Born Dead With Life

Perfect – Born Dead With Life
Reviewed by Sadie O., 10/13/08
Conscious reggae/dancehall from a major current star. Mostly roots riddims (some acoustic and drumless), combination singing/dancehall vocals, such as seems to be fashionable these days. Many lyrics fixate on injustices of the past. Too much female backing vocals for my taste – gives it a rather commercial sound, but there’s still a lot of good songs here.
No FCCs detected. I like 7 and 14 and esp. 9 best.
1. 2:13 **big count-off intro, subdued downtempo folky piano riddim, funky vocals. Rather odd, really, but pleasant.
2. 3:31 **dancehall-style intro, midtempo bouncy skank, black empowerment lyrics.
3. 4:01 **uptempo roots skank, disturbing historical fantasy. Ends with sobs and recording of someone’s dying curse.
4. 4:04 **uptempo roots bubble, slavery lyrics.
5. 4:28 long “r&b” intro, uptempo bubble, duet. Too commercial BET-ish for my tastes.
6. 3:45 *pointless spoken “interview” intro, uptempo bubble, dancehall style righteousness lyrics. Decent, apart from the intro.
7. 3:34 ***thick midtempo bubble, duet with another top star.
8. 5:10 *downtempo folk guitar, anti-slavery lyrics. Gets a bit of nyahbinghi drumming halfway through. Pretty.
9. 3:22 ****slow skank with really fun vocals. Worth the price of admission!
10. 4:08 **swingy uptempo bop – almost ska. Sweetened up by female backing vocals, which I wish they hadn’t done…
11. 4:07 **bouncy uptempo bubble with syndrum, some sort of diatribe. NOT a cover of the Wailers hit.
12. 0:31 recording of someone talking
13. 3:57 starts with applause from interlude, then very slow hip hop piano riddim, two other dancehall artists –4:00 but really not dancehall at all.
14. 4:06 ***strong midtempo bubble, strength lyrics.
15. 4:00 *starts with a rant about blowing up a supermarket, then midtempo bubble, diatribe with virtually nothing to do with 9/11.
16. 4:30 solo acoustic guitar (quite pretty), shoe-gaze w/ female chorus. I don’t care for it, but a lot of you will, I think.