| After
his killer debute album "Dread, Beat
and Blood", here is LKJ's second album
where intelectual poetry meets intelectual
DUB.
It's called DUB poetry and it's different
then DJ's toasting. Just listen to one track
of an LKJ album and you know: indeed it is.
It's not, that the Reggae DJ's do not
have intelectual lyrics, it's not that they
both chant rhythmically over the music.
Because these things can be the same for a
DJ and a DUB Poet.
It's more, that a poem is something
different then lyrics. And it's more, that
reading a poem is something different then
toasting, which can be quite melodic at
times.
But the difference can hardly be
described. It must be heard. And so, listen
to Forces Of Vicktry: a collection of eight
heavyweight poems on heavyweight DUB tracks.
LKJ's poems are deep and very conscious.
The ones on this album deal with the life of
being Black in Brittain. Take for example
the magnificent "Sonny's Lettah",
a poem written as a letter from a youth in
prison to his mother. Or the militant
"Fite Dem Back", about resistance
against neo-nazi's and racists.
This album could have been created today,
even though it's older then a quarter of a
century at the moment this review is
written. The topics are unfortunately not
dated, as racism and discrimination are
still going on. Black people are still not
given justice.
Forces of Vicktry is a worthy follow-up
for Dread Beat and Blood, and definitely one
of the best LKJ albums.
Buy it for the poetry, buy it for the
music!
The music is definitely as hard and
inteligent as the poetry. Where Linton
Kwesie Johnson created the basslines, Dub
Master and producer Dennis Bovell took care
of the rest. Good musicians came together,
and truly some of the best UK Roots tracks
were created as a result of Linton Kwesie
Johnson's works.
This album contains some of these crucial
tracks.
|
