Richie Spice – Book of Job
Reviewed by Sadie O., 4/21/11
Fine roots rock riddims, endearingly warts-and-all singing (think Sizzla) – rather too perfect female backing vocals and commercial production for my taste, but that’s a small price to pay for a mostly Vocoder-free Jamaican release.
No FCCs detected.
1. 4:30 **rather downtempo bubble, positivity lyrics – props to Richie for trying to sing WAY out of his range, without prettying it up electronically.
2. 4:52 ***midtempo skank with interesting noises, hard times lyrics.
3. 3:32 **midtempo bubble, relaxed vibe, hard times lyrics.
4. 4:20 *a bit downtempo, very sweet love song.
5. 3:16 **midtempo, rather commercial production, in praise of Rastafarian woman hood.
6. 4:13 ***interesting riddim – orchestral sounds, Spanish-style guitar, bit of lover’s rock guitar stutter… Love song. Richie’s rather odd vocals contrast nicely with the super-pretty guitar sound.
7. 3:59 ***midtempo, praise of sound system dances. Kind of mellow for the subject matter, but I guess this is the stoner party… I think the lyrics are pretty funny, actually.
8. 4:10 ****very perky riddim, lots of la-la-la. Bit of nyahbinghi, legalize pot lyrics.
9. 3:48 ***jaunty upbeat skank, rather commercial production, but the lyrics are fun…
10. 4:37 **upbeat yet relaxed skank, rasta lyrics (some rather odd – “just like a fork without a lift, just like a light without a spliff…”)
11. 4:18 *aw hell – vocoder. Well, if you can hack vocoder and commercial production, this is jaunty midtempo rasta praise song.
12. 4:59 ***bouncy midtempo bubble with fairly nutted vocals.