Everything Scatter

Perhaps one risks charges of artistic insensitivity by saying so, but by the mid-'70s Kuti's records were becoming predictable and formulaic to an extent. It was a good formula, played and sung with conviction, and if any individual record or two were the only evidence of his work, they would be properly respected as important music. However, it isn't too easy to differentiate, in large degrees, between his numerous releases of the era that comprised two (and exactly two) ten- to 15-minute songs. These are built from several minutes of instrumental interplay between electric keyboards, horns, and percussion to a vocal declaiming general platitudes about injustice and African identity, with energetic contributions from backup singers. Everything Scatter has two such songs. The ten-minute title track posits Kuti and his followers versus the status quo. The 15-minute "Who No Know Go Knows" strikes a more relaxed groove in its call for African unity. ~ Richie Unterberger