Earl Sixteen – Reggae Ambassador
Reviewed by Sadie O., 1/8/08
Pure Roots Rock Reggae and Rastafarianism. Really lovely tenor vocals and classic sounding riddims highlight the record. Earl has been singing for years, but suddenly this record is a huge hit – topping the Reggae charts all over right now. Unlike virtually everything else on the Reggae charts right now, it doesn’t suck at all! Ha!
No FCCs detected – all righteous. I like 7, 9 and 15 best.
1. 2:27 spoken exhortation with orchestral background. Chunky nyahbinghi beat after a minute or so. More of an intro than a song.
2. 3:55 **funky midtempo roots bubble. Hard times lament.
3. 2:43 **pretty minimalist bubble with prominent keyboards, armagideon time lyrics.
4. 3:05 ***minimalist skank, fun squeepy guitar effect, lovely vocals.
5. 2:57 ***strong, very downtempo roots bubble, vocal harmonies a bit reminiscent of Israel Vibration. Bun dung Babylon lyrics.
6. 3:00 **relaxed midtempo bubble about the history of Reggae.
7. 3:32 ****sweet midtempo skank with syndrum and melodica, vocal harmonies, praise of the music lyrics.
8. 2:51 **midtempo minimalist skank, pretty singing about Ethiopia as the fatherland.
9. 3:14 ****uptempo Rock Steady bounce with fine production, lament about gangland. Abrupt ending.
10. 5:00 **midtempo skank, heartfelt vocals, and a bit of whistling, cover of a Simply Red song (!)
11. 3:19 **downtempo skank, song about dancing and happiness…
12. 2:22 ***midtempo skank with a fair amount of dub, rather amusing lyrics.
13. 3:48 **nice bouncy skank, love gone wrong lyrics.
14. 3:38 **uptempo skank, slightly dubby, Jah love lyric..
15. 5:12 ****midtempo skank, the obligatory love song to pot. Yay!