Blondy, Alpha - Jah Victory
Reviewed by SAdie O., 12/22/07
Roots Reggae from the foremost African proponent. Recorded in Cote D'Ivoire, Paris and Tuff Gong in Jamaican, featuring the absolute cream of Reggae musicians from Jamaica and many African musicians, sung mostly in French, as well as English and Dioula. The album is a celebration of the peace accord in Cote D'Ivoire in March, and has much of the sound of the early classic Reggae rockers from the 70's - think "Two Sevens Clash" by Culture...
No FCCs detected (or expected) - I like 1, 5 and 12 best, but it's all GREAT.
1. 4:27 ****long folky acoustic intro, then a strong midtempo skank with bagpipes! Cover of a Pink Floyd song, in English.
2. 3:55 ***midtempo with nice thick music, fine production, in French.
3. 4:00 **similar to track 2.
4. 4:21 ***anthemic and emotional, a bit downtempo, song of love for his country. Bit of heavy metal guitar behind the horns in the mix.
5. 4:12 ****ha! Glam Rock intro, then midtempo skank with prominent electric guitars. Some hip hop vocals, in French. Also some of the finest singing on the album.
6. 4:22 **rather hymn-like intro, midtempo skank with prominent shakers - Brazil particularly loves Alpha Blondy, and I suspect this song is returning the emotion.
7. 4:14 ***bouncy thumb-piano for a few seconds, then upbeat skank with lots of interesting bits of instrumentation. Means "Mr. Big Mouth"...
8. 3:25 ***solo vocals and horns, then upbeat midtempo skank with female backing vocals taking bits of lead. Some really sweet Maghrebi strings and bits of acoustic piano.
9. 4:44 **lovely thumb piano intro, then downtempo skank with a bit of unusual syncopation, simple song in English and French. Nice thumb piano outro, too.
10. 4:13 ***acoustic "live" intro, sweet bouncy slightly downtempo skank in English.
11. 3:55 ***spoken word intro, downbeat skank with prominent acoustic guitar, a bit of Latin/West African feel. Guest singer from Zaire. Ends with laughter.
12. 4:00 ****awesome middle eastern drums and pipes, strong skank, terrific sound.
13. 3:21 *heavy metal feedback and electronics... then solo vocals... No beat, but a fair amount of drama.
14. 4:18 ***adaptation of "Crazy Baldheads" in French.
15. 4:36 **vocal intro, midtempo skank with cool handdrums, incl. talking drum.
16. 3:16 **big electric intro, then sweet slightly uptempo bubble, song of praise mostly in English.
17. 4:30 ***accordion intro, then downtempo, relaxed bubble with hand percussion and more accordion. Interesting, but I think I like the bagpipes slightly better!
18. 4:04 **uptempo danceable skank, sweet global sentiment, in French.
19. 3:53 ***forceful intro, uptempo bubble, upbeat and hopeful. Solo vocal outro.