Monday, October 19, 2009

Baby Steps: A Review of Can't Stop Us by Omar Perry

I seem to be starting more and more reviews these days explaining how surprised I’ve been and remain by the quality of releases this year. I’ll spare you the exact details out of fear of being redundant (and because I’m just too tired of referencing the same damn albums over and over), but when you look at some of the material in 2009 which has been impressing me, far away from Tarrus Riley, Queen Ifrica, Buju Banton, Sizzla and the likes, the results, and more so than in any other year in recent memory, are downright astounding. So much so is this the case, in fact, tat I’d be willing to put the likes of NEREUS JOSEPH, Ras Zacharri, Stevie Face and who knows who else is still to come (biggup Lorenzo and Isiah Mentor) in the last two and half months of the year, against those aforementioned big names. They may not have access to the same resources as the big named artists (and I guess I would have to take Stevie Face out of that equation, because he most certainly does), but the quality levels and the results are, in my opinion, UNARGUABLY just as high in many cases. Well, we now have to make a bit of room (and we should be used to it by now) for the one named Omar Perry. Perhaps it shouldn’t be too great of a shock, especially considering that Perry comes ‘armed’ with arguably the GREATEST musical heritage available in Reggae music history as the son of the legendary Upsetter, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. The elder Perry is arguably the greatest producer, engineer, arranger and anything else you might need musically in Reggae history, having a history only matched by the likes of Sir Coxsone Dodd (Studio One) and King Tubby (both of whom are now physically deceased). And while I won’t get into the particular details of Scratch’s accomplishments (because as long winded as I undoubtedly am, even I don’t have that kind of time) and the various LEGENDARY careers he has launched, it is definitely noteworthy and terribly interesting to see. Omar Perry came to my attention roughly the same time as another child of a Reggae legend, Kenyatta Hill, son of the late and great Joseph ‘Culture’ Hill, who so impressed me and many others I’m sure with the Pass The Torch, a combination album he did posthumously with his Father from 2007 (big album). Hill managed to hit a very nice level on his first time out. For Omar Perry, on the other hand, things weren’t so immediate as far as my own personal tastes and how I would eventually grow to receive him and his vibes; ROYAL heritage and all.

The first time that I had ever heard Omar Perry’s music, save for some material, I believe, from several years back when I would have been a child was just a couple of years ago (and if you look at official release dates which I found, the album was released just a week before the aforementioned Pass The Torch), when he released what was his debut album, Man Free, for Corner Shop Records. Man Free was about as AVERAGE and MEDIOCRE of an album which I heard in 2007 and it, besides the fact that it was ‘the new album from Scratch Perry’s son’, at least in my opinion, it didn’t (and still doesn’t) have much of anything going for it musically on the whole. Not to say that the album was BAD, it wasn’t, but it was just so unremarkable that I can literally remember sitting down to write a review for it, having listened to every tune on the album several times and having ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT, for better or for worse. After the Man Free album, I pretty much assumed (and correctly so, obviously) that I would ‘run into’ Perry again eventually (musically speak, of course) as he was apparently quite active on the French Reggae scene (and, in retrospect, I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t hear much about the then forth coming Man Free album before it was already released), but I held no grand hopes that I would be particularly keen on hearing what he had to deliver in the future. This brings us to Can’t Stop Us. When I heard of this album coming which, incidentally, had quite a bit of fanfare before it came through (biggup Makafresh), I didn’t pay it much attention, as I said I wouldn’t, but curiosity eventually got the best of me and just pulling through the song clips, I was quite impressed. Seemingly gone were the kind of Reggae clichés and quotas that Perry seemed to have been trying to meet on the Man Free album and it was replaced with a familiar, but fresh set of vibes and really something which, at least on the surface, offered me an opportunity to REALLY sink my teeth into the vibes and really take a nice message from it also. Can’t Stop Us (as I alluded to) comes via the well esteemed Afro-French label, Makafresh/Makasound, who are noted for doing their excellent work with French based Afrikan artists, including having released both of the prodigy Takana Zion’s albums and, according to his bio, Perry has also lived in Gambia in his globetrotting life. Such a reputable label, alone, would give me a reason to be interested in Can’t Stop Us, but that alone “can’t” and won’t hold my attention (as evident by the fact that I’m REGRETFULLY not really that into Zion’s newest album, Rappel à l'Ordre) for very long. So, if it weren’t for the fact that Can’t Stop Us is actually quite GOOD, then, even despite it’s rather obtrusive improvements over the Man Free album, I still would have ultimately paid it no mind, or (the more likely scenario), I would have sat down to write this review and had a similar experience as with the first album. So what’s different this time around? Well, at the ‘tender’ of about forty or so, I think Omar Perry has managed to do that which enough musical artists and just people in general tend to say that they’re TRYING to do: He’s gotten BETTER. Teetering dangerously close to the clichéd realm, Perry has established the fact that, at least for him, you never really stop learning as, again, although Man Free was by no means horrible, the sound here, his lyrical approach and his delivery is so more full and vibrant and by album’s end, Can’t Stop Us EASILY stands as the proper introduction to Omar Perry which was so necessary.

