Artist.......: Femi Kuti
Album........: Day by Day
Label........: PIAS
Genre........: Ethnic
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Oct-29-2008
str.date.....: Oct-27-2008
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. Oyimbo 03:53
02. Eh Oh 04:17
03. Day by Day 03:01
04. Demo Crazy 07:34
05. Do You Know 04:52
06. You Better Ask Yourself 06:00
07. One Two 02:15
08. Tell Me 04:37
09. They Will Run 05:29
10. Tension Grip Africa 05:07
11. Dem Funny 04:19
12. Lets Make History 02:29
13. Inside Religion 08:47
Runtime 62:40 min
Size 88,5 MB
Release Notes:
Not counting live albums, collaborations and
compilations, this is Femi Kuti's first album
proper since Fight To Win in 2001. The press
release claims the pressures of touring, keeping
his Lagos venue The Shrine open, and family
commitments have helped lengthen the gestation of
Day By Day. You can probably add the difficulty of
working in the Nigerian music industry and life
more generally in one of Africa's most chaotic
cities. Even so, having it released in the same
month as a strong debut by his younger brother Seun
seems like unfortunate timing, considering the fact
that he's still up against the impossible task of
living up to the legacy of his infamous dad,
Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti.
Femi has apparently also been honing his
instrumental skills, and now plays organ, soprano,
alto, (sic) barytone and tenor sax as well as
trumpet, although the credits aren't detailed
enough to show when his other musicians are playing
and when it's him. The guest rappers and R&B
artists that appeared on Fight To Win are
conspicuously absent, and although Femi is now more
influenced by jazz, Day By Day has a more
faithfully Afrobeat feel than previous releases,
partly because of the emphasis on instrumental
textures. Given that Femi has never been an
entirely convincing lyricist or songwriter, this is
a good thing, with the likes of Do You Know and
Tension Grip Africa among the highlights; his band
Positive Force sound better than ever before.
Although religion has surfaced before, Day By Day
also has far more explicit references to
Christianity than ever, faithfully reflecting the
way Nigerians are increasingly turning to the
church for answers, as the rather ponderous title
track relates. But if the frantic Demo Crazy is
anything to go by, Femi's is a questioning rather
than blind faith: ''We no ready to fight/ Because
we wait for jesus xrist/ To come down with im
shining light or something''. More familiar themes
include corrupt politicians, resource plundering
multi-nationals (You Better Ask Yourself) and the
plight of the poor. Business as usual, then,
although business could always be better.