Customer Reviews

Jjd / Unnecessary Begging

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"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.

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.

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.

For all the African people who border on diasporic enlightenment listen up!!This CD jests the african returnee with his "Imported mannerisms".Fela from my perspective a serious "African".Besides the melody and the rhhythms is a message about being honest,fearless and daring to be originally different.This is a must have if you know or want to know the African perspective.Juslisen if you want!!!(do you see the trick)