Conscious Revolution (Eyes of the World, 2008)

*GUEST REVIEW*
Southern California-based guitarist/singer/composer/producer/arranger Kurt Mahoney has a varied background that includes performing rock, jazz and world beat music, but reggae's been a recurring theme in his work. And though reggae is the focus of his band Roots Foundation and their album Conscious Revolution, you can hear some of those other musical predilections of his coming into play. There's a touch of Africa in songs like "Let It Grow" and "All Around The World," a jam band vibe to some of Mahoney's tasty guitar work, a jazz feel in the sax riffs that pop up at various moments, and so on. An even more instantly defining characteristic of Roots Foundation's music is Mahoney's vocal style, which clearly sounds like it emerged from an American heartland and not a Jamaican one. And that's good, because trying to slavishly copy Caribbean vocal cadences would do this artist no favors. He's got some valid points to make in his songs, and better he should make them in his own voice and not an assumed one. Besides extolling the virtues of herb, Mahoney addresses human frailty ("Turn Away"), relationship quirks ("Never Gonna Get Me Back"), unity ("Teach Us How To Love") and other slack-free subjects with a fresh combination of American twang and island pulse. It's only occasionally that the album lags, coming across as overly anodyne and feel-good in a few spots before getting its groove back. Still, the bulk of what's here is very good, and the guest appearances by Santa Davis and Ras Michael add to that goodness.

- Tom Orr