Monkey Banana / Excuse O

Two 1975 albums, Monkey Banana and Excuse O, are combined onto this single-disc CD reissue. With two tracks of about a dozen minutes each, Monkey Banana was really more an extended single than a proper album, reflecting a time at which Fela's music was moving even more into long extended grooves. Both of the two cuts, "Monkey Banana" and "Sense Wiseness," have his characteristic blends of improvisational-sounding trades between various instruments and lead and chanting backup vocals, along with his minor-based melodies. "Monkey Banana" reflects his social consciousness in deploring the poor conditions of workers' lives in Nigeria. "Sense Wiseness" has a funkier beat and prominent high, glistening electric keyboards, the backdrop for lyrics criticizing the educated segment of Africa's population for absorbing Western ways. Excuse O again presents two songs in the ten- to 15-minute range occupying entire sides of the release. The 13-minute title cut of "Excuse O" is not much different th