Going back to the library...

A bunch of stuff heading back to the library today, so I'll give general impressions on the stuff before I send 'em away.

I grabbed this because I had heard Dreams of Freedom: ambient translations of Bob Marley by the same Bill Laswell. Dreams of Freedom is engaging, taking well-known songs and adding meditative dub music to them. This album, however, is just bland to me. Sort of drifts in and out, back and forth without going anywhere. I'll admit that I'm not an experienced listener to dub music, but this isn't one that's going to tempt me to hear more.

Nor is Imaginary Cuba also by Bill Laswell going to tempt me to hear more. Here Laswell mixes the same - to my ears, anyway - the same drifting rhythms and beats this time with Cuban flavor. If you want to learn more, read something about dub music.



In the same vein as Dreams of Freedom is this album - Chant Down Bablyon - which takes Bob Marley original tracks and adds very modern music and lyrics to them. As a whole, this album is a pretty good attempt to mix the two. It's certainly not for Marley purists as many of the tracks take nothing but his vocals, providing totally new music and additional lyrics from the guest artists (Erykah Badu, MC Lyte, Rakim, Krayzie Bone, Busta Rhymes, Aerosmith, and others). The feeling is one of an excellent hip hop album instead, mixing diverse rap styles and rhythms into a mostly cohesive whole - except for the Aerosmith track, which just doesn't fit in with the rest of the album at all.

I've mentioned previously the time when the Fugees were to rule the world, and this is the album that did it. The Score isn't quite the cohesive whole that I'd like it to be, but that's not a shock from three excellent artists working together as a loose group, bringing tracks to each other, tracks that they had each begun and written individually. There are some incredible highlights - "Killing Me Softly With His Song", "Fu-Gee-La", and "Ready or Not" were all hits - and a number of other strong songs. All in all, this is one of the top rap/hip-hop albums to come out of the 90's. Certainly one to give a listen to whether you're a fan of the genre or not. There are too many catchy songs here to avoid it.