Expensive Shit

Expensive Shit is the twelfth full-length album by Afrobeat artist and pioneer Fela Kuti and his Africa '70 band, released in 1975. It was reissued in 2000 by MCA Records, packaged with Kuti's He Miss Road (1975) on the same CD.

Expensive Shit
Studio album by
Fela Ransome Kuti & Africa 70
Released12 December 1975
Recorded1975
StudioArc Studio
Genre
Length24:13
Label
  • Sounds Workshop
  • Editions Makossa (US)
ProducerFela Kuti
Fela Ransome Kuti & Africa 70 chronology
Excuse O
(1975)		 Expensive Shit
(1975)		 He Miss Road
(1975)

Background

Throughout the early seventies, Fela Kuti lived in the Kalakuta Republic in Nigeria, a compound that also housed his family, his bandmates, and a recording studio. Due to Kuti's vocal anti-militaristic views, the police saw him and his compound as a political and social threat, often arresting Kuti and raiding the compound.[2]

Music and lyrics

The title of the album and first track refers to an incident in 1974. The Nigerian police planted a joint on Kuti. Before he was arrested, he ate the joint, but the police brought him into custody and waited for him to produce the (titular) excrement. According to legend, he managed to use another inmate's feces and was eventually released.[3]

The second track is inspired by a Yoruban proverb about the power of nature and the universe.[4]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Pitchfork (2000 CD)8.5/10[3]
Robert Christgau (2000 CD)[6]
Tom Hull – on the Web (2000 CD)B+[7]

In its review of MCA Records' 2000 Expensive Shit/He Miss Road CD, Pitchfork wrote "it's all too easy to get caught up in Kuti's discography. Start with Expensive Shit and don't miss the road onward."[3] Nick Reynolds from BBC Music called it a "classic Afrobeat reissue" and said the title song is "sarcastic, hilarious and righteously angry [while] 'Water No Get Enemy' is even better with a great latin tinged sax/chorus riff."[1]

It was ranked number 78 on Pitchfork's "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s" list.[8] In the year 2020, in their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" published by Rolling Stone, "Expensive Shit" was ranked the 402nd best album of all time.[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Fela Kuti.

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Expensive Shit"13:13
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Water No Get Enemy"11:00
Total length:24:13

Personnel

Adapted from LP liner notes.

Africa 70

Production

  • Remi Olowookere – artwork, graphics
  • Peter Obe Photo Agency – photography
  • Demola Odebiyi – engineer
  • Roland Francis – executive producer

References
  1. Reynolds, Nick (2002). "Fela Kuti Expensive Shit/He Miss Road Review". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
  2. Media, Numeriq (16 October 2019). "Expensive Shit, a treatise on Fela's brand of humor". Pan African Music. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  3. Paul Cooper (March 21, 2000). "Fela Kuti Expensive Shit/He Miss Road". Pitchfork.
  4. "Expensive Shit (1975) - Fela Kuti". Bandcamp. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  5. Expensive Shit at AllMusic
  6. Christgau, Robert (n.d.). "CG: Fela Anikulapo Kuti". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  7. Hull, Tom (n.d.). "Grade List: Fela Anikulapo Kuti". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  8. Pitchfork staff (23 June 2004). "Staff Lists: Top 100 Albums of the 1970s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  9. "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 29, 2020.

Further reading
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