SIZZLA KALONJI'S THE SCRIPTURES

HURRICANE MIGUEL COLLINS AT 155 MPH

An angry SIZZLA KALONJI is a mighty force to reckon with. Must be like standing in the path of an approaching category 5 hurricane. Kiss your ass good bye. I wouldn't wanna be on the receiving end of his wrath. 

But that is only one of SIZZLA'S many schizophrenic moods.The world of SIZZLA exists in multiple of dimensions. 

There is....

the lustful dutty mouth of a healthy young man being seduced by the temptations of fame and fortune.

 There is...

the pissed off shouting down of Babylon by a man confronted with the Demons of injustice...

There is...

the soul searching of a righteous man hoping to reach purity of heart. 

Personally I like the calm level reasoning of a man at peace with his surroundings. Then again I love when SIZZLA'S voice strains under weight of his message. Even when his falsetto is being crushed it still crackles with celebration. 

Then there is the SIZZLA that explores other genres that his not supposed to. (You know which discs I'm talking about!)

The same SIZZLA that can walk into a recording studio, be handed a random Riddim, and on the spot make a tune of lasting value. 

So what then happens when he is subject to a Hollywood blockbuster sized production from JOHN JOHN? What happens when he is given layer upon layer of instruments and sounds too build up each Riddim? When lead and background vocals are multi-tracked into operatic choruses? The answer is a little bit of everything SIZZLA has done throughout his intense career. Not to say that this disc is a cold stale serving of old ideas. It is not. SIZZLA and JOHN JOHN are giving us a MAGNUM OPUS. 

This disc is slick without being greasy. Know what I mean? A very sing song collection of positive vibes.  THE SCRIPTURES is not a disc of FYAH and BRIMSTONE like the title misled me into believing. Sure...there are HEAVENLY tunes that praise JAH, but a few of the tunes here, deal with EARTHLY matters. 

Track 1- WORLD CRY picks up where his work on the amazing BILLIE JEAN RIDDIM for IRIE IRITES leaves off. His passionate wailing like a tortured soul lost in a life and death struggle brings this tune to it's knees. Hell way to start a record!

Track 2- THE WORLD IS WATCHING is modern ROOTS at it's zenith. The thirty-five year old wise SIZZLA reaches higher plains of knowledge. And his voice is reaching for higher octaves. He gets there. Taking a cue from the extremely talented and successfully STEPHEN and DAMIAN MARLEY, SIZZLA drops in a passage from rapper PETER JACKSON. Seamless. Not a cheap crossover attempt.

Track 3- IN JAMAICA is in the mellow tradition and for me is the least engaging tune. I'm not saying it is bad tune. Just a nice flow. You can't be hit over the head with every tune! The disc has to catch it's breath.

Track 4- CLEANSE MY SOUL is sung in my favorite SIZZLA voice. I hear the aching and the longing for JAH'S love in his voice. This isn't hollow lip service. This is a true DEVOTIONAL HYMN. Not a prayer gussied up with gilded gold trappings. This heavenly requests only earthly ornamental vestments are punchy horns, an angelic girlie chorus and Dubby wah-wah guitar!

Track 5- LET IT BE has a nice sing song melody that flows from SIZZLA'S deep wellspring of RASTAFARI belief. Lyrical conviction as heavy as the drum and bass Riddim it rides. This is a healthy tune that's strong in body and spirit. 

Track 6- JAH IS MY SHIELD almost has a subtle groovy sixties MOTOWN feel with it's girlie chorus. I can picture them swaying in synchronized rhythm behind the microphone. Very catchy without being gimmicky. Pure positive vibes in honour of HIS MOST HIGH, HAILE SELASSIE I.

Track 7- SCRIPTURES is a tune where the Riddim doesn't bring too much attention to it's self. This tune is about the message contained within the words. Nothing to detract from the preacher's sermon! You in the back...pay attention. 

Track 8- WHAT A WHOA is the certainly the darkest mood felt on THE SCRIPTURES. Like this disc as a whole, every time I spin it, it slowly reveals more of itself to me. It's truths are not as obvious or immediate as say, the masterpiece, BLACK WOMAN AND CHILD. A perfect record the first time ya hear it! Spend some time with THE SCRIPTURES. Let it slowly soak in. 

Track 9- GOD BLESS YOU MOMMA features the falsetto in full effect. The tune is a joyous declaration of love and respect for family. I dare you to call SIZZLA a mommas boy!

Track 10- JUMP FOR JOY is the heaviest riffed tune here with a militant call and response style refrain. This tune cries out to be a hit! It is definitely a jumpy tune but not necessarily a joyous tune. 

Track 11- I LOVE YOU is the most honest love song I've heard in awhile. Only his twisted vocals keep it from curdling into cheese! 

Track 12- HAPPY BIRTHDAY is a peppy SKA shuffle! The big horn section behaves like proper gentleman. Not too rudebwoy. Just the right amount of brass. Just the right amount of balls. 

Track 13- MUSIC IN MY SOUL is probably gonna be the biggest tune to drop off THE SCRIPTURES. This tune just screams mash up all over radio. It will be heard the world over.

In JAZZ the saying goes CHARLIE PARKER discovered the atom but it was JOHN COLTRANE that smashed it. I'll slide rule this over to Reggae. SIZZLA is all hell on EARTH breaking loose.

He just does it quieter with this disc!
I expected to hear this...

...but got this!

 And that ain't so bad...

CONFESSIONS FROM A CONSUMER

I've been outta commission for the last two days with insane tooth ache pain. I've managed to hammer together a piece about my fears and hopes of the mechanicals that spin the music industry. Like a good home cooked ragu, it needs to sit overnight.

