The Vault Reviews: Zion Gates by LMS

Throughout the years as I’ve added and added to a music collection which now ranks somewhere between large and ridiculous, I’ve certainly collected more than more fair share of bad and downright useless albums. For one reason or another (generally because I think they just suck) these albums just didn’t register with me AT ALL and, thanks to the fact that I hang around people who like to (steal) take whatever I don’t seem to like (and let it sit around their houses collecting dust), the time an album can spend in my players (and in my possessions altogether apparently) without being of some quality, is very short. Over the years, however, some very strong examples have made themselves glaringly clear as to what my tastes are and aren’t and how you can disappoint me and find yourself either ‘traveling’ or relegated to the bottom of a drawer which I never use anyway. The prime example is usually Ras Attitude’s album Holding Firm from back in 2005. The album was boring and basically without a grasp or a depth to it as his prior and later work to my ears and after a literal STRUGGLE to over stand exactly what was going on, I would ultimately abandon the ‘fight’ and the album altogether before giving it away. Similarly would be Jah Guidance, also from 2005 and from Attitude’s good friend/mentor Batch. Talk about BORING! I remember Jah Guidance coming off to me as if Batch had linked with Einstein to write it in some hieroglyphic dated language and what was heard on the album was, in fact, the songs which were cut away from the original recording and summarily I decided that I didn’t like it and couldn’t do anything with via very confused boredom. More confusing but on a shorter scale in terms of time would be Anthony B’s album My Hope (coincidentally, also from 2005) which wasn’t necessarily confusing to me or BORING but just SO almost curiously unexceptional that I literally had to check things out on so many levels given that Anthony B was and had been one of my favourites for quite awhile and the label the album was produced by, Minor 7, Flat 5, at the time (not now) was also amongst the ones who I continuously checked for. It was absolutely strange and actually confusing on the notion that I couldn’t appreciate it given the ‘foundational’ strength with which My Hope came. There are also smaller situations such as Chrisinti’s album Comfort My People, from 2002; Norris Man’s fittingly titled debut album Persistence, from 2002; even Bitty McLean’s On Bond Street, shockingly also from 2005 and others which just go to show that I’ve picked up some REAL clunkers in my time, haven’t I???

Haven’t I??? Of course I can but it’s very interesting that in the case of EVERY album previously mentioned in this review, they all had, regardless of the time of ‘turnaround’ a change in circumstances as far as how much I enjoy/ed them. Holding Firm was the most obvious of examples as I full on got rid of it and did so for more than a couple of years or so before I got it back and was downright floored at how good it was at that point. Jah Guidance, still, once confusing and boring as hell is, these days, marked almost exclusively in my eyes by its more ‘serene’ feel and the fact that it may just be one of the DEEPEST Reggae albums of the past two decades or so and definitely one of the most in my collection. And in the cases of both My Hope by Anthony B and Chrisinti’s Comfort My People, the swing in taste has been so remarkable (although, again, in the case of My Hope it was far shorter in terms of time) that even though I once couldn’t really feel the strength of those albums, I now regard them as two of the best albums that I’ve ever heard to date and possible future candidates of Modern Classics and Persistence definitely isn’t very far from them at all. While I generally associate this ‘phenomenon’ with the undeniable fact that I’m simply getting older and now, at the ripe old ass age of twenty-eight, I’ve apparently become the stale, jaded and dried up Reggae head that I once made fun of but maybe that isn’t the case. The biggest evidence of the ‘case’ against this would now be LMS, who may very well (for the most part) be right around my age (if not younger than me) and are suddenly now having a particularly strange total shift as far as how I appreciate their music and this goes quite deep now doesn’t it. As the members of LMS (Laza, Miriam & Shy-Poo) are the younger brothers and sister of the Morgan Heritage members (all descendants of the prodigiously fruitful Reggae long timer Denroy Morgan), my new found interest in their music can undoubtedly be seen as a sign that MAYBE I am also becoming a fan of Morgan Heritage (who I just don’t tend to like for some reason), as if I needed another bit of affirmation in that direction following Gramps Morgans outstanding debut album. Looking back through LMS’ four disc catalogue, one sticks out for me, if not in terms of quality (as I’m not necessarily calling it their best work, I’m still deciding on that), was the one which first caught my attention when I went back to look at their music (which I did about a month or so ago, largely due to the strength of Gramps’ work) was their sophomore effort, Zion Gates for VP Records back in early 2001. It would stand to reason that I would like not only Zion Gates but a great deal of LMS’ earlier work as it came via what is still my favourite label, Xterminator with whom the US born trio not only did quite a bit of work with in the singular sense, but also released two albums for (besides Zion Gates, there was also 2003’s decent Straight From Da Root, also fro VP). The strange meshing of LMS’ kind of varied talents (and proclivities) with Xterminator’s not so varied and PURE modern Roots inclinations seems and has always seemed a rather odd combination and one, up until awhile ago, which I felt quite comfortable in saying simply wasn’t for me. Upon further review, however, these days I’m not so sure that’s the case.

