U Brown - Rougher Than The Rest (CD) 2003 -[Release Date.: 02/21/2003 ]
[Source.......: CDDA ]
[Record Label.: Jah Warrior ]
[Encoder......: Lame ]
[Store Date...: 02/**/2003 ]
[Style........: Reggae ]
[Cat Nr°......: JWCD023 ]
[Quality..: 192kbps Full S44,1]
Track List
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01.U Brown - Rougher Than The Rest 04:02
02.U Brown & Prince Alla - Rasta Business Is No Joke 04:03
03.U Brown & Horace Andy - Girl Mind What You Do 03:31
04.U Brown - Jah Is My Strength 04:15
05.U Brown & Rod Taylor - Ah Rastaman Time Now 03:53
06.U Brown - It's Dancing Time Again 03:29
07.U Brown & Prince Alla - A Song Unto Jah 03:37
08.U Brown - Jammin Straight From Yard 03:44
09.U Brown & Alton Ellis - Youths ! Take It Easy 03:46
10.U Brown - Ska Roots Rock 03:36
11.U Brown - Put Away Racial & Tribal War 03:34
12.U Brown & Peter Broggs - Praise Rastafari Now 04:01
13.U Brown - Shine Your Light 03:56
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49:27 min
68,1 MB
Notes
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There have been definite stages to the musical output of the man
Jah Warrior.firstly in the late 80's and early nineties, his
sound was in the tradition of early digital innovations, from
the same school as early Shaka digital UK 12"s such as "Warrior
Stance" by Dread and Fred, and the pounding physical force of
the Sound Iration dub plates. Jah Warrior weighed in with his
contribution to this radical digital pressure with his early
Napthali tunes, some tracks co produced by Keety Roots of Black
Legacy fame. Jah Warrior's album with Napthali was a committed,
serious album. Well dread, with a deep deep bass resonance,and
spiritually uplifting message lyrics. A classic of early UK
roots, avoiding the pitfalls of cliche. Napthali gave a truly
spirited performance, and the dub treatments out of Dougie's
Conscious Sounds studio were innovative and focussed.
His next stage was the dub cut up "sound collage" style, deep
and layered textures of sound. "Dub From the Heart "vol 1 and 2
were radical explorations of that form, creating meditative,
reflective moods. (By the way, any one who loved that sound
should certainly have checked out the Hydrophonics releases by
now, with their sampled drum tracks reworked, rewound, spliced
and looped to bass oblivion by the man Dougie, Jah Warriors long
time "partner in dub explorations." ) Eno's classic "bass
collage" album of the late 70's was "My Life in the Bush of
Ghosts", featuring hard funk rhythms and an array of African and
Arabic styles with a definite dub influence in the dynamics:
These two albums then, "Dub From the Heart" 1 and 2, were Jah
Warrior's "dub collages" , coming from a similar angle on severe
bass overload ,and making use of an impressionistic sense of
silence and spaciousness in dub. Extreme and intelligent music.
His third stage was harsh, brutal bass pressure: Pugnacious,
cantankerous, disciplined noise. Bass dropping hard, re
arranging your guts, and snare drum echoes to the fore, rimshots
cracking. Urban and contemporary, in a form that was stripped to
the basics, yet woven through with complex percussion patterns.
This album ,"Rougher than the Rest", is in that style: Stripped
down to raw bass and drum dynamics, it is a kind of testament
to, and personal message from the man U Brown. Jah Warrior has
clearly gone to great lengths to make this disc a "personal
platform" for the man U Brown, a platform for his lyrical
expression and his musical message. The cd comes with an
excellent 8 page interview and biography, looking back on the
musical heritage, memories and contributions of U Brown. Anyone
who loves roots and culture and revives will get a lot of
pleasure from reading these memories. Small portraits and
stories of meeting and working with Tubby's, U Roy, Joe Gibbs,
The Mighty Diamonds, Jacob Miller, Bunny Lee...The lyrics are a
lot more personal too this time around ( much more so than "3
the Roots Way", his previous album with Ranking Joe and Trinity,
though that album featured some undeniably firing dubs). His
style on this album has energy and a serious focus, the highly
personalised lyrics chanted with force and at times veering into
"singjay" territory (the fusion of DJ chant and singing style
pioneered by Johnny Osbourne on his early Studio One tunes.)
which is a fine thing, and compliments his presentation.
"Jah is my Strength" is the hardest track here, backed up by
Dougie's rude and boisterous syn drum patterns spiralling over
the surface of the mix, Twinkle Brothers style, and Jah
Warrior's melancholy and thoughtful piano melody brooding in the
background. "Jah always make me feel so positive about life, he
always give me a vibe when the tide get high, Jah will never let
me fall by the wayside.always heal my sorrow for a brighter
tomorrow, so I aint gonna live in regret..".
"Jammin Straight from Yard" is a storming Hip Hop dub fusion
with U Brown effortlessly chanting, "hip hop inna rub a dub
style, I want the world to know we versatile." The bass is a
fluid boom, sounding like it was sampled from an old Charlie
Mingus acoustic bass groove, the drums sounding like they
originated on an old skool Blue Note or Impulse album.( The drum
sound on the Elvin Jones and Richard Davis Impulse label album
"Heavy Sounds" comes to mind)
"Youths Take it Easy" features a beautiful plaintive lyric and
melody from the man Alton Ellis, and it will be particularly
pertinent to the UK listeners right now too, with the recent
ugly surge of gunman violence coming up in the ghettos here.too
many darkhearts picking up the gun, not enough conscious
reflections...Alton teaches, "There is a gunshot everywhwere, it
seems the youthman didn't care, illegal guns..seems to mash up
the covenant." Timely lyrics, as UK's abandoned and impoverished
inner cities get flooded by weapons from East Europe's
conflicts.
"Praise Rastafari" features Peter Broggs classic vocal, a line
from "Jah Sit upon his golden Throne", backed by storming b line
pressure.
For the Prince Alla fans among you, this album also features the
DJ versions to the tracks "Glory" and "Upon Jah Mountain", both
distinctive for their serious bass lines.(Remember the
blistering dub to "Glory"?)
"Shine your Light" ends the album in fine style with its
reworking of the "Declaration of Rights" bass drop and featuring
good lyrical turns from U Brown"Bad minded people always give I
a fight, I don't know whythey come with them big plastic smile,
but when me check it out, enough of them a reptile ! So Jah Jah
Shine your light so I can see clearly, in every walk of life."
As Blood Shanti of Aba Shanti Sound System expressed it in a
recent interview: "I was born in UK with inner city vibes. So
many artists strive for a Jamaican sound, or an American sound,
but I feel that is the wrong road for UK artists to take. We've
been born here and we must create our own sound forms, and put
our stamp on the world."
So in the tradition of great UK roots artists such as Dennis
Bovell, Mafia and fluxy, Adrian Onu Sound,Gussie P and the
Disciples, artists like Jah Warrior are doing just that,
defining what it is to live in UK, to be brought up closely with
deeply felt roots music, to absorb those Jamaican origins and
then without imitation, take up the challenge to produce
genuinely innovative, original and authentic UK roots and
culture music.
//TWCMP3
enjoy!!!
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