I had a few minutes of frustration when I was trying to draw a vocal tangent between Omar Perry and a next artist who he may have sound like and I still kind of do. However, if you FORCED me to pick someone, I would probably (CAREFULLY) say Junior Kelly, but I also hear some Determine and even Stephen Marley in his tones as well. Junior Kelly would definitely enjoy the opening lot of Omar Perry’s new album Can’t Stop Us because all three of the tunes are very solid and amongst the album’s absolute finest efforts. First up is the very interesting selection ‘We Wah’, with its big and beautiful sound. Speaking of Kelly, this type of song would be right up his alley and Perry isn’t bad at it either. The tune comes with a very nice and heavy message of unity and the OPPORTUNITY of unity and how important both of those ideas can be. And, again, it just sounds SO NICE. Very large opening there. Neither the type of vibes, nor the quality of tune take a noticeable dip and actually the quality of the tune increases a bit with the second tune on the album, ‘Bless Them’. This tune is also very well nice and at this point, I was up and high stepping and feeling good which, I’m sure, was the point of the tune as Perry calls on His Majesty to bless all of the righteous and innocent people of the world. That song really touches you (or at least it should) and, definitely, it put a wide smile on my face. The title track is up next and I know that riddim (and so will you), but I can’t remember it’s name (and neither will you) (and if you do, let me know what it is) and it’s not really important, because whatever it’s called and whoever made it, it’s NICE and I didn’t sit my ass down a second after Bless Them passed before Can’t Stop Us had me up and stepping again. It’s another tune about unification and praising His Majesty and seeking ultimate unification with HIM, but you’ll have to spin this DYNAMIC tune a few times before you’ll actually get to that wonderful message, just like I did.

There were a few tunes which were quite familiar to my ears on Can’t Stop Us, for one reason or another. The first was the lover’s vibed ‘Woman I Love You’. This one, you may know from outstanding Frenchie producers Bost & Bim’s Soprano riddim (huge tune from several artists on that same riddim, such as ‘Reggae Musik’ from Saïk) and the tune is very well done. ‘Fighting For A Cause’ was very interesting because I’ve never heard it before this album, yet it comes across one of my favourite riddims in recent times, Itation’s World Go Round. The riddim (I THINK) was built by the Tune In Crew from out of France and it was ultimately left off of the riddim’s album, but with very few exceptions it’s about as big as anything that was on that very nice project (definitely well check the lyrics on that one) (“that‘s why we are fighting for a cause, King Selassie I dun show dem flaws“). And that’s not the only time Tune In tunes in for Omar Perry’s Can’t Stop Us album; as later on they also provide their dazzling one-drop, The Little Sista riddim, for the closer, ‘Spiritually’. This tune is pretty good, albeit kind of sappy, but it, like pretty much everything over that lovely composition, ultimately works for me. ‘Tides of The Time’ which features Perry alongside pioneering UK deejay, Tippa Irie, is also quite familiar as it comes through over a very well used old school Dancehall riddim and finds the duo, as you might expect, making a very nice pairing on the social commentary of the youths of today. And then there’re two standout tunes, ‘Beat Down Babylon’ and ‘Save The Earth’. The former, of course, is a remake of an old tune from Junior Byles. The tune is a bonafide CLASSIC and, although Perry doesn’t reach those levels, I’m sure Byles would approve of the remake. As for Save The Earth, you’ll immediately recognize it as bubbling across the same riddim used for Max Romeo’s legendary tune ‘Chase The Devil’. Although not amongst my favourites on the album (unlike Beat Down Babylon, which is), Save The Earth is still very well done. Of course, the irony there being that the original Beat Down Babylon and Chase The Devil were. . . Both produced by Scratch. Still, it is the final familiar tune I’ll mention, ‘Boom Town’ which reigns supreme on Can’t Stop Us to my opinion. This tune is built over a souped up version of the well traveled World Jam riddim (or whatever you want to call it these days) and packs SO MUCH intensity in it that you just can’t shake the vibes. It actually sounds like it was done live and although Perry’s area of expertise appears to be these really LUSHLY vibed Roots tunes, Boom Town is MASSIVE! Of the new stuff, I really liked 911. The tune is (DUH), a comment of 9/11 tragedy, but it also, thankfully, takes things a step further by making a general commentary as far as what resulted from that incident (“when this whole wide world is big enough for us, why do you kill your little brother?”). I also really liked ‘I’m A Rebel’, which is one of my favourite tunes on the album. This tune also sounds a bit familiar to my ears, but even if it isn’t it now forever shall be. This is the type of song I REALLY think (like I said) is more to Perry’s skillset as he literally POURS all across this wonderful riddim and does so in a fashion which is simply not to be missed on this standout tune. The final tune I’ll mention is the HARD ‘Ghostmakers’. This one is an anti-violence tune at its core, but the route it takes in explaining that sure is interesting. This one, like a handful of others (I’m A Rebel and the three opening cuts definitely being amongst them), are really kind of what’s going on now in terms of modern Roots Reggae so if you like such a thing (which means you consistently or semi-consistently read my reviews) and you should, then you’ll definitely like this material because not only is it an example of what’s going on, but it, like most of Can’t Stop Us, is a very strong example of such.

Overall, I certainly don’t want to give the impression that everything’s so rosy on Can’t Stop Us, because it definitely isn’t. Of the tunes I didn’t mention: ‘Right Right Left’ is a decent Dancehall tune on the surface, however after a few spins, it really began to wear thin (and that’s just something that isn’t Omar Perry’s strength in my opinion). ‘Bring Me Joy’, alongside a songstress by the name of Cleo is another Dancehall tune which just isn’t very good AT ALL and neither is ‘Do You Love Me’, which, at least to my ears, features an Omar Perry simply running through the motions (and a BAD chorus). Yet, with only three soft spots out of a very healthy sixteen, I’m still stamping a seal of approval on Can’t Stop Us. The album, I feel should absolutely do wonders for Omar Perry as an artist as (upon further review) I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t feeling the Man Free album. While certainly not perfect or GREAT by any means, Can’t Stop Us is BOTH of those by comparison to Man Free and I’m really hoping that this, far more consistent and just downright BETTER version of the artist is the ‘true’ version. This Omar Perry I’m interested in and unlike two years ago after Man Free dropped, I’m now suddenly very interested in seeing exactly what he may bring next.

Rated 4/5
Makafresh
2009

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