Search - Fela Kuti :: Shuffering & Shmiling / No Agreement

Among the very best of Fela's extraordinary recordings

Hussein Ibish | Washington, DC | 12/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This combination of Shuffering and Shmiling and No Agreement is one of the very best Fela CDs on the market today. Shuffering and Shmiling is a remarkable track, musically infectious and a prime example of polyrhythmic afrobeat, as well as a stirring denunciation of religious nonsense and the harm it can do to long-suffering peoples. It went over very badly with many Nigerians when first released, but retains its biting critique and is no less powerful for the intervening years. This long version is far superior to the truncated one on CDs such as Music is the Weapon of the Future and other releases. That goes double for the second title track on the CD: No Agreement is fairly bland as a political statement, but is among the most moving of all Fela's pieces musically - funky beyond belief and with some of the better soloing in any of his recordings. This is indispensable Fela, on the order of Roforofo Fight, Zombie, Original Sufferhead and the other classics. Buy at once!"