First Light

Easy Star All-Stars – First Light
Reviewed by Sadie O, 4/15/11
Mostly roots rock Reggae. First album of original material from the All-Stars, who have done several brilliant Dub/Reggae versions of famous Rock records. These have all been so excellent that I had way too high expectations of this, I’m afraid. There are a few songs with too much “R&B” emphasis, and production is often a bit too slick and commercial for my tastes. The best track has a single FCC, just to add to my pain… Still, there’s a lot of top ranking stuff to redeem this outing. Maybe they’ll revert to their old format and do “Their Satanic Majesties Request” or “Velvet Underground and Nico”… That would make my day…
1. 4:19 ***a bit slick, but a solid downtempo bubble, pretty baritone lead vocals and female harmony chorus. Dubby in second half.
2. 3:42 **acoustic piano intro, upbeat roots bubble, female vocals. Pleasant and positive.
3. 3:55 *mellow vibe, pretty female vocals, slick and a bit “R&B” but not bad. If you ignore the stuff up front in the mix and listen for the odd instrumental grunts, it’s a lot more fun.
4. 4:13 ***upbeat skank, male vocals, free up de herb lyrics.
5. 3:49 **upbeat skank, mellow male vocals, bit of bluesy guitar. Sad lyrics.
6. 4:05 ***dancehall intro from Lady Ann, then downtempo bubble with many singers. Tribute to the late Sugar Minott. Fun toast by Lady Ann – rare to hear a female toaster. False ending about 20 seconds shy.
7. 3:27 FCC: “fuckry” ****low-key chant intro, then midtempo roots skank. Female vocals, much in the Euro-Reggae stylee. Should be fine for Safe Harbor.
8. 4:35 ****bit of spoken intro, then upbeat skank with electronics, male vocals.
9. 4:18 **downtempo, relaxed bubble, sweet female vocals. Pleasant.
10. 4:16 eeeyew. What were they thinking? Fine for BET, but…
11. 4:18 ****terrific upbeat midtempo skank with grunty bits, cool guest vocals – lyrics are rather generic love song, but the sound is great.
12. 3:33 ***very jolly and bouncy uptempo bubble, female vocals.
13. 4:24 ****strong upbeat skank, male vocals, positivity lyrics. Nice bit of melodica.
14. 4:21 *****strong midtempo bubble, dub of track 1. Dub is very much their strong suit… Far and away the best track on the record.