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M-16 (Hitbound, 1982) Lone Ranger stands out from other pioneer DJs due to his voice, style, and rhythm. I'm not a big fan of early DJs toasting styles -- the prototype being U-Roy's rambling, disjointed, incomprehensible near-talking -- and that's partly why I do appreciate Lone Ranger so much. He is the prototype for the modern DJ, chatting more rhythmically (on the beat!), clearly and imaginatively. Many of the rhythms on M-16 are classic ones that you've heard before, but they're not so familiar as to sound tired. The beats here are like old school rap -- simple (using little more than a bass, piano, and drums, as exemplified on "Natty Burial"), heavy, and funky. The key word that keeps popping up when you try to describe this album is "rhythm"; both the music and Lone Ranger's vocal flow is all about rhythm (again, at the heart of great hip-hop also). The best track on M-16, "Rise & Meet Jah," finds both man and music at their peak, at their most rhythmic. The driving bass and piano riff of "Wicked a Go Run" are also top-notch. Also nice -- and more popular -- are "Fist to Fist," "Natty Burial," and the title track. |
| Track Listing 1. Natty Burial 2. M-16 3. Up Town Style 4. Sky Juice 5. Shank Steady 6. Rise & Meet Jah 7. Fist to Fist 8. Wicked a Go Run 9. Sat Upon the Rock |
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Collections (Grapevine, 1994)
A "best of" collection for dancehall pioneer Lone Ranger is a great idea, but Collections fails to deliver the goods. Inexplicably, several of the songs here are updated versions of Lone Ranger's hits. "Burial," "M-16," and "Fist to Fist," for example, are backed by different, less raw, more modern dancehall rhythms than those on the M-16 album. Although not all of the cuts are re-recorded like these, many have a similarly watered down sound when compared to the greatness of the material on M-16, especially when spread out over 20 tracks. The strongest song here to me is the bouncy "Rub and Scrub," while the sing-songy "Rosemarie," the slow, poignant "Life in the Ghetto," "Johnny Bad So," and the hit "Barnabas Collins" are all solid. But with 20 cuts, there is a lot of room for mediocre material that lacks the spark and freshness of Lone Ranger's best works.
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