As I just alluded to there was always something a bit different about LMS’ style. Unlike their older siblings of Morgan Heritage (of whom I’m just not very sure why I don’t like so much), I can, with complete confidence, point to the fact that LMS has always added a bit of American Hip-Hop/R&B to their music which just didn’t translate or combine with a base of Roots Reggae very well to me. Apparently either I was wrong about that or it just doesn’t bother me that much these days (and a whole heap of my old favourite Xterminator riddims certainly doesn’t hurt much either). The first tune up and definitely one of the best tunes to spin on LMS’ SOLID Zion Gates album is the BIG vibed Laws Of The King. This is the type of song which kind of makes it even more strange as I simply can’t imagine not being able to appreciate such a big vibes and although these days I may actually be inclined to overrate such a tune, Laws Of The King is damn near MAGIC to my ears and is a more than just a decent opener (especially like when the female, Miriam, shows off the vocals later on the tune with the nice spiritual vibes which prevail throughout). I almost immediately recognized the riddim of the second tune, Give The Youth A Chance as the same which backed Turbulence’s nice tune I Don’t Know (Rising album). And just like Turbulence, who tapped forgotten member of Xterminator [Roaring] Lion, LMS brings on Prince Malachi to join them on the very nice tune which was definitely my favourite on the album until the forthcoming BOOM on track #4 as it is just lovely vibes. The message on the tune is very similar to Khari Kill’s tune Picture Of Selassie as LMS and a Prince Malachi near top form exalt all to teach the children about His Majesty. INDEED! The final tune on the opening, Give Up, is the first sign that something different is at hand as it definitely comes with a bit of a old school R&B type of vibes but not SO MUCH that it turned me off (and it gets better as it goes) but the tune itself really isn’t one of the best here either, although wholly forgivable when ‘bracketed’ by the NICE beginning and the tune which immediately follows it.

Now to that BOOM: Xterminator was responsible for a song by the name of The Whole World from Sizzla that simply changed my entire life a few years back. And the riddim to that tune (The World riddim I THINK it’s called) has stayed with my tastes also. Besides Sizzla’s tune, arguably my favourite Turbulence tune EVER, On My Way To Zion, also utilized it and add Zion Gates, the song, to that as well as the tune simply makes me quite embarrassed that I didn’t catch on to it before! Zion Gates is MAMMOTH! If you go digital on this one, then definitely make sure you just get, at the very least, this one tune because it’s well serious and I’m a better fucking human being for having heard it. Regardless of what you may think of the actual music (and I don’t like them all, certainly), you have to give a youthful LMS credit for packing the tunes with such KNOWLEDGE. Check the tune Fire which has a level of ‘entertainment value’ which is quite low actually but the way the song is written belies the rather stereotypical and clichéd type of song one might expect just looking at the tune’s title. Jah House, although far ‘better’ sounding than Fire, also comes with a very nice sense of awareness and just INTELLIGENCE from LMS (especially on the part of Laza, the chanter of the group, both Miriam and Shy-Poo are singers for the most part) as they remind you that those who aren’t clean (spiritually and physically) CANNOT enter the house of His Imperial Majesty. Speaking of being spiritually clean, Living Spiritual definitely cleansed me a bit as it rode through across the same ENCHANTING riddim which backed Sizzla’s Strength & Hope (Bobo Ashanti album) and it may actually not be such a good tune but that damn riddim! It makes everything sound good and Living Spiritual was definitely no exception. You couldn’t expect the older Morgan’s not to make some type of appearance and they do so twice on Zion Gates, the first of which has to be considered the strongest as it is one of the best on the album altogether, Weh Dem Did Deh. The tune is quietly EXPLOSIVE (if a song can be both at the same time) as it heats up and does so in confirmation of His Majesty on a LARGE scale. Mojo Morgan also joins LMS on his own on Jah Lead The Way which is not on my vibes but isn’t HORRIBLE. And I’ll also go back quickly and mention Stand Firm which I found to be not the best tune here but one which definitely grows on you. LMS’ Zion Gates album heads to its conclusion with very interesting material, as you might imagine as the final four tunes or so are all over the place. It all begins well enough with See The Enemy which is one of the best tunes here in my opinion and it’s one where you get it IMMEDIATELY and then it starts to build. Too many times you have to listen a song (circumstances here not withstanding) and you have to wait for it to do virtually ANYTHING for you but See The Enemy gives you SOMETHING and then something more as it builds. Free As A Bird also caught my attention, although not as strong (it’s kind of cliché in sound and the vocals (dominated by Shy-Poo, I believe, could be stronger). The final two selections Ghetto Life Song and All Alone were something different. I literally thought I had switched over to another album when Ghetto Life Song came through as, not only is it almost PURE R&B (nothing wrong with that), it has to be one of the sappier songs you’ll ever hear and it just didn’t really stick with me much. All Alone is a little better and it’s a love song (thus, the sap makes more sense) but it, too, had some things going on with it (like sounding like (or at least attempting to) an R Kelly song) and it was a kind of disappointing ending but at least it shows me that I haven’t changed COMPLETELY.

Overall, no, don’t drop whatever you’re doing and rush out and get Zion Gates and given the digital option now, I would almost probably better suggest that you get to downloading about five songs or so. However, what the albums shows is two things: The first, on a personal note, is that my tastes are definitely ‘a changing’ as I get older (as if I needed more proof) (and I didn’t) and, again, given LMS’ age, Zion Gates has to be one of the more remarkable pieces of evidence that I’ve gotten of this. The second thing I take from this album is the serious level of craft at work with all of the musical Morgans. You can’t call Zion Gates BAD. You simply can’t. You can say it’s not very good (and it isn’t VERY GOOD) and you can say that it’s average and make a strong argue in support of that and me, doing that years ago, was wrong. I may not be a fan (and I probably never will be considering that they have since gone their own ways I believe) of LMS’ but I can recognize good music and Zion Gates is it, even if it took me a few years to realize it.

Rated 3.5/5

VP Records

2001