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Bushman Get It In Your Mind
Bushman Get It In Your Mind
Four years after his 'Signs' album, Bushman returns with a new set released in February on his own Burning Bush label.
Sampler
With his rich, deep, resonant voice Dwight Duncan (AKA Bushman) could almost be Luciano’s bigger, gruffer brother. Like Luciano he has been compared to, and influenced by, Dennis Brown (although neither has quite the same playful vocal quality of the crown prince); he has released a new album featuring a Peter Tosh cover; and like Luciano’s Jah Is My Navigator, it’s one of his finest in years.
Gathered partly from singles, and issued on his own Burning Bushes label, the choice of rhythms for Get It In Your Mind is close to spot on. Bushman’s bombastic bass-baritone is in full effect for the declarative ‘Singing My Song’, on Fabian Francis’ Undeniable/Great Train. The authentic late-seventies militant drumming of Khabir Bonner’s Good Times rhythm has inspired some heavily spiritual lyrics in the past (like Capleton’s ‘Steppin Up’ and Lutan Fyah’s ‘Rasta Better Off’) and Duncan’s ‘Rasta Nuh Dead’’ honours the tradition, brimming with powerful mystical imagery - Jah riding on the wings of cherubim, “my people gazing at the skies for something they’ll never find” and “Rastafari is the food of my salvation”.
The serious subject matter continues with a rendition of “Gibbo” Gibbs' adultery-themed Scent Of A Man’ over another moody backing (Gibbs’ State Of Emergency) before a rousing, if not particularly different, version of Tosh’s disco-roots anthem ‘Buk-In-Hamm Palace’. Having raised the tempo, Bushman maintains it with two excellent dancehall tracks: the crunk flavoured ‘Can’t Get The Best Of Me’ and ‘Born Fi Di Ting’.
A few of the synth settings are a little perfunctory - and the number of vocal overdubs is an acquired taste - with scores of Bushmen all fighting for your ears’ attention. But, surprisingly, instead of being annoying “skits”, the non-musical interludes all provide useful information about the songs and artist - a practice other performers should adopt post-haste.
So while some of these songs are available as 45s that shouldn’t put you off unless you own them all. For a patchwork of different producers’ efforts, this album flows remarkably well and the predominance of strong tracks over weak make it a worthwhile acquisition.
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