The theme of this month's column is "catching up." I'm catching up with another late column and I'm going to catch up with three short reviews of CDs that have been sitting on my review shelf for far too long.
Back to Base featuring Benjamin Zephaniah: Heading for the Door
This 2000 release features UK-based dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah on four of its 12 tracks, including the scorching openers "One Day" and "Nu Blue Suede Shoes." Zephaniah has a similar tone to most of the other familiar dub poets (Muta, Ras Mykkal, Ras Sam Brown, etc.), but there's something about his style paired with Back to Base's rock-ish reggae accompaniment that works really well. Perhaps it's that he uses hooks, which give a different depth to the tracks, rather than your standard spoken word poetry over dub tracks.
Back to Base provides an interesting backdrop that is far from straight reggae. Really, "reggae influenced-" could be tacked onto the front of several other genres (rock, electronica, funk) to describe their sound. While I generally prefer straight ahead reggae and a more old-school dub sound, there's something to be said for the type of variety that Back to Base offers. Heading for the Door is an enjoyable, challenging listen.
The Process: Blood and Bones
Rock-reggae hybrids are generally not-so-interesting. And while I'm not really feeling Blood and Bones (due mainly to moments like the painfully bad pseudo-raps on "Mist of Time" and the title track), there are some decent moments on this nine-track release. "Rising Up" manages to lend a decent rock sound to a traditional reggae vibe (the remix at the end of the album isn't anywhere near as good, but are "Club Mix"es ever that good?) and "Rapdown" rides a nice roots vibe. Yet another remake of "Get Up Stand Up" is also included and works well enough.
Overall, an OK album, but nothing to write home about.
Sanchez: Songs from the Heart
For me, Sanchez albums are really hit or miss. Generally, the more covers he does or the closer to gospel he leans, the less impressed I am. I enjoyed Simply Being Me and The Best of Sanchez: Back at One, but absolutely hated Who Is This Man?. Songs from the Heart, a 2000 Artists Only! release falls somewhere in the middle. The disc starts off very strong with tracks like "I Can't Wait," "Missing You" (a Michael Bolton cover!), and "Wherever I Lay My Hat" really showcasing Sanchez's tone, but then the occasional selection like "Wild Flowers" is just so bad you wonder how the heck it got included. Fortunately, most of the disc is quite good, despite the familiarity of many of the riddims. Worth checking out.
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