BUSY SIGNAL

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Review written by Alexandre Tonus on Wednesday, October 06th 2010 - 13 690 views Released in the middle of summer, Busy Signal’s third album went almost unnoticed. Titled D.O.B. (for date of birth), this album nonetheless marks a turning point in Busy Signal’s career. Far from the dark moods and committed lyrics of the first two, Busy rides here on the wave of the success of his previous hit, Tic toc, and so favours songs formatted for clubs and radio. From the outset, the very techno-flavoured How U bad so, produced by Stephen McGregor, sets the tone. And so it goes throughout this new opus. There are no fewer than seven songs devoted to girls, out of a total of 15. In the midst of all this, the duet with his mentor Bounty Killer (the album’s only guest), Summn' a guh gwaan, almost passes for a UFO. Another trend peculiar to the "new" Busy Signal is to multiply sung choruses, with plenty of auto-tune, which gives all his tracks that smooth and sometimes slightly insipid side. The deejay has nonetheless found success with his covers of Phil Collins’ One more night and the Commodores’ Night shift, both present here. It must be said, moreover, that it is perhaps on his cover of Elvis Crespo’s Suavamente, titled Busy latino, that he is most convincing. Happily, Busy Signal’s so original and effective flow is intact, but too often in the service of rather hollow lyrics. We will still pick out from all this songs like Opera and the semi a cappella closer Nuh boy caan buy wi out, or Nuh fraid, which is not unlike the hit from his early days, Step out. This "D.O.B." thus marks the birth of a less fired-up, less committed, and more sanitised Busy Signal too. In a word, more mainstream.

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