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Bushwhackers Gangbangers by Winston Jarrett
Bushwhackers Gangbangers by Winston Jarrett
A hit and miss attack.
Sampler
There was a time once before CD's and the digital age where an album was made up of around 10 / 12 tracks with a running time of around 30 to 40 minutes. Now with a CD you can easily double that time and so cram in a load more. This can be a good thing, especially when dealing with compilations but with individual artists this is often not the case and this is where Winston Jarrett's new 19 track album 'Bushwhackers Gangbangers' firmly falls.
It starts off well enough with Story of My Life, a story of destitution and of the solace taken in herbal remedies, which is then followed by a further 8 tracks in classic reggae style of song followed by a version. Title track, the anti gang culture Bushwhackers, is fine, smooth, and bassie, while Gethseneme rides on the bright skank of the Vanity riddim mixed with some crackling and popping nayabinghi drumming.
Unfortunately after this it goes well somewhat of piste. The last three tracks are billed as a 'bonus' but for me all from Montpellier Collie with its poor production, that crackles like everything was way too loud in the mix, are bonus material, because from here on it is obvious the remaining tracks are from different times. There are some good moments like Fools Says on The Abyssinians Mandela and Children Get Ready on Armageddon Time, which appear to be Winston going almost DJ style delivering his vocal over instrumental cuts of these riddims played straight from a deck. Babylon Red and Work for Your Money with their more digitalised sound and fair ground style keyboards, despite clearly being at least 15 years old I'd guess have something to offer, though production is patchy.
The first two of the three official bonus cuts Fear Not and its dub, from 1975, on the Rocking Time riddim sound as if they have been recorded in someone's home on an old tape recorder using a mic rather than from a master tape, which is a shame, as the track in its full glory with bright, rather than dull, horns would I'm sure be a pleasure to listen to. The last track of the set is 1971's Shaving Cream, a classic slice of bawdy, humorous early reggae that does make quite a nice 'bonus'.
Maybe I'm being a little over fussy with my review, after all this is only available via download, so you can doctor the mp3 files to make your own track list or place them in separate folders if you like. However as it stands 'Bushwhackers Gangbangers' starts off as a well conceived album, then some bizarrely collected out takes and old forgotten recordings are thrown in to stretch it out which sadly sullies the effect of the first 9. I feel with a bit more forethought and tidying up of the production and presentation of the latter tracks he could have in fact made two albums, then instead of me saying Bushwhackers is an ok album, I’d of been saying it’s great.
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Read comments (1)
| Posted by Talimon on 05.26.2010 | |
| I agree with the first comment. Karl what is wrong with you mon this is a great album and its not just on line you can get it in stores too and the bonus track are for hard core fans of Winston's music which sounds like you are not your basic music listener. Don't get caught up in tech crap like you did you are over de top bro bad review of a great CD. | |
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