The tunes on "Afrodisiac" are the older ones on here, they date back to just before 1971 when both of these albums were apparently recorded. The two on Side 1 are probably (I won't pretend I'm any type of authority on Fela - I'm just a beginner at this point) fairly typical of his early "Afrobeat" sound. They stay on the same chords and generate a boatload of tribal rhythmic intensity. Well-recorded, nothing wrong with them at all, good but not great music. But then the two tracks on Side 2 - holy cow! James Brown in space on amphetamine or something like that. Absolutely great, intense, imaginitive stuff.

"Open and Close"'s 3 tracks are of a similar level of quality and imagination (and intensity). Track 2 is the most amazing of the three; when Fela got those horns going on creative lines, there's nothing quite like his band. This probably is a good place to start investigating Fela's music. It's an extremly fine collection of music, and the sound on this reissue is clear and strong and beautiful.

Nigerian Genius fleshing out his extravegance. Bass-laden soul music, flaring horns, a wild Jimmie Smith-like organ, and protest lyrics satirizing Nigerian oppression, militarism, and the ignorance of the 'civilized.' A must for all.

I first heard the track "Open and Close" on WKCR (NYC/Columbia U.) on their late night soul, funk, and afro-beat program Night Train. I was just getting into Fela, and I was completely blown away by this particular track, which I still think contains some of Fela's best vocal work. Unfortunately, the album of the same name was only available on a fairly rare import reissue.

Now Open and Close appears together with the enormously funky album Afrodisiac (I don't remember what it formerly appeared with), and the pairing combines to make what is probably my favorite Fela disc. The horns are bright and fiery, the grooves are tight, and they range from super fast funk to molasses-slow grinds. When Amazon finally gets around to making an "Essential Fela" list (it's about time!), I recommend they include this.