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Reggae Books Reggae Posters Reggae Concert Reggae Album |
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Hey Punk. . . Get Riddim! (Victory World, 2001) This is one of the odder compilations I've come across in a while. Not that the songs themselves are strange -- or even bad -- but the song selection seems random and perplexing. Reading the title, I figured this would be a collection of ska tunes that made waves with the UK punk crowd in the late '70s and early '80s. Instead, Hey Punk turns out to be mostly digital dancehall from the mid- to late-'80s and '90s, with a few roots tunes thrown in -- all pretty much culled (somewhat lazily) straight from the artists' studio albums. So what's the relation to punk? Your guess is as good as mine. The stated goal of the album is "to make a new generation of youth aware and excited about great reggae music." Um, OK. I wouldn't assert these are necessarily the greatest tunes to win over a non-reggae audience, but as I said, they're not bad, either; some, like "Rumours," "Herbsman Hustling," "Almshouse," and "Pumpkin Belly," are considered by many to be classics of the dancehall sub-genre. I've never particularly cared much for the latter 3, but the inclusion of the vibrant roots duo of Black Uhuru's "Fit You Haffe Fit" (from 1986's Brutal) and Israel Vibration's "Mud Up" (from Free to Move), along with Lee Perry's tranquil "Come Along" (from Scratch and Company Chapter 1) and the early Sizzla cut "Mother of Nations" (from his debut Burning Up) make this an intriguing and unpredictable, if somewhat confusing, set. |
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