Toe 2 Toe Volume IX (Jet Star, 2005)
With two bright, up-and-coming stars like Richie Spice and
Jah Cure, how could this album go so very wrong? I don't know, but I'm sure
Al-Qaeda was involved somehow. How else do you explain the immense squandering of talent that is the ninth
Toe 2 Toe showcase? It should really be called Toe 2 Toe: Flotsam vs.
Jetsam, because it is all filler with little even approaching killer. Only Cure's "The Sound" and Spice's "Gone Astray" (and possibly Cure's "Heartbeat" and Spice's "Slang a Slang") manage to remind us why we gave a damn about these two singers in the first place. I don't know where the Jet Star compilers got these songs from, but they feel like rejects from the two artists' previous albums, or in the case of Richie Spice's creaky, dated "Oh Woman," tracks from early in their careers that should remain buried. The overly bubbly "This Train" sets the album's disturbing tone, with what sounds like a "choo-choo" chorus, while "Most High Cup Full" does little with the classic music from
Bob Marley's "Sun Is Shining," only serving to remind us how inadequate it is in comparison. I can look past the treacly sound of "Earth Alert" but not lyrics that can at best be deemed overly traditionalistic and at worst homophobic: "Earth alert / For yuh see di woman dem start wear pants and stop wear skirt. / Things gone to the dirt / For yuh see some man start wear blouse and stop wear shirt." Jah Cure's homeland deserves a better dedication than his shrill "Jamaica," whose lyrics sound like they were penned by the tourism bureau. Then, Richie Spice dares to inflict
his rendition of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" on us...and he seems to do it with a straight face! How much innocent studio time had to die for
that? "Robbery," meanwhile, is an OK reworking of Barrington
Levy's "Under Mi Sensi," but like "Most High Cup Full," its famed music only reminds us of a much better song. Most of the other tracks, like "Go Away" and "Share the Love," are generic bores, and even songs like "Diamond & Gold" and "Out of Control," which seem to have the potential to excel, never pan out. What a shame. I hope no one ever buys
Toe 2 Toe thinking it's representative of the works of Jah Cure and Richie Spice, because it really, really, really isn't. Really. |
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