Dancehall 2: The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture
Reviewed by Sadie O., 2/5/10
Second installation of Soul Jazz’s fantastic overview of the early years of Dancehall in Jamaica. All killer, no filler! A few tracks were hits outside a Yard, but most are revelations. Play often and LOUD.
CD1:
1. 3:11 ***very downtempo alternative version of the great hit about the soap opera vampire of the 70’s. random screams to help paint the picture, fun lyrics (“Barney chew you neck like a Wrigley’s”)…
2. 3:15 ****jaunty midtempo dancehall skank – nice up de dance! Great lyrics, too.
3. 7:01 ****sweet rub-a-dub style bubble, essential dancehall. Includes the dubby toast.
4. 3:51 ***slow hard skank with electronic machine gun noises, pretty tenor vocals.
5. 3:12 **slow skank, rather depressing lyrical premise.
6. 6:37 ****classic downtempo dancehall skank, long spoken intro, then Yellowman does his take on a dancehall favorite – bit hit.
7. 3:58 ***spoken intro, gruff vocals, incomprehensible dancehall chanting with only little bits of music for first music. Turns out to be a series of shoutouts to the great toasters and DJs.
8. 4:03 **very downtempo rather fragmented skank with lots of percussion elements, lyrics rather abusive towards non-believers. Vocals get seriously weird – all choked up over the idea of not believing in the bible…
9. 3:11 ***midtempo dubby skank with semi-nonsense vocals.
10. 3:47 ****this is great because it’s so non-slick… slow (and apparently warped) riddim, high, quavery vocals.
11. 5:44 *****classic dancehall sound, with extremely educational lyrics, and there WILL be a quiz afterward. Actually, there’s a dub which includes bits of completely unrelated singing. Huh! The bizarre juxtaposition of vocals gives this another star…
12. 3:47 ****interesting electronic skank, economics theory lyrics.
CD2:
1. 3:38 ****bouncy midtempo electronic riddim, truly odd vocals.
2. 3:32 **almost bluesy midtempo skank with double tom beat, apparently a rather misogynist rant, but it’s hard to understand anything at all…
3. 3:47 ****uptempo rootsy bubble, fun crazed vocals.
4. 3:15 ***same downtempo riddim as track 10, but very slightly less warped dubplate. All about being a Very Naughty Boy and becoming a big star.
5. 3:57 *****excellent – downtempo electronic riddim with crazed vocals, lyrics both weird and true.
6. 3:44 ****bit of vocal intro, downtempo stepping razor skank, praise of Reggae.
7. 3:29 ***same riddim as previous track (too bad they don’t run together) – the dub; no vocals.
8. 3:51 ****jaunty upbeat skank, goofy lyrics.
9. 8:52 ***kill him? Oh – the roach in the corner! That’s ok then. Downtempo skank, bit of electronic noise, and very dubby dub.
10. 3:35 ***downtempo skank, pretty harmonies, all about trying to get the police not to arrest you for selling pot. That’ll work!
11. 3:56 ***same riddim as CD 1 track 10 and CD 2 track 4, lyrics all about loving your tourist pals.
12. 3:56 ****rather nondescript riddim with lots of tambourine, crazed gruff vocals from Buju Banton.