This soundtrack to the musical about the late Nigerian political activist and inventor of Afrobeat is a powerful Fela primer. It includes some of Fela Kuti's best-known songs ("I.T.T.," "Zombie"), as well as adapted material (like "Trouble Sleep," sung beautifully from the perspective of his dead mother). The band (Antibalas) reproduces Fela's mix of jazz, funk and Yoruba rhythms, and actor Sahr Ngaujah brings him back to life. Still, there's no substitute for the real thing — for that, start with the 2005 collection The Best of the Black President.

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.