Album Review
Jamaica: the greatest songs ever
Various
Petrol Records
[Joseito Fernandez has been listening to the CD privately in the lounge room. When Compay Segundo comes in early from his walk, Joseito puts the case quietly face-down on the table. The last track is still playing.]
Joseito Fernandez: I don't think I should let you see this one.
Compay Segundo: Why? What is it?
Joseito: It is another one with 'greatest' in the title and it is related to the Brazil album, which you hated with a passion that seemed ferocious. This time they are dealing with Jamaica.
Compay: Well, I do not listen to a lot of Jamaican music so it may be that I am not annoyed by perversions. How is it?
J: Like that one, very mellow. Even the ska is slow and well-behaved, for ska; there are no instances of the trombones behaving like mad fish in a barrel. This is relaxing music with a little bite - it's not music to make you feel hot. The strange thing is that the liner notes - oh yes, the notes again, do not sigh so heavily - tell us that, "Jamaican music is diverse, raw and has a distinctive beat that begs to be played loud! ... Like the people the music is wild, spirited and made for dancing," and yet the songs are gentler than they suggest. The distinctive beat is there, but I hear only a small amount of 'raw.' I have the feeling that Greatest Songs Ever prefers to clean everything up, make it smooth and calm it down.
C: Let me see the notes... mmm, at least they give us a brief history of the musical styles in this one. I prefer it to the notes for Brazil which were all to do with me imagining sexy Brazilians on beaches and so on. I still wish for news about the musicians. Even a little sentence to give us an idea: "The Ethiopians are blah blah or whatever-you-like."
J: I enjoyed The Ethiopians. Their song has humour in it. I agree, I would like the notes to tell me more, for example, what is a 'yaga yaga' that Errol Dunkley sings about? The song goes, "Ok Fred, now you're a yaga yaga. Bully for you. OK Fred, now I'm a yaga yaga too." I don't know if they made it up or if it is something obvious that we are simply stupid about because we are not Jamaican.
C: "From the old to the new, not only do we wish you to enjoy this music but to also learn about cultures you may have never known anything about." Well sir, how are we supposed to do that when you give us only a tiny nothing amount of information?
[Joseito gently takes the paper inlay away from him.]
J: Any more and you will be getting angry again.
C: Tch! I'm not the slightest bit angry. Do you see my mouth twitching? Do you see my hands shaking? No. What do you want to say about this one then?
J: Ai, you've put me on the spot. Let me think. Jamaica: the Greatest Songs Ever is similar to its Brazilian friend but with perhaps better-standard songs. Bob Marley's 'Redder than Red' and 'Everything Crash' by The Ethiopians make me think, "I want to find more music by these groups; I want to know what else they are capable of." I believe the album suffers from a desire to be too popular. The last song 'It's a Jungle Out There,' is a combination of two kinds of music - one is reggae and the other is American popular chart music; and the result surely does not belong on any 'greatest' CD. The song is an interesting attempt, not a successful marriage. Petrol Records sound as if they are afraid that a young audience will be disinterested if they don't give them music they're used to. Perhaps they're right, but the result is disappointing. It suggests laziness or fear or bad judgement.
