Fela Kuti and his Africa ’70 released Open & Close in 1971, on the His Master's Voice record label. The album art, designed by Grace Okotie-Eboh Oduro – here credited as Mamuli Okotie-Eboh – and Kayode Ademola, sports two typefaces on the front cover. The title is set in Tuscan Ornate, Mecanorma’s version of a 19th-century design also carried by Letraset as Romantiques No 5, and the band’s name uses Arnold Böcklin. The back cover uses pairs an illustration with the album title, this time set in Contest.

[More info on Discogs]

From Chris May’s Afrobeat Diaries:

Why Black Man Dey Suffer is […] one of a series of early 1970s albums which made the transition between the highlife and jazz blend of [Fela] Kuti and [Tony] Allen’s first band, Koola Lobitos, and the turbulent magnificence of mature Afrobeat. Trumpeter Tunde Williams, baritone saxophonist Lekan Animashaun and first conga player Henry Kofi, from later line-ups including that on Alagbon Close, are also in place. But Afrobeat’s signature tenor guitar has yet to be introduced, and, crucially, Allen didn’t play on the session, making way for Ginger Baker. Baker does a creditable job on Why Black Man Dey Suffer, although Allen’s absence means Africa 70 lacks the singular rhythms that would come to define Afrobeat a couple of years later. But the album is worth hearing, with powerful lyrics and some strong instrumental performances. A valuable snapshot of Africa 70’s fetal stage.

The album was initially recorded for EMI, but EMI refused to release it, so it came out on the Nigerian African Songs label. The cover design is by Remi Olowookere, featuring a painting by Grace Okotie-Eboh Oduro that depicts “the slavery and exploitation of the African (Black Man) by the Europeans and the Arabs.” [Wikipedia]

Like with his design for a later Africa 70 album, Olowookere didn’t worry too much about traditional rules for combining typefaces and instead threw together four different display faces, using whatever appealed to him as appropriate and impactful (and maybe simply what was available to him). Premier Shaded (1970), Stack (1970), and Sunshine (1971) were all released by Letraset for dry-transfer lettering shortly before. Rodeo, a version of Mansard, was issued in 1972, according to the date on the sheets. If this is accurate, then the 1971 date for the album cover might be off by a year.

Olowookere further enhanced the catchy faces through color or by adding a long shade to already shadowed letterforms, and introduced innovations like the 7-point ellipsis. This detail reads as a hint that the suffering and oppression of people of color is not a thing of the past, and continues to the present day.

[More info on Discogs]

Released in 1975, Jealousy is Tony Allen’s first solo album. The cover design was provided by Remi Olowookere, with photography by Bankole Osunle, and a razzmatazz typography composed from a number of period typefaces. The title is rendered in bichromatic Oxford (1970) which was further jazzed up by a double drop shadow. For Tony Allen’s name, Olowookere chose a face that’s rarely seen in all caps: It’s the swash-laden Lazybones (1972). For some reason, the initial T is the only letter in lowercase. Maybe all cap T’s on the sheet of rubdown letters were already used up? A yellow contour makes sure that the words don’t fall apart.

The typeface used for “Hits With The Africa 70” is the outlier, in terms of design date: Motto goes back all the way to 1915, when it was first issued by ATF. Like Oxford and Lazybones (and Celtic / Forum Flair / University Roman from 1972 which appears on the back cover), it was available from Letraset, too – as Runnymede, which was the name used by British type foundry Stephenson Blake for their version of Motto.

On the Surfing the Odyssey blog, Zen Archer comments:

Drummer Tony Allen has died at age 79. He is widely hailed as one of the founders of Afrobeat alongside his longtime musical partner Fela Kuti, with whom he played for 15 years. […]

This is the first of three of Tony Allen’s solo albums produced by Fela Kuti! Originally released on the private imprint Soundworkshop Records. Arguably one of this best albums with these two killer funky afro-beat gems “Jealousy” and “Hustler”!!!

Aside from playing drums and arranging six of Fela Kuti’s albums in 1975 (!) Tony Allen managed to put out this very short album under his own name. “Jealousy” is pretty similar to Kuti’s work without of course Kuti. Just instrumentation and group vocals. “Hustler” though is the highlight with stabbing horn lines and a great percussion breakdown. Good stuff.

Cover of a re-release by Kindred Spirits with restored album art.

Regal Zonophone (EMI Group), UK 1971.

Live! is an album recorded in 1971 by Fela Kuti (1938–1997) and his band Africa ’70. Former Cream drummer Ginger Baker is featured on two songs. The cover typography uses Mick Chave’s Marvin which had been added to the Letraset range just around this time.

Signpost Records (SP 8401), USA, 1971