This set shows Afrobeat's chieftain before he became the most musically and politically radical musician in African history. Disc One, recorded shortly after Fela's college years in London, collects jazzy, percolating dance tunes that split the difference between Nigerian high-life lilt and the hotter sound of London calypso. The brassy ballroom jam "Bonfu (Short Skirt)," featuring Fela's early band Koola Lobitos, shows he was a skirt-chaser long before he married 27 women simultaneously. "Amaechi's Blues" showcases Fela on trumpet rather than signature sax, aping Miles Davis over congas and electric guitar. By the mid-to-late-Sixties tracks on Disc Two, the James Brown-inflected Afrobeat rhythms are kicking in, thanks to the funky, pistonlike drumming of longtime collaborator Tony Allen; it's like a camera lens slowly focusing on his classic sound. The audio quality is sketchy at points. But as a lesson in lost-groove history, Lagos Baby is a gift.