Dread Meets Greensleeves: A Westside Revolution
Reviewed by Sadie O., 1/22/13
Roots Rock Reggae and Dancehall from the great London-based Greensleeves label, compiled by Don Letts. Don was the guy who turned the Punks (The Clash, Johnny Rotten etc etc) on to Reggae, and he’s a great person to school the rest of us.
All thriller, no filler. Deez ya riddims a rule de dancehall, iyah!

CD 1 (Roots):
1. 3:16 ***relaxed midtempo bubble, harmonies by one of the great Reggae vocal groups. Bit of dub on the trap drums. Lovely…
2. 3:53 ****a classic. Eek’s first and biggest hit, deliriously goofy.
3. 3:52 ***slightly downtempo with syncopation and syndrum, all the right sounds. Barrington Levy was one of the great vocalists, usually associated with Dancehall.
4. 3:11 ****fine example of early toasting/dub. Some of the original vocals left in, and nice rhythmic toasting by Ranking Joe.
5. 3:49 **uptempo and bouncy skank, soulful vocals.
6. 2:50 ***slow, ponderous early dub, great toast – classic. Still love the “whether outlaw or Christian” bit…
7. 3:47 ***swingy downtempo skank.
8. 3:00 ***very familiar riddim, dubby, goofy toasting (not the same Nickodemus who’s currently a popular producer/DJ – that one has a “k”…)
9. 2:43 **sweet downtempo bubble – totally off-key vocals. Whew!
10. 3:31 ***downtempo simple skank with syndrum, totally and utterly crazy toasting (frighteningly, pretty much what most right-wing Christians are saying these days – if this wasn’t so goofy it would be scary indeed…)
11. 3:23 ****slightly downtempo skank, sweet, youthful tremolo-laden vocals.
12. 4:12 ***jaunty nyahbinghi march, from the master of the genre. Lots of handdrums, and a chorus of kids. Very religical.
13. 3:41 ***slow, but jolly as mess. Happy chirpy little keyboards, tenor vocals.
14. 5:29 **big drum intro, slow swingy bubble.
15. 2:32 *****total classic – the instrumental that brought dub into the world’s consciousness (and brought the melodical back into the counsciousness of anyone who had ever been to kindergarden – but in a good way!)
CD 2 (Dancehall):
1. 4:04 ****uptempo, pointy electronic skank, several vocal styles, nice aggressive lyrics about pirate radio. Yay!
2. 3:29 ***pwoing! Slightly downtempo skank with stuttering guitar, sweet singing about pot. (there’s a theme in this disk…)
3. 4:08 ****classic dancehall about smoking – midtempo swingy electronic riddim, completely irresistible.
4. 3:48 ***slow, fairly forceful electronic dancehall bubble – rough toaster intro contrasts with Gregory’s beaufitul singing.
5. 3:49 ****wacky rocking intro, then sort of a goofy electronic Peter Gunn mambo, wonderfully stoned dancehall toast. All about dirty dancing…
6. 3:54 ***uptempo and upbeat Jahtari-style riddim. Original female vocals and toast.
7. 4:51 ***big chord, then bouncy, almost glitchy electronic riddim with no bottom end, huge hit for Mr. Vegas.
8. 3:16 ***stoned and goofy, completely lopassed bangy riddim, crazed dancehall toast I can understand moments of.
9. 3:20 ****fine, rootsy upbeat skank with syndrum and Gregory. Everything’s better with syndrum and Gregory!
10. 3:37 ****patchwork spoken word intro, then midtempo ultra-groovy electronic bounce, multiple dancehall toasters extolling the myriad virtues of pot. Woot!
11. 3:06 FCC – if you can make out the lyrics, it’s about the kind of dancing that has been known to result in pregnancies… ***siren, midtempo electronic bounce, distinctive baritone dancehall toast.
12. 3:05 ***bizarre fast handclap and trumpet riddim, hyperspeed dancehall crazed vocals – shizza manizza!
13. 3:22 boopy electronics, modern “R&B” vocals, love song. Riddim is ok…
14. 3:02 **boopy uptempo electronics, hyperspeed incomprehensible toast.
15. 3:46 ***sweet swingy rootsy riddim with sax and Sizzlas’ wonderfully gonzo vocals. But such a sweet love song! Aw!