Morgan Heritage – Mission in Progress
Reviewed by Sadie O., 5/8/08
Mostly Roots Reggae with a bit of Dancehall, mostly highly political content, from the sibling act that has become one of the most popular in Jamaica. Several distinct voices, including guest appearances by an American-inflected dancehall vocalist named Laza. Most of the lyrics are hard-hitting socio-political commentary with a strong Rastafarian component. The only two duff tracks are the modern R&B love songs (9 and 10), which leave me absolutely cold, but the rest are good to great.
Single FCC on track 3. Best tracks are 1 and 12; 6, 7 and 13 good too.
1. 3:55 ****uptempo energetic skank with layers of voices, harmonies, defiant Rastafarianism lyrics.
2. 3:44 **a few seconds of scratching, then upbeat cover of the Steel Pulse classic,with a new chorus and rap. Unfortunately, the original was pretty much perfect as it was, but this is still a cool dance number.
3. 4:13 FCC: “shit” **downtempo roots bubble, fine vocals and political lyrics.
4. 3:20 *downtempo skank that takes a while to come together, sad political rant. Odd abrupt ending.
5. 4:07 *spoken intro, slow dancehall with both singing and rapping.
6. 3:49 ***slow skank, great dramatic lyrics and delivery (we have this as a single on Direct from Yard 2007 comp) – this is a rather stripped down mix, but with lots of extra sounds that add a bit of an air of foreboding.
7. 5:37 ***slow roots bubble with lots of keyboard and electric guitar, several voices, strong message and soulful delivery.
8. 3:25 *downbeat bubble about troubles tourists don’t see in Jamaica.
9. 4:20 downtempo “modern R&B” love song. This is no doubt the cut that will wind up on BET, although they really need to hear the political numbers…
10. 4:33 long intro, slow skank, another love song – slightly less “R&B” than the previous track, terribly sincere bit of rap.
11. 4:09 **midtempo roots skank with a really great instrumental sound. Love song, but the fine riddim keeps it from being cloying.
12. 4:16 ****hard uptempo dancehall riddim with some rapping in English as well as patois.
13. 3:31 ***solid midtempo skank, political lyrics.
14. 4:08 **slow, rather orchestrated skank, sad political lyrics. Fine singing.