Click pic to buy!

He Who Knows It Feels It (Heartbeat, 1991)

Even if you are unfamiliar with Yami Bolo, his style will sound familiar if you've heard anything from Michael Rose or Junior Reid.  Indeed, I'm surprised that Bolo was never the lead singer of Black Uhuru, as the other two were.  His nasal, wavering, near-yodeling-styled vocals are almost identical to Rose and Reid, and he even throws in the characteristic (for Rose and Reid, at least) series of scatting wailings and exclamations ("stanna wichy woi, doo doo dwoi," etc.).  Also like the other two, Bolo's music is dancehall with a cultural slant (he's a protégé of Sugar Minott), and his melodies are similarly understated, almost to a fault.  Indeed, Rose and Reid's albums haven't been as strong as they should be, due partly to writing that makes the melodies sound bland or nonexistent.  Some of this is merely subdued melodies, while some is just poor writing.  I wish I could say that He Who Knows It Feels It breaks from this trend, but I'd be a big fat liar.  Though not a failure, this album is flat and unexciting, hindered by dated, repetitive digital rhythms.  Bolo's roots sensibility and haunting vocals suffice to carry you through, however, on tracks like "King's Birthday," "Turbo Charge," and the title cut.  Also solid are the lovers dancehall tunes "Let Me Be Your Man" and "Lady in Love," although they only serve to balance out lesser tracks like "Dance Hall Music" -- with its corny chorus "Dance hall music, rock to the reggae music" -- and the bloated hip-hop-infused mess "Get Up and Dance."

Click pic to buy!

Click pic to buy!

Fighting for Peace (RAS, 1994)

A typically nondescript album from Yami Bolo that you almost tend to overlook because of his understated style.  He here sounds increasingly like Michael Rose, for better or worse and even has the Black Uhuru band backing him up on "Officials Are Like Locust," the best song on the album, with its heavy, heavy beat.  As for the remaining cuts, the melodies don't carry the unspectacular dancehall rhythms as well as on Up Life Street, with "The Whole World Fighting for Peace," the folksy, African drum-laden "People of South Africa," "I Don't Know Why," and "Nature Boy" (although Luciano recorded a better version) being the strongest.   Four -- count 'em, four -- rather annoying hip-hop/dance numbers unfortunately put a damper on whatever promise this album has: "Singing Up Life Street," "Music Make Me Groove," "In Love With a Rastaman," and "Never Stopping."  What prompted him to break out of his cultural dancehall style for these bombs is beyond me, but it's a tribute to the rest of the tracks that Fighting for Peace is still listenable nonetheless.