Williams, Willi – Messenger Man (Blood and Fire)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 10/20/05
Reissue of 1980 roots Rasta record by the guy who first made “Armagideon Time”, with a few extra dub tracks thrown in. Very pleasant sound while not at all slick. Good representative of the more roots end of roots rock reggae, with very Rasta-oriented almost chanted vocals (like Burning Spear, although not at all imitative.) The versions (tracks 9 to 17) are cool, mostly pretty laid-back and really dubby.
No discernible FCCs. Both versions of Armagideon Time (tracks 9 and 17) are fun, 10 is some way crazy dub, 1 and 5 are good. All dub tracks are cool.
1. 4:46 **downtempo, very deep roots, but with a bit of electronics. Hey, it’s a remake of “I Just Gotta Get a Message to You”! Ha ha! Lots of electric guitar in the break.
2. 5:16 upbeat tempo, in-your-face lyrics. Bouncy beat with chanted and probably extemporized vocals, a bit stoned sounding. Rather spare musically.
3. 3:21 downtempo, worshipful.
4. 4:49 midtempo, a bit off-key, about his experiences being locked up on charges later dropped. Lots of what sound like clavas.
5. 3:59 **midtempo, but a bit fuller sounding musically. Peaceful and pleasing.
6. 4:49 slow, strange rather strangled vocals at first.
7. 3:58 sweet, midtempo, sort of “lover’s rock” vibe; lyrics rebuke those who hide from reality. Lazy vocal style for that message.
8. 6:58 *downtempo, lots of syndrums, swingy groove, minimal instrumentation. Jesus rather than Jah in lyrics. Long enough to get pretty trance-y and a bit dubwise.
9. 3:09 **fun midtempo bounce, Armagideon dub with a bit of electronica, stoned sounding vocals.
10. 5:05 ***reverb city! Midtempo bubble turns into dub of track 1; lots of effects, some heavy metal guitar, all sorts of zaniness.
11. 2:35 uptempo but mellow dub of track 2 with a few scary noises.
12. 3:21 dub version of track 3, funny truncated vocal sounds.
13. 3:55 **version of track 4, reverby with some jingly bits. Some pretty interesting tom/high hat work midway through.
14. 4:27 **version of track 5 (hey, a pattern emerges!) VERY stoned, far away, sparse. Almost dubs itself into oblivion.
15. 4:47 version of you guessed it. Slow, but with a certain authority.
16. 3:02 another dubby as hell dub. Hey, alien spaceships!
17. 2:58 ***wacky! Donald Dub meets the robots! YAY!!!