Israel, Joseph – Gone Are the Days (Lions of Israel)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 5/26/06
Slick roots rock reggae with extremely religious message. Musical help from Squidley Cole and Chinna Smith, among others. Music and backing vocals are often a bit clean and overproduced for my tastes, but at least it’s real music. Most of the songs are about how rotten the world is these days thanks to Babylon and world governments and the Vatican, and how we have to trust in Jah and be good to each other.
No FCCs, all pleasant enough. IMO, a good combination of beefy production without the slickness happens midway through, tracks 6-8.
1. 3:52 *slightly uptempo, lots of keyboards and female chorus.
2. 3:57 **slightly uptempo with lots of bounce
3. 4:38 *downtempo, relaxed and slightly jazzy/funky
4. 4:08 downtempo, with some synth orchestration and smooth jazzy sax. Too bad – it’s a nice message…
5. 3:58 **midtempo, good bounce. Sappy kiddie ending, but good to that point.
6. 4:05 ***midtempo skank with a bit meatier feel to it. Some electric guitar!
7. 3:55 ***midtempo bubble, cool keyboards and wah wah, and nice vocals by Luciano.
8. 4:32 ****slightly downtempo with a bit of nyahbinghi, cool keyboards
9. 3:54 *downtempo nyahbinghi beat with slick production, orchestration.
10. 3:30 **slightly uptempo bubble, cool keyboards, love song.
11. 4:42 **downtempo, jazzy, nice groove once it gets started. The backup singers are a bit slick.
12. 4:35 *slow, nyahbinghi beat, lots of keyboards, turns into a decent midtempo bubble after a minute or so. Heavy metal guitar midway through – that was unexpected!
13. 5:19 *midtempo bubble with lots of vocalists. One of the chicks needs to be muzzled, the other is good, and the guys work well.