Here is a fine tribute to the singer who passed away more than 10 years ago now. This double album gathers all of Garnett Silk's classics and even the others... Obviously essential.
No one will ever know what Garnett Silk's voice would have become over the years, had he not been taken in an accident one day in December 1994. As with so many others who left too soon, this tragedy made Garnett Silk a timeless artist, forever young and with a voice forever perfect. A true instrument, his fragile voice breaks in mid-flight, capturing poignant notes and aching accents. Mystical, playful, ironic or cynical: the intonations are many. Powerfully evocative and allied to his writing talent, it was the voice of the hungry and the oppressed, gathering all the misery and unspeakable hope of the ghetto, when everything was just gun songs and slackness.
"I sing for the people", he proclaims on Singing For The People. Disavantaged or the crucial Slave and Complaint develop burning lyrics with choruses brimming with emotion. This vast compilation also lets us gauge the impact of religion on his work (with, among others, Kingly Character, Jah Jah Is The Ruler, Zion In A Vision and Blessed Be The Almighty).
A serious tribute
While time will never have a hold on Garnett Silk's voice, it is quite another matter for the riddims of the era. Synth pads, drum machines, nothing is spared us. One has to digest the sometimes brutal contrast between the communicative warmth of the singing and the electronic coldness of the instruments. It is a pity to find only three combinations, when the man with the silken voice has several remarkable ones. Still, there remain thirty-seven tracks, photos, notes and an interview of nearly half an hour at the end of the CD: the tribute is a serious one.
