COMPILATION

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Review written by Alexandre Tonus on Saturday, June 05th 2004 - 10 429 views Why review volumes 4 and 5 of the compilation “Cultural Merger”, produced by the Dutch label Walboomers, together? Well, because they are perfectly inseparable. Indeed, both are built on the same concept, namely compiling series of riddims (4 in this case), and if you want an overall view of these riddims, you need to own both instalments of the compilation. The riddims chosen to make up these two compilations are the Queen of the Minstrel, the Race Track, the Whip and the Perculator, all already released as singles between 2001 and 2002, for the label Energy Beat, by Richard Burgess, better known as Richie B. The biggest series (12 tracks in all), on the Queen of the Minstrel riddim, is also the one with the largest number of big, already well-known tunes. Indeed, Sizzla, who had already laid down his magnificent “Guide over us” on the same riddim at the time of “Black Woman and Child”, repeats the feat here with “The one I love”, Anthony B. with “Not guilty”, while Glen Washington (“I'll sing my song”) and Luciano (“Morality at stake”) also deliver huge tunes. You can also count on Morgan Heritage, Anthony Cruz and Swade for some very good work. The Tamlins, alone or featuring Saba Tooth, cover the original “Queen of the minstrel” by Cornell Campbell (1973), breathing a certain youthfulness into it, which is not necessarily unpleasant. Also worth noting are LMS, Paul Eliott and Paul “Lymie” Murray, who all turn in commendable performances; in any case, the riddim is so huge that it is not hard. The series of 10 cuts on the Race Track riddim is just as effective. “What's come over me” by Freddie Mc Gregor, “When was the last time” by George Nooks and “Born for this” by Turbulence are all big tunes you never tire of hearing again and again. Tony Rebel, and his inseparable protégée Queen Ifrica, both turn in an impeccable performance, with “Good for your heart” and “Life” respectively. Mikey General, Swade, Aaron Silk and Lymie also rise to the occasion, and even Paul Eliott, who appears on 3 of the 4 series presented, seems more at ease on this riddim than on the others; “Try justice” is a very good track. That leaves one small reggae series (7 tracks), on the Whip riddim, borrowed from the Ethiopians' song of the same name; it is a less well-known riddim than the previous two and one that hosts almost only singers, Saba Tooth being the exception here with his excellent “Health and life”. The songs by Josie Mel and Stevie Face, “I adore you” and “Where did I go wrong”, are also worth remembering. Paul Eliott and Aaron Silk, for their part, deliver less remarkable performances, but not without interest all the same. George Nooks' very good “Signs of the time” would have been far more enjoyable had the recording quality not been so dismal; it sounds like listening to a bad vinyl, with the record scratching and crackling… Note also the presence of a still unknown singjay, Gandi, whose rousing “African Woman” promises great things for the future. Finally, the last riddim on these two compilations, the Perculator riddim, is rather dancehall with a hip-hop mood, and directly inspired by Mary J. Blige's hit “Family affair”, a hit that Turbulence in fact hijacks in his song on this riddim, “Feeling da vibes”. One really has to wonder what such a riddim is doing on a compilation called “Cultural Merger”, especially since, apart from the decent cuts by Sizzla and Anthony B., in a duet with Little Devon, it is mostly the dancehall artists who get the lion's share (Cecile, Danny English, Zumjay / Anthony Cruz, Damian Hall / Gangsta Girl), and it is above all the performances of Madd Anju and Hawkeye that will stay with you (“Sugarcane” and “Buss it up”). But still, the whole remains of good quality. The only real miscalculation of these two compilations is the duplicates from one CD to the other; indeed, both volumes include the song “Never give up” by Mikey General, on the Race Track riddim, as well as “Don't do me that” by Anthony Cruz (volume 4), on the Queen of the Minstrel riddim, which turns up again on volume 5, disguised under the name “Lost in love”. These duplicates are all the more regrettable as there is a George Nooks cut on the Queen of the Minstrel, as well as a Lebanculah on the Race Track, which appear on neither of the two compilations. But then, that is being rather fussy in the face of the richness and quality of what is already on offer. To finish, if I really had to choose one volume over the other, I think I would opt for number 5, for the presence of tunes such as “The one I love”, “Not guilty”, “Born for this” and “Buss it up”, but that is a completely subjective opinion and I can only strongly advise you to get both.

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