Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

A big muchos thankos to BJ, who sent me his extra copy of the sublime Red Hot + Riot CD (after an apparently properly persuasive email from me). The spirit of Fela Kuti lives on this disc, continuing in the Red Hot tradition of cover albums (such as Red Hot + Cool - Cole Porter; Red Hot + Rio - Antonio Carlos Jobim; etc.). Featuring everyone from Me'Shell Ndegéocello and Nile Rodgers (Chic) to Common and dead prez, this album's full of rhythm, rock, roll, and soul (and rhyme!), all atop the percolating Afropop grooves that Fela made famous over much of the globe before his AIDS-related death in 1997. Fucking stellar. [I intend to post a more full review soon, if I get up the gumption.]