Okay...make it three days now. I drove 45 minutes through wet snow, deep slush and flash flooding to make my Periodontics appointment. About a mere minute and a half away from the Periodontist's, his receptionist called mi celli to cancel. Her reason...seems the doctor/dentist got his sports car stuck in a snow bank and was informed that the tow-trucks are backed up about two hours. I turned around frustrated and in throbbing pain. So do not hold me responsible for any gross grammatical errors.

In this sinking (sunk) economy, you don’t need 20/20 vision to see why people pirate. Consumers are faced with basically two main options. Either purchasing an actual product that you can hold in your hands or download a digital copy of the original code in a MP3 format. If your choice is the MP3 format, then the ethical question individuals may face is whether to download from expensive sources like I-Tunes or pinch it by illegal means from hundreds of Internet sites. Free usually wins. Most people think of it as victimless crime. “The recording artists themselves only receive small royalties anyway and the serious profits go to the fat cat bosses and the team of lawyers in charge of keeping all that money in the fat cat’s pocket.” That explanation is the general census.

As I write this piece, I’m listening to the streaming online radio station PANDORA. I’ve created a DANCEHALL player that did not cost me a dime. They have added a lot more REGGAE choice since they started. MR. VEGAS’S HEADS HIGH just played and before that LIMB BY LIMB by CUTTY RANKS. SENSI-MEDIA is more of what's dropping on the streets today and is less repetitive in selection. These streaming online radio stations promote new artists along with old favorites. Regular airwave FM radio never played the ONE DROP where I come from. The future is here.

Meeting the consumer halfway doesn’t seem to exist yet. I was hoping sites like EMUSIC would be a bright beginning but in the long run I felt burnt and let my subscription end. A bad economy and the ever-evolving Internet caught the record industry sleeping. The old comforts are going bye-bye and the suits can’t think tank quick enough to save ‘em. The major labels are going the way of the Dinosaurs. EMI, one of the EMPIRE’S oldest and most powerful is crumbling like the FALL of ROME.

Personally, I am still lamenting the loss of vinyl as a whole. But I am absolutely amazed that I can slip my entire record collection into my pocket and listen to it anywhere I please. That is convenience beyond lazy luxury. My I-Pod classic has 160 GB of storage. That equals something like 1500 vinyl albums (or more!) When I was in high school this would have been considered pure science fiction, but now it is a fact of reality. Oh yeah, and as a snot nosed audiophile I will admit the sound is in perfect snap, crackle and pop free clarity. No dust or static to clog grooves. The big argument back in the day was that vinyl albums had a warmer sound. Compressing the information to fit early CD reissues gave the remastering a thin and tinny sound. True enough…The 90’s era Motown stuff suffers from this technological inflection. The industry as a whole listened and doctored a cure. Now when spin a CD all I hear is a warm digital glow.

Fossils of the recent past.

My only gripe is not with the technology. My gripe is with the price sticker. Yep, why does a bunch of code cost the same or in some cases more than a compact disc? An online digital release dismisses the cost of assembly line pressing plants. No pressing plants mean any factory workers, which is a savings on labor, insurance and health benefits. With no actual manufactured product means there is no need for distribution warehouses. So no transportation of goods over great distances by planes, trains or trucking to stock the compact discs on the shelves of retailers. That is a sizeable chunk of savings sliced out of the cost so why do record companies charge the same high sales price? Where is all that money going?

Okay, I do understand that websites like Amazon and I-Tunes act as a middleman for promoting artists but in theory the overall price should still be slashed. Bottom line is that as a consumer you’re buying a copy of code. With the soon to be old fashioned compact disc, if the crazy mood strikes me I could burn myself a hundred copies of my physical CD.
Case in point…I was looking for a LADY SAW tune. I-Tunes had it for .99 cents. Amazon was the same, although I notice on full record releases they tend to be a dollar cheaper. ERNIE B’S REGGAE had the actually CD on sale for .49 cents plus shipping. I bought the whole RIDDIM DRIVEN CD for half price of one song. The trick with EBREGGAE is the more you buy, the shipping shrinks with multi-package deal. The disc was the WILD JOKER riddim produced by SHOCKING VIBES for VP RECORDS. So yeah, the system needs to balance.

I can understand way the little “mom and pop” record labels are pressing delete on the manufacturing of compact discs. The option of releasing new records by digital methods only saves huge on overhead. In some cases this savings is what is keeping the little labels alive. Sadly some great labels like Britain’s BLOOD and FIRE are in serious flux. Another important record company, JETSTAR, is on the verge of drowning with this sinking (sunk) economy. It is not a good omen that these labels and many other REGGAE labels can’t catch their breath.

As a consumer of much music and media who finally has modernized and converted my vinyl and VHS tapes to CD and DVD, you want to tell me I’m last years model? I realize nothing stays the same for very long. Change is inevitable and a simple law of survival is if you do not adapt, you will become obsolete. So I am part of the problem. Yeah blame the old guy. LOL. I enjoy listening to both platforms. There is definitely a practical use for the miniature storage solution that MP3’s offer but I will mourn the death of tangible handheld media. Of course the youth coming of buying age won’t no anything but a digital world.

Downloading tunes digitally satisfies that desire for instant gratification. The stores are open 24/7 and only take a few moments to process. That is CAPITALISM at work in all its glory. I can accept that.

In the end… I cannot condemn or condone piracy. I do think with the gamble from wasting money on a stinker of a CD removed, people are getting braver in listening to music they would of otherwise never heard. Which is a positive vibe. I think deep down if somebody downloads a bunch of tunes illegally and falls in love with the tracks, they will do right by the artist and support the release by eventually purchasing it by proper methods. That may happen sooner than later if the industry meets the music consumer halfway first.