps you hooked. From 1975-1978, he released a flood of records, and in retrospective the songs from this period are among his most confident work. We should be thankful to Wrasse for reissuing these albums, even if they can be difficult for American customers to obtain.

"J.J.D. (Johnny Just Drop)" is a scathing indictment of colonialism, a product of Fela's view that Africa was better off on its own. The music is fine mature Fela. What makes it very special, however, is its recording ambience. Fela and his band played this tune at a party at the Lagos compound where he lived, the "Kalakuta Republic", and one can hear the crowd cheering him on as he gets started. Now over thirty years after the Nigerian army destroyed the place, and a decade after Fela's death, this whole scene is gone to us, but listening to "J.J.D." gives one the slightest impression of what it must have been like. This is one of the Fela songs I return to most often. While "J.J.D." is energetic, the second track "Unnecessary Begging" offers a more cool counterpart, avoiding high peaks and falls and maintaining more or less the same groove throughout. It's entertaining enough, but I feel that the singing here isn't up to the usual standards of Fela records.

If you've never heard Fela's music before, the songs "Zombie" and "Unknown Soldier" are probably the best place to start. But all of Fela's discography is worth eventually collecting.

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Afrobeat music--not otherwise available, June 4, 2010

By 

doctormanny (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jjd / Unnecessary Begging (Audio CD)

The J.J.D. (Johnny Just Drop)/Unnecessary Begging CD, which also includes the song No Buredi (No Bread), which was the B side for the original Unnecessary Begging recording, offers classic Afrobeat music from one of the best and most prolific periods of Fela's career. J.J.D. was recorded live at Fela's Kalakuta Republic compound in Nigeria in 1977 and Unnecessary Begging/No Buredi was recorded in 1976. All three of the songs offer great, extended Afrobeat jams and the CD also provides some nice pictures, cover art work, and liner notes. An added bonus for this CD is that none of the three songs on it appear on any of the three most popular Fela compilation discs (i.e., Anthologies 1 and 2 and the alternately titled Best of the Black President/Best Best of Fela Kuti CD), each of which consists of two CDs. That's one reason to consider this particular "twofer" reissue as one of the best of the noncompilation CD's in the Fela catalogue to get. For the uninitiated, I would recommend starting with the alternately titled Best of the Black President/Best Best of Fela Kuti CD. Be forewarned, however, Fela's Afrobeat music is very addictive, and once you get a taste for it, it is highly likely that you are going to want to get a lot more.