Drummer Tony Allen is one of the co-creators of Afrobeat, a mix of African rhythm and James Brown funk. Born and raised in Nigeria, he met up with fellow musician Fela Kuti and together they became famous, notorious and synonymous with making some of the best funk to come out of Africa, and there were many bands that followed in their footsteps. As a drummer, Tony Allen worked with Fela from 1968-1979 and it was in the mid to late 70s, during funk’s heyday, that Tony Allen decided to put out a string of kickass funk-filled albums as a bandleader.
This 2 CD set includes Tony Allen’s first four Afrobeat inspired albums, a man who does not get as much credit as Fela for creating. Jealousy (75), Progress (76), No Accommodation for Lagos (78), and No Discrimination (79), are all included here, three of those albums produced by Fela, and the last album produced by Allen and his band The Afro Messengers. When looking at this set, you may wonder why there are only ten songs on two-discs. That would be the fact that the songs clock in at 8 to 17 minutes a piece. Back in the day of Afrobeat, Fela and his musicians would jam on a song for an hour or two, and that is something that Tony Allen brought to his songs. This is a definite positive as most of the songs have great rhythms that slowly build and change. You can’t help but dance! As a side note, Tony Allen recently recorded with the all-star Damon Albarn project The Good, The Bad, and The Queen.
With a driving beat and room for improvisation, there are plenty of drum breakdowns and horn freakouts making this a whole lot of fun to listen to. While the politics are here like on “Progress” and “No Discrimination,” there is also a slight departure from the Afrobeat that he helped create. On the last song “Love is a Natural Thing,” Tony Allen incorporates more of a jazz feel to his style of playing. Around the time of recording this song, as part of the album No Discrimination, in 1979, Tony Allen had quit working with Fela Kuti, and this song is the perfect way to end this set, right when he was experimenting and searching for his own voice, because that’s when thing’s usually get interesting. |