Reggae Now: Vol. 4

[coll]: Reggae Now: Vol. 4
Reviewed by Sadie O., 4/24/08
Recent compilation of Reggae by some of the top current stars. The music isn’t exceptional – mostly pleasant midtempo, often a bit too commercially produced for my tastes. The vocals are all nice and vary widely in terms of interesting sound and lyrical content. Tracks 13-15 are shite love songs, but the rest are sociopolitical/Rasta and many are quite good.
No FCCs detected. I lik 5, 6, 9, 12, and esp. 10 and 11.
1. **relaxed midtempo bubble, sweet singing (2 voices), rather minimalist sound.
2. **also relaxed midtempo with handdrums and organ – rather spiritual feel, hard times lyrics.
3. deep breathy spoken intro, relaxed bubble, female chorus. Nice enough male lead vocals.
4. **pretty, slightly uptempo skank, Luciano’s always attractive singing.
5. ***rather upbeat bubble, attractive male vocals.
6. ***similar riddim, fine dancehall vocals from Anthony B.
7. **slow, mellow nyahbinghi drum and jazzy sax, Jah protect lyrics, sort of a charm chant by the end.
8. **a bit random few seconds intro, then “Sizzla unplugged” – just vocals and acoustic guitar. Definitely a different sound – I think it’s pretty much extemporaneous, and with just bits of his usual crazy vocal sound.
9. ***midtempo skank, big horn section – interesting take on black pride.
10. ****rather forgettable midtempo bubble, but great dancehall vocals from one of the biggest new stars.
11. ****child chanting intro, then midtempo skank with a bit of dubby feel, the usual pretty vocal interplay from Morgan Heritage, anti-violence lyrics. Nice.
12. ***fairly strong midtempo skank, female dancehall vocals from a huge star, diatribe against money-grubbers.
13. Mellow bubble, forgettable love song. (note to singer: she’s leaving because you’re boring…)
14. Geeze, more of the same…
15. *pleasant bubble, love song, very commercial but inoffensive…
16. totally overused vocal effects – would be an ok song otherwise – back to Africa lyrics.