Mr. Marley (Tuff Gong, 1996)

Having minored in English in college, I could pontificate on the symbolism inherent in the photo on the cover of Damian Marley's debut album, Mr. Marley: how the picture of his father, a fellow named Bob, holding him up parallels the great reliance on his father's material that Damian displays on the album, and how the name of the set itself and his nickname, "Jr. Gong," are derivative of Bob Marley.  But I don't need to get that deep.  You just need to listen to Mr. Marley to see that the junior Marley's lack of originality is startling: half of the tracks here feature samples of his father's music.  I realize that marketing him as Bob Marley's son practically guarantees higher sales, but do you have to recycle so much of his material?   Many of these aren't small snippets of songs, either; these tracks incorporate entire verses and/or choruses.  To his credit, though, Jr. Gong picks some of Bob Marley's lesser-known songs to sample, like "One Cup of Coffee," "Midnight Ravers," and "So Much Trouble."  I can generally forgive the younger Marley, since he is still so young; hopefully, he will mature musically.  Stephen Marley, however, who co-writes and produces most of the material here, should know better, having worked on the Melody Makers albums.  Of the Bob Marley-sampled songs, only "Me Name Jr. Gong" -- which takes the music from "Crazy Baldhead" -- and "Trouble," are worth much, the latter mostly because of its sultry, funky music reminiscent of Shabba Ranks' "Mr. Loverman."  That same rhythm carries the hit "Searching," but as a DJ, it is Jr. Gong's harder-edged tracks that stand out.  "Love and Inity," "Old War Chant," and "Mr. Marley" combine his youthful street edge (His vocals are competent, though not spectacular, with a deliberate, old-school flow.) with rootsy dancehall beats that show that he does have some potential, but he has a long way to go before he should invoke the original Mr. Marley.

Welcome to Jamrock [EP] (Universal, 2005)

*GUEST REVIEW*
It's strange reviewing this single after I've heard it for about 9 months on the radio.  DJs such as Chris Goldfinger, Ras Kwame, and the 1xtra Posse have been pushing it.  Even Radio Scotland's quaint sounding Celtic Connections have been giving it plenty of airtime.  I've heard hip-hop, drum 'n bass, grime, and even a "Welcome to England" version.  "Welcome to Jamrock" is basically an incredibly catchy reggae track that's not twee or Xfactorish in any way, shape, or form.  Damian has a hip-hop producers brain and manages to loop a call from Brigadier Jerry, a Sly & Robbie riddim with his own toast by toast account.  However, it's not as busy or muddy as that may sound.  It just works well together to form a classic reggae crossover hit, albeit one that got rather overplayed in 2005.  The other versions of the title are worth tracking down and in some ways are even better than Marley's "original".  "Junior Gong the Dreadful" is a grime lite workout while "Lyrical.44" is hip-hop but not as we know it.  The dub is fine but this track was made for toasting.

- ragudave

Welcome to Jamrock (Universal, 2005)

*GUEST REVIEW*
The most played and publicized reggae album this year and the Grammy Award winner for Best Reggae Album is also, surprisingly, not that bad.  One of Bob Marley's many children to try a hand at the music scene, Damian Marley has released three albums, the first of which was one of the most immature LPs I think I've ever heard.  The experience of that album made me put off being interested in anything by him until one day I was so desperate to hear some new stuff that I decided to sample a few of these songs…aaaaand I was hooked.  The song that did it was "All Night," which features his half-brother Stephen on singing vocals.  (Stephen also co-produced the album and performs on many of the songs.)  His recall their father's sexy ballads from the mid/late seventies.  Verses are chanted by Damian, who, though not the great lyricist that his father was, nor very creative with his phrasing, manages not to ruin the song.  The title track of the album though, which is all Damian, is quite good, and shows this kid's got talent.  Same with "Confrontation," which is also powerful, confident, and strong.  My favorite is "There For You".  It's one of those gratitude songs where you could interpret it as a love song to Jah or to a girl, and though it's preachy, it's pretty right on, not to mention memorable. "Hey Girl" just plain sucks, but it's a club song and no genre crossing album would be complete without one.  The rest of the songs are no better and no worse than the others.  The most interesting is probably "We're Gonna Make It," which at first seems like it's filler, but with a little attention, sounds like a nice little nod to great artists like Jah Mason and Sizzla, though, not as intense as they.  Overall, it's a decent album, by no means horrible or even forgettable, but never remarkable other than the surprise that it left me with -- that Jr Gong is now pretty good. 

- Trammell Scruggs