Gentleman (1973)

• Vinyl, 1×LP

  Black vinyl
• WAV / FLAC
• MP3

The prelude to Fela’s mid-1970s purple period, when one masterpiece followed another in rapid succession (Fela released an extraordinary nineteen albums of newly recorded material between 1975 and 1977 alone). The title track has one of Fela’s all-time greatest lyrics. "I no be gentleman at all," he sings. “Africa hot, I like am so; I know what to wear but my friend don’t know; him put him socks him put him shoes; him put him pants him put him singlet; him put him trouser him put him shirt; him put him tie him put him coat; him come cover all with him hat; him be gentleman; him go sweat all over; him go faint right down; him go smell like shit….I no be gentleman at all-o; I be Africa man original.“ The song is the first of many on which Fela addressed the post-colonial cultural inferiority-complex which he believed was distorting Africa’s development. It is not necessary to abandon your own culture in the pursuit of progress, he points out. Originally released by EMI.

Standard black vinyl LP, released in 2014 as part of the Knitting Factory Records re-issues, comes with a download card. The first re-issue pressing of Afrodisiac was included in Box Set #3 curated by Brian Eno.