Direct From Yard: Reggae Hits - Spring 2007

[coll]: Direct from Yard! Reggae Hits – Spring 2007
Reviewed by Sadie O., 5/18/07
Reggae promo singles emailed to the station – some roots, some dancehall, some instrumental “riddims”. Many of these (tracks 1, 11, 13) are currently in the Jamaican top ten, many others are headed there soon.
I didn’t hear any FCCs, which is a bit surprising, really.
Too many killer tracks to list!
1. ****Great! Solid midtempo roots bubble, terrific “reality” lyrics, fine combination of vocals.
2. short spoken intro, downtempo modern-R&B-styled skank, love song.
3. Similar to track 2, all 4 of these are from MH’s upcoming album.
4. ****whew! Great again! Midtempo roots skank, great political lyrics.
5. ***long intro with sample from classic dancehall hit. Odd but fun sparse electronic dancehall riddim.
6. *****remix of track 1 with several guest toasters – all about Flatbush. I thought track 1 couldn’t get any better!
7. ****rather long intro, then very strong uptempo skank, great lyrics about the heat, top collaboration. Yay! This one goes out to all my friends who have sat in the can for suspicion of pot.
8. ****the NOT radio edit of track 7 – surprisingly it doesn’t have FCC violations, but it does include references to “put your stash away, put your AK away”…. Huh!
9. ***sweet midtempo electronic skank riddim, cool strength lyrics.
10. ***same riddim as track 9, Rasta lyrics, fine dancehall delivery.
11. ***tough downtempo electronic skank, tough lyrics, memorable.
12. **instrumental riddim from track 11.
13. ****very tough midtempo electronic dancehall, a bit of choir and bells, fun lyrics about church gossip.
14. **sparse electronic riddim, combination of American hip hop and Jamaican dancehall, all about gangs. FCCs obviously edited out.
15. **pretty midtempo bubble, female vocals, very “modern R&B” delivery, but really fine hard times lyrics.
16. ***killer drumline dancehall riddim, good vocals.
17. ****even better drumline riddim, great dancehall delivery.
18. ****instrumental version of the insane riddim from track 17. Wow!
19. ****another instrumental version of the same riddim. Just as crazy great.