Released in 1972, Roforofo Fight is one of Fela Kuti's finest recordings, and one of his least written about. Comprised of four long tracks, this set sticks close to Kuti's African roots -- in each cut, there are hints of highlife in the heated interplay between guitars and percussion, but the horn charts reach beyond, toward something far funkier and more improvisational. Also prevalent, particularly in the album’s opening title track, is a post-Coltrane jazz influence that sidles up nicely with the one imparted by James Brown’s music that Kuti encountered firsthand in Los Angeles three years earlier. Check the tenor saxophone solo and the near moaning wordless vocal improvisations in the middle of the cut. His trademark backing chorus enters later, along with Wurlitzer organ and Fender Rhodes, and turns the heat up to the boiling point, making this one mad dancefloor workout. It doesn’t let up for its entire 14 minutes. A lo-fi trumpet solo commences “Go Slow.” That said, a snaky Rhodes and organ usher in a hypnotic groove, with guitar lines and basslines trading places at various times in the arrangement. The horn chart is pure hardcore Afro-beat, and the tenor and trumpet solos are pure wide-open blowing post-modal jazz. “Question Jam Answer” is no less compelling to round the set out. Each track is over ten minutes, but there’s a bonus on this edition, the inclusion of two “singles” recorded during the same period: the relatively brief “Shenshema,” at only a shade over nine minutes, and the more famous “Ariya,” clocking in at over ten. The latter is one of the most outrageous, overtly Brown-influenced funk tracks Kuti ever put to tape, with horns just blazing out in front against an alternate rhythm created by his voice and lyrics. Finally reissued in America on CD by Knitting Factory, this is one of the most essential Fela purchases for beginners or seasoned listeners. All killer, no filler.