Kiddus I – Green Fa Life
Reviewed by Sadie O., 11/2/09
Classic style roots rock Reggae by a singer who started out with Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus in the early 70’s and appeared in the classic Reggae film “Rockers”, but otherwise mostly faded from view until recently. Which is strange - he’s got a great voice and very soulful, almost jazz delivery. Chinna Smith leads the band, and there’s a rather plain but solid female chorus.
FCCs (?”buckshee”, maybe?) on track 13. I like 4, 9, 10 and 12 best.
1. 4:34 **midtempo roots rock skank with flutes. There seems to be a subtext I’m not too sure about…
2. 4:54 ***downtempo, very relaxed, all about environmental stewardship.
3. 4:12 ***downtempo bubble, no more war lyrics.
4. 4:07 *****midtempo swingy skank with nyahbinghi hand drums, lament about war.
5. 3:56 ***uptempo swingy (almost a country vibe) bubble.
6. 3:55 ****rather haunting vibe, midtempo bubble with a bit of pedal steel. Lyrics clearly inspired by Timothy Leary – hooray!
7. 4:01 **kind of a smooth-jazz feel, midtempo bubble, very relaxed. Like Bob Marley’s stuff, there’s an interesting juxtaposition of extremely sweet music and rather revolutionary message.
8. 3:54 **swingy, “feelin’ groovy” vibe, midtempo bubble, Rasta lyrics.
9. 4:14 *****pedal steel twang intro, upbeat midtempo skank, money rule ting lyrics.
10. 4:31 *****jazzy swingy rock groove – seems like Nawlins just crawled south across the Caribbean for an evening. Sweet!
11. 3:57 **lilting midtempo bubble, keep
12. 4:34 *****great roots sound, swingy midtempo skank,
13. 3:30 ***FCC: brief “bullshit” (a couple of times) – uptempo swingy bubble with some sweet guitar. Praise of the independent woman.