2 Times Revolution

Alborosie – 2 Times Revolution
Reviewed by Sadie O., 8/6/11
Roots rock reggae and Alborosie’s inimitable gruff sing-jay vocals. Personal note – VP released the one of the worst tracks (track 2) as the first single from the CD, and left me in morbid fear that Alborosie had actually put out a crap record – so I didn’t listen to it for a while. Worked up my courage finally – and lo, it was good. Whew! I don’t think I have the strength to face the concept of a bad Alborosie record.
No FCCs detected. I like 4, 7, 11 and esp. 8, but most tracks are killer.
1. 3:28 ***spoken diatribe intro, midtempo skank, very roots rock reggae stylee. Sampled bits of his hit “Kingston Town”.
2. 3:23 harp intro and vocoder – too commercial! I don’t know why they use that crap on perfectly good vocals…
3. 3:40 ***nice midtempo bubbly bubble – riddim sounds like classic Wailers, but Alborosie sounds like no one else.
4. 3:45 ****cute happy chirpy little intro, salute to revolutionairies in Spanish and patois. A touch of Manu Negra in the chorus.
5. 3:33 ***roots rock bubble with syndrum,
6. 3:44 *sweet roots bubble, happy love song. Etana’s guest vocals are sort of a very light modern R&B.
7. 4:30 ****fraught piano and soap opera talk in Italian. Midtempo roots bubble with bits of opera, guest rap in the style of Linton Kwesi Johnson. Interesting. Different. Huh!
8. 3:29 *****cool downtempo minor key dancehall. Apparently a kid’s chorus singing praises of sensimilla, nice touch. Heh! Awesome.
9. 3:11 **bouncy upbeat midtempo skank, bleak take on current events… which are bleak. So there you go.
10. 3:43 **downtempo bubble with significant female chorus (really a Wailers/I-Threes sound), Christian armagedeon song. Great playing on this one.
11. 3:46 ****terrific modern dancehall riddim. Downtempo and nutty. What fun!
12. 3:49 ***twangy guitar intro, midtempo bubble, very classic sound, almost Lover’s Rock. Sweet! Reminds me of early Toots & Maytals.
13. 3:35 ***bouncy bubble with admonition from an expert.
14. 4:16 extremely commercial R&B production. I can’t stand the guest vocals – ugh!
15. 3:52 **hybrid calypso and nyahbinghi, downbeat and pleasant. A bit generic in the female vocals, but the lyrics are sincere as heck.