Black Magic Reggae
Reviewed by Sadie O., 4/6/07
Roots Reggae/Ska/Rock Steady and even Calypso songs, instrumentals and dubs with horror movie themes or titles. There are lots of instrumentals with little evidence of horror apart from the titles, and there are some incredibly goofy songs. First CD is mostly songs, second CD is mostly instrumentals, “versions” and dubs. Superstition looms large in Jamaican culture, so there’s no shortage of material…
No FCCs. Best tracks IMO are 10 and 13 on CD one, 2, 8 and 19 on CD two.
1. 3:29 *** downtempo ponderous bubble, great keyboard noise, great early Wailers vocals, odd lyrics and music.
2. 2:24 ***weird little unintelligable intro, midtempo lover’s rock bubble with very early toasting – very odd indeed.
3. 3:04 *downtempo early roots style instrumental – rather bad sounding master, but nice historical slice of the evolution of reggae…
4. 3:06 **midtempo roots skank, strong music and good singing/harmonies, all about a ghost party. You will learn gender-specific ghost laughs!
5. 3:45 ***midtempo bubble – big early hit for the Wailers, and you can see why. Bob married Rita after she fought off a “duppy” for him. True story.
6. 3:18 **complex midtempo bubble, cover of the Santana classic with Dennis Brown’s trademark beautiful vocals.
7. 6:48 *midtempo classic roots skank with dubby mix, religious lyrics. Includes “version” – mostly instrumental b-side of single.
8. 3:39 *midtempo, cool trumpet, instrumental
9. 1:56 **uptempo, happy skank, keyboardist is clearly delighted to be bewitched. Instrumental.
10. 4:13 ****somewhat uptempo Calypso by the biggest name in the genre – fun lyrics and vocals, just as you’d expect from the Sparrow.
11. 3:05 **cool midtempo bubble with complex and danceable riddim, pretty tenor vocals, religious lyrics. Toast by someone unnamed.
12. 2:58 ***great “version” of track 11, vocals come in and out, but mostly it’s just the nutted music full of odd noises. Fun!
13. 3:55 ****old original version of the Calypso classic. Sing it all together now!
14. 3:29 ***big band calypso, lots of fun. Must have been a fair hit – there’s been remakes.
15. 2:38 **downtempo rock steady instrumental. Fairly bad sound quality, but a fine tune.
16. 2:40 ***slow ska instrumental with lots of crazy noises.
17. 2:49 *squeaky electronic intro, then midtempo roots skank, rather bad sound quality.
18. 2:48 *slow instrumental skank with trumpet and piano.
19. 2:47 ***fast ska with farfisa and random female admonishments.
20. 2:25 *fast ska with lots of keyboards. How it has to do with the Wolfman is beyond me, but Jamaicans have great imaginations…
21. 2:39 ****big midtempo ska with horn section – very nice instrumental.
22. 3:02 **goofy spoken intro with lots of echo, fast ska instrumental, perky farfisa, which apparently speaks to those nutty Jamaicans of vampirism…
23. 3:24 **big, weird, dramatic organ intro, then midtempo bubble with silly spoken stuff about “me Dracula! Run!” Good just for the goofiness factor.
24. 3:20 **electronic bleeps and spoken intro, uptempo rock steady bubble with odd noises and goofy human intervention.
25. 2:52 ***slow ska, Dekker’s sweet vocals, wacky lyrics.
26. 3:17 *uptempo ska with horns and lots of bounce. Do the Vampire Hop!
27. 3:09 **midtempo rock steady with toasting (sounds a lot like Big Youth) and chorus.
28. 7:00 ****thick midtempo roots dub, tons of layers of sound, male singing and female chorus, then toast by the good Doctor. Little reprise at end.
29. 3:17 ***big fat midtempo skank, dub instrumental. Juicy and nice.
30. 3:11 ***starts with quite a bit of howling wind, then downtempo dub skank and silly bits of vocals and howling. Nutz!
31. 2:32 *uptempo instrumental, ska but with definite dub elements.
32. 4:06 *uptempo ska instrumental, fairly poor sound quality. Not a Metallica cover, dammit… Fades out halfway through and comes back in as something else entirely, with LOTS of farfisa.
33. 3:36 **nutty conversation intro with tons of echo, then midtempo rock steady “version” with Augustus Pablo’s melodica.
34. 2:50 *midtempo dubby instrumental bubble with lots of keyboards, a bit of Latin feel to the riddim.
35. 3:32 **midtempo groovy shuffle, instrumental bubble with lots of horns and keyboards.
36. 3:17 **midtempo instrumental with a bit of dub. Mostly skank, bit of bubble.
37. 2:11 ***thick slinky dub with beat that comes and goes, male vocals. A bit of “Get Up, Stand Up”.
38. 2:39 *uptempo roots bubble instrumental, Alphonso’s fine horn.
39. 7:52 ****random intro, then midtempo skank dub “version” with Lee Perry’s ranting and female chorus.
40. 2:32 **spoken intro, then very downtempo, very sparse rock steady dub instrumental.