Original Sufferhead

1982 studio album by Fela Kuti
Original Sufferhead
Studio album by
Fela Kuti
Released1982
Recorded1981, Paris
GenreAfrobeat
LabelArista
ProducerFela Kuti
Fela Kuti chronology
Coffin for Head of State
(1981) 		Original Sufferhead
(1982) 		Perambulator
(1983)

Original Sufferhead is an album by the Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, released in 1982.[1][2]

Production

Original Sufferhead was recorded in 1981 in Paris.[3] Fela was backed by Egypt 80, which included a 10-piece horn section.[4] The title track notes the disconnect between Africa's abundant raw natural materials and its immense poverty; it also criticizes Nigeria's acceptance of outside international organizations to address its problems.[4][5] "Power Show" specifically criticizes Nigerian government officials.[6] The album packaging shows injuries that Fela received from the Nigerian police.[7]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Robert ChristgauB+[8]
The Encyclopedia of Popular MusicStarStarStar[9]
MusicHound World: The Essential Album GuideStarStarStarHalf star[10]
The Rolling Stone Album GuideStarStarStarStar[11]
Spin Alternative Record Guide10/10[12]

The Evening Advertiser considered the album "a potent synthesis of Afro-beat, soul and jazz."[13] The Northern Echo said that "the slick and spontaneous brass is superb, particularly the trumpets".[3]

Reviewing a 1984 reissue, The New York Times called the album "less dynamically recorded [than Black President], and its songs ebb and flow more casually"; in 2001, the paper opined that it was one of Fela's best albums.[14][15] The Buffalo News stated that it is "especially potent in [a] jazz-Afro music effect".[16] In 1991, Spin said that "the beat, a propulsive cross between salsa and Sun Ra, is hypnotically persuasive".[17] In 2000, the Orlando Sentinel said that the title track "is tinged with melancholy but exuberant, with percolating rhythms and an electric organ that manages to sound funereal and funky simultaneously."[4]

In 2014, Fela's son Seun Kuti chose Original Sufferhead as one of his two favorite albums by Fela.[18]

Track listing

Side 1

  1. "Power Show"

Side 2

  1. "Original Sufferhead"

References

  1. ^ Africa's Radicalisms and Conservatisms: Volume II: Pop Culture, Environment, Colonialism and Migration. Brill Publishers. 2022. p. 114.
  2. ^ Hrano, Mike (16 February 1982). "Album review". Harrow Midweek. p. 7.
  3. ^ a b Speed, Stan (28 January 1982). "Fela with a tribe of wives". The Northern Echo. p. 8.
  4. ^ a b c Gettelman, Parry (18 August 2000). "Feel Fela's Fever Pitch". Calendar. Orlando Sentinel. p. 8.
  5. ^ Friedman, Jonathan C., ed. (2013). The Routledge History of Social Protest in Popular Music. Routledge. p. 327.
  6. ^ Karas, Matty (8 November 1984). "Records". Calendar. The Boston Globe. p. 8.
  7. ^ Lynskey, Dorian (2011). 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day. Ecco. p. 244.
  8. ^ "Fela Anikulapo Kuti". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  9. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195313734.
  10. ^ MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 2000. p. 409.
  11. ^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 409–410.
  12. ^ Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. pp. 219, 220.
  13. ^ "And heard". Evening Advertiser. 22 January 1982. p. 11.
  14. ^ Pareles, Jon (28 November 1984). "The Pop Life". The New York Times. p. C25.
  15. ^ Pareles, Jon (23 February 2001). "A Universe of Music". The New York Times. p. E1.
  16. ^ Allen, Carl (2 November 1984). "Records: Soul". Gusto. The Buffalo News. p. 38.
  17. ^ Birnbaum, Larry (November 1991). "Blue Light Special". Spin. Vol. 7, no. 8. p. 112.
  18. ^ Sandoval, Lapacazo (31 July 2014). "Seun Kuti speaks". New York Amsterdam News. Vol. 105, no. 31. p. 22.
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