Inna City Pressure (2005)

Dr. Israel – Inna City Pressure (ROIR)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 9/19/05
Complex New York reggae/trip hop/dance/etc. Remixed and remastered from original 1998 release with two new cuts (14, 15). Poetic lyrics (and lots of em!) with deeply Rasta reflections on hardships of inner city life peppered with ganja and biblical references. Thick, hard, exciting sound in first few tracks, lots of cuts have weird electronica, almost all have very dubwise production. Most songs end very suddenly. Album generally gets trippier and spacier as it goes along.
FCC: track 6 (bastards, hell) Best cut IMO track 4; 2, 3, 8, 13, 14 also good. Experimental/electronica buffs will like 9, 11, 16.
1. 0:42 solo vocal, no instrumentation, lead-in to track 2 (IMO, leave it off)
2. 4:35 **fast jungle groove, multi-layered, male & female vox
3. 3:29 **also fast jungle groove, Sabbath guitars,
4. 3:40 ***simple piano intro, builds to more fast layered groove. Fine take on classic tune.
5. 5:28 *slow reggae beat, dub-wise production, biblical lyrics, Pablo-style melodica, trance-worthy
6. 4:24 *solo vox intro, then fast beat with vocal backing, several (punk) lead vocalists
7. 4:34 spoken intro, long pause, vocals & piano, song proper starts at 40 seconds in. mid-tempo, thick effects, tale of lost souls, SAD.
8. 3:41 **“Revolution” then pause, finally fast jungle groove, dub
9. 3:33 strangely distorted vox intro, then fast spacey groove, odd spoken bit in middle. Dance electronica.
10. 4:46 sweet flute intro, slow reggae beat, paeon to Israel, flute outro
11. 5:02 spacey electronica intro, jungle beat comes in and out, very dubwise, processed vocals, Ethiopia, Babylon, science, weird…
12. 3:27 backwards intro, reggae dub beat, a bit disjointed and strange
13. 2:44 **drums & bells, mid tempo syncopation, cool lyrics, short
14. 3:16 **fast jungle beat, dub production spare but thick somehow, flute & vox outro “junglist, murderation”
15. 4:12 solo vocal intro, fast jungle beat, thick dub, about slavery, incongruous ending that turns into intro of next track
16. 3:15 mid tempo reggae groove, dub so thick it’s hard to tell it’s the version of track 12, which was odd to begin with
17. 7:42 melodica intro, mid tempo spaced out dub, feedback tone 2 minutes in, back to spaced out dub but with horns this time, spoken outro