Alpha Blondy – Cocody Rock!!!/Jerusalem
Reviewed by Sadie O, 11/26/10
Roots Rock Reggae from Cote d’Ivoire. Reissues of Blondy’s first major hit albums from back in the 80’s, with a couple extra tracks each. At the time, Blondy had to get sanctioned by the Wailers in order to get any international attention as an African Reggae artist. His vocals are distinctive – almost a bit strangled sounding – but quite nice, and he sings in quite a number of languages. Players of instruments and backup singers are outstanding.
All tracks excellent. I like 3, 5 and 8 on Cocody, 2, 5 on Jerusalem.
Cocody Rock
1. 4:53 **very upbeat swingy skank with horn section, bit of nyahbinghi drum., sung in English.
2. 5:47 ***downtempo bubble with lots of swing and bass, sung in Dioula (Cote d’Ivoire). Very pretty.
3. 5:15 ****forceful, and yet blatty, midtempo bubble – good sound. Sung in English. Great lyrics, too.
4. 4:34 ***uptempo bubble, nice guitars, forceful lyrics.
5. 5:24 *****uptempo bubble, cool guitar and bass sound, sung in Dioula. Gorgeous.
6. 4:57 ***starts out with a whinny? Then midtempo one-drop, sung in Dioula.
7. 5:41 ***nice simple dub of track 1. No vocals, sort of a textbook dub, bringing each track to the front one after another.
8. 5:52 ****dub of track 2, lots of bass. A fair amount of vocals retained.
Jerusalem
1. 7:50 **starts with odd whistles and sounds, then very slow call and response in Hebrew with keyboards and chimes. After 1:15, a slow, downbeat skank. Pretty. Sung in Hebrew and English.
2. 6:38 *****big horn flourishes, then very slow, forceful one-drop, cool vocals in Dioula.
3. 4:22 **pretty midtempo bubble with bluesy guitar, vocals in English.
4. 5:16 **uptempo and upbeat bubble with fine horn section and lots of hand drums. Vocals in English, and it seems he really does love Paris…
5. 5:22 ****positively ponderous dub bubble with Atari game noises – fun sound. Vocals mostly in French.
6. 3:18 **very uptempo bubble, vocals in French.
7. 5:07 ***slow bubble with squeepy keyboards. Vocals in Dioula.
8. 5:29 ***alarming electronics intro, then swingy groove with hyperspeed keyboard bubble, hand drums, vocals in Dioula and French.
9. 2:46 **churchical organ, vocals in Dioula, sounds like a hymn. Only his sincerity pulls this off…
10. 8:03 **dub of track 1. He’s actually got an angel choir on this one, I swear. Slow skank after long intro, vocals retained. Not very dubby, really, just a slightly different version.