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A selection of crucial cuts from spiritual soundman Shaka's back
catalogue, and 5 out of the 6 are favourites of mine from times gone by when serious music sold, solid roots
music. Starting from the top, "Jah Children Cry" is a lightning and thunder anthem, deep and pounding, with a
sweet vocal icing from the kind of voice that used to be found on the better lovers records. The well-rounded
enunciation of plaintive Junior Brown with a vocal answer to the popular "Warrior Charge" theme, buried in a
thick wall of dense drum and bass and rippling harmonica - impending brimstone and fire - is followed by
Shaka's own Biblical, firing on all cylinders vocal cut to the same rhythm, now given a shot of bristling
horns and some extra touches of Mittoo-like organ work. Side 2 opens with the slippery sweetness usually
reserved for less serious topics, jangling and colliding with a full blown percussive mix. Vocal harmony
group Still Cool's sugar coating still sounds as bright and fresh some 5 years on, and the depth of production
is something you rarely hear now. Bim Sherman's classy "Happiness" is a low profile rocker, buoyant and yet
oddly restrained. Gentle, treading carefully, swaying on the light breeze of Bim's breathiness and muted horn
lines, opening out into a vintage rootical toasting cut from an unspecified DJ. Shaka's Twinkle-y "Lion Youth"
closes the album on a note of downbeat optimism - a spirit finisher to remind us of how it was. A worthwhile album,
and nary a computerised digitaliser in sight!
Simon Buckland ~ Echoes ~ 14 February 1987 |
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