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HORACE ANDY
Livin' it up
Release date :
04-26-2007
Label :
Taxi
Tracklist :
01. Fire a go burn
02. Holy Mount Zion (feat. King Kong)
03. I'm Alive
04. Zion Gates
05. Livin' it up
06. One Love
07. True Love
08. Sharing the Love
09. Bless You
10. Skylarking
11. King of Kings
12. Rastafari Prophecy
13. True Rastaman
14. I'm Alive version
Related video :
Horace Andy feat. Gregory Isaacs
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REVIEW
Review written by Benoit Georges
on Wednesday, May 30th 2007 - 14 710 views
The venerable Horace Andy returns with "Livin' it up", a new album produced by Sly and Robbie, with the cooperation of Guillaume "Stepper" Briard. As the Jamaicans say, "a new broom sweeps clean, but an old broom knows every corner". That saying applies in part to Horace Andy's new album, which takes up the challenge of making something new from good old recipes.
"Livin' it up" is indeed the result of a carefully chosen musical cast, lining up famous instrumentalists: besides the obvious bass and drums duo, we find for example Ansel Collins, Tyrone Downie, "Nambo" Robinson, Dean Fraser and the percussionists Sticky and Skully. All the riddims were composed for the album and leave the musicians room to express themselves on rather long, dubbed versions. The result is not homogeneous, however, and offers fairly varied reggae sounds, even if the Sly and Robbie stamp remains omnipresent.
We move pleasantly from airy tracks such as Fire a go burn to a good "stepper" combination with King Kong on Holy mount Zion, from a light Livin' it up or the cheerful True rastaman, to the rub-a-dub of King of kings or Rastafari prophecy (these two lyrics as well as that of Livin' it up were written by Winston McAnuff). The "lover" theme is of course not forgotten with True love and Sharing your love, as syrupy as could be. Among these new tracks, I'm alive, on a classic one-drop of more than seven minutes, stands out as one of the finest compositions on the album and is given a clean instrumental version.
For the rest, "Livin' it up" does not shy away from a few covers of "Sleepy"'s classics. Even though the riddims are new, One Love, Zion gates and the unavoidable Skylarking struggle to surpass the earlier versions. It is worth noting, however, that Bless you regains a welcome freshness here.
The DVD part of the project, a sort of "making of", is well worth the detour. Gathered at Harry J studio in Kingston, the Taxi Gang's close-knit crew is followed through the various recording sessions. The documentary offers slices of Jamaican and studio life as well as striking musical scenes: Horace Andy studiously writing his lyrics, the two percussionists Sticky and Skully, with their many accessories, filmed up close, or Robbie Shakespeare playing monstrous bass lines or dispensing singing and diction advice to Horace Andy. Gregory Isaacs, who was no doubt passing by, even drops in on the riddim of I'm alive.
This report is therefore an excellent complement to the album and puts the viewer at the heart of the studio's intimacy, watching music in the making. |
exellent!!!!
a ne pas rater au Garance fin Juin. En concert c vraiment un tueur.
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