Mnp: Reggae From Around The World

[coll]: MNP: Reggae from Around the World (RAS)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 12/29/06
An old, but truly far-ranging collection of Reggae from around the world.
No FCCs in the few songs in English… I like 6, 8, 11 best.
1. 3:21 **rather downtempo skank, simple lyrics and vocals, nice keyboard and horns.
2. 4:11 *long simple intro with a lot of silence, midtempo skank with lots of guitar pauses, vocals in Maori. Nice jazzy sax breaks.
3. 4:33 ***dramatic drum and horn intro, downtempo skank, bit of talk in English then singing in Polish. Lots of echo on the trap drums. Odd bit of vocals in English halfway through.
4. 3:52 **pretty little chime sounds, breathy female vocals, interesting uptempo electronic bubble. Lots of elements of traditional Japanese music, overall terribly sweet.
5. 3:52 ***boppin’ midtempo bubble, vocals in Swedish, nice dance groove. Really fun dubby bit halfway through.
6. 3:43 ****pretty uptempo bubble, lovely male vocals in Amharic. Jazzy marimba.
7. 4:27 **spoken intro, downtempo skank with lots of horns, lovely vocals in English, Rastafari lyrics, harmonies.
8. 5:26 ****very downtempo bubble with lots of electronics, relaxed groove, pretty vocals in what seems to be some sort of pidgin French-African.
9. 4:34 **pretty midtempo skank, high tenor vocals in Hebrew. Very sweet.
10. 4:06 **midtempo stepping razor skank with just guitar, bass and drums, lyrics in Spanish. Sounds like a moment of Walk on the Wild Side at the end.
11. 6:32 ****long intro with piano arpeggios, then rather messy but cool downtempo ethereal groove with gorgeous female harmonies in Italian. Turns into almost ska with flamenco horns (?!)…
12. 4:14 ***midtempo skank of electronic keyboards and drums, instruments and vocals all a bit mutated, odd vocals in Russian. Unusual sound…
13. 3:07 *uptempo, almost ska, with sounds of pot smoking. Female vocals in English, goofy lyrics and random noises.