New Reviews: March 7, 2003
Reviews by Tom Orr
Various Artists
Arabesque
Restless Records/Ryko REST 73 753, 2002
The first thing you hear on this disc is a piece
that begins and ends with some skillfully feverish work on
the Arabic dumbek drum. Take it as a good sign, 'cause though
this is clearly a set of modern Middle Eastern-inspired music,
the modern elements coexist with the traditional ones in a way
that is likely to please on both sides of the fence. There's
programmed, sampled and processed sounds here, but whoever
compiled this seems intent on seeing to it that the flesh-and-blood
components stand out. Vocally, Natacha Atlas cuts just as deep with
orgasmic elongations on "Kidda" as Rachid Taha does with clipped
growling on the otherwise-soft "Valencia," and both succeed not
only through their respective talents but through adept production
as well. Similarly, cuts from the likes of Omar Faruk Tekbilek,
Gnawa Diffusion and superstar Khaled conjure up mental pictures
leaning more toward deserts than discos. There are some slick
moments, but only "Cantamilla" by Tranquility Bass crosses the
line into annoying. Good stuff.
Various Artists/UB40
UB40 Presents The Fathers of Reggae
Virgin 7243 8 12675 2 3, 2002
England's UB40 have long been in an odd position in reggae.
Dismissed by some critics and listeners as lightweight
(because their biggest hits were cover songs that may
have had earlier reggae incarnations, for one thing), they
have largely been overlooked when it comes to the strength
of some of their original material. Fathers of Reggae takes
great strides toward righting that wrong. Sort of the antithesis
of UB40's Labor of Love series--on which the band laid down
wide-ranging cover versions of songs from the pop and
reggae realms -- Fathers of Reggae is a wall-to-wall sampling of
vocalists whose connection to reggae can be rightly
called patriarchal. The twist is that they're singing lead on
some of UB40's most potent originals. The result is one highlight
after another, with former Melodians frontman Brent Dowe perfectly
attuned to the melancholy backing on "Silent Witness," Max Romeo
soaring and scoring with "Watchdogs," Leroy Sibbles taking "Higher
Ground" to the stratosphere, and John Holt easing forth the quiet
tragedy of "The Pillow" as though the song was always his own.
There's potential for a series here as with the three Labor of
Love volumes, and it would likely continue to be fruitful if
things went that route. This is one of the best collaborative
efforts ever in reggae.
RebbeSoul
Change the World With a Sound
RebbeSoul Music/33rd St. Records 3314, 2002
As RebbeSoul, multi-instrumentalist and singer Bruce Burger
toughens up ancient Jewish musical traditions with hip-hoppy
globally rocking rhythms, makes certain his programmed beats
and samples are laced with real instruments (lots of good guest players here)
and for the most part comes up with a nicely deft mixture of the new with the
very old. His musical works are dedicated to the pursuit of peace,
and RebbeSoul's mosaic of sounds earns points for inventiveness and
having its heart in the right place. As teched-up as Change the World
With a Sound can sometimes be, it comes across in a positively earthy
way, sending forth a balm in the form of music intended to unite and
heal.
Tom Orr is a Southern California-based freelance writer, actor,
percussionist, 9 to 5-er, husband, daddy, and aspiring deep thinker.
He acquires more music than he has time to listen to, and feels the
only solution is to acquire even more.
