Review: Earth Scorchers – Various Artists
June 19th 2007 08:49
Earth Scorchers – Various Artists
Pop-A-Top Records
While I enjoyed the last record released by Pop-A-Top Records, their latest offering, Earth Scorchers, left me a little disappointed. I commend them for doing something a little different to others knocking about at the moment, but this particular album doesn’t offer much to make me sit up and take notice. Organ driven reggae is what you will get, and although it has the potential to offer the traditionalist a great authentic sound they can sink their teeth into, it doesn’t keep pulling me back to it like an excellent record does.
I will start with what I do like though. Track nine is my favourite, an instrumental based around a great saxophone line, from a bloke called Preston Steel. His other song Boss Train is one of the other better tracks on the album. The other song worthy of mention is The Last Wilderness, by The Erin Bardwell Collective. It is an instrumental reworking of the song Stole Your Mind from the previous album, A Showcase of New Sounds in Reggae Time. The keyboard here is great and puts a strong stamp on the song.
I think my frustrations with this album really overshadow the sound of this project, which I do actually like, but I can’t help but be irked. For instance, I do not feel the best of Sandra Bell is captured. She has four songs on this album, and not once do I feel she is belting it out. Her past as the singer in a soul band doesn’t show. Whether this is due to the production or her recording I am not sure. As well, the clapping that was used sparingly to great effect in the previous album is used too frequently in this album. This one fits into the too much of anything is bad for you category.
In all, I do like the sound this record label offers, but this particular record lacked tracks that had a stamp put on them in the way the organ did in The Last Wilderness. The premise of the album – global warming, is commendable, but if it isn’t matched with songs that stick in the mind, then the message won’t be as successful as it could be.
For more info on releases and purchasing options, go to the Pop-A-Top Records website
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