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Island Mele John Berger |
"Slow Time"
Go Jimmy Go
MoonRoomSome reissues are strictly about the money, while others have artistic merit. This reissue of Go Jimmy Go's debut album seems intended to serve both purposes. On one hand, a new release generates extra revenue when a band is on tour, and it is evidently taking longer than anticipated for the GJG guys to complete their follow-up to 2002's blockbuster, "Soul Arrival." "Slow Time," however, also didn't have the impact it could have had when it was first released in '01, and the decision to remaster it suggests that the band felt an upgrade was advisable. If so, it was a good call.
Two newly added songs sweeten the deal for fans who have the 2001 version. "Guenon" is an upbeat instrumental that showcases the interplay between the rhythm section and the horns, and "Plantation" combines a plaintive plea for love with a slower reggae beat. The bare-bones annotation doesn't say when the newly added songs were recorded but they fit in well.
www.gojimmygo.com
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Bang the Skillet
"Reggae in Paradise"
Various artists
Neos ProductionsBob St. John's latest anthology is possibly his best yet. There are no embarrassingly bad schlock-hit choices here, although Reality's pseudo-Jamaican "Guava Jam" comes close, and several others capture the tedious efforts of local singers trying to imitate Jamaican patois.
Authentic reggae classics by Jimmy Cliff and Aswad add value to the anthology. Big Mountain's ever-popular remake of "Baby, I Love Your Way" is another selection that comes from outside "paradise," while Fiji, O-Shen, Sean Na'auao (featuring Chief Ragga) and Ho'onu'a are the top representatives of Hawaii's unique Jawaiian scene.
Pepper's "Stone Love" adds a taste of that group's hot dub-rock repertoire.
In place of information about the songs and the artists, there's a huge ad for the person who did the cover art.
www.neosproductions.com
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"The Turning Point"
Sean Jay
The KingdomSean Jay (formerly known as Infinite Prince) is an expatriate who did some underground projects here before relocating to Florida in 2003. Straight narrative lyrics are the foundation of this collection of 17 tracks assembled with the input of several producer/ mixers and guest MCs. There are no complex melodic hooks, but Jay gets solid musical support throughout.
Jay is apparently coming from a Christian background. This isn't one of those hard-core Christian rap albums, but the vocabulary is strictly PG-13, and Jay and his guests never pose as pimps or "playas," or brag in graphic detail about their sexual prowess.
Even though a vignette about a bitter young man who unwittingly fathers a child by his long-lost sister comes off as a bit melodramatic, the rest of the album rings true with the insights of a young and articulate hip-hop artist making his way in a dangerous and sometimes hostile world.
www.seanjay.com
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See the Columnists section for some past reviews.
John Berger, who has covered the local entertainment scene since 1972, writes reviews of recordings produced by Hawaii artists. See the Star-Bulletin's Today section on Fridays for the latest reviews. Contact John Berger at jberger@starbulletin.com.
