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- Artist: Fela Anikulapo Kuti
- Rating:
- Release Date: September 02, 1997
- Total Time: 55:52
- Type: Compilation (best of)
- Genre: World
Review
Buy Africa is another of the probably bootleg reissues of early-'70s Fela Kuti rendered pointless by the comprehensive Universal series. It's the complete Fela's London Scene CD with the "Trouble Sleep/Yenga Wake Am" bonus track added from Roforofo Fight. The release is even weirder since Stern's Africa put out Fela's London Scene the same year, which makes you suspect borrowed or stolen master tape action at play here. Even though it's Kuti in the early stages of putting together the pieces of the sound, it's only sporadically exciting, dragged down by too many lengthy electric piano solos and some lethargic tempos. The James Brown influence is clear on the over-long "Egbe Mio," but things pick up with "Who Are You?," which sounds like a rewrite of the near-Meters "Chop 'N' Quench" groove with great Tony Allen drumming, Kuti exhorting, the horns playing off a bassline setup, and nice stop-time breakdowns to ticking cowbells before the chorus surge. The title track starts strong in basically the same Meters/Brown vein, with Kuti going in for inarticulate soul shouting that he trades for near-jazz scatting on "Trouble Sleep?," which unfortunately puts things back to sleep again. "Fight to the Finish" is pretty good, too, but anyone who wants or needs a document of Kuti at this point in musical space and time should just look for an official release of Fela's London Scene. ~ Don Snowden, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Jayen Jayen | Fela Kuti | (7:30) | |
| Egbe Mi O (Carry Me I Want to Die) | Fela Kuti | Fela Kuti | (13:19) |
| Who Are You? | Fela Kuti | (9:32) | |
| Buy Africa | Fela Kuti | Fela Kuti | (5:54) |
| Fight to the Finish | Fela Kuti | (7:29) | |
| Trouble Sleep/Yenga Wake Am [*] | Fela Kuti | Fela Kuti | (12:08) |
