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It's a little like listening to Fela Radio. Bits of interview are interspersed with a knowledgeable selection of tracks from the Afrobeat king himself, 'he who carries death in his pouch', Fela Anikulapo (Ransome) Kuti.

This is not the first remix project attempted on the works of the late Fela. Red Hot + Riot was a wonderful mix of new sounds and Fela grooves as interpreted by a wide spectrum of musicians ranging from Baaba Maal to Macy Gray. Quannum/Solesides artists were represented on that release too.

Chief Xcel has stuck pretty close to the original pieces on this compilation, mainly concentrating on topping and tailing the chosen works and adding spoken commentary from Fela himself. Perhaps it is a lazy approach but who wants these wonderful tracks to get spliced and diced with hip hop beats just for the sake of it?

"He has always been a musical inspiration to me. When the people from Red Hot + Riot came to me, they originally wanted me to remix Fela's entire catalogue but I was intimidated at the prospects so rather than do it all at one time, I decided to chop it off little by little. Hopefully this will be the first in a long list of remixes I do of Fela's music." Chief Xcel

Another advantage of this approach is that this is one of the only ways to get a broad view of Fela's music on one CD. With most of the great man's tunes being in the range of 10-15 minutes long, most compilations are either box sets or, naturally, have only a few songs. The tracks on this release feature some of Fela's best work and they are not necessarily the ones most compilations would focus on. Most of them come in at around 5 minutes except for the wonderful 17 minutes devoted to Africa Centre of the World.

I would recommend this CD to anyone who wants to get a taste for what Fela is all about but can't afford to buy a box set. If you already love Fela, you will be buying this CD anyway. It is like having a wonderful conversation with a fellow Fela obsessive.

Tracks:
Ololufe Mi
Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake AM
Look and Laugh
Mr Grammarticalogylisationalism is the boss
Monkey Banana
Ariya
Unnecessary Begging
Swegbe and Pako
Mr Follow Follow
Africa Centre of the World

Barclay, A Universal Music Company
UK: Wrasse Records 133
US: Quannum